A Brian Boone post via B&N Reads
Not every TV show was dreamed up by some people on their laptops in Hollywood. Many of today’s most popular shows have literary origins. Game of Thrones is based on George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series, for example, and Westworld is a thorough and thoughtful expansion of a kind of pulpy early ‘70s adventure novel by Michael Crichton.
But those are high-budget, prestige cable dramas with relatively small audiences.
What really brings in the viewers are broad, laugh-track-sweetened sitcoms, like The Big Bang Theory and Mom. Those aren’t based on books, but that doesn’t mean an ’80s-style sitcom couldn’t have a high fallutin’ inspiration. (There’s a show on right now called Superior Donuts that’s based on a play by Pulitzer Prize-winner Tracy Letts, after all.) There are plenty of novels out there that would make fantastic, cheesy, classic-style sitcoms. After all, they’re already episodic in nature and explore the kinds of problems that sitcom characters easily solved in 22 minutes, week after week after week.
Here are some books we’d love to see taped before a live studio audience.
What novel would you love to see as a sitcom?5 Classic Books Hollywood Should Adapt Into Corny Sitcoms
Not every TV show was dreamed up by some people on their laptops in Hollywood. Many of today's most popular shows have literary origins. Game of Thrones is based on George R. R.
