8. The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
Quirkiness is beginning to grow in popularity in Hollywood, but no one has ever done quirkiness and eccentricity quite like Wes Anderson. The Royal Tenenbaums is a perfect fit for an adaption into television. The characters, which are all part of the family "Tenenbaum" are so vivid, kooky and colorful they are practically cartoons. Wes Anderson's style of humor isn't everyones cup of tea, but with multiple episodes, the humor could certainly begin to grow on people. If you haven't already seen the film, it follows the lives of three adult siblings who are all gifted in unusual ways. Their father "Royal" comes back into their lives having abandoned them all at an early age and tells his ex wife, the siblings mother, that he has cancer. After the news that their father is dying, the all have to adjust to him being a part of their lives again. Sounds like a pretty dark drama, but in fact it couldn't be any more light hearted and fun (that is, if you forget the scene when one of the siblings ties to kill himself). Characters include an adoptive playwrite daughter who is in love with her non-biological brother, a genius financial expert son who sued his father in the past and now mourns the death of his wife as he tries to raise two sons who look exactly like him, and a friend of the family who writes Western novels and is desperate to be a part of the family among many others. Seriously though, this is nowhere near as dramatic or messed up as it sounds. Seeing as the father dies in the film, and the movie star cast would unlikely all return (in fact, they certainly wouldn't) the best bet would be to take the premise of the quirky American family who has to deal with the return of their absent father, and then follow a separate story than the one taken in the film. There is potential for this to work as a kind of sequel, although with none of the cast involved, it would be better to just start all over again, whilst respecting the genius of the movie. I'd see this working as a half an hour comedy show in the same sort of style as 30 Rock. Seeing as many great comedy shows are ending this year; 30 Rock, The Office, and most likely Community, this sort of show would fit the place left by those great shows nicely. I could also see this working as an animated show (like the attempted Napoleon Dynamite cartoon... but much better) and this way, the cast could easily return just to do their own character voices, and the fans of the film wouldn't be so mad.