5 Movies That Would Make Good TV Shows

So recently, they released a trailer (and promo pic above) for a TV series based on the Jason Statham actioner, The Transporter. It stars the more posh Brit actor, Chris Vance, who doesn’t quite fit into Statham’s rough around the edges Brit hero. The action looks pretty good a la Burn Notice. Too bad the supporting cast seem like the worst actors ever, but it  gets me thinking: What movies could be adapted to TV?

5. Mumford

Mumford (Loren Dean) is a therapist. He comes to a small town, also named Mumford, and charms the locals. He ends giving them a lot of off-beat advice. Here comes a spoiler, so If you haven’t seen and maybe care to, skip this. Mumford is not a therapist. He is a former IRS agent, but he wanted to start over. I think it was as simple as that in the movie if I remember correctly, but they could easily add something for extra tension, like witness protection or something. The idea of a guy using his very honed, personal skills to help a colorful cast of characters sounds like TNT to me.

4. Dear God

A con man gets a job at a post office as work release. His job is to maintain the “Dead Letter” station, which consists of letters to Santa, Elvis, and God. He starts reading some of the “Dear God” letters and even starts answering them. It starts out as a way to defraud people, but eventually the charity work starts helping him to redeem. It would probably work something like My Name is Earl where each person’s trouble would reveal something about the protagonist. It would most likely by very conventional and sappy but still enjoyable. Like most shows on USA Network.

3. Repo Man

A young punk who’s life is in disarray finds direction when he is recruited to be a repo man. Repo men basically get to do illegal activities, but it is legal work. TV has always been interested in criminal enterprises but sometimes are criticized for glorifying them. This is kind of the answer to that. The repo men also get drawn into a government conspiracy when one of the repoed cars ends up with some classified material in the trunk. It has the potential for case of the week episodes with a series/season long arc. It is a cult movie that gets by on how gritty and cool it is. FX would probably love it.

2. Bringing Out the Dead

The reception for this Scorsese EMT dramedy was less than stellar, but I sure do love it. It stars a pre-meme Nicholas Cage as an EMT who takes the graveyard shift because he is suffering from insomnia. The insomnia is caused by grief over a patient he couldn’t save that ends up fueling a binge on a new hardcore designer drug. The users of said drug have been the reason for most of his calls. He is also paired up with some really eccentric EMTs including a preachy ladies’ man and a sociopath who seems to enjoy his patient’s torment. It has the potential to be darkly funny, emotionally exhausting, and shockingly gruesome. For some reason medical gore always gets a pass on TV. Most violence seems to get a pass just for being on AMC, so that’s where it should go.

1. Playing God

One of many post-Pulp Fiction quirky crime thrillers that was far from a success, it starred David Duchovany as a doctor who is stripped of his medical license for operating while on drugs. His recreational drug use eventually forces him to cross paths with an eccentric gangster who employs him as a GSW doctor. I think the idea is really solid; too solid to let get wasted on a poorly executed movie. The criminal world setting is popular on tv already. It should allow for a great balance of comedy and drama, plus it can include Case-of-the-Week Maguyver-esque medical scenes. If it doesn’t hold back on the rock and roll lifestyle of criminal enterprises, it’ll be right at home on HBO or Showtime.

I know what you are thinking, out of all the movies, why the hell would you pick these ones? They were failures in their own right and are too obscure for most of our readers to have actually heard of them. There’s probably a few movies that people would fall over themselves trying to name drop because they would fit the Monster/Case/etc.-of-the-week formula, but I am actually going to use some movies that might actually be better if they were TV shows from the get-go.