Will 'The Wizard of Oz' Make a Good TV Show?

by SodaHead TV Posted 2012/04/30 19:00:00

Related Topics: Wizard Of Oz, Television, TV, e, Dorothy, Natalie Krinsky, Oscars, Gossip Girl, Infographic, Oscar, Magic, Grey's Anatomy, Movie, Work, Office, Tradition

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	Yes	130 votes	27%
	No	356 votes	73%

"The Wizard of Oz," a 1939 musical film based on L. Frank Baum's 1900 children's novel "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," was a box office failure when it came out. But it was still nominated for six Oscars, won two of them, and went on to be regarded as one of the best movies of all time. Historian John Fricke owes a large part of the movie's legendary status to television, asserting that annual telecasts made it something of a tradition in America. Now E! wants to bring the magic back to the small screen with a scripted drama called "Dorothy."

Here's how the network describes it: "Inspired by the book 'Dorothy and The Wizard of Oz,' a girl from Kansas City falls for a man and moves with him to the Emerald City to work at his Emerald Hotel. From writer Natalie Krinsky ('Gossip Girl,' 'Grey's Anatomy') and Warner Horizon Television." We assume they intended to reference the 1908 L. Frank Baum book, "Dorothy and The Wizard in Oz," the fourth book in the series. In any case, do you think Baum's "Wizard of Oz" classic will make a good television show?

+16

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paul 2012/04/30 19:55:56

No

+12
they already made a tv show about oz
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bt sedlock to Callaway 2012/05/14 03:11:10

Producing movies based on tv shows usually leads to disaster. Hollywood has been producing movie remakes of tv shows since the 1990s like DENNIS THE MENACE, THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES, THE FLINTSTONES, THE BRADY BUNCH, SERGAENT BILKO, MCHALE'S NAVY, FLIPPER, CHARLIE'S ANGELS, THE AVENGERS and most of them were terrible.

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Callaway to bt sedlock 2012/05/14 11:39:24

You may have have missed some on the list but you have a pretty good start. I'm sure some of those listed started out as being someone's wonderful idea at doing a remake in an office but something happened on the way to the movie completion that took the wrong turn.

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bt sedlock to Callaway 2012/05/19 23:53:15

Remember the HONEYMOONERS movie from 2005 with Cedric the Entertainer? Wasn't that aweful?

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Dyan Moore to bt sedlock 2012/05/03 00:09:44

Because it was up against "Gone with the Wind"

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bt sedlock to Dyan Moore 2012/05/14 03:18:51

1939 was a momentous year for Hollywood with such classic and epic movies like GONE WITH THE WIND, WIZARD OF OZ, OF MICE AND MEN, STAGECOACH, HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME, GOOD BYE MR. CHIPS, MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON to name just a few.

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Cal 2012/05/02 02:40:58

No

+1

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Lexi 2012/05/02 02:22:15

No

No... Movies that were made into TV shows didn't go well.. . Its just ruining the whole movie.

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angel face 2012/05/02 02:15:15

No

+1
It should just stay a movie. It wasnt that long or great to become a show. It was just great as a movie. Period.

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☆FritzW☆ 2012/05/02 01:07:06

Yes

Why not? We love fantasy.. makes life more bearable to live sometimes and takes our mind off all the bad stuff in reality. It may have gotten it's start as a children's novel, but so did Harry Potter and a lot of folks are into him. This show will do well I think.

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bt sedlock to ☆FritzW☆ 2012/05/02 04:16:59

It would be nice if THE LORD OF THE RINGS were made into a tv trilogy.

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☆FritzW☆ to bt sedlock 2012/05/02 19:28:08

Now your talking! They already got the set; be a piece of cake to turn it into an ongoing TV show. I think something like that would be as big, if not bigger, than The Walking Dead! Good idea!! :)

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bt sedlock to ☆FritzW☆ 2012/05/14 03:20:55

Thank you.

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bt sedlock to ☆FritzW☆ 2012/05/20 00:04:52

The Jackson movie triliogy had alot of important moments missing from them and many famous lines from Tolkien's book are missing too. Peter Jackson really took alot of liberties in making his epic movie which disappointed many die hard LOTR fans including myself. Perhaps with a tv mini series it would more accurate to Tolkien's book if not as extravagent as the movie.

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☆FritzW☆ to bt sedlock 2012/06/03 18:16:02

I agree, but I also have to say it still fulfilled something for me. Sadly, it's not easy to be 100% with published works when translating them to film. Time constraints are a reality; as it is, Jackson had to cut out from his own desires as the producers felt no one would sit through the what.. 3.5 hour movie he wanted? :)
I agree that there was disappointment, but at the same time it was so wonderful to see Tolkien's world come to life. I was able to excuse the lapses and just enjoy it. :) And I so look forward to The Hobbit when it comes out.
A mini series would be interesting, but I say take it one step further and make a regular series out of it. Hell.. they already have the set built for them. :) And it could be a purer representation of his works. I'd believe that SyFy could easily see rating bumps with this type of programming on it's weekly lineup. I don't know if the show would last to the end of the trilogy, but there is certainly a LOT of material to work with.. and do it accurately as well. :)

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bt sedlock to ☆FritzW☆ 2012/06/04 16:37:20

The SyFy Network, as with all cable networks have branched out and are airing their own original shows. I'm not a big science fiction fan but it wouldn't hurt to air rerto sci-fi series. I have nothing against original programming, but try to make some room for the older shows, even black & white.

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Butch 2012/05/02 00:50:46

No

Durn I meant to vote no. Missed the button again. So, NO! The Wizard of OZ should NOT get a TV show. Not unless it can do serious homage to the original 1936 movie, and I don't think that's possible.

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☆FritzW☆ to Butch 2012/05/02 19:31:14

I respect that.. but I also think they could do it right and add a LOT to the movie's story. Remember, this is a series of books, not just one and what a rich source of fiction it is! Don't know if you watch either Grimm or Once Upon a Time.. but both are examples of twists off original story lines that have created, in my opinion, some awesome stories! Then again, if they try to rewrite it and thus change it too much.. I agree wholeheartedly that it's gonna miss.

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Nameless 2012/05/02 00:50:07

No

+1
Hell, no!

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deepthinker 2012/05/02 00:44:10

No

+1
No no no! The movie is a classic and a long-time favorite. Don't cheapen it by starting a TV series that would become more and more unrelated to the original while attempting to write new episodes. It ain't broke, so why try to fix it? Look at what has happened to the remake of other classics -- such as State Fair for example. The Little House on the Prairie makes a great TV series, but is pretty far from the original Wilder stories. No I think we need to leave the OZ as is.

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Adam 2012/05/02 00:22:01

Yes

It could, if done well. There's a huge number of books to draw from, and one movie from 70 years ago hardly makes that well run dry. Id give it a shot.

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heirsoftheking 2012/05/01 23:56:04

No

+1
Best to leave the classic movie alone.

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Adam to heirsof... 2012/05/02 00:15:07

How many people said, "Best to leave the classic book alone"? when they were making the movie?

It certainly could be bad, Ill grant you, but fairy tales tend to work very well in remakes and remixes because most fairy tales are themselves a long series of tweaks and changes to a few core concepts. I understand the suspicion, but I think it might be worth considering.

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Bob DiN 2012/05/01 23:32:22

Yes

Why not. If they stick to the original story it has to be better than the crap on TV now.

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fairiefang -annoying fashio... 2012/05/01 23:16:14

No

I say this b/c the movie always kind of bored me. My senior year of high school I went on a field trip to see Wicked just as an excuse to get out of school. I ended up LOVING it!
So if they could do something similar to Wicked then maybe.
I do tend to love twists to stories like this though. I love 10th Kingdom, am OBSESSED with Once Upon a Time, and enjoyed a darker version of Snow White that I saw on tv one time.
I've been wanting to see the mini-series Alice for awhile now. Kind of want to see Tin Man because Zooey Deschanel is in it.
I know they are supposed to be making 2 new Beauty and the Beast tv shows (good luck to them competing with Once's version...that was freaking epic!) and I will probably check them out.

I'm thinking I will probably at least try watching Wizard of Oz. I do tend to prefer tv shows to movies. Movies just don't suck me in the same way as shows do. Shows give you the chance to better know the characters and fall in love with them (same reason I prefer book series to stand alone novels).

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Miranda Panda 2012/05/01 23:00:27

No

+2
It's an amazing movie as is, don't mess it up

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Kigan 2012/05/01 22:53:05

No

Hell. No.

I'm so sick of this garbage of people "borrowing" from something famous and turning it either into another movie or a TV show - which is of course a disaster and scars the original great work.

"Wicked" was one thing - it did not mar "The Wizard of Oz" and, personal opinion: I feel it gave some enrichment to it.

This TV show is someone trying to ride the success of someone else...again.

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Adam to Kigan 2012/05/02 00:19:21

Sort of like how the movie ripped off the book?

I understand the cynicism, and absolutely, the degree to which pop culture relies on rehashes over the unique is nauseating. But Fairy Tales lend themselves quite well to re imaginings. They have been re imagined since long before even the printing press. It's been 70 years since the movie, I think we can have another go at it without over saturation.

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Kigan to Adam 2012/05/02 01:25:01

If this were in fact the first.

I accounted for the book to movie. That, I don't mind. Until it is done 20 more times and each is worse than the last.

Now they are taking something that has become so big and cashing in on the name.

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Sperry23 2012/05/01 22:40:54

No

+1
So many attempts, so many fails. If they were to do it, they should follow the books. Besides, doesn't Disney own the rights? If so, the House of Mouse will squelch it or get involved and ruin it.

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Nan 2012/05/01 22:19:11

No

+1
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!... Leave it ALONE!

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cddjmikey 2012/05/01 21:59:46

No

+1
As described in the article I would be surprised if it lasted half the season before it got pulled off the air.

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janet 2012/05/01 21:36:57

No

+2
Don't they already have a cartoon of the Wizard of OZ??

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stev to janet 2012/05/02 03:47:23

+1
It was an animated feature called "Journey Back to Oz"(1974) and it stared Liza Minnelli as Dorothy. One problem, it stank!

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Sperry23 to janet 2012/05/02 15:15:05 (edited)

Several. Also a grunch of live action films going all the way back to 1919. Go to imdb dot com and type in Wizard of Oz. The list is staggering.

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Happy_Evil_Dude 2012/05/01 21:35:57

Yes

+3
There are over 40 novels, the material is certainly there.

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abubincrazy 2012/05/01 21:24:09

No

+1
I heard they had made another animated movie version, but I haven't seen anything regarding a release.

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Chief 2012/05/01 21:19:20

No

I think it was pretty much played out in the movie.

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jimmie 2012/05/01 21:14:08

No

+1
Leave it alone, they always half to screw something good up.

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MichaelTaylor 2012/05/01 21:01:42

No

Please, there are too many dorky tv shows already.

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Walter Harris 2012/05/01 20:51:45

Yes

+1
I don't which to answer, wouldn't that ruin it's iconess

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