The Top 5 TV Shows They Should Totally Do

5. Fables- It has kind of gotten overshadowed by the far less awesome Once Upon a Time but Bill Willingham’s Fables is shockingly addicting. While Once Upon a Time is entertaining, it features one-dimensional characters and no really likable male characters at all. Fables on the other hand is chock-full (yes I said chock-full) of intriguing and interesting characters. Fables offers the character development and dark tone that Once Upon a Time tries so hard to achieve. It satisfies with dozens of storylines each one chock-full bursting with plot twists and nostalgia. The characters inhibit the basic outline of the Brothers Grimm and Disney versions of the characters but take on a whole new progression. I’d love to see these characters go one more step on to the little screen.

4. Harry Potter- Okay, this one will never happen. But it’s only a matter of time before they decide to redo the Harry Potter films in one way or another and I think TV would be a pretty damn cool way to do it. My biggest complaint about the movies was that there was so much left out. It’s nearly impossible to translate a 4000+ page series into 18 hours of movies. This is the problem with most adaptations, too much is changed or just omitted because of time restraints. But if they did it as a TV series, you’d have all the time in the world to make sure each character and each event got its proper screen time.

3. Star Wars Sequel/Prequel- This has to be made. They announced that they were doing a show that would occur between episodes III and IV back in 2005 but it has received very little talk or attention since. While the Prequel trilogy wasn’t the best thing that ever happened, most of that can be blamed on the fact that you can’t really live up the greatest film trilogy ever made (and Hayden Christensen’s uber-annoying performance). I wouldn’t be quite as interested in an in-between III-IV TV series as I would be in watching a show that takes place years after Return of the Jedi. A series chronicling the founding of the New Republic and the new Jedi Academy would be awesome. Luke, Leia, Han and Chewie could all return in supporting roles while the new generation would be the focal point (without it being too much like Saved by the Bell: The New Class). Unfortunately this will probably never happen and all Star Wars nerds have to look forward to is Hayden Christensen quitting acting.

2. The Stand- Stephen King’s magnum opus would translate so well to a TV series. Well, they tried it once but it was so half assed I would barely count it. Gary Sinise as Stu was really good (but he’s always good) and Jamey Sheridan as Randall Flagg was actually pretty terrifying but the rest of the mini-series was terrible. Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse of Lost always called The Stand one of their biggest influences and they would be perfect to take this on. It is so episodic already and features so many incredible characters. If it were done like Lost, in a character focused, flashbacks-laden (back to before the plague hit) show, it would be the most addicting thing since and maybe even more than, Lost.

1. Y: The Last Man- This is by far my favorite comic of all time. There have been talks for years of making into a movie but I just don’t see it. There is so much happening in this 60 issue maxiseries, that to do it in one movie (as studios seem to be demanding) would just be awful. They could never do it justice to show Yorick’s development (and certainly Agent 355 and Dr. Mann) in under 2 hours. If Joss Whedon were to do this as a TV series it would be phenomenal. One of the main dilemmas with Y is that there is only one male character (sort of) and hundreds of female characters. It would certainly be difficult to cast but if anyone were up to it, it would be Joss Whedon. He’s already proven that he can do incredible female driven projects (Buffy, Dollhouse, even Alien Resurrection) and write strongly for female characters even when they aren’t the main focus (Firefly). Zachary Levi from Chuck has expressed interest in playing Yorick and I think he’d be perfect. Gina Torres, Zoe from Firefly (even though she’s Cuban, not black) would be a really strong choice for 355.

Gabriel Partridge