 Article first published on Technorati at http://technorati.com/entertainment/tv/article/the-angels-fall-from-grace
To all of our great surprise I’m sure, the new Charlie’s Angels series has been retired to the realm of bad ideas. Yes the series is now over. But this is not the first show which was a film to have a very short life span. Now I know so many of you are going to say “But Charlie’s Angels was a series way back when.†This of course is true but the most recent memory would be the film so I will place my focus on television series which were wrongfully spawned from feature films. Some of these failures might surprise you. Not that they failed….but that they even existed.
While there have been some television series to succeed after being a feature film, let me show you the other side of coin. The failures.
Remember Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels? Did you know that in 2000 Lock, Stock…The Series was released? Yes….it was. Basically a group of four friends who run The Lock pub in London would attempt business ventures each episode to no avail of course. Not only did the business ventures fall flat on its face but so did the series after a whopping 7 episodes.
Then we have Blade which spawned Blade The Series. I know, the thought process behind developing these show titles is incredible!!! How many hours were spent molding this masterpiece? Not enough. Rapper Kirk “Sticky Fingaz†Jones assumed the role of Blade with Wipeout beauty Jill Wagner playing Krista Starr…two r’s. Do I really have to get into the plot for this show? Sum up? Okay. Basically after Blade: Trinity there are still Vampire houses left. So our favorite day walker wants to kill them all. Well Spike killed Blade after 12 episodes.
How about Ferris Bueller’s Day Off giving way to Ferris Bueller. This happen in 1990 on NBC. Charlie Schlatter took over for Matthew Broderick. At least they tried to be creative. The show was based on the premise that the film was fashioned after real life Ferris’ (Schlatter) experiences. Even going so far as to have Ferris displeased with Broderick portraying him and leading to a massacred cardboard cutout of the film with a chainsaw. Needless to say the only thing this show gave us was a glimpse at then unknown actress Jennifer Aniston playing Ferris’ sister. Beyond that, 13 episodes and the show was on permanent vacation.
I seem to remember the surprising success of My Big Fat Greek Wedding. But I do not remember My Big Fat Greek Life which was the series that followed. Nia Vardalos transitioned her character to the small screen along with the rest of the cast (minus John Corbett) in 2003 on CBS. This failure was epic as the show had great backing with HBO Television and Tom Hank’s Playtone Productions for Sony Pictures Television. Basically the show just continued after the film with Nia (Toula) trying to cope with Chicago suburban life and her new upper middle class WASP husband. While the film garnered great success, the series couldn’t continue that success on the small screen and cancelled the show after 7 episodes.
Movies such as M*A*S*H* managed to become extremely successful shows, sometimes things should just be left on the big screen and forgotten. Let the last memory of the film linger in your mind and leave you with a warm feeling in your heart. As for Charlie’s Angels, both the film and television show left me with a strong desire for some Alka-Seltzer and a long winter’s nap….and it’s only fall.
