Oscars to Emmys: Can 'Crash' succeed as a TV series?
With the news that "Crash" — Oscar's best-picture champ of 2005 — is being turned into a television series, now is a good time to take a look back at the TV track record of other Oscar contenders. Of the 23 such films that have gone from the big screen to the small one, only four have made for series that lasted more than one season. But even such a small rate of success won't stop producers from continuing to try and take a proven property and squeeze more life out of it. After all, as that curmudgeonly wag Fred Allen once remarked, "Imitation is the sincerest form of television."
"L.A. Confidential" (1997)
The 2003 HBO pilot featured Kiefer Sutherland in the Kevin Spacey role with lesser known actors Josh Hopkins and David Conrad filling in for Russell Crowe and Guy Pearce.
"Fargo" (1996)
The 1997 CBS pilot starred Edie Falco in Frances McDormand's Oscar-winning part of Marge Gunderson and was directed by Oscar-winner Kathy Bates.
"The Fugitive" (1993)
This serial drama went full circle from ABC's highest rated series of the mid-1960s (it won the 1966 Emmy) with David Janssen as the wrongfully accused man to a vehicle for Harrison Ford to a one-season wonder on CBS in 2000 with Tim Daly as the runner and Mykelti Williamson ("Forrest Gump") reprising Oscar-winner Tommy Lee Jones' role as the chaser.
"Driving Miss Daisy" (1989)
The 1992 CBS pilot of the best picture winner starred Joan Plowright and Emmy winner Robert ("Benson") Guillaume instead of Oscar winner Jessica Tandy and Morgan Freeman.
"Working Girl" (1988)
This short-lived 1990 NBC sitcom had Sandra Bullock stepping into the running shoes of the original working girl, Oscar nominee Melanie Griffith.
"Breaking Away" (1979)
Oscar nominee Barbara Barrie reprised her role as the straitlaced mother with Shaun Cassidy replacing Dennis Christopher as her offbeat son in this short lived 1980 ABC sitcom.
"M*A*S*H*" (1970)
While Robert Altman's film won an Oscar for screenplay, no one would have predicted that the CBS sitcom version that debuted to so-so ratings in 1972 would run for 11 years, win the comedy series Emmy in 1974, and draw a record audience to its 1983 finale.
"In the Heat of the Night" (1967)
This best picture winner came to NBC in 1988 with TV stalwart Carroll O'Connor as the Southern sheriff, a role that won Rod Steiger an Oscar, and Howard Rollins as the Northern detective first played by Sidney Poitier. For the first of its six seasons, O'Connor took home an Emmy to join the four he won for "All in the Family" and became the only actor ever to win for lead roles in both comedy and drama series.
"How the West Was Won" (1962)
The sprawling Western inspired two ABC miniseries in 1977 and 1978 starring James Arness ("Gunsmoke") and Oscar winner Eva Marie Saint and then a short-lived 1979 series.
"Peyton Place" (1957)
The lurid bestseller was tamed down for the movies and toned down even further when it became TV's first primetime soap, running on ABC from 1964 to 1969. Though the film went 0 for 9 at the Oscars, Lee Grant won an Emmy in the third season. The series launched the careers of Ryan O'Neal and Mia Farrow and Oscar winner Dorothy Malone proved an able replacement for Lana Turner.
"The King and I" (1956)
After winning both the Tony and the Oscar for playing the King of Siam, perhaps Yul Brynner thought he could add an Emmy to his collection by starring in the 1972 ABC sitcom "Anna and the King. Oscar nominee Samantha Eggar ("The Collector") replaced Deborah Kerr as the governess but audiences missed the Rodgers & Hammerstein music and tuned out.
"Mister Roberts" (1955)
The long-running Broadway play won Henry Fonda a 1948 Tony and the film version got Jack Lemmon the supporting actor Oscar. But the 1965 one-season NBC sitcom starring Roger Smith and Steve Harmon won neither awards nor ratings.
"Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" (1954)
CBS thought by contemporizing this MGM musical originally set in pioneer days and casting the likes of Richard Dean Anderson and River Phoenix as two of the titular brothers they would have a hit. But without the singing and dancing, the show proved less than successful in 1982.
"From Here to Eternity" (1953)
Both the best picture winner and the 1979 NBC mini-series drew from the James Jones novel. While William Devane and Natalie Wood were no Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr, the TV audience still watched though the 1980 series with Barbara Hershey replacing Wood was found wanting.
"The Greatest Show on Earth" (1952)
This 1963 one-season wonder on ABC featured a range of Ringling Brothers acts wrangled by Jack Palance in the role of the circus boss first played by Charlton Heston in the best picture winner.
"Going My Way" (1944)
On this one-season 1962 ABC sitcom version of the best picture winner, Gene Kelly and Leo G. Carroll donned the clerical collars that won Bing Crosby and Barry Fitzgerald Oscars.
"Casablanca" (1943)
ABC unsuccessfully tried to remake this classic best picture winner in 1955 with Charles McGraw in the role of Rick, forever immortalized by Humphrey Bogart. NBC thought they would have better luck in 1983 with David Soul ("Starsky and Hutch") but fared even worse. The one blessing is that neither series featured Ilsa, so memorably played by Ingrid Bergman.
"Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" (1939)
This one-season 1962 ABC sitcom saw Fess Parker, best known as TV's "Davy Crockett," stepping into Jimmy Stewart's shoes as the idealistic Senator.
"You Can't Take It With You" (1938 winner)
Almost a half century on, the 1987 syndicated sitcom discovered that Kaufman & Hart's crazy characters did not play so well in contemporary times. While Lionel Barrymore ruled the roost in the best picture winner, Harry Morgan was at the helm in the tube version.
"The Adventures of Robin Hood" (1938)
The tales of this medieval marauder and his merry men made for a hit for CBS that ran for three seasons from 1955.
"Mr. Deeds Goes to Town" (1936)
ABC tried to update this Frank Capra classic about a country bumpkin who proves slicker than the city folk in 1969, but with Monte Markham in the title role first played by Gary Cooper this sitcom was no laughing matter.
"Little Women" (1932-1933)
The Louisa May Alcott classic was remade by MGM in 1949 and then as a mini-series by NBC in 1978. As always seems to be the case, the powers that be presumed that the audience that liked the mini would love the series but that has yet to be the case.
"The Front Page" (1930-1931)
The earliest of the best picture contenders to be adapted for television was this short lived 1949 CBS series about the newspaper business. The Hecht-MacArthur play and movie adaptation mixed comedy and drama but the TV series focused more on the serious with real-life newsman John Daly playing the demanding editor. While this show did little for his reputation, his next job, as moderator of the long-running quiz show "What's My Line?", made his career.
(Photos: Twentieth-Century Fox)
You missed a few: Paper Moon (1974) which famously won Tatum O'Neal an Oscar at age 10 was turned into a TV series that fall and ran for only 13 episodes on ABC. Jodie Foster played the Addie role on TV. The Thin Man (1935) which didn't win an Oscar but was nominated in four major categories including Best Picture was a NBC series that ran for two seasons starting in 1957. Shane (1954) which won the oscar for color cinematograpy and was nominated for five other major awards including Best Picture was turned into a TV western for CBS in 1966 but only ran for 17 episodes. That's one more success and two more failures.
Posted by: JM | January 31, 2008 at 03:43 PM
This was aready discussed at length over at Sasha's site. The general consensus was that it was a bad idea. On the other hand it did seem more like a tv movie than an oscar winning classic with it's cheesy pandering. Maybe it could work on that level but, i have no interest in seeing it.
Posted by: KJ | January 31, 2008 at 09:10 AM