What book would make a great 24 episode show?
10You used to dread hearing your favorite book was going to be made into a movie, because of how much would get cut to fit into 2 hours. But now that a book could be made into a 3 season, 8 episodes a season streaming show, what should get made?
(Books that were already made into movies still qualify)
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I read this as an episode of 24 and immediately involved all my favorite books in some scheme with Jack Bauer.
@riskybryzness ditto.
Not just one book but I remember enjoying the Doc Ford series by Randy Wayne White. It could be an entertaining way to stream a couple of seasons of action in the gulf coast.
One of the longer Le Carre novels that has not yet been filmed.
The Honourable Schoolboy especially
but the whole thing needs to be broadcast in a single season
These are thrillers, you don’t drag them out over 3 years and bore everybody to death
The Master and Commander series by Patrick O’Brien.
I don’t think Asimov’s Foundation trilogy was ever made into a movie or series. That would be really good.
@tweezak Hell yes! Though I think it would need far more than 24 episodes…
@tweezak I think the episode-to-episode cast changes would be a challenge, but I would be interested.
A sci-fi detective show based upon the early years of R. Daneel Olivaw working with Elijah Baley would probably be an easier sell to networks.
@tweezak Actually, looking at it further it looks like a film or television series for Foundation has been in the works for eighteen years, and a series should debut on Apple TV next year…
@Limewater I loved The Caves of Steel and the rest of those books. I was a huge Asimov fan for years!
@Limewater 18 years?!?! Why didn’t they bring it to the screen and just continue production like any other show? Unless it’s one of these “originals” that are sold to Netflix, Amazon, Apple and so forth.
@tweezak Sorry, it was 22 years. That’s just based upon what I read on Wikipedia. New Line started development on a film version, but dropped it to focus on Lord of the Rings. Then the rights moved around for a while with some false starts, then HBO got the rights to develop a television series in 2014, then production was supposed to start in 2018 but it fell apart and then now they’re actually making it for Apple TV.
@Limewater What a debacle. The production quality will probably be highly variable from 20 years ago to today.
@Limewater @tweezak
evidently never hit production… just planning.
One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish
And the bonus episode:
@ybmuG this should be good for 10,000 more likes.
@djslack Oh, no - I couldn’t take it. It’s just too much!
Battlefield Earth (L. Ron Hubbard)
The movie they made of it a couple of decades ago was reputed to be legendarily bad. Twenty-four episodes might do the book justice.
@shahnm That’s a good point. I wonder if Dune would likewise benefit.
@shahnm I don’t know. I read that book and the amount of suspension of disbelief required was almost more than I could muster. So many things in that book were so far out there it bordered on comical.
@shahnm @tweezak I don’t think it bordered on comical. It was comical.
I listened to the audiobook read by Roddy McDowell on a cross-country drive helping a friend move. I thought it was a lot of fun.
@Limewater @tweezak I think that the vibe I got reading it was definitely of a very thoroughly fleshed out comic book. I enjoyed it a lot.
A Gentleman In Moscow (Amor Towles)
It would be one of those BBC Masterpiece Theatre Downton Abbey kinda things. My wife would love it…
@shahnm Huh. As it turns out, apparently a miniseries of this book is already in the works…
I would like to watch an Invisible Monsters (Chuck Palahniuk).
There is so much stuff happening in a book, it would perfectly work for an 8-12 episodes show. Characters are also pretty up to date.
While maybe not 24 episode seasons, I think the first Dragonlance Trilogy (Chronicles) would make a great 3 season show:
Season 1: Dragons of the Autumn Twilight
Season 2: Dragons of the Winter Night
Season 3: Dragons of the Spring Dawning
@mml666 I’m with you. With serious money and direction a DL series would be great! DL happens to be my favorite D&D setting. Sadly, D&D hasn’t done well in the movie area of things though.
@mml666 Did you happen to see that Weis and Hickman are suing Wizards as Wizards dumped out of a new 3 book series in DL?
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara.
I think it’s already been optioned for a movie but I’d much prefer your setup to a movie.
Also, Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN by James Miller. Optioned for a movie as well.
How about “Cryptnomicon”
Historical sci fi
@CaptAmehrican If you liked this you might like “The Historian” by Elizabeth Kostova.
The Sorrow Falls dilogy by Gene Doucette (The Spaceship Next Door and The Frequency of Aliens)
The Jackson Lamb/Slough House thrillers by Mick Herron
The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. time travel novel by Neil Stephenson (this one has the potential to support a many-season series if the right screenwriters got involved)
Christopher Moore’s excellent dilogy Grim Reaper
John Varley’s Gaea Trilogy (Titan, Wizard, Demon). Although it would probably take at least three seasons to do it justice.
Annapurna
In Search of Lost Time (Remembrance of Things Past), directed by Sofia Coppola.
Dune
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
As an aside, the series done of *Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency was pretty good.
The Heap by Sean Adams
also Magda Szabo’s “Abigail” which is kind of like Harry Potter for grownups and I’m so surprised each year it still remains mostly unknown
@slydon
Hey thx