The 20 Best TV Shows Based on Movies, Ranked

by Amber Dowling, for Metacritic – August 5, 2022

Movies have the ability to deliver punchy stories, top-notch action, and ideas that can linger well after the closing credits roll. TV shows, on the other hand, can take those same pros and extend them over a much longer timeframe. Only on TV can viewers really get into a character and get to know all of their nuances, plus watch them develop and change as the episodes or seasons go on.

Given that, it’s no surprise so many TV shows are based on movies. Here, Metacritic has rounded up the 20 best film-to-TV adaptations as ranked by Metascore. Only live-action TV shows from 1985 and onward are eligible for inclusion.

Note also that we opted to make all Marvel Cinematic Universe shows eligible based on their ties to the film series as a whole even though many of the shows are not a direct adaptation of a single film. Don't like that decision? Here are seven honorable mentions that would have made the top 20 if we excluded MCU shows:

  1. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
  2. Obi-Wan Kenobi
  3. The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers
  4. The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles
  5. Westworld
  6. The Mandalorian
  7. Cobra Kai
5 of 21 photo by Netflix

adapted from ▣ Wet Hot American Summer (2001)

(tied at #15) When Wet Hot American Summer first debuted in 2001 it was largely panned by critics for its lame jokes and tired summer-camp storyline. Fast forward to 2015, however, and Netflix gave critics the TV prequel no one knew they needed. Most of the original cast (including John Slattery, Paul Rudd, Molly Shannon, Ken Marino, Janeane Garofalo, Amy Poehler, Jordan Peele, H. Jon Benjamin, Bradley Cooper, Elizabeth Banks, Lake Bell, Jason Schwartzman, and Jo Lo Truglio) returned to tell the origins of the first days of Camp Firewood back in 1981. There, it embraced the absurdity of these actors playing the same characters more than a decade later without aging, creating a light, eight-episode series that clocked in at only a little more than two hours. 

“It’s all just an excuse for creators David Wain and Michael Showalter to craft more hilariously absurd, endlessly quotable moments (plus a ridiculous Reagan impression) that will more than satisfy fans of the movie.” —Ray Rahman, Entertainment Weekly

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