Jun 16, 2012

TV Based On Books


Recently, I started watching Bones on Netflix.  When it first came out, I eagerly awaited the first episode.  I love Kathy Reichs books, and at one point considered taking a forensic anthropology degree (I’ve taken forensic anthropology courses as part of my physical anthro degree).  I watched the first Bones episode when it came out and was horribly, horribly disappointed.  Aside from character names and professions, in my mind, it didn’t bear any resemblance to the books I loved.

But, I’ve heard enough good things about the series that I tried again.  I like it.  I’ve always enjoyed clever mystery type shows, and ones that deal with bones are even better.  I had to make an effort to keep the books and show separate, because even though I do like it, these still aren’t the characters I came to identify with.  They’re interesting in their own right, and as long as I keep both creative entities separate, I’m good. 

True Blood suffered from a similar issue, in my opinion.  The first season followed the books closely enough that I got engaged.  In the second season, I needed to accept that True Blood was an entity in it’s own right, separate from the Sookie Stackhouse books in order to maintain my enjoyment. 

In my opinion, though, Game of Thrones is the best televised adaptation of books that I’ve read.  Anyone got any favourites? 

KC Burn

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

There was a series based on the "Emily of New Moon" books about a decade ago which were panned by those who loved the books, but I thought the show was fantastic if you looked at it as stand-alone. Very Degrassi meets Little House. While the book was whimsy and sweetness, the series was incredibly dark and introduced a few non-book characters who you loved to hate.

I agree about True Blood -- once season two came along and the story arc shifted from the book series, I started to enjoy the show on a whole new level.

Barbara Elsborg said...

Interesting about Game of Thrones. I watched series one, bought the book. Husband gave up after 100 pages. I gave up after the same. Not that we didn't like it. We did but we knew what was going to happen. The screen version seemed very close to the book, even using the same dialogue.
Trueblood is like two different things! But I enjoyed both.

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