History SpiritualAdaptation / LiveActionTV

* ''Series/BabylonFive'': Has strong elements of ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' [[AC:InSpace!]] WordOfGod says it's supposed to be ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' [[AC:InSpace!]]

* Constance M. Burge has acknowledged that ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}'' was partly inspired by the 1996 horror film ''Film/TheCraft'', another story about a group of [[HotWitch attractive young witches]], though in this version, the witches are heroic rather than [[WickedWitch evil]]. Creator/RobinTunney and Rachel True, two of the stars of ''The Craft'', [[https://ew.com/movies/2017/10/17/the-craft-oral-history/ were less]] [[http://toofab.com/2017/06/22/the-craft-remake-charmed-rachel-true-thowback-thursday/ diplomatic,]] calling ''Charmed'' a flat-out ripoff. (Tunney even said that, in the past, she'd been mistakenly thought to have starred on ''Charmed''.) The show's RealSongThemeTune, Love Spit Love's cover of [[Music/TheSmiths "How Soon Is Now?"]], was even originally recorded for the soundtrack to ''The Craft''.

* ''Series/DarkAngel'': This show was Creator/JamesCameron's attempt to make an unofficial live-action version of ''{{Manga/Gunnm}}'' (aka ''Battle Angel Alita'') after the official version he was scheduled to direct went into DevelopmentHell until 2017, where it was SavedFromDevelopmentHell which Cameron now attached as a co-writer/producer of the project and Creator/RobertRodriguez was hired to direct [[Film/AlitaBattleAngel the film]].

* ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'' is the world's first, best and ''only'' modern sitcom reimagining of Creator/{{Aeschylus}}' ''Theatre/TheOresteia''. Practically all of the tropes of Classical Greek tragedy are there: intergenerational conflict, random mutilation and disfiguration, a powerful BigScrewedUpFamily's fall from grace, a complex web of backstabbings and infidelity, an [[EvilMatriarch ambitious scheming matriarch]] manipulating a clueless patriarch behind his back, an OnlySaneMan son trying to right his parents' wrongs, boatloads of IncestSubtext, and a surreal courtroom trial at the climax--all set against the backdrop of a brutal war in Asia Minor (though one involving [[TheWarOnTerror battle tanks]] instead of [[UsefulNotes/TheTrojanWar a big wooden horse]]). Naturally, though, it's all PlayedForLaughs.

** It's also a pretty good TV adaptation of the computer game ''VideoGame/{{Afterlife}}'', with Michael serving as the PlayerCharacter from that game designing a custom [[{{Heaven}} "Good Place"]] for the main characters. [[spoiler:It still works even after TheReveal, when it turns out that he was ''actually'' designing a custom [[{{Hell}} "Bad Place"]] to torment them, largely for [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential the amusement of himself and the demons working for him]].]]

* ''Series/VeronicaMars'' is the best ''Franchise/NancyDrew'' TV series ever made, albeit updated for the 2000s with a DarkerAndEdgier tone. Its creator Rob Thomas even explicitly [[http://variety.com/2014/digital/news/sxsw-director-rob-thomas-predicts-nancy-drew-like-future-for-veronica-mars-1201128474/ compared the two.]] The influence appears to be recursive, as more modern adaptations of ''Nancy Drew'' (such as the [[ComicBook/NancyDrewDynamiteComics Dynamite comic book]] and Creator/TheCW's 2019 TV series) have been [[https://aux.avclub.com/nancy-drew-gets-a-21st-century-update-with-beautiful-ar-1826938924 noted]] as [[https://nerdist.com/article/nancy-drew-trailer-cw-spooky/ drawing inspiration]] from ''Veronica Mars''.

** JM [=McNab=], writing for ''Website/{{Cracked}}'', has [[https://www.cracked.com/article_26510_we-already-got-myst-tv-show-it-was-called-lost.html said]] that a then-announced TV adaptation of ''VideoGame/{{Myst}}'' would be redundant, because ''Lost'' was already the best adaptation of the game ever made. Both are about protagonists who wake up on an island filled with puzzles, mystery, dangers, and MindScrew, with a startling number of similarities in some of the finer details. ''Lost''[='=]s ShowRunner Damon Lindelof even [[http://entertainment.time.com/2007/03/19/lyst_cuse_and_lindelof_on_lost_1/ cited]] ''Myst'' as an inspiration.

** The above-described plot can also be described as an adaptation of ''VideoGame/BeyondTwoSouls'', though Eleven remains a child throughout.

* ''Series/{{Emergence}}'' seems an awful lot like the film ''Film/{{Daryl}}'', only with more mystery and intrigue, and [[GenderFlip a little girl instead of a little boy.]]

* ''Series/{{Emergence}}'' seems an awful lot like the film ''Film/{{Daryl}}'', only with a more mystery and intrigue, and [[GenderFlip a little girl instead of a little boy.]]

* The first season of ''The Politician'', a Creator/{{Netflix}} series about a calculating, nakedly ambitious teenage overachiever running for StudentCouncilPresident, is about as close to an adaptation of ''Film/{{Election}}'' as you can get without actually licensing the film, albeit with its [[AcademicAlphaBitch Tracy Flick]] expy Payton Hobart being [[GenderFlip male]] and the show being [[PerspectiveFlip told from his point of view]]. Later seasons promise to be the sequels that ''Election'' never got, following Payton as he enters real politics. (This wouldn't be the first time that Creator/RyanMurphy has drawn from ''Election'' while crafting a teen show; see ''Series/{{Glee}}'' above.)

** Fans of the Creator/DisneyChannel like to joke that [[Recap/BlackMirrorRachelJackAndAshleyToo "Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too"]], on top of its {{homage}}s to ''Series/HannahMontana'' (including featuring its star Music/MileyCyrus), is a DarkerAndEdgier remake of the Disney Channel Original Movie ''Film/PixelPerfect'', another story about people creating a [[VirtualCelebrity virtual pop star]].

** "San Junipero", upon TheReveal, can be said to be an unofficial TV adaptation of [[spoiler:''Literature/ReadyPlayerOne'', with both works revolving around virtual worlds rooted in the iconography of TheEighties. (In ''Ready Player One'', it was 1980's geek culture, while "San Junipero" is based more on the broader pop culture of the time.)]]
** The premise of "Hated In The Nation" sounds like it came right out of the ''Manga/GhostInTheShell'' manga series - especially its anime adaptation ''[[Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex Stand Alone Complex]]''. Some fans would argue that this is more [[Manga/GhostInTheShell GitS]] than its 2017 live-action film adaptation.

* ''Series/TheBradyBunch'': So close to being ''Yours, Mine and Ours: [[RecycledTheSeries The Series]]'' that the filmmakers threatened to sue.

* ''Series/BeverlyHills90210'':
** A persistent rumor claims that Creator/AaronSpelling tried to license ''Series/DegrassiHigh'' for an [[ForeignRemake American remake]], and wound up creating this series after he was rebuffed by the Canadian show's producers.
** A more concrete influence is the films of Creator/JohnHughes, with series co-creator Darren Star stating in the DVDCommentary for the pilot episode that his intention was to create a TV version of a Hughes movie.

** "San Junipero", upon TheReveal, can be said to be an unofficial TV adaptation of [[spoiler:''Literature/ReadyPlayerOne'', with both works revolving around virtual worlds rooted in the iconography of TheEighties. (In ''Ready Player One'', it was '80s geek culture, while "San Junipero" is based more on the broader pop culture of the time.)]]

** And then there's its remake, ''Series/StepByStep.''

* ''Series/{{Farscape}}'':
** More than a few have claimed that this show is what ''Series/BlakesSeven'' would have been if remade in the 21st Century. They're not far off.
** ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' could also be considered how Creator/TimBurton would make a SpaceOpera.

** Paul Darrow (Avon in ''Series/BlakesSeven'') has explicitly said in a DVD extras interview that he considered ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' to have been the 21st century remake.

* ''Series/HotInCleveland'' is [[SettingUpdate a modernized]] version of earlier SitCom ''Series/TheGoldenGirls'' with younger women but a similar FourGirlEnsemble (including Creator/BettyWhite in both shows' casts), the same kind of humor, and similar plots.
* ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'':
** It has been called an Irish-American adaptation of the Jewish-American ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}''. This wiki's page on the IrishmanAndAJew trope even uses the two shows as counterparts in that regard and a meta example of such.
** It's also been called a cynical, deconstructed version of ''Series/{{Friends}}'' or ''Series/{{Cheers}}''.

* ''Series/{{Lost}}'':
** It was frequently compared to a modern-day remake of ''Series/GilligansIsland'' when it first premiered, only as a DarkerAndEdgier drama instead of a {{sitcom}}.

* ''Series/{{Merlin|2008}}'' has been compared to a fantasy version of ''Series/{{Smallville}}''.

* ''Series/TheOrville'': Creator/SethMacFarlane pitched a Franchise/StarTrek series idea and was turned down. So he [[StartMyOwn started his own]] [[WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}} with blackjack and hookers]]. Well, maybe not those, but he did recruit a "who's who" of ''Next Generation'' and ''Voyager'' alumni. It's very much a Franchise/StarTrek series, just one with a rude sense of humor and a lot of [[AffectionateParody loving]] [[DeconReconSwitch deconstruction and reconstruction]] of Trek tropes.

* ''Series/PowerRangersRPM'': There's a reason why this show was dubbed [[FanNickname Terminator: The Power Rangers Chronicles]].

* ''Series/DarkAngel'': This show was Creator/JamesCameron's attempt to make an unofficial live-action version of ''{{Manga/Gunnm}}'' (aka ''Battle Angel Alita'') after the official version he was scheduled to direct went into DevelopmentHell.

* ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'' could be as close to ''Series/DoctorWho'' as a Superhero show can get.

* ''Series/The100'' feels a lot like what would have happened after the crew of the ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'' settled on Earth, albeit with no Cylons, a bit more post-apocalyptic feel, and if they first sent down 100 juvenile delinquents to test the waters.

* A lot of people consider ''Series/BlueBloods'' to be what ''Series/HillStreetBlues'' or ''Series/NYPDBlue'' would look like if they were made in the post-9/11 world. They're not far off.

** JM [=McNab=], writing for ''Website/{{Cracked}}'', has [[https://www.cracked.com/article_26510_we-already-got-myst-tv-show-it-was-called-lost.html said]] that a then-announced TV adaptation of ''VideoGame/{{Myst}}'' would be redundant, because ''Lost'' was already the best adaptation of the show ever made. Both are about protagonists who wake up on an island filled with puzzles, mystery, dangers, and MindScrew, with a startling number of similarities in some of the finer details. ''Lost''[='=]s ShowRunner Damon Lindelof even [[http://entertainment.time.com/2007/03/19/lyst_cuse_and_lindelof_on_lost_1/ cited]] ''Myst'' as an inspiration.

* ''Series/{{Lost}}'' was frequently compared to a modern-day remake of ''Series/GilligansIsland'' when it first premiered, only as a DarkerAndEdgier drama instead of a {{sitcom}}.

* The original '70s ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|1978}}'' was Creator/{{ABC}}'s attempt to cash in on the success of ''[[Film/ANewHope Star Wars]]'', with ShowRunner Glen Larson even hiring that film's special effects lead John Dykstra to help craft the show's look. Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox considered it similar enough that they tried to [[https://io9.gizmodo.com/battlestar-galactica-dubbed-too-expensive-and-star-w-326482 sue Universal]] (who produced the show) for UsefulNotes/{{plagiarism}}.

* ''Series/VeronicaMars'' is essentially the best ''Franchise/NancyDrew'' TV series ever made, albeit updated for the 2000s with a DarkerAndEdgier tone. Its creator Rob Thomas even explicitly [[http://variety.com/2014/digital/news/sxsw-director-rob-thomas-predicts-nancy-drew-like-future-for-veronica-mars-1201128474/ compared the two]]. The influence appears to be recursive, as more modern adaptations of ''Nancy Drew'' (such as a [[https://aux.avclub.com/nancy-drew-gets-a-21st-century-update-with-beautiful-ar-1826938924 2018 comic book]]) have been noted as drawing inspiration from ''Veronica Mars''.