TV Shows You Wish Existed

[GreekGeek]

This was a topic on a different site, but it generated such interesting ideas I thought I'd ask here.

Have you ever watched shows on TV, or read the description of them, and thought, "I could do better than that!" Here's your chance!

I personally would love to see an American version of Two Fat Ladies, maybe with one Paula Deen type (or even PD herself) and a similarly plus-sized chef from New England, the Midwest, or the West. 

Touring the old Route 66 this past summer made me want to see an updated version--two adventurers on the back roads of the U.S.

Edited September 10, 2017 by GreekGeek

[Joe]

Yes, absolutely. A space opera show that is tonally part way between Star Trek: Voyager and the modern Battlestar Galactica. People stranded out in the big bad universe, trying to get home safe. A little more realistic than STV, people having to worry about resources and sometimes making dodgy deals just to stay alive. But not going the full BSG grimdark. A ship, and maybe some of the crew, that by the end has been half rebuilt with alien tech. People that went a little bit native and have abandoned standard protocol because it wasn't working for them. And so on.

[Chaos Theory]

1 hour ago, Joe said:

Yes, absolutely. A space opera show that is tonally part way between Star Trek: Voyager and the modern Battlestar Galactica. People stranded out in the big bad universe, trying to get home safe. A little more realistic than STV, people having to worry about resources and sometimes making dodgy deals just to stay alive. But not going the full BSG grimdark. A ship, and maybe some of the crew, that by the end has been half rebuilt with alien tech. People that went a little bit native and have abandoned standard protocol because it wasn't working for them. And so on.

Sounds like season 4 of Defiance.  And a lot of fun.  

[Joe]

6 hours ago, Chaos Theory said:

Sounds like season 4 of Defiance.  And a lot of fun.  

I never watched Defiance. Maybe I should track it down and give it a shot.

[MaryMitch]

Has there ever been a female "Columbo"?  By that I mean a woman detective who is over 50, not in great physical shape nor attractive (by Hollywood standards, so that means normal looking), but solves crimes?

[LilWharveyGal]

Murder, She Wrote?

[Chaos Theory]

1 hour ago, Joe said:

I never watched Defiance. Maybe I should track it down and give it a shot.

Amazon Prime.  Season 1 is a bit slow going.  Its three seasons and ends well.  If you liked Alien Nation it is a bit like that.  Alien immigration story meets old fashion western.   Takes place about a decade or so after a devastating war with a "multicultural" alien species that teraformed Earth so it is no longer recognizable.  While most of earth has self segregated.  Defiance is a city (that I believe used to be St. Louis) that is trying to live together both human and alien with different degrees of success.    The first season is a world building season but it does introduce the characters fairly adeptly but the second and third seasons tell incredible stories.  If there was a fourth season I could have seen it heading towards what was described.  There was no season four.  I probably should have phrased by reply better but the end of season 3 left just that kind of thing open.  

Edited September 10, 2017 by Chaos Theory

[SmithW6079]

52 minutes ago, MaryMitch said:

Has there ever been a female "Columbo"?  By that I mean a woman detective who is over 50, not in great physical shape nor attractive (by Hollywood standards, so that means normal looking), but solves crimes?

"Agatha Raisin," a British import airing on PBS and streaming on Acorn TV, might fit the bill. She's a retired London PR executive who moves to a village in Cotswold and ends up solving murders. It's based on the book series by MC Beaton. Agatha is supposed to be on her 50s and not conventionally attractive, but I think they de-aged her a little and prettied her up for TV. 

[ratgirlagogo]

58 minutes ago, MaryMitch said:

Has there ever been a female "Columbo"?  By that I mean a woman detective who is over 50, not in great physical shape nor attractive (by Hollywood standards, so that means normal looking), but solves crimes?

Of course there was Kate Columbo  but she was younger.  Most famously I'd say Miss Marple.

[Irlandesa]

Speaking of Colombo, Murder She Wrote and Agatha Raisin, I really wish we had more cozy mysteries available.  Most of the series like this that are available now are from other countries like Agatha Raisin (although that's probably done), The Brokenwood Mysteries (from NZ), and Death in Paradise (UK). 

USA used to make these with Monk and Psych but then it decided to get "serious" and moved away from its Blue Skies/Characters Welcome concept.  I guess Castle could fit into this genre too but even it got too serious from time to time.

Psych is coming back for a Christmas movie and Hallmark Movies and Mysteries does movies in this genre but there are no series. 

[HunterHunted]

Even though I watched all of Grimm and even enjoyed it from time to time, I still wish the 17th Precinct had become a TV series. It was a police procedural set in a world with no science, but where magic exists. I loved the unaired pilot. 

[selkie]

12 hours ago, Joe said:

 People stranded out in the big bad universe, trying to get home safe. A little more realistic than STV, people having to worry about resources and sometimes making dodgy deals just to stay alive. But not going the full BSG grimdark. A ship, and maybe some of the crew, that by the end has been half rebuilt with alien tech. People that went a little bit native and have abandoned standard protocol because it wasn't working for them. And so on.

Farscape? If you can get past the muppet thing, it checks a lot of those boxes, and the human and human-equivalent leads look great in leather pants. At one point, they're even breaking into that universe's version of Fort Knox to get money. 

I so want 'Rivers of London' to go from optioned to picked up as a tv series. Love the books so dearly, and Peter's just got such a different voice than what you normally get with British television. 

[Joe]

41 minutes ago, selkie said:

Farscape? If you can get past the muppet thing, it checks a lot of those boxes, and the human and human-equivalent leads look great in leather pants. At one point, they're even breaking into that universe's version of Fort Knox to get money. 

I so want 'Rivers of London' to go from optioned to picked up as a tv series. Love the books so dearly, and Peter's just got such a different voice than what you normally get with British television. 

I love Farscape, but that's more abut a bunch of individuals coming together rather than what I imagine.

Also, ITA about Rivers of London. Aaronovitch is my favourite living author, and he has plenty of TV experience.

[Blergh]

Here's a show I wish existed "Buzz Off ,Already!" - a game show in which viewers would get the ultimate prize of being able to tell their least fave television personalities and celebs to do the above and they'd also win television sets, 'puter terminals and phones that would automatically turn on to something else for the rest of the contestants' lives so they'd never have to hear or see the celebs again!

[Popples]

On 9/10/2017 at 6:12 PM, MaryMitch said:

Has there ever been a female "Columbo"?  By that I mean a woman detective who is over 50, not in great physical shape nor attractive (by Hollywood standards, so that means normal looking), but solves crimes?

Vera

I think you'll find shows like that more in British television, unfortunately.

[anna0852]

I've always thought that the Freeform channel could do a great series with The Face on the Milk Carton books. It seems perfectly suited for them. And I've always thought the books would make a great TV series. Not a movie though, there's far too much to include.

[BabyVegas]

You know what I would love to see? A show about Millenials trying to get their lives started that is a remotely accurate depiction of things. I'd like to see a show where the women are not 98% obsessed with their love lives. I'd love to see a show that depicted women supporting women in their careers or the hard work it takes to get a career going. I'd be interested in a show that depicts its young characters not really knowing what career might be good for them or how to get started in that career. I'd REALLY love it if such a show had more women of color. It'd be great if it were set somewhere other than New York or LA. And, for a degree of difficulty, I would prefer it not to be set anywhere in the fashion/publishing industry. I'd love to see strong, powerful women who aren't eight feet deep in hair extensions, fake eyelashes, and outfits that are more runway than real world. And most of all, I'd really love it if such a show actually had Millenial input, rather than just depicting a bunch of spoiled whiny brats the way most TV producers seem to think is accurate.

[HunterHunted]

On 10/4/2017 at 1:40 PM, anna0852 said:

I've always thought that the Freeform channel could do a great series with The Face on the Milk Carton books. It seems perfectly suited for them. And I've always thought the books would make a great TV series. Not a movie though, there's far too much to include.

It was already a TV movie on Fox Family, which would become ABC Family which would become Freeform.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113008/

Finding Carter had a similar premise and aired for 2 seasons on MTV.

[Danielg342]

Vicendum. 😛

Sorry for the spam...but, as cliched as it sounds, I do believe it could be TV's next big thing and I hope it can get there. I certainly wish it was a TV show.

As for other TV shows I wish were around, I have a twofold answer inspired by The Blacklist:

1. A show based on the series' original concept- a criminal mastermind who decides (for whatever reason) to assist the police in catching other criminals. Yes, the pilot suggested this would be the ovearching premise behind the show and the first season kinda followed this formula, but later seasons would focus too much on the "mysterious relationship" storyline between the two leads that was hardly ever interesting. A wasted opportunity that was.
2. A show based on the Tom Keen character. Yeah, The Blacklist: Redemption was supposed to be this show, but they hardly touched the surface of what Keen could have been. You had a chameleon character so good at his craft that he could switch personas effortlessly, which he used to be a ruthless hitman who underwent dangerously deep undercover missions against some of the world's highest profile characters. How that can't be a successful TV series I really don't know.

[Harvey]

A series decipting what would happen if Cows took over the world.

[Blergh]

18 hours ago, Harvey said:

A series decipting what would happen if Cows took over the world.

They'd die off in all temperate climates after starving to death having not considering digging into to snow to eat grass because they  are naturally found in hot climates where snow doesn't exist. 

Hence, maybe it could be a two-part miniseries with them taking over the whole sub-polar world but them being defeated in all places snow covers the grass in  wintertime but with the complication that all the people in tropical and subtropical climates would seek refuge in temperate climates!

Edited March 29, 2020 by Blergh

[RealHousewife]

I want a current version of Sex & the City. I was a kid when it started, so it would be cool if a similar show came out now that I'm around the ages of the women during the show, something about a group of girlfriends single in their 30's.

[JustHereForFood]

On 2/17/2021 at 11:22 AM, RealHousewife said:

I want a current version of Sex & the City. I was a kid when it started, so it would be cool if a similar show came out now that I'm around the ages of the women during the show, something about a group of girlfriends single in their 30's.

I think The Bold Type has often been compared to Sex and the City. I have never watched Sex and the City so I can't really say if it is accurate comparison, but I would definitely recommend The Bold Type as a show about young sometime-single women working in media industry. 

[RealHousewife]

On 4/22/2021 at 7:12 AM, JustHereForFood said:

I think The Bold Type has often been compared to Sex and the City. I have never watched Sex and the City so I can't really say if it is accurate comparison, but I would definitely recommend The Bold Type as a show about young sometime-single women working in media industry. 

Thank you! :) I just saw this. 

[Raja]

On 9/10/2017 at 3:12 PM, MaryMitch said:

Has there ever been a female "Columbo"?  By that I mean a woman detective who is over 50, not in great physical shape nor attractive (by Hollywood standards, so that means normal looking), but solves crimes?

There is now Robyn McCall of The Equalizer reboot. While she doesn't appear Hollywood fit she is played as in shape for a heavyweight MMA fighter and at least one NYPD detective thinks she is just fine as Brooklyn attractive. 

[Blergh]

On 9/10/2017 at 5:12 PM, MaryMitch said:

Has there ever been a female "Columbo"?  By that I mean a woman detective who is over 50, not in great physical shape nor attractive (by Hollywood standards, so that means normal looking), but solves crimes?

There was the 1979-1980 series that starred the 24-year-old Kate Mulgrew called Mrs. Columbo about a homemaker mother of a preteen girl who started doing detective work via working for her neighborhood newspaper (and it was initially implied following the footsteps of her unseen husband). However, inasmuch as it became crystal clear that Peter Falk NEVER going to appear on the series (and this Mrs. Columbo was nothing close to how the bumbling Mr. Columbo [on his iconic series] had described his unseen wife to get the baddies to let their guards down for him to entrap them), they soon chickened out and had the leading character change her name from Kate Columbo to Kate Callahan and ultimately retitled the series as Kate Loves a Mystery. Regardless, the series wheezed its way to cancellation after 13 episodes.

[Raja]

The novel  having too many storylines for its two hour movie I would like to see a miniseries on Pat Conroy's The Lords of Discipline. It could be a more modern day, this century, story as a full series Friday Night Lights style but the social changes of 55 years ago that the book and movie covered is the story I want to see done. 

[shapeshifter]

On 2/11/2023 at 3:15 AM, Blergh said:

There was the 1979-1980 series that starred the 24-year-old Kate Mulgrew called Mrs. Columbo about a homemaker mother of a preteen girl who started doing detective work via working for her neighborhood newspaper (and it was initially implied following the footsteps of her unseen husband).
…they soon chickened out and had the leading character change her name from Kate Columbo to Kate Callahan and ultimately retitled the series as Kate Loves a Mystery.…

I just watched the first episode of Mrs. Columbo on free Tubi. The episode, “Word Game,” ends with “To be continued…,” but Tubi doesn’t have part 2.
Kate Milgrew would’ve been just 23 when the pilot was filmed. The actress who played her daughter was 9 years old. 
Presuming Mrs. Columbo was not a child bride, I guess she was supposed to be 33-ish, which Kate Milgrew does reasonably portray.

[anna0852]

I’d really love for Tom Hanks to do a fourth World War II based mini series using the book We Band of Angels as the source material. It tells the story of almost 100 American nurses captured when the Philippines fell and interred as POWs until 1945.

[Constant Viewer]

On 2/27/2024 at 10:18 AM, anna0852 said:

I’d really love for Tom Hanks to do a fourth World War II based mini series using the book We Band of Angels as the source material. It tells the story of almost 100 American nurses captured when the Philippines fell and interred as POWs until 1945.

I've often thought the same thing!

 

I also wish someone would do a miniseries about the Mitford sisters.