A Discussion on Thursday 3

So it's technically Monday while I'm writing this, but I like to pre-write posts so that I don't have to worry about them later.

Anyways, I just finished reading Privilege by Kate Brian, only to realize after a bit to research on Wikipedia that it's a spin-off from Brian's Private series (of course that should have been obvious when I saw the books together on the shelf at the library and the look similar), and I can't wait to see what happens to Ariana next. Also, this means that I want to read the Private series as well... but that can wait.

But I digress. The entire point to this post isn't to tell you how much that I enjoyed Privilege, but to fill you in on the information that I found in my search.

Apparently there's an online petition that went around a few years ago, it could still be going around for all I know, that was trying to get Private turned into either a feature film or a television series.

Now, I'm not one for books/series turned into movies since for the most part the writers butcher the raw material. However, in recent attempts the ability to change a book/series into a television series has been a success.

For example:
Roswell - was a book series before it was a television show. It had a fan base so dedicated that they were solely responsible for having the show continued on for another two seasons.
True Blood - I love the Charlaine Harris books and I really enjoy the show.
Gossip Girl - about to enter its fourth season. Granted they tore apart the original books, but in my opinion they made it better and not worse.
The Vampire Diaries - another series that took the books and changed everything, I still find myself wanting to watch to see what happens next.
Pretty Little Liars - ok, I like the books better and I haven't been able to watch most of the episodes, but they stuck pretty close to the books as far as I could tell.
Sex and the City - Hello, the success of that series speaks for itself.
Huge - I've only seen a few episodes but I liked those that I did watch.


I think that with a television series, especially one that's based upon a book series, they're able to take the original plot arcs and transfer them to the small screen so well because there's, what, roughly 23 hours to a season compared to 2 hours in a movie? Purely there's enough time on TV to properly portray the books. The only way that a movie really works is when it's done like the SatC movies were done; they expanded upon the foundation made by the show.

Of course, things can go terribly wrong going from book to small-screen too. Anyone remember the wreckage that was Privileged back in 2008? It was based upon the book How to Teach Filthy Rich Girls by Zoey Dean. It was a train wreck.

So in the end I guess it really depends. In fact, it seems quite obvious that a book series is better fit to become a TV series whereas a stand-alone book can be made easier into a movie (Hello Nicholas Sparks and his entire career). Still, I'm more of a fan of the series since I always want more information about the books when I'm reading them.

But that's only what I think. Let's get this discussion rolling and let me know what your opinion is.