8 Films That Would Have Worked Much Better As TV Shows
5. A Series Of Unfortunate Events
Lemony Snicket's A Series Of Unfortunate Events initially capitalised on the surge in childrens reading brought on by Harry Potter, then threw it away when the first six of the thirteen books ended up being pretty much the same plot regurgitated in a different setting. Yet those who stuck with the series beyond the initial entries (which garnered individual importance as the story progressed) found an interesting and often genuinely surprising tale. Brad Silberling clearly was one who gave up on the series early, because his big screen adaptation which brought the first three books to life touched on none of the overarching plots or themes that were present in Snickets later novels. Judging from the production interviews and their correlation with the final product, it seems like things were rushed to capitalise on the series popularity. Each book essentially gets half an hour of screen time in the film, leading to each instalment feeling unexplored and not entirely essential. In the confines of a feature film, it is almost justified. A single tome couldn't sustain a full film; what other option was there? You know where things are going here. As with Watchmen, it feels like Unfortunate Events would be much more at home on TV, where enough time could be given to flesh out the frankly labyrinthine plot.
