ROTTEN TOMATOES: The 50 Best TV Adaptations of All Time

The 50 Best TV Adaptations of All Time

June 03, 2008

You order your tickets online, weave through traffic and endure double-digit popcorn prices, park your keister in front of the silver screen, and, as those lights magically dim, you're regaled with some...television? Hey, why not? Some of our favorite films sprung from the loins of ye olde boob tube. The proof: Rotten Tomatoes list of The 50 Best TV Adaptations ever made, as sorted by Tomatometer!

With Get Smart and the next X-Files prepping for launch and the Sex and the City vixens dominating the box office, TV adaptations are currently all the rage. But what about the previous TV land natives, the ones who demonstrated to Carrie and company how to successfully jump from small screen to big? We're talking about your Wayne Campbells and your Garth Algars. The Captain Kirks and his merry crew. Those Muppets. And yes, every last Simpsons character from whichever Springfield they call home.

Dying to know how their movies stack up against each other, company that includes six Star Trek movies, some Transformers, and two-and-a-half Naked Guns? We've made it easy: launch Rotten Tomatoes' 50 Best TV Adaptations and find out!

Back to Guide

(1-20 of 86 posts) | Reply

minderbinder writes:
on Jun 03 2008 12:40 PM

You guys put this on fifty separate pages? Really? Why not just put it on five pages with ten movies each?

And did you really need to do that many, especially when quite a few are rotten? Bad movies don't really count as "best" do they?

(Reply to this)

arendr writes:
on Jun 03 2008 12:54 PM

99% of TV adaptations are horrible. It's a cursed idea.

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citizenjames writes:
on Jun 03 2008 01:07 PM

seriously? you could have just changed the headline to the "top worse" and left ninety percent of the movies in there.

DRAGNET
SERENITY
THE LADIES MAN
SUPERSTAR!
KIDS IN THE HALL: BRAIN CANDY
MONTY PYTHON AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT
SWAT

(Reply to this)

CedricMGrant writes:
on Jun 03 2008 01:09 PM

WHERE IN THE HELL IS "CITY OF GOD"?

That was definitely based off of a mini-series. And it's one of the greatest movies ever made. Should of definitely been #1....shame on Rotten Tomatoes...shame on you!!!

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Now it's dark writes:
on Jun 03 2008 01:14 PM

Wtf? No Serenity. Kiss my ***.

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nemesislives writes:
on Jun 03 2008 01:16 PM

Really?!?! That is number one?

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tomwaitsjr writes:
on Jun 03 2008 01:21 PM

I just saw "Fire Walk with Me" at number 50, and some poseur critic calling it Lynch's best film to date. . .threw up a little in my mouth. . .closed the screen.

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-apocolyptic- writes:
on Jun 03 2008 01:25 PM

No Serenity, no Aqua Teen Hunger Force?
WTF?
Wouldn't one of the sequels to any of the movies been good enough?
Like the Wrath of Khan recognizing Star Trek?
Just wondering.

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Samwise Gamgee writes:
on Jun 03 2008 01:30 PM

I'm going to agree with most everyone else here. Where the heck is Serenity? Not a good list RT. Possibly your worst.

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Scorpio82 writes:
on Jun 03 2008 01:31 PM

50 pages with ad-spaces in-between? No thank you.

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Some guy you dont know writes:
on Jun 03 2008 01:52 PM

In reply to this comment (#1771936)
Borat is an amazing movie.

But this is an awful list. On nearly every level.

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paperairplanes writes:
on Jun 03 2008 02:07 PM

In reply to this comment (#1771926)
City of God should be number one.

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rgallitan writes:
on Jun 03 2008 02:17 PM

I'm not sure I understand your bizarre, Clintonian metric for ordering these, but it definitely didn't work. This list is disgraceful.

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Splitter writes:
on Jun 03 2008 02:18 PM

You'll put a Hannah Montana concert up there, but not Serenity?! For SHAME!

Thanks for acknowledging Strange Brew though :)

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Actaphu writes:
on Jun 03 2008 02:22 PM

In reply to this comment (#1771948)
Aqua Teen Hunger Force doesn't rank high enough to be in the Top 50.

(Reply to this)

Dead Composer writes:
on Jun 03 2008 02:54 PM

TWO Rugrats movies? THREE Mission:Impossible movies?

And no Serenity?

We demand a new list!

(Reply to this)

Smoman2584 writes:
on Jun 03 2008 03:13 PM

In reply to this comment (#1772147)
Not only that, but they put Mission Impossible one behind MI2 and 3...what? Isn't MI2 panned as the worst one by everyone, even people who love MI2????

Fire Walk with Me...really?

What about the Flinstones movie instead of Rugrats in Paris or Jetson's instead of the Wild Thornberries. Or hell if we're doing sequels to everything, how the hell was a very brady sequel not in there?! Or even Speed Racer for being a faithful adaption and visually groundbreaking where most movies just changed things about the show, instead they put a hannah montana concert movie? What did they base this list on, drawing out of a hat?

oh yeah and uhm...NO SERENITY?! REALLY???!!?!??!?!??!?

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RT-Ryan writes:
on Jun 03 2008 04:12 PM

Yikes, you guys were right. I'm not sure how Serenity managed to slip our minds, but it did. Thanks for correcting us on that one, everybody; it's on the list now, and in a pretty decent spot, too.

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-apocolyptic- writes:
on Jun 03 2008 05:23 PM

In reply to this comment (#1772023)
Thtas just disheartning to say the least.
I found that movie far funnier than most of the comedies than on the list.
But to each his own I guess.
Should still be higher than 48% though.

(Reply to this)

damvbat writes:
on Jun 03 2008 05:35 PM

what is wrong with u people, who ranked this crap monkeys oh wait that would be a insult to the monkeys

booooooooooooooo
borat

(Reply to this)

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