What Is the Best “Series” Ever?

 Ranking TV Adaptations of Movies: The Series

"I’m Duncan MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod, and I fight when I’m challenged.”

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Who says a fun party has to stop? There’s got to be a way to keep the fun going, at least weekly and in syndication. Some movies are just too entertaining to leave well enough alone. Some films are too impactful, and the intellectual property is too well known and too potentially profitable to remain simply a one-and-done motion picture.

From The Odd Couple (1970-1975) to Nine to Five (1982-1988), making television versions of popular movies is a grand tradition. But not every small-screen adaptation stands the test of time. Heck, the vast majority of TV shows based on movies don’t survive. For every M*A*S*H* (1972-1983), there are a dozen Harry and the Hendersons (1991-1993), or Timecop (1997-1998), or Minority Report (2015), or Clueless (1996-1999), or Ferris Bueller (1990-1991). The list goes on. But hey, sometimes we get a Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003), Stargate SG-1 (1997-2007) and the rest of the Stargate spin-offs, as well as Alien Nation (1989-1990) and The Lincoln Lawyer (2022-2027). Not to mention all the Star Trek and Star Wars shows, but that’s branching into more of an expanded universe kind of thing.

My focus is on the TV adaptations that are extra special—the shows that add “The Series” to their official title, just in case you weren’t sure if you were watching the actual original film or the TV adaptation with store-brand TV actor versions of your favorite characters. I’ll break down the top three series that I believe should make the top of any list, and then I’ll reveal which is the number one pick I recommend.

But first, a few honorable mentions: F/X: The Series (1996-1998), From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series (2014-2016), Blade: The Series (2006), The Transporter: The Series (2012-2014), and Police Academy: The Series (1997-1998). They didn’t need to clarify that they were the television series versions of their respective movies, but they did. They have my respect.

Tremors: The Series. As if seven movies in the franchise wasn’t enough, there was also a short-lived TV series that ran for 13 episodes originally on the Sci-Fi Network in 2003. The show was about what else: a small town in Nevada fighting off subterranean monsters known as Graboids. A true creature feature schlockfest, Tremors keeps the hokey terror train running in straight-to-video adventures. The TV show, however, was originally aired out of order, creating confusion and disinterest among what little viewers it had. Those that did watch were treated to an eclectic cast featuring appearances from Christopher Lloyd, Vivica A. Fox, Nicholas Turturro, Michael Rooker, Armin Shimerman, Jim Beaver, and Dean Norris. But where would Tremors be without Michael Gross? From ex-hippie dad Steven Keaton raising ambitious politico son Alex (played by Michael J. Fox) on the ‘80s sitcom Family Ties to battling Graboids, Shriekers, and Dirt Dragons—now that’s range.

Reason to Rec: A big part of why it’s on the recommendation shortlist is, well, it’s short and not many episodes. If you’re a Tremors completist, though, it’s just more hours of your life devoted to underground worm monster things.

RoboCop: The Series. Get ready for syndicated TV levels of violence, because RoboCop is back laying down the law on the small screen. Originally played by Peter Weller, Alex Murphy, the man under the metal helmet, was portrayed by Richard Eden. And in this version of the Robo-Lord, the second and third movies pretty much didn’t happen, along with a few minor changes such as renaming Alex Murphy’s wife in the movie from Ellen to Nancy—mind-blowing, I know. The television series first aired in 1994, a year after RoboCop 3 essentially took the franchise off of life support. In the third film, Robert John Burke donned the armor, and though he fought valiantly against cyber ninjas, it just wasn’t enough to win over movie audiences. Despite this, fascination with RoboCop the character and an existing intellectual property with a built-in fan base resurrected the cyborg lawman once more. While the show couldn’t reach the same over-the-top levels of blood and guts, RoboCop: The Series retained the film’s sense of satire. Hammy bad guys got what was coming to them, and RoboCop issued his own brand of justice, dropping many creeps in the process. The basic formula was there to earn the show 23 episodes, but it was the end of the line for Robo on the boob tube. Perhaps viewers were too confused by the presence of a hologram woman that helped RoboCop as sort of an immaterial sidekick. The character of Diana Powers, played by Andrea Roth, started out as a police secretary who ends up murdered. Her essence lived on in computer form and manifested as a kind of ghost in the machine called NeuroBrain. Hey, hologram friends worked for Quantum Leap (1989-1993) and Time Trax (1993-1994), so why not let RoboCop have one too?

Reason to Rec: If you grew up watching RoboCop movies, there’s a good chance you probably can’t get enough of the cybernetic policeman. If nothing else, this show is a curiosity and a slice of mid-’90s culture. And if you’ve managed to sit through each episode of this short-lived show, you can check out the 2001 show called RoboCop: Prime Directives, starring Page Fletcher, which shouldn’t take too long because the series was basically four feature-length episodes. To my knowledge, no hologram characters appear in this series, which is disappointing.

Highlander: The Series. Full disclosure: I have an unhealthy obsession with the Highlander franchise. Because of this mentally ill fascination, I will spare you my extensive and overindulgent knowledge of this story about immortal people chopping their heads off. For most people, the 1986 film Highlander is a fond memory of fantasy action and fun-filled weirdness that could only be produced in the mid-’80s. French actor Christopher Lambert plays the Scottish warrior known as Connor MacLeod, who is trained to use a Japanese katana sword by an Egyptian-Spaniard called Ramirez, who is played by the Scottish actor Sean Connery. And it only gets more confusing from there. The film series gets even more bonkers with its 1991 sequel, Highlander II: The Quickening, where depending on what version you see, explains the immortals’ origins as them being aliens from a different planet or simply existing as a bizarre futuristic society from a long time ago. Eventually, there was a third film in 1994 called Highlander: The Final Dimension—or Highlander: The Sorcerer if you’re nasty—which set out to bring the franchise back down to earth in a more approachable adventure. It was in many ways a sort of soft reboot of the first movie, sharing many similarities with its main bad guys, but it did successfully showcase Connor in a more contemporary setting. It naturally muddied up the lore even more so, but by this point, retconning had sort of become Highlander‘s thing. Perhaps Connor’s full name is Ret Connor. The third film was released a year after the debut of the television spin-off, where in its pilot episode, Connor visits his Scottish cousin and main star of the show, Duncan MacLeod, played by English actor Adrian Paul. The syndicated series took a rocky road to carve out an identity for itself, but once it found its footing, Highlander grew in popularity. Lasting six seasons, the adventures of immortal Renaissance man Duncan “Mac” MacLeod and his allies developed into an entertaining, if not cheesy, show. The Final Dimension makes no mention of its TV counterpart, but Duncan would join Connor on the silver screen in 2000 with Highlander: Endgame. As many baffling creative decisions as there were in the movie story, I still absolutely love it. The 2007 TV movie follow-up, Highlander: The Source, is something we don’t speak of. Sadly, the spin-off Highlander: The Raven, lasting one season from 1998 to 1999, is borderline unwatchable. This is unfortunate because it stars Elizabeth Gracen, who played fan-favorite immortal cat burglar Amanda in Highlander: The Series. Something got lost in translation, and Amanda’s adventures were so painfully terrible, it didn’t take long for it to be nevermore for The Raven.

Reason to Rec: Highlander: The Series is simply too much fun. With a mix of swashbuckling action, martial arts fighting, centuries-spanning and globe-trotting adventures, with a healthy dose of romance and with an evil immortal every week, you’re in for a lot of satisfying light shows referred to as “the Quickening”—when an immortal beheads another immortal and then receives their essence or power or memories or something. It’s kind of unclear, but awesome looking.

Def Rec: If you know me, you know I definitely recommend Highlander any day of the week. While the other two shows have their appeal, Highlander is simply richer with lore and offers so much more variety when it comes to episodic stories. But yes, it’s true, I’m constantly two seconds away from just running a Highlander fan page.

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Books by Jon McBrine

The Eric Icarus Series

Unable to hide his flying abilities, a shy high school student’s plan to hide in plain sight as just another superhero backfires after an attack leaves him as the only hope to stop a diabolical villain.

Recruited by tech mogul Baron Maddox, Eric Boxworth becomes Eric Icarus, a maskless member of the Super Society, tech-based defenders of New St. Cloud City. Eric’s miraculous, natural flight power is disguised by a decoy anti-gravity backpack to avoid getting dissected in a lab. Eric and his bubbly, good-natured classmate Jaycee - the armored hero Powerhouse - must stop a madman from creating an empire built on stolen powers. Fans of young superheroes, found family tropes, and high-stakes action will love this YA sci-fi adventure series.

Available at Amazon here

Available at Amazon here

Available at Amazon here

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