Tag Archives: Stargate SG-1

When a film hits the big screen, there is always a TV producer looking on with interest. They will be analysing about whether there is the potential for a successful TV spin-off that will gain high ratings, often off the back of the successful film or film franchise.

It is surprising how many television shows start out in life as a movie and then later are adapted for television. Some of the better-known examples include Shaft, which was a successful film of 1971 that was later adapted for TV and produced a number of TV movies that ran on the new CBS channel in America. In all, there were seven Shaft episodes shown on TV during 1973 and 1974.

Another successful crossover was that of the movie Stargate, which hit the big screens in 1994 and had star names like Kurt Russell and James Spader playing the key roles. This was then adapted for TV in the form of the series Stargate SG-1, which hit television screens in 1997 and ran for 214 episodes. It was the longest-running sci-fi series on TV until it was surpassed by Smallville in 2011, which itself was adapted from the Superman movie franchise.

This theme has continued and will likely carry on for the foreseeable future. Even the BBC are producing series such as Sherlock starring Benedict Cumberbatch that originally were films adapted from the books by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The TV series has been one of the BBC’s flagship programmes over the last few years and has already produced four series each containing three episodes. At its peak, the show had around 11.6 million views per episode and has received a number of accolades.

So where can the next big TV hit come from? There is a lot of potential and certainly plenty of different themes and genres that can still be explored and adapted from the current stock of successful movies.

Jump with me to read more and to find out a couple of ideas… Continue reading →