The 25 Best Movies Based On TV Shows

Movie studios are always looking for properties with established fan-bases to use as springboards for new film projects. It’s part of what has spawned the franchise, remake, sequel, prequel, and “re-imagining” crazes of the past few years, as well as the superhero movie resurgence. There’s a built-in audience ready and willing to lap up the familiar goodness of a project they already know plenty about. And one of the more rabid fan sects has to do television shows. Small-screen junkies stick with their favorite shows for years (and sometimes decades) and become very protective of them.

So it’s with great relief that we have the following news to share: 21 Jump Street, the reboot of the popular ’80s series, now starring Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum, is way funnier than you’re probably expecting. With the film hitting theaters this Friday, Complex thought it’d be a welcome challenge to look back and find the television-to-cinema projects that also don’t suck—and it wasn’t an easy mission. Still, we’ve found plenty of quality, whether it’s universally praised or worthy of guilty pleasure distinction. So, without further delay, let us count down The 25 Best Movies Based On TV Shows.

Written by Scott Neumyer (@scottneumyer)

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TV show aired from: 1965 – 1969 (NBC); 1969 - 1970 (CBS)
Movie’s release year: 2008

Created by funnyman genius Mel Brooks (along with Buck Henry), the 1965 series Get Smart still stands as one of TV’s most beloved comedies. Imagine a James Bond0-esque secret agent mixed with the Mel Brooks brand of comedy and you’ve got Maxwell Smart, Agent 86. Played to perfection by Don Adams, the mostly incompetent secret agent worked for a government run counter-intelligence agency whose sole mission it is to investigate and stop enemies attempting to take of the world in some way. The silly plotlines and ridiculous gadgets (that clever shoe phone, for one) were send-ups of the 007 movies, and Brooks always knew just how far to push a joke, which is what made Get Smart work so beautifully.

In the 2008 feature film version, stars Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway are the saving graces. If there was anyone other than Don Adams who’s born to play the bungling secret agent Maxwell Smart, it’s Carell. His sense of timing, heaps of charm, and ability to play the straight man make him a great fit for the character. Unfortunately, Carell is saddled with a poor excuse for a script in a mostly unfunny movie. Sure, Get Smart is a slick, well-made summer comedy, but it lacks the intelligence and hilarity of the original series. Guess that’s what happens when you try to do Mel Brooks without Mel Brooks, right?

TV show aired from: Scooby Doo, Where Are You?, 1969 – 1970 (CBS)
Movie’s release year: 2002

It’s a pretty amazing feat that Scooby-Doo is still being produced in some form over 40 years after Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! first aired on CBS in 1969. The animated cartoon followed four teenagers and their Great Dane named Scooby-Doo as they traveled around in a van called the “Mystery Machine” solving seemingly supernatural mysteries. Every episode of the original Scooby-Doo, however, ended with the Mystery Inc. gang unmasking a real person in a costume and we’d get to hear some variation on the line “And I would have gotten away with it, too, if it hadn’t been for you meddling kids!” Even hearing that now brings back sweet memories.

The 2002 live-action film (starring Freddie Prinze, Jr., Sarah Michelle Gellar, Matthew Lillard, Linda Cardellini, and a freakishly CGI Scooby), despite its best efforts, fails to evoke the same type of free-spirited fun that made the original series so special. There are some funny moments throughout the film, but they are simply too far apart to overcome the weak script. Scooby-Doo is good for a little nostalgic trip down memory lane, though.

TV show aired from: 1968 – 1973 (ABC)
Movie’s release year: 1999

“One White, One Black, One Blonde.” That was the tag line for 1968’s The Mod Squad, a police drama that took three young, hip, multi-racial offenders and offered them a chance to become investigators rather than go to jail. They, of course, took the gig, and the characters of Peter Cochran (Michael Cole), Julie Barnes (Peggy Lipton), and Lincoln “Linc” Hayes (Clarence Williams III) were born unto pop culture. Shows like 21 Jump Street would later borrow The Mod Squad’s idea of using youthful investigators to get close to the criminals they’re investigating, but none had the same multi-cultural approach, or dealt with racial politics in the same way, that made this series so successful.

The 1999 remake features Giovanni Ribisi, Claire Danes, and Omar Epps in the roles of Peter, Julie, and Lincoln, respectively, and the plot follows nearly identically to the original series. The problem here is that what was once fresh and nuanced in the late 1960’s and early ’70’s (namely, that young, hip multi-racial team of investigators) isn’t so uncommon in the late ’90’s. The message loses a little bit of its power and the film suffers.

Granted, The Mod Squad isn’t all that well made of a movie in the first place, but the odds were clearly against it from the jump. And, as a harmless diversion, it’s certainly better than most films based on classic TV shows. In other words, it’s not Sgt. Bilko. Or Taxi. Or Mr. Magoo. Or.. You get the point.

TV show aired from: 1976 – 1981, 2011 (ABC)
Movie’s release year: 2000

One of the most successful TV programs of the 1970’s, Charlie’s Angels was the ultimate girl-power television drama—that is, until Buffy The Vampire Slayer came around. The series put three women (originally played by Kate Jackson, Farrah Fawcett-Majors, and Jaclyn Smith) in roles that would normally be male-dominated as the ladies worked for the Charles Townsend Agency as private investigator. Charlie’s Angels was your typical procedural, but its insistence on putting the gorgeous and intelligent Angels on the front lines of the action was both groundbreaking and unconventional.

The 2000 remake of the classic series, however, isn’t quite as successful as its television counterpart. Though, McG handles the direction just fine (at least as fine as McG can), and Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, and Lucy Liu are as charming as ever in the lead roles of the Angels. Charlie’s Angels is actually an often funny and sometimes exciting action-comedy, but it simply can’t hold the same transgressive weight as the original series. Nonetheless, it made a ton of dough at the box office and was followed up by a financially successful sequel in 2003.

TV show aired from: 1983 – 1985 (syndication); 1988 – 1990 (USA Network); 2010 – present (qubo Channel)
Movie’s release year 1987

We’re actually surprised it took Filmation and Mattel as long as it did to turn their cash cow of a toy line into an animated series. When it did debut in 1983, however, He-Man And The Masters Of The Universe soon became one of the most popular animated cartoons of all time. Who amongst ’80s babies remembers a Saturday morning when he wasn’t sitting in front of the TV with a bowl of cereal ready to watch He-Man?

So you can only imagine how excited kids were in 1987 while getting ready to see Masters Of The Universe on the big screen. And you can surely imagine the feelings they had when the lights came up after the credits rolled; sadly, said sensation was the mind-numbing pain of disappointment.

Starring Dolph Lundgren, Frank Langella, and Courtney Cox (in one of her very first roles), Masters Of The Universe was a complete flop both commercially and critically. Over time, though, the film has earned a so-bad-its-good distinction, working on levels of cheesiness and silliness that the filmmakers certainly didn’t intend for. By the Power of Grayskull, We Have The Power… To defend this crappy movie.

TV show aired from: 1975 – 1979 (ABC)
Movie’s release year: 2004

Episode after episode of Starsky & Hutch featured streetwise detective David Michael Starsky (Paul Michael Glaser) and his laid-back partner Kenneth “Hutch” Hutchinson (David Soul) ripping around the streets of Bay City, California, in Starsky’s red Ford Gran Torino, which would eventually become known as the “Striped Tomato.” It’s a cheesy little show full of nostalgic fun that probably couldn’t have existed in another decade. Only, it does…

In 2004, Todd Phillips (The Hangover) decided to follow up his hilarious comedy Old School with a Ben Stiller/Owen Wilson-led feature film remake of the 1970’s hit. Regardless of the filmmakers’ reasons for adapting the material, Starsky & Hutch is a surprisingly adept film. It’s not necessarily great, per se, but Phillips’ pic isn’t nearly as bad as it could have been; not to mention, it turned out to be a financial success.

TV show aired from: 2000 – 2002 (MTV)
Movie’s release year: 2002

How do you take a reality series (one that’s become a modern television classic, no less) about a bunch of friends doing dangerous stunts, screwing with people, being crude, rude, and outrageous, and hurting themselves on purpose and turn it into a successful motion picture? Scratch that. Three successful motion pictures?! We’ll tell you how: You let them do the exact same things they do on TV. Only you don’t censor it. And you make their stunts bigger and more dangerous. And you eventually let the series go where it was always intended to go: into three dimensions.

After the unlikely idiot-box success of Jackass, it was only a matter of time until MTV Films unleashed their psychotic clan of pranksters out into the uncensored and pretty-much-anything-goes-if-it’s-a-comedy world of feature films. If you’re into this sort of thing, Jackass: The Movie is a sublime comedy.

Imagine that you’ve always waited for the moment to watch someone defecate into a display toilet in a plumbing store showroom. Well, your wish has been granted! While they might not exactly exhibit quality filmmaking, the Jackass flicks (Jackass: The Movie, in particular) are perfect viewing for whenever you just need to turn off your brain and have a good laugh.

TV show aired from: 2000 – 2004 (United Kingdom’s Channel 4; HBO)
Movie’s release year: 2006

British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen’s Da Ali G Show originally aired on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom before moving over to the US and the comfy confines of HBO, where his wacky characters could interview unsuspecting people (especially celebrities) with impunity. The clever and often groundbreaking show ran its course after two seasons, but its three main characters would, indeed, live on.

After the success of the series, Cohen had a minor hit in 2002 with Ali G Indahouse, but his major breakthrough here in the United States came with the 2006 release of the mockumentary Borat: Cultural Learnings Of America For Make Benefit Glorious Nation Of Kazakhstan. In the film, Cohen plays the titular fictional Kazakh journalist who travels to the U.S. to record interviews and interactions with Americans. After hitting theaters in a limited release, the comedic juggernaut caught on quickly with American audiences who weren’t all that familiar with Cohen’s previous work, and become a critical and commercial sensation.

So, why is Borat so far down on our list here? Well, it hasn’t aged greatly. The first half of the film is hilarious, but Cohen’s joke loses its place a bit in the second half and starts to feel repetitive. That said, it’s an interesting and influential flick that truly introduced Cohen to the states, and since then he’s gone on to do some inspired work in other films. Very nice!

TV show aired from: Featured on Saturday Night Live from 1988 – Present (NBC)
Movie’s release year: 1992

It's a shame how nearly everyone has seemingly forgotten about Wayne’s World. What started as a funny recurring sketch, starring Mike Myers and Dana Carvey, on Saturday Night Live turned into a worldwide phenomenon when the movie hit theaters in 1992. Myers and Carvey took their tiny public-access television show, their popular catchphrases, their irreverent brand of humor, and their Scooby-Doo endings and rode them all the way to box office success. The film’s influence was felt for nearly a decade before everyone seemed to forget about it.

There was a time in the ’90’s when you couldn’t go 15 minutes without hearing someone say “Schwing!” or “Schyea” or “That’s what she said.” The film even turned Tia Carrere into a star and propelled Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” all the way to No. 2 on the Billboard charts a stunning twenty years after its original release. If it weren’t for the forgettable sequel that followed a year later, we think Wayne’s World would, rightfully, be more kindly remembered.

TV show aired from: 1987 – 1996 (animated; syndication and CBS), 1997 – 1998 (live-action; Fox Kids), 2003 – 2009 (animated; 4Kids TV, The CW4Kids), 2012 (animated; Nickelodeon)
Movie’s release year: 1990

Based on the comic book series created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles began its television run at the tail end of 1987 and quickly became an animation behemoth. Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, Michelangelo, Splinter, Shredder, and the rest of the characters became household names (and toys) almost immediately. Kids were suddenly craving pizza constantly and exclaiming “Cowabunga!” to confused parents everywhere.

Then 1990 came around and the live-action adaptation took theaters by storm—the turtles became even bigger stars. Directed by Steve Barron, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles tells the turtle’s origin story and sticks closer to the dark tone of the original comics while also being filled with ridiculous action and funny one-liners. The film quickly became a fan favorite and, despite being mostly panned by critics, was the highest-grossing independent film of all time when it was released.

Followed by three more films and numerous television series, toys, and comic book adaptations, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles still stands as the most fun of them all.

TV show aired from: 1987 – 1991 (Fox)
Movie’s release year: 2012

21 Jump Street, the lively police procedural about young undercover cops investigating crimes in high schools, colleges, and other places that teens like to hang out, turned Johnny Depp into a teen idol. He, of course, hated every minute of it, but there was no stopping his rise to stardom once the series really took off. With iconic performances and “a very special episode”-type messages inserted throughout, the show became a cult hit and even prompted a spin-off, Booker, focusing on the Richard Grieco character. 21 Jump Street wasn’t a great show by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s certainly become a fondly remembered one.

Fast forward to 2012. Written by Jonah Hill and Michael Bacall, and directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller (Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs), the film version stars Hill and Channing Tatum as the young cops who must go undercover in a high school to help bust a drug ring. This project could easily have gone off the rails, but we’re here to tell you that 21 Jump Street is an extremely funny, R-rated, kickass action-comedy that will surprise you at just about every turn. Jonah Hill is, well, Jonah Hill and Tatum even shows off his comedy chops in this vast improvement over the series. And keep an eye out for that Johnny Depp cameo.

TV show aired from: March 1982 – July 1982 (ABC)
Movie’s release year: 1988

Created by the Jerry Zucker/Jim Abrahams/David Zucker team behind The Kentucky Fried Movie and Airplane!, the 1982 comedy series Police Squad! lasted a mere six episodes before being cancelled. However, the show gained enough of a following during that all-too-brief run to justify an entire series of films. And the creators kept star Leslie Nielsen in place as Sergeant Frank Drebin, even reusing many of the show’s gags in the films.

The Naked Gun: From The Files of Police Squad! took everything from the original series and turned it into an 85-minute barrage of visual gags, jokes, puns, and all the greatest things you’d expect from a true slapstick comedy. Co-starring Priscilla Presley, George Kennedy, and O.J. Simpson, the film was a commercial and critical success and spawned two sequels. A fourth film in the series had been rumored since the 1994 release of Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult, and was reportedly beginning to finally get some movement when Nielsen passed away in November 2010.

TV show aired from: 1983 – 1987 (NBC)
Movie’s release year: 2010

A remake of the 1983 series The A-Team without the signature role of B.A. Baracus being filled by Mr. T himself? Blasphemy! Maybe that’s why the film was stuck in development hell for nearly a decade. Mr. T’s portrayal of the team’s tough guy mechanic turned Baracus into one of the most iconic television characters of all time. Those are mighty big shows to fill.

But fill them 20th Century Fox finally did with mixed martial arts superstar Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. The brash, hulking and charismatic figure stepped into the role that he was seemingly born to play, and, wouldn’t you know it, he held his own. You can almost forget that Mr. T isn’t there. Almost.

Filling out the team is Liam Neeson as John “Hannibal” Smith, Bradley Cooper as Templeton “Face” Peck, and Sharlto Copley as H.M. “Howling Mad” Murdock. The 2010 remake amps up the violence and destruction that fans of the original series came to love, but peppers it with all the types of things Hollywood studios seem to think every summer action flick must have. The plot’s barely coherent and the characters aren’t fully baked, despite some great chemistry between the four leads. Yet, it all adds to a fun, brainless action distraction.

TV show aired from: 1993 – 2002 (Fox)
Movie’s release year: 1998

Instead of acting as quasi-remake of its TV predecessor, The X-Files: Fight The Future was designed to pick up where the show’s fifth season finale left off, bridging the gap between seasons five and six, while also working as a stand-alone movie). And therein lies the problem: The X-Files: Fight The Future tries to do too much and, ultimately, comes up a bit short both for fans of the series and the general movie-going audience.

That’s not to say that the film is bad. In fact, it does its job, rather well, essentially acting as a two-hour X-Files episode, and the performances by series regulars David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson are excellent. But The X-Files: Fight The Future never really gets a chance to have the same type of impact the show had on its audience.

The X-Files laid the groundwork for some of the great current sci-fi television with storied mythology, intriguing often-complicated storylines, and even great “monster of the week” episodes. It started a television trend toward showing the disturbing, gory, and gross, and for that, we’ll always remember it fondly.

Chris Carter (along with Duchovny and Anderson) followed the series with another film in 2008 (The X-Files: I Want To Believe), but we’d rather just forget about that one altogether.

TV show aired from: 1963 – 1967 (ABC)
Movie’s release year: 1993

Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones in 1993’s The Fugitive are the types of badasses that, frankly, it’d be great to see more of in movies today. The actors play the roles of Dr. Richard Kimble (Ford) and Samuel Gerard (Jones) with the urgency and confidence that makes you root for both of them, even as they are constantly at odds throughout nearly the entire film.

Based on the 1963 series of the same name, created by Roy Huggins, The Fugitive sticks closely to the show’s plot, but what took the series 120 51-minutes episodes to do the film wraps up in just over two hours. It’s a fast-paced action thriller that suffers just slightly from an overly complicated finale, but otherwise remains a solid piece of entertainment.

Tommy Lee Jones even reprised his role as Samuel Gerard in the 1998 thriller U.S. Marshals (an inferior but underrated film), without Ford as Richard Kimble.

TV show aired from: 1951 – 1959, 1967 – 1970 (NBC); 1989 – 1991 (Syndication), 2003 – 2004 (ABC)
Movie’s release year: 1987

The original Dragnet radio (which ran from 1949 through 1957) and television series is one of the most influential police procedurals of all time. Nearly every crime drama you see on TV these days has some roots in what you would have heard and seen in the 1950’s as people followed the realistic exploits of Sergeant Joe Friday.

The coolest popular version of Dragnet, however, is easily the 1987 parody film, starring Dan Aykroyd and Tom Hanks; Aykroyd plays Joe Friday (nephew of the original Sergeant Joe Friday) and Hanks plays his new partner Pep Streebek. Co-written by Aykroyd himself, Dragnet is tons of fun, focusing on the interplay between Aykroyd’s straight-as-an-arrow Friday and Hanks’ more laid-back, eccentric Streekbek.

It’s easily one of Aykroyd’s best performances, and his rapid-fire dialogue delivery is as much proof of his genius comedic timing as it is an homage to Jack Webb’s original creation.

TV show aired from: 1999 – Present (Nickelodeon)
Movie’s release year: 2004

How do you make an entire feature-length movie about a loveable, naïve anthropomorphic sea sponge and his barely-intelligent-enough-to-breath pink starfish? It’s easy. The animated show’s fifteen-minute episodes work nearly perfectly, so you take that formula, add in a few new, interesting characters voiced by certified stars, and send SpongeBob and Patrick on their merry way to do what they do best: make with the funny.

The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie hit theaters in 2004, at the very height of the animated character’s popularity, and turned a silly, subversive, and surprisingly clever animated series into an equally appealing movie experience. There are moments throughout the film where some of the show’s most beloved secondary characters, like Sandy Cheeks and Mr. Krabs, don’t get as much attention as they probably deserve, but, make no mistake about it, this is SpongeBob’s movie.

It’s his time to shine and shine is just what that little yellow sponge who lives in a pineapple under the sea does during all eighty-seven minutes of The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie.

TV show aired from: 1959 – 1964, 1985 – 1989 (CBS); 2002 – 2003 (UPN)
Movie’s release year: 1983

It’s quite amazing that you can still find a channel showing Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone just about every single day of the week (not to mention a yearly all-New-Year’s-Day marathon on Syfy). For a series that’s over fifty years old to still be this engaging to modernday audiences is a testament to the sheer power and beauty of Serling’s writing. One of the most influential and endlessly entertaining series of all time, The Twilight Zone has not only become an absolute television classic, but it’s also become a holiday tradition.

Imagine the excitement, then, in 1983, when movie remake of the show was announced. Not only did Steven Spielberg and John Landis produce it, but its four segments were directed by Landis, Spielberg, Joe Dante, and George Miller, all directors with impressive credits to their names. The film remade three classic episodes from the original series (“Kick The Can,” “It’s A Good Life,” “Nightmare At 20,000 Feet”) and also told one original tale (the film’s first segment, “Time Out”).

Unfortunately, things don’t go quite as planned. The first two segments (directed by superstars Landis and Spielberg) are, sadly, the weakest of the bunch, and the film suffers as a result until the third segment finally picks up the pace. The flick also marks a dark moment in Hollywood history when Vic Morrow and two Vietnamese child actors were horrifically killed by an out-of-control helicopter while filming Landis’ segment, “Time Out.” It was a tragic accident that not only hurt the film’s legacy, but also prompted Hollywood to avoid helicopter-related stunts for many years.

TV show aired from: 1959 – 1963 (ABC), 1993 – 1994 (syndication)
Movie’s release year: 1987

The 1959 crime drama The Untouchables, based on Eliot Ness and Oscar Fraley’s memoir of the same name, told the story of Ness’ experiences as a Prohibition agent in Chicago in the 1930’s, during the era of mob boss Al Capone; Ness worked with a team of handpicked special agents nicknamed The Untouchables. The series ran for four seasons and is said to be a highly fictionalized version of the events of the time. Robert Stack (yes, that Robert Stack, Mr. Unsolved Mysteries himself) played the part of Ness, while Neville Brand played the part of Al Capone in many episodes.

So how would the public respond to a 1987 remake of the series directed by Brian De Palma, written by David Mamet, and starring Kevin Costner, Robert De Niro, and Sean Connery? With widespread praise. The Untouchables was both a critical and a commercial success, and even earned Sean Connery an Academy Award win for Best Supporting Actor. Focusing on Ness’ pursuit of Capone during the Prohibition era allows the film to tighten up where the series floundered and ratchet up the suspense significantly. We love our mob movies here, and The Untouchables is easily one of the best of all time.

TV show aired from: 1985 – 1986 (syndication), 1989 – 1991 (syndication)
Movie’s release year: 1987

Ah, the good old animated series that grew out of a successful toy line; Hasbro did it with Transformers, and they did it again with G.I. Joe. The 1985 animated series G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero is highly regarded throughout both classic animation fandom and nostalgia-loving fans. If you, like us, grew up on the show, as well as the toys, it’s something you’ll likely never forget, especially those legendary “Knowing is half the battle!” PSA commercials that ran alongside the cartoons.

And you’re also keenly aware of the fact that the 2009 live-action film G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra is terrible, coming nowhere close to matching the awesomeness of the 1987 animated feature G.I. Joe: The Movie. With a great story that picked up where the animated series left off and a familiar cast of characters, the film is everything fans love about the series, only expanded to feature film length.

We get some great scene-chewing by characters like Cobra Commander, Serpentor, and Sgt. Slaughter while the Joes do their heroic thing. A great time all around.

TV show aired from: September 2002 – December 2002 (Fox)
Year the Movie Premiered: 2005

Poor Joss Whedon can’t catch a break, can he? Though, we assume he’s totally fine with not catching break at this point, seeing that he’s the director responsible for possibly the most anticipated superhero movie of all time, The Avengers.

It seems that every fan-beloved television series he creates, it ultimately gets the axe. In the case of Firefly, the show only lasted eleven episodes before Fox sent the space western packing. Fans were mad; browncoats were livid. And a movement was amassed to resurrect Captain Mal Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) and his crew from the depths of television obscurity.

In stepped Universal Pictures to save the day. They ponied (pun totally intended) up the dough to get Mal and the crew back aboard Serenity in a 2005 feature film that would expand the universe and extent the story that Firefly wasn’t able to finish as desired. Written and directed by Whedon himself, Serenity is an excellent little sci-fi tale, even if it can’t possibly match the brilliance and pacing that made its television counterpart a cult classic. We Browncoats are just happy to have a little more time to spend with the crew of Serenity.

Years TV Show Aired: 1969 – 1974 (ABC)
Movie’s release year: 1995

We’re not sure whose original idea it was to remake The Brady Bunch series in movie form back in 1995, but we’re glad they did, because, damn, that movie is still funny today. Say what you will about director Betty Thomas’ The Brady Bunch Movie (many have called it “lightweight” and “silly”), but it boasts a rather genius concept: Take the original 1970’s characters in their ridiculous 1970’s fashion and their 1970’s sitcom morality and throw them neck-deep into the 1990’s. Misunderstandings, confusion, and a whole lot of hilarity ensue.

The film is a parody of both the original sitcom and itself. It plays its laughs for irony and, just when you think it’s becoming a bit overwrought or ridiculous, The Brady Bunch Movie turns toward its audience and winks. We’re all in on the joke. Which, sadly, can’t be said for its two mostly terrible sequels. But the original Brady Bunch Movie takes a sitcom that was, admittedly, pretty ridiculous in the first place, and turns it on its head.

TV show aired from: 1966 – 1973 (CBS); 1988 - 1990 (ABC)
Movie’s release year: 1996

You can thank creator and producer Bruce Geller for introducing pop culture to the phrase “This tape will self-destruct in five…four…three…” in the original Mission: Impossible television series. The show followed a small team of secret agents (called Impossible Mission Forces, or IMF) led originally by Dan Briggs (Steven Hill), and was popular enough to stick around for five seasons (and to be revived for two more in the late 80’s). It also injected that indelible theme song into pop culture, as well as the heads of millions, for eternity.

Acclaimed director Brian De Palma and actor Tom Cruise tackled the concept in 1996, taking the original idea and expanding it, making nearly everything bigger and more elaborate. Cruise stars as Ethan Hunt, who’s tasked with discovering the mole within the CIA who framed him for the murders of everyone on his IMF team.

Despite the convoluted plot and often confusing storytelling, Mission: Impossible still works really well. Critics (and cast members of the original series) weren’t very kind to the film, but it was insanely popular at the box office and has since paved the way for three triumphant sequels.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to watch the original series and tell me if you have nearly as much fun as you do watching the feature films. We dare you.

TV show aired from: 1964 – 1966 (ABC)
Movie’s release year: 1991

We’d venture to say that The Addams Family is more popular now as 1960’s television nostalgia than it ever was during its initial run. From 1964 to 1966, when the episodes were airing weekly, the show’s similar working-class adversary The Munsters often beat The Addams Family in the ratings. Thanks to two animated series based on the original show (which was, of course, based on Charles Addams’ New Yorker cartoons) and two early ’90’s Barry Sonnenfeld films, however, the freaky and kooky fam has enjoyed a great resurgence of popularity. And for good reason: 1991’s The Addams Family is a hell of a lot of fun.

The critics may not have enjoyed it much back in 1991, but we have the advantage of time here, and, viewed 20 years later, Sonnenfeld’s flick actually holds up quite well. The performances are great, and the film captures the spirit and lightheartedness of the original series while also using more modern technology to bring Thing to life and to play around with booby traps and tricks throughout the Addams’ mansion.

If you haven’t seen it since its original release, The Addams Family definitely deserves another look.

TV show aired from: The Original Series 1966 – 1969 (NBC); The Animated Series, 1973 - 1974 (NBC); The Next Generation, 1987 - 1994 (first-run syndication); Deep Space Nine (1993 - 1999 (first-run syndication); Voyager, 1995 - 2001 (UPN); Enterprise, 2001 - 2005 (UPN)
Movie’s release year: 2009

The Star Trek brand is one of the longest-running and most storied franchises in all of film and television history. Not that we even needed to tell you that. Not only has Gene Roddenberry’s creation spawned numerous television series, movies, books, games, and just about every other creative entity you can imagine, there have even been a few critically acclaimed documentaries about the franchise’s fans made. Now that’s serious.

Despite Star Trek’s rabid, ever-growing fan-base, a funny thing happened in 2009: It gained a few million more fans. People that might have previously thought of the series as only geek candy they couldn’t (and wouldn’t try to) understand were suddenly enamored with the classic story, the interesting characters, and the legendary status of the franchise.

All this as a result of a 2009 “reboot” film created by J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof, written by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, and starring Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, and Zoe Saldana, amongst others. The film hit theaters and soon after became a huge critical and commercial success, and, most impressively, made liking Star Trek hip again. Quite a feat.