Book-to-TV adaptations are challenging because the margin between success and failure is razor-thin. Since it gives the filmmakers more great sources to work with and helps to promote the already-published works, adaptation has always been a popular genre in the film industry. But, if the adaptation fails to capture the essence of the book, it bombs.
HBO, the premium network with a well-deserved reputation for routinely putting out top-notch programming, is also knowledgeable about TV adaptation. In addition to their original content, their adapted shows are frequently more popular and on point. These series, which range from comic book to non-fiction adaptations, are essential viewing.
10 ‘True Blood’ (2008-2014)
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 68%
Based on Charlaine Harris’s novel series, The Southern Vampire Mysteries, True Blood follows Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin), a telepathic waitress who resides in the fictional rural Louisiana town of Bon Temps. While anti-vampire organizations start to gain clout, the show details the vampires' fight for equality and assimilation.
The show features solid, well-written, well-developed characters and an originally strong premise with campy humor, making sure they escape the vampire stereotype and actually have some teeth. Additionally, thanks to an interesting setting of a world where humans and vampires can live side by side, it allows for both incisive social critique and wry humor.
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9 ‘Sex and the City’ (1998-2004)
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 70%
Adapted from Candace Bushnell's newspaper column and her 1996 book anthology of the same name, Sex and the City is set in New York City and centers on the lives of four women who are inseparable and confide in one another despite having quite different personalities and fluctuating sex lives.
Despite being unquestionably depressed and hopeless about relationships, Sex and the City is a sophisticated, articulate, and deft late-night viewing for older audiences. The program also emphasizes the value and power of female friendships and the challenges faced by working-class women.
8 ‘Game of Thrones’ (2011-2019)
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 88%
Adapted from A Song of Ice and Fire, a series of fantasy novels by George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones is set in the fictional Seven Kingdoms of Westeros and the continent of Essos and follows multiple plot lines. One follows a conflict between rival candidates for the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms, the second is about the actions taken by the exiled scion to retake the kingdom, and the third describes how the impending winter poses a threat.
Game of Thrones is a grand political epic in which the nature of power and authority is repeatedly questioned, and the spectator is left to come up with their own unsettling answers. It's also one of a few programs that, after each episode, becomes more unexpected, keeping viewers on the edge of their seats the entire time.
7 ‘Big Little Lies’ (2017-)
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 89%
Based on the 2014 novel of the same name by Liane Moriarty, Big Little Lies begins when a single mother (Shailene Woodley) moves to a beautiful California seaside town, the seemingly ideal lives of upper-class mothers at a competitive elementary school start to fall apart, eventually leading to murder.
Big Little Lies may have a quick-paced soap opera atmosphere at first, but by the final episode, it has evolved into a twisted lament for the actual injustices that women experience. Moreover, it is a harmonically complex and marvelously exciting drama that deftly treads the line between mystery and melodrama, supported by the remarkable leading female cast's outstanding performances.
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6 ‘The Leftovers’ (2014-2017)
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91%
Based on Tom Perrotta's 2011 novel of the same name, The Leftovers takes place three years since the "Sudden Departure," a global catastrophe that saw 2% of the world's population vanish. In a fictitious rendition of the town of Mapleton, New York, the show centers on the Garvey family and their friends.
The Leftovers' portrayal of mass sadness occasionally has moments of stunning beauty despite its overwhelming sense of futility. Although its somber tone and self-importance might make for depressing viewing, the show is a masterfully crafted drama that aims high, frequently hits its mark, and quite perfectly transposes the original material.
5 ‘Boardwalk Empire’ (2010-2014)
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92%
Inspired by the 2002 non-fiction book Boardwalk Empire: The Birth, High Times, and Corruption of Atlantic City by Nelson Johnson, Boardwalk Empire centers on Enoch "Nucky" Thompson (Steve Buscemi), a politician who becomes well-known and in charge of Atlantic City, New Jersey, during the Prohibition era in the 1920s and 1930s.
The show has unusual depth and scale that is violent, thought-provoking, and rich in historical background, which has something for everyone. Furthermore, rather than just being a gangster show, Boardwalk Empire is a period drama that depicts the nation at a crucial juncture in its history, anchored by the cast’s mesmerizing performances, especially Buscemi.
4 ‘Sharp Objects’ (2018)
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92%
Based on the 2006 debut novel of the same name by Gillian Flynn, Sharp Objects follows Camille Preaker (Amy Adams), a crime reporter with alcoholism who was recently released from a mental health facility after years of self-harm, goes back to her hometown of Wind Gap, Missouri, to investigate the deaths of two young girls.
Sharp Objects is all about misogyny and agony, but it never feels exploitative since the plot is so sympathetic to women's viewpoints. Moreover, thanks to the faithful adaptation of Flynn's book, the show delivers a rarely-seen-on-tv female anti-hero like Camille whose mistakes are written all over her body, literally. The show also provides another viewpoint to what we've previously seen about female rage.
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3 ‘House of the Dragon’ (2022-)
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 93%
Partially based on George R. R. Martin’s Fire & Blood, House of the Dragon serves as both a sequel and prequel to Game of Thrones and takes place about 100 years after the Targaryen Conquest unites the Seven Kingdoms. The "Dance of the Dragons," or the destructive war of succession that preceded the beginning of House Targaryen's decline, is the main focus of the show.
Fans of Game of Thrones will probably find House of the Dragon a suitable replacement, despite it being a bit slower-paced and more difficult to follow at times due to its multiple time jumps and recastings. The beauty of the program, in addition to its strong writing, is how its creator interprets each event in the original novel, which is told through unreliable sources, to present a coherent and engaging story.
2 ‘Olive Kitteridge’ (2014)
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 94%
Based on Elizabeth Strout's 2008 novel of the same name, Olive Kitteridge follows the titular character, played by Frances McDormand, an antisocial and stern retired teacher with good intentions who resides in the fictional seaside hamlet of Crosby, Maine. The show portrays Olive’s complex relationship with her husband, Henry (Richard Jenkins), and the effects of mental illness and daily life in a coastal town.
Some viewers may find the slow pacing and unconventional structure frustrating, but McDormand is outstanding, and the characters are captivating. It’s also one of the best television depictions of clinical depression, especially regarding how mental illness is passed down through families.
1 ‘Watchmen’ (2019)
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 96%
Based on the 1986 DC Comics series of the same name, Watchmen is set 34 years after the events in the comic and in an alternative world where masked vigilantes are viewed as outlaws. The show follows Detective Angela Abar (Regina King) as she investigates the resurgence of a white supremacist terrorist organization inspired by the long-deceased moral absolutist Rorschach.
Watchmen is a masterclass in narrative structure because of how well the show and comic's components fit together. Moreover, with this show, a nearly four-decade-old comic book series was swiftly transported into the 2020s while posing issues with remembrance, tragedy, and race and authority in America.
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