10 Spectacularly Bad TV Ideas That Turned Out To Be Awesome

7. Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Film and TV sharing ideas and content is largely a bad idea. It is like sleeping with a bridesmaid a wedding. Sure, it seems like a good idea at the time and occasionally things work out but for the most part it is a disaster. TV series moving to the big screen sometimes works out but for every Star Trek there is a dull X Files film and Kevin and Perry Go Large. Let's not even mention Sex and the City 2. Ever. The other way is just as foolhardy if not more so. Stretching a good idea over a TV series is never a good way to go. Hannibal is an obvious recent example of it working, but beyond that is the abominations of the Robocop and Police Academy shows. Not to mention a huge failure rate at the development stage with Beverly Hills Cops springing immediately to mind. So why in the name of Hellmouth did Joss Whedon think that adapting Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a good idea? It had tanked as a film and was about a cheerleader with enhanced abilities fighting vampires, and this was before vampires were cool. Mega-franchises such as the Twilight movies were a long way away yet. However, lets bow down to the deity Whedon. He nailed it. A fantastic show which ran through eight seasons and a five season spin off with Angel. The writing was sharp and despite its supernatural premise it was never afraid to shy away from tougher plot points and storylines. It was consistently good and occasionally flirted with genius in episodes such as Emmy nominated episode 'Hush,' musical 'Once More With Feeling' and 'The Body,' the latter representing one of the finest interpretations of the death of a loved one on prime time TV anywhere. A brave, stark and utterly heart breaking piece of television that can not fail to move even the casual viewer.