Books That Would Make Great TV Shows

[proserpina65]

20 hours ago, feverfew said:

One of the problems* with the Pern-series is that the books follow so many different people across centuries - I mean; where would you start? Personally I would prefer to anchor the show with Menolly, since a lot of the discoveries happens after the Harper Hall-trilogy, but that might put the books too firmly in the young adult realm. Lessa's story is also interesting (as is Moreta's and Nerilka's), but nothing much happens in the years between Dragonflight and Dragonsinger, and you'd definitely want to tell the (political) story of North vs. South, as well as the discovery of the spaceship...

*Another problem is the slightly icky thing with the dragons mating/bonded humans. It went over my head when I read them as a teenager, but now it makes me squirmish. However, there's a great chance for cast diversity, since the Pernese are supposed to be decendants of space travellers, while 'normal' high fantasy has a tendency to look very Northern European.

Personally, I would blend the first two books of the original trilogy (Dragonflight, Dragonquest) with the first two Harper Hall ones (Dragonsong, Dragonsinger).  Those four fit fairly neatly together, imo.  And then The White Dragon and Dragondrums fit together.  Beyond that, the series starts to get spotty as far as quality is concerned, although Dragonsdawn worked really well as an origin story.  I'm particularly fond of Moreta and Nerilka's Story, as well, although that's probably way more than I could hope for.

The mating thing never really bothered me even though I got it right away, but I can see where it could be problematic.  But you're right about the opportunity for diversity, especially in Dragonsdawn.

[feverfew]

13 hours ago, Danny Franks said:

There's more than one female character in the series. Molly, Kettricken, Patience, Starling, Kettle and Celerity all play roles that range from middling to significant. Any adaptation would have to focus more on characters other than Fitz, but it never disappointed me that the book didn't, because it's told from Fitz's point of view. And he's not the most reliable narrator anyway, but I didn't find him annoying as much as I found some of his decisions and reactions annoying. But he is a teenage boy, so I was always more than happy to forgive and understand when he did something dumb.

I'd love to see an adaptation of the Farseer Trilogy, but I do agree that Liveship Traders would be more likely, and lends itself more easily to being converted to the screen. But it's not like the potential minefield of the Fool goes away, because you have Amber instead.

I had this massive post written about why I never connected with Fitz (and why I - even though you're right, and there's more female characters than Molly - felt most female characters were inconsequential unless in regards to male character development) - but then I closed the window by mistake. Bummer. Next time I'm going to write an essay I'll remember to copy+save ;) The main gist of it was that I get what you're saying about POVs, but the Farseer-trilogy is just never going to be my favourite. I like The Tawney Man much more, but even here, Fitz regressed somewhat.

As for gender ambiguity, I felt the Fool identified as a woman in Liveship Traders, and that makes for a slightly less murky starting point.

 

6 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

Personally, I would blend the first two books of the original trilogy (Dragonflight, Dragonquest) with the first two Harper Hall ones (Dragonsong, Dragonsinger).  Those four fit fairly neatly together, imo.  And then The White Dragon and Dragondrums fit together.  Beyond that, the series starts to get spotty as far as quality is concerned, although Dragonsdawn worked really well as an origin story.  I'm particularly fond of Moreta and Nerilka's Story, as well, although that's probably way more than I could hope for.

The mating thing never really bothered me even though I got it right away, but I can see where it could be problematic.  But you're right about the opportunity for diversity, especially in Dragonsdawn.

That could work! Would you then age up Lessa and F'lar in Dragonflight/Dragonquest to match closer to their age in Dragonsinger? At least so Lessa and Menolly aren't (almost) peers? Obviously they wouldn't then be parents to an 11 year old when Menolly's at Benden for the Hatching, but we'll only lose F'lessan, not Jaxom. Actually, the more I think about it, the more I like it :)

[Sandman87]

22 hours ago, selkie said:

A The Black Company series has a lead (Eliza Dushku) and seems to be inching toward reality:

http://deadline.com/2017/04/eliza-dushku-star-the-black-company-series-adaptation-david-goyer-im-global-1202076367/

Nice! I came here just now to suggest the Black Company books, but I've been beaten to it. Dushku wouldn't be my first choice for The Lady, but whatever. I'm more curious about who will be cast as the company magicians. Hope they can find someone who's sufficiently short, ugly, and large-mouthed to play Goblin.

Incidentally, I'm amused that the article you linked describes the books as "Tolkeinesque". That's akin to describing The Maltese Falcon as being like a Sherlock Holmes story.

[Miss Dee]

No mention of David Eddings' Belgariad or Elenium series? Sad!

If you had a showrunner familiar enough with the series to keep the best while exorcising some of the author's worst tendencies, I think it would pull in fans who are sort of intrigued by Game of Thrones but are put off by the darkness of it. Eddings' world is more humourous and realistic in terms of "human" nature while being just as deadly and exciting, and the magic is prosaic enough not to seem overly "high" in nature.

I would prefer they colorblind-cast the everloving shit out of it though, to the point where you'd have to fanwave the genetics as obviously not based on our world. Otherwise with the characterization of the different peoples it would come off as incredibly racist. I can think of actors and actresses for all the major roles, except for Polgara and Ce'Nedra.

[Joe]

Shadowrun. It's a tabletop RPG that has been adapted into a line of books and video games. Completely crazy. You could get away with makeup for the orks, and elves, you could even hire genuine little people for the dwarves. But the trolls would need performance capture. How many seven foot actors are there? Several pro wrestlers, several from Game of Thrones. Basketballers are just too skinny, no matter how muscly they are. And then there's all the magic and the matrix.

In terms of storyline, you could start small. A team does a run that gets complicated. Then once the team escapes their situation, they try to follow up who actually hired them and why. They would get dragged into some big overarching plot. You could borrow elements from the RPG metaplot, like getting them caught in Chicago when the bugs break loose, and so on. As a season finale, they would have to fight a dragon...

[Kromm]

I would do a Sci-Fi Anthology series around Fred Saberhagen's Berserker stories. Yes, the world has seen The Borg, and countless other copies of The Berserkers. but they were arguably the originals. Don't even try a serial, but instead mine the wealth of short stories and do 13 different ones with high end casting (you could do some real high end casting when the commitment is only 1 episode).

Okay, while it's not always the smartest or best fantasy, if I were a TV producer, I'd always be on the lookout for Urban Fantasy, because it's cheaper to make, but can also hit big, like True Blood or Vampire Diaries (although it could also be not big, like Bitten or Shadowhunters). Just to try something different than most of the ones which have already been tried on TV, I'd go for a lighter/more comedic one if possible. I'll have to think about which one, among the ones I've read. I suppose True Blood was supposed to be on the lighter side originally, but that didn't really stick. Mind you, I haven't forgotten about the "Wouldn't Have Been Viable Until Now" part of the equation, even though I just invoked the name of several series which already HAVE happened. I'd go for a book with bigger, more visible magic than has been on one of these shows before, where magic is usually shuffled to one side or minimized.

Edited April 30, 2017 by Kromm

[SVNBob]

34 minutes ago, Joe said:

Shadowrun. It's a tabletop RPG.... [snip]

In terms of storyline, you could start small. A team does a run that gets complicated.

Oooh.  That gives me an idea using another tabletop RPG.  Paranoia.  From the wiki:

Quote

The game is set in a dystopian future city which is controlled by an artificial intelligence construct called The Computer (also known as 'Friend Computer') (to call Friend Computer anything else other than that name is treason, citizen), and where information (including the game rules) are restricted by color-coded security clearance. Players are initially enforcers of The Computer's authority (known as 'Troubleshooters', mainly for the fact that they shoot trouble), and will be given missions to seek out and eliminate threats to Friend Computer's control (of which there are none, as the computer is a perfect being that we should be glad to serve under). The players are also part of prohibited underground movements (which means that the players' characters are usually included among the aforementioned 'security threats'), and will have secret objectives including theft from and murder of other players.

So a darkly humorous sci-fi series where:

• any character could betray any other character at any time...for any reason
• secret mutant powers (which are also prohibited)
• objectives that may include contradictory orders
• all characters have 6 clones, so death is cheap and continuity is loose.

Done well, I think it could work.

[selkie]

18 hours ago, Kromm said:

Okay, while it's not always the smartest or best fantasy, if I were a TV producer, I'd always be on the lookout for Urban Fantasy, because it's cheaper to make, but can also hit big, like True Blood or Vampire Diaries 

Seems like urban fantasy gets optioned a lot. I know that the rights for both the Rivers of London and Anita Blake:Vampire Hunter have been bought at various times. If you can find the right young black British guy to play Peter (book canon- looks kind of like a young Barack Obama) and have the budget to blow a few things up in addition to computer FX, Rivers could make a heck of a fun series. I do love Peter's snarky humor and clear love for the city of London.

As for Anita Blake, I suspect that Laurell Hamilton herself is a stumbling block in getting the books turned into a tv series.  I really did enjoy the early books, but eventually bailed when the ploy disappeared under the weight of the sex scenes. 

[Kromm]

Piers Anthony's Xanth series is probably STILL totally un-doable, even with improved technology. Too many strange forms. Too many protagonists. Too much reliance on puns that won't translate.

But Anthony has other works which could be done. Admittedly his huge built in fanbase for Xanth might not travel over for other series, but if they do? He's sold a LOT of books in his life. A lot.

[feverfew]

On 30/4/2017 at 0:21 PM, Kromm said:

Okay, while it's not always the smartest or best fantasy, if I were a TV producer, I'd always be on the lookout for Urban Fantasy, because it's cheaper to make, but can also hit big, like True Blood or Vampire Diaries (although it could also be not big, like Bitten or Shadowhunters). Just to try something different than most of the ones which have already been tried on TV, I'd go for a lighter/more comedic one if possible.

I will always lament that they decided to only focus on the werewolves in the adaption of Kelley Armstrong's Underworld series. The witches were far more interesting in my opinion, and I was so hopeful we would get to Paige and Jaime when "Bitten" was first announced. Oh, well. The show wasn't that well made anyhow, so there's not much lost there.

But speaking of Urban Fantasy and witches, I would definitely go for The Hollows ("Dead Witch Walking") by Kim Harrison, if I were a producer looking for something with an inherent fanbase, loads of sexy people, politics and humor. Even better, that series could easily be told as a procedural (with an overreacting arc, of course) since Rachel is a bounty hunter.

Also, I would love to see live adaptions of any of Diana Wynne Jones' books, but especially of Howl's Moving Castle. I know it was made into an anime, but that skipped right over the humor which is such an intricate part in her books.

Edited May 1, 2017 by feverfew

[DearEvette]

It would be fascinating to see a well done tv adaptation of the Dragonriders of Pern.  Personally, I'd just do the Dragonflight/Dragonquest/White Dragon trilogy as a miniseries or a three season limited series.  And then possibly Dragonsdawn as a prequel movie.

Wheel of Time would be great.  Or it could be a disaster.  I am not so worried about the look or feel of it, but the writing & story cohesiveness could be the downfall there.  You'd need someone who could really wrestle the storyline into submission.  And great casting of Rand especially would be critical.

A space opera adaptation that would be interesting is The Honor Harrington series.  Lots of political crap, space battles and excellent opportunity for diversity since Honor is of Asian descent, her crew is from everywhere and even the Queen & her family are POC.

On an Urban Fantasy front, I have been dying for the Rivers of London series to come to fruition ever since I found out it has been optioned.  And in my head I have already cast Richard Ayoade as Peter (although he might be a tick too old for Peter).  And Ruth Negga as Lady Ty.  And Michaela Coel as Beverly Brook.  And Sophie Okenodo as Mama Thames. And Yasmin Paige as Lesley May.

[navelgazer]

The Dresden Files was a pretty good urban fantasy series based on the Jim Butcher books.  It could always be redone now with better CGI.  This was one of the first series I ever binge-watched.  

Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel books (the first six books at least) -- Cast As Thou Will -- I would be such a fangirl of this project.  

[festivus]

Yeah I was sad that The Dresden Files only got the one season. That's one that needs to be brought back.

 

Anyone remember the short lived Blood Ties based on the books by Tanya Huff? Well I remember reading that they didn't have Tony Foster on because there was talk of him getting his own series which of course never happened. That's one I'd love to see made now. Tony is a gay guy working on a low budget Canadian vampire show who also just happens to be a wizard. I think Syfy could pull this one off and it wouldn't even have to have a big budget. The books are already set in Vancouver and I know they do film stuff there. The books also have diverse characters and I think that Syfy does a good job with diversity.

[scriggle]

Robert Asprin's Myth-Adventure's series. Probably too silly for adaptation since it seems everything has to be dark or gritty or deep these days. It's also very pun dependant but I's love to see Skeeve, Aahz, & Gleep come to life.

Then there are 2 fantasy series set in worlds that are matriarchal and feature same sex relationships: Lynn Flewelling's Nightrunner Series and Melissa Scott & Lisa Barnett's Points (Astreiant) Series. I think both of those could work.

[selkie]

On 5/1/2017 at 0:18 PM, festivus said:

Anyone remember the short lived Blood Ties based on the books by Tanya Huff? Well I remember reading that they didn't have Tony Foster on because there was talk of him getting his own series which of course never happened. That's one I'd love to see made now. Tony is a gay guy working on a low budget Canadian vampire show who also just happens to be a wizard. I think Syfy could pull this one off and it wouldn't even have to have a big budget. The books are already set in Vancouver and I know they do film stuff there. The books also have diverse characters and I think that Syfy does a good job with diversity.

Blood Ties got killed by network politics at Lifetime in the USA. Old regime took a chance on a vampire show, and ratings were okay, IIRC. But new leadership wanted to retreat back to the 'Wifetime' core programming. I'd also like to see the Tony series make it to tv at some point because there's a lot of affection for the genre in Huff's original trilogy. 

[proserpina65]

On ‎04‎/‎28‎/‎2017 at 10:38 PM, feverfew said:

That could work! Would you then age up Lessa and F'lar in Dragonflight/Dragonquest to match closer to their age in Dragonsinger? At least so Lessa and Menolly aren't (almost) peers?

Personally, I was thinking multiple seasons, with time jumps between each one, but as long as it was well-done, I take aging up, too.  I wouldn't actually miss F'lessan at all (never liked that particular character) but I'd miss Jaxom, and would have to find a way to fit him in.

On ‎05‎/‎01‎/‎2017 at 8:10 AM, DearEvette said:

It would be fascinating to see a well done tv adaptation of the Dragonriders of Pern.  Personally, I'd just do the Dragonflight/Dragonquest/White Dragon trilogy as a miniseries or a three season limited series.  And then possibly Dragonsdawn as a prequel movie.

I've always been less fond of The White Dragon than I am of Dragonflight and Dragonquest, and really like one of the prominent support characters in Dragonsong, but this would work.  I'd take whatever I could get, as long as it wasn't done like a CW series.

[Haleth]

I just found out Justin Cronin's The Passage series is being developed as a tv show by Fox. Ridley Scott is Exec producer.  A little late to the zombie train but still a good story.

Edited June 2, 2017 by Haleth

[Irishmaple]

Is that the book with the immortal nun? I was schooled in Ireland back in the days when public education was Catholic. Immortal nuns are my worst nightmare. Have chills just typing the words.

[Haleth]

14 hours ago, Irishmaple said:

Is that the book with the immortal nun? I was schooled in Ireland back in the days when public education was Catholic. Immortal nuns are my worst nightmare. Have chills just typing the words.

Not that I recall.  It's your typical "epidemic zombifies most of humanity, leaving a handful of survivors to deal with a dystopian world" story.  There's a huge time jump in the middle of the first book; I don't know how they'll handle that.

Oh, speaking of books with huge time jumps, Seven Eves would make an interesting TV series.

[deemac]

Sister Lacey?

[Lugal]

Gibson and Sterling's steampunk classic The Difference Engine would be awesome as a series.  They could go full out with the period costumes, and go nuts with the steampunk design.

Speaking of large scale historical fantasy, I've heard rumors for a while that Peter Jackson is considering a TV series from Naomi Novik's Temeraire books.  Napoleonic Wars with dragons.

And I've also been hearing about a Snow Crash movie for years, but I almost wonder if it wouldn't work better as a TV show.  This could really delve into Stephen's world (cyberpunk, swordfights and Sumerian mythology) and do it justice.

The Bas-Lag books of China Miéville would be awesome, but given all the different races and settings, would still probably be undoable.

[kassygreene]

Apparently the Temeraire rights have lapsed.  This news should have made me sad, as I was joyfully anticipating a Peter Jackson (and therefore pretty good) take on the novels, but the final book in the series annoyed me as very lazy writing:  at least twice, maybe three times, our protagonists are in extreme peril - however will they escape? - and then there is a section break and the narrative resumes after they are safe.  So I lost some love, and no longer long to see the adaptation.

[Lugal]

I haven't read the final book yet, but the last few it felt like she was stretching.  It was a very well developed world, I think a good TV series could have overcome some of the flaws of the books.  Still would have liked to have seen Peter Jackson's take on it though.

[proserpina65]

On ‎06‎/‎20‎/‎2017 at 6:29 PM, Lugal said:

I haven't read the final book yet, but the last few it felt like she was stretching.  It was a very well developed world, I think a good TV series could have overcome some of the flaws of the books.  Still would have liked to have seen Peter Jackson's take on it though.

I'm actually glad to know that the rights have lapsed.  I was very unhappy at the idea of Peter Jackson screwing it up the way I felt he screwed up Tolkien.  Which I realize is perhaps the ultimate in unpopular opinions.  Book-wise, I haven't actually gotten beyond the one set in Australia, partly because there were things about that one I didn't care for.

[slf]

On 6/12/2014 at 0:11 AM, ParadoxLost said:

I think J.D. Robb's In Death series would make the perfect TV show.  Its part romance and mystery (one homicide case per book).  Its set in the future, just enough to allow sci-fi elements and unique crimes but not so unfamiliar to be off putting to people that don't like that kind of thing.  The series brings in new characters with each crime and is now fairly well rounded with interesting secondary and reoccurring characters.

If I owned Lifetime I would option the shit out of the In Death series. The network has adapted several of Roberts' other books so I don't understand why they haven't snapped those up.

[anna0852]

I've been thinking that The Face on the Milk Carton series would make a great show, probably would fit very well on Freeform.

[ParadoxLost]

1 hour ago, slf said:

If I owned Lifetime I would option the shit out of the In Death series. The network has adapted several of Roberts' other books so I don't understand why they haven't snapped those up.

I don't know if its still the case, but years ago I saw that Mel Gibson had optioned the series.  But that was before his career imploded.  It seems like this is one of those book series that keeps getting sold but no one ever does anything with it.

[Luckylyn]

3 minutes ago, ParadoxLost said:

I don't know if its still the case, but years ago I saw that Mel Gibson had optioned the series.  But that was before his career imploded.  It seems like this is one of those book series that keeps getting sold but no one ever does anything with it.

I'd love to see it but I think casting would have to be perfect.   Eve and Roarke could go so wrong with the wrong writing or actors cast.

[kassygreene]

I think the Brits or Netflix would have to do this to get it right (90 minute episodes at least).  Something like the Midsomer Murders episode model.  But I don't think any of these books translate easily to the screen.

NR's books have been adapted by USA (four of them ten years ago and more since) and by Lifetime (more recently) and personally I thought all of those adaptations were terrible.  Montana Sky excised an entire subplot (that book was sort of a trilogy in one cover); Northern Lights was a strong book done no favors by a 96 minute format, and even worse it was where Eddie Cibrian and LeAnn Rimes met.  

Etc.

The In Death books would require a helluva lot of CGI to pull off the late 2050s correctly, and are also too densely written to meet television requirements without a whole lot of chopping.  Kind of like reducing Pride and Prejudice to 129 minutes, when both the 1980 mini-series (265 minutes) and the 1995 series (325 minutes) were each able to bring the whole thing to the small screen.

Anyway, I've pretty much quit watching screen versions of my favorite romance novels - it has never not been disappointing.  I'll use that time to re-read each book as it airs....

Edited July 25, 2017 by kassygreene
grammar

[Snowball II]

The Stand, by Stephen King.  I've heard rumors about a movie or movies, but I think it would make a much better series.  The first season could be about introducing the characters and the flu spreading and killing everyone, the second season could focus on the survivors finding each other and trying to recreate a society, and the third season could be the one where they really start focusing on the big bad in the desert (though he would be a part of the series long before this, of course).  I know there was a miniseries in the 90's, but I would like to see a reboot.  Some of the casting in the miniseries was...not so good.

[DearEvette]

10 hours ago, Luckylyn said:

I'd love to see it but I think casting would have to be perfect.   Eve and Roarke could go so wrong with the wrong writing or actors cast.

This in a nutshell.  They could do well with all the other characters.  But Eve and Roarke are so integral to the series and are written in such strong strokes that bad casting of either one of these two would kill an In Death series outright.  I've seen tons of suggestion but no one can ever agree.  An actor might have the look but could they really pull off the nuances of the character.  And in the case of Roarke  he has to not only be super smooth and badass but has to be kinda otherworldly handsome to boot.

 

10 hours ago, kassygreene said:

Anyway, I've pretty much quit watching screen versions of my favorite romance novels - it has never not been disappointing.  I'll use that time to re-read each book as it airs...

Also this.  I cringe when I hear a favorite romance novel is being adapted.  Sure everybody and their mother can get a Jane Austen adaptation right, but try to do with with a simple contemp romance without it coming out all sickly sweet and terrible.  My feeling is that when a great book-to-tv adaptation happens, it is typically done by people who love and are real intimate fans of the source material.  You can see it on the screen.  But romance novel adaptations don't feel like they are being done by people who read or respect the genre. So they come off as soulless and stupid.

[Anela]

I thought that Harry Potter would have made a great series. 

[Constant Viewer]

Patrick Taylor's Irish Country Doctor series would be a good Masterpiece production

[Affogato]

On 4/28/2017 at 4:04 PM, proserpina65 said:

Personally, I would blend the first two books of the original trilogy (Dragonflight, Dragonquest) with the first two Harper Hall ones (Dragonsong, Dragonsinger).  Those four fit fairly neatly together, imo.  And then The White Dragon and Dragondrums fit together.  Beyond that, the series starts to get spotty as far as quality is concerned, although Dragonsdawn worked really well as an origin story.  I'm particularly fond of Moreta and Nerilka's Story, as well, although that's probably way more than I could hope for.

The mating thing never really bothered me even though I got it right away, but I can see where it could be problematic.  But you're right about the opportunity for diversity, especially in Dragonsdawn.

I felt the mating issue made sense in the story, it followed and would have consequences. Over time it dod have consequences. Also it made sense that woman and servants were not necessarily well treated. It isn’t as if the ‘problematic’ issues were presented as things we should use to model our current lives. If anything they were cautionary as fantastic science fiction elements. You might, right, not actually want to live in this world. So many did, though. But that is kind of something to grow out of. The Harperhall ones were young adult  and less harsh. 

[Affogato]

On 5/30/2014 at 12:07 PM, FurryFury said:

Zelazny's The Amber Chronicles, definitely. I hoped that after the success of Game of Thrones there would be more fantasy on TV, but it doesn't seem so, sadly. But Amber's just tailor-made for a TV adaptation (preferably a cable one).

Yes. Paradise lost knockoffs always do well. I wonder if someone ever made an Amber tarot deck. Must have!

On 5/3/2017 at 12:57 AM, selkie said:

Blood Ties got killed by network politics at Lifetime in the USA. Old regime took a chance on a vampire show, and ratings were okay, IIRC. But new leadership wanted to retreat back to the 'Wifetime' core programming. I'd also like to see the Tony series make it to tv at some point because there's a lot of affection for the genre in Huff's original trilogy. 

Loved Blood Ties. 

[Affogato]

I don’t read many romances but the Graveyard Queen series, by Amanda Stevens, could make some good tv watching. 
 

Lynn Viehl’s Darkyn books would also be worth mining for material. 

[proserpina65]

On 11/4/2024 at 3:53 PM, Affogato said:

I wonder if someone ever made an Amber tarot deck. Must have!

Yeah, they did.