Thursday Movie Picks - TV Edition: Book Adaptations

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It's another TV theme at Wandering Through The Shelves and this time we're talking about shows that have been adapted from novels. I am nothing if not a predictable bitch, so no surprises with what I'm picking. 


1) Game of Thrones - I can't not pick one of my favorite shows of all time. Yes, even with those disastrous final seasons, I refuse to let that take away all the hours of great TV, fun speculation and the amazing online friends I made along the way. Despite the show runners tanking it, so many good parts live on.


2) House of the Dragon - So funny thing about Fire & Blood, the novel this show is based on. I didn't like it. It can best be described as Targaryen bullshit, though some parts were admittedly interesting. This show makes it easily digestible and fun to watch. 


3) Sharp Objects - How this mini series didn't win ALL the Emmys is beyond me. This is how you properly adapt a book to show.

Comments

  1. joel65913September 28, 2023 at 8:12 PM

    I’ve only seen Game of Thrones and I think I’ve mentioned before that while I wanted to love it I very much did not! I first tried when it was all the rage and found it wasn’t for me then attempted again when Diana Rigg joined the cast. But while I thought she was her usual peerless self I still couldn’t get into the overall show and gave up.

    I’ve heard of Sharp Objects but whatever serve it’s on I don’t have access too. The other I don’t know but remember seeing the source novel in the bookstores when it came out.

    I was torn in a couple of different directions but chose to go with a theme within the theme and picked three starring one of the queens of the miniseries genre…. Dr. Quinn herself, Jane Seymour!

    In order of preference:

    The Awakening Land (1978)-Elizabeth Montgomery and Jane portray sisters Sayward and Genny Luckett in this mini based on Conrad Richter's trilogy of novels: The Trees; The Fields; and The Town that chronicled the settling of the Ohio Valley in pre-Revolutionary War times by a frontier family and how a town grew around their at first solitary home. The miniseries really strives for authenticity and is full of excellent performances, including a shockingly young William H. Macy.

    Captains and the Kings (1976)-Sprawling adaptation of Taylor Caldwell’s mammoth novel of the steady rise of Irish immigrant Joseph Armagh (Richard Jordan) who arrives in America a penniless orphan in pursuit of the American Dream, ruthlessly climbing his way to the top and pushing his son to within a hair’s breadth of the presidency. Loosely based on Joseph Kennedy and of course JFK. Jane plays a beauty who passes through their orbit.

    Jamaica Inn (1983)-Recently orphaned Mary Yellan (Jane Seymour) journeys to live with her Aunt Patience and Uncle Joss, innkeepers of the isolated Jamaica Inn and finds herself in a world of peril. A tale of piracy, smuggling and murder on the Cornish coast of England in the 19th century, this is based on the Daphne du Maurier (who also wrote Rebecca and The Birds) novel.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamOctober 2, 2023 at 8:13 AM

      I love a good theme within a theme! I'm unfamiliar with all of your picks this week. I can't even image what a young William H. Macy looks like lol. I need to check The Awakening Land out.

      Delete
  2. SJHoneywellSeptember 28, 2023 at 10:25 PM

    Jesus, but the first few seasons of Game of Thrones were good. The evidence that it dropped off the table is the fact that it took up so much public space and air time and discussion for so long and now...no one talks about it any more.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamOctober 2, 2023 at 8:12 AM

      I still think about it a lot, but I hate that it later seasons leave such a bad taste in my mouth. I really loved that show.

      Delete

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