Forget the movies! live TV shows that could have been great cartoons

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aerica4

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We all know Star Trek had a pretty decent run as a cartoon after the live series ended so what other live shows do you all think could have been good cartoons after the live show ended? Here's my quick 5....

BTW, I would have preferred these all been done in either late 60's/early 70's animation. You can pick what time/studio of animation you would have liked your choices in.

1. Six Million Dollar Man - This could have been awesome

2. Charlie's Angels - Done 70's HB style using all new Angels (blonde, brunette and redhead, of course)

3. Knight Rider - well, either 70's or 80's. Maybe Ruby/Spears.

4. Wonder Woman - ok, an easy choice but she could have pulled off her own cartoon continuing either the 1st/2nd theme or the 3rd season reboot...hell, they had a Wonder Girl ready.

5. Firefly - ok, 70's would not have worked but we can always use another space cartoon. :)

Shout out your ideas, kids.
 
Sanford & Son- Redd Foxx was one of the funniest comedians of all time, an aminated Fred & Lamont would have added to it's already legendary status.

Family Matters- An animated Urkel would have been AWESOME!!

McGyver- I loved the show and was upset when they cancelled it even though it had a good run. The aminated version would have been AWESOME!

Perfect Strangers- I'm a big Balki fan, it would have been interesting to see him animated.

Fantasy Island- Imagine how much Tattoo dolls would sold made if this show was animated!!
 
The A-Team. It pretty much was already a cartoon anyway, why not just animate it? It would have probably been better than the Mr. T cartoon. I guess there would be concern about a cartoon where "outlaws" are the heroes, but considering the various shows about superheroes who worked above the law i dont think that would be a problem.
 
I always felt that Malcolm in the Middle would make a great cartoon. I also sometimes get that feeling from Scrubs and My Name is Earl.


^This
 
An animated series version of Night Court might have been fun.

One of the problems with Out of Jimmy's Head was that the shows' live action world was just as cartoony as the toon characters that Jimmy interacted with, so there was no real contrast between the 2 sensibilities. Cartoon Network could have just removed the Appleday Gang and made Jimmy, his family and friends animated characters in a cartoon universe.
 
For some reason, recently the idea of a Malcolm in the Middle anime popped into my head.

Scenes with Lois being angry would be hilarious in anime-style.

Other than that, not sure of any more.
 
There was a show called Bionic six where the bionic man (I dun remember if it was THE Six million dollar man or someone else) and his bionic family fought the evil schemes of Dr.Beetle...I think that was his name :confused:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bionic_Six

Oh nevermind, he only somewha resembled teh six million dollar man, forget about it
 
Plenty of live action shows i'd like to see get animated. Off the top of my head and limited by my unworthy memory... I'll go through a few i can think of.

Round the Twist

Well i don't know it would be good i guess.

Doctor Who

Would work well animated as the effects and settings could be much cheaper to produce than in a live action series. (Although the new series uses new backgrounds and beasts/objects amde using cgi processes, but i daresay 2d cel animation is a lot cheaper than those fancy cgi methods)

Starsky and Hutch

I recently started watching this show and think it's very good. An animated version would allow for more flexibility in plot and could also give the show a style worthy.

Fawlty Towers

This is an idea i've had ever since first seeing the show in 06. It seems perfect for animation as the humor is a bit like that in Daria, and works well in animated format.

Malcom in the Middle (as mentioned above)

Seinfeld

I know the voice actors would be a problem seeing as they quit the series but it could work and would already have a fanbase for the show ready and waiting

Friends

I never liked Friends but think it would work nicely as a Daria/KOTH style semi ralistic cartoon/comedy

Law and Order

I used to like this show more than i do now but it'd work animated

That's all i can think of cause of my unworthy memory
 
That one was done . . . kind of. Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels was the closest thing to an animated version of Charlie's Angels without licensing the series from Columbia Pictures Television.

Three beautiful detectives solving crimes. Of course, instead of Bosley, these Angels had Captain Caveman. Plus, Taffy looked an awful lot like Farrah Fawcett.
 
Funny thing: Disney was originally planning to make a Sky High series (not an animated one), but the plans were scrapped due to the movie's lackluster box office performance.

I personally don't see what they could do on a Sky High series, though. The only series-worthy characters in the film (aside from Commander Stronghold and Jetstream, who obviously wouldn't be the show's main focus) were Will, Layla and Warren. Ethan, Zack and Magenta were really only good for one story, and that story was already told in the movie: the sidekicks proved that they weren't losers and they had what it takes to be heroes. They couldn't have the sidekicks being looked down on by the heroes and then proving their worth every week, especially since the school basically dissolved the whole Hero/Sidekick pecking order at the end of the film. Unless the producers were to bring in a bunch of new characters and center the show around them (I admit I would've liked to have seen more of Freeze Girl), I don't see they could do it.

I still haven't seen Napoleon Dynamite, so I can't comment on that.
 
Speaking of movies, it always surprised me that a Jurassic Park cartoon series was never made.

It would've been natural: Kids like dinosaurs, and the toys were selling like gangbusters. I guess Steven Spielberg and/or Micheal Crichton put the kibosh on any such ideas, and if so, what a shame.
 
2. H-B parodied Charlie's Angels with Capt. Caveman & the Teen Angels.
3. Ruby-Spears came up with Turbo Teen as a sendup of Knight Rider.

Licensing rights can be expensive, which is why you didn't see a lot of night-time shows adapted into cartoons.

BTW, Star Trek managed 2 seasons as a toon. Hardly a "decent run".
 
Also, as of late, they don't make many shows that would seem animation-friendly anyway and considering the marketplace has made networks and syndicators act stupid because of draconian laws, they wouldn't have a place on broadcast television.

That said, My Name Is Earl would have been a great animated series had it been around when Hanna-Barbera was turning sitcoms to cartoons.
 
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