10 TV Shows That Deserve Feature Films

10. Deadwood

The Premise: A historical drama centered on the town of Deadwood, South Dakota as it grows from a camp to a full blown town in the 1870s, featuring a cast of infamous historical characters (including Wild Bill Hickok, Wyatt Earp, and Calamity Jane) and fictitious elements mixed with recorded history. Creator/lead writer David Milch used actual 1870s Deadwood newspapers and diaries of residents as points of reference during the show's three season run.

Why It Deserves The Feature Film Treatment: Deadwood is a show that just didn't get the ending it deserved. Running for three seasons on HBO, the show was critically acclaimed, both for Milch's tight writing and Ian McShane's performance as Gem Saloon owner (and real-life pimp) Al Swearengen. During its run it picked up eight Emmy awards, however in May 2006, HBO announced it would not pick up the actor's options for a fourth season. That made writing a proper ending impossible. After Milch turned down a shortened fourth season offer, he and HBO agreed to a pair of telefilms, but even those failed to get off the ground.

In 2016, however, HBO gave Milch the go-ahead to start working on a new, feature length script, so there's hope yet. A return to HBO would be great; a move to the silver screen even better.