Monday, January 29, 2007

I've been pondering the subject of translating books into good television series. I recently watched "The Dresden Files" on Sci-Fi and decided to give the books a try. Often the translation process ends up with some pretty bad TV. I like "Bones", though it really has nothing to do with Kathy Reich's novels except the main character sharing a name. Which I think is fine, since what works great in a novel does not often translate to TV. I thought the Showtime program "Dexter" was a spot-on rendering of the book, even if they did have to soften it ever-so-slightly just so they don't run out of supporting characters. I've always thought Laurell K. Hamilton's books read like a good cheapie syndicated series along the lines of Highlander. (at least until she took that unfortunate turn into what I consider to be poorly written porn) I've heard many people say that HBO's The Wire is more like a novel than a TV series. I'm not sure what my point is, as I've said. There was pondering.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

The first time I read THE GREEN MILE I imagined an alternate ending in which Coffey escaped and, as a fugitive, traveled through the south being helped by friendly black families who hid him and played dumb when the police looked for him. This became the premise for a series, in which each week would find him healing someone and helping solve a problem. I always love serieses like that: KUNG FU, THE INCREDIBLE HULK, THE PRETENDER... where the character is on the run and can never stay in one place for long, and has adventures and helps people along the way.