Well, my mom and i were talking about the Harry Potter movies, namely the 4th movie, and how much they lacked and and skipped from the books. And she brought up the idea of how Harry Potter would have been better as a TV series, and this i agree to. Since the books are so long and detailed, and since so much happeneds in each book, making it into a movie is rather meaningless. They should have waited untill the book series was done before, then they should have turned it into a long, expensive, really good TV show, and we all know how successful it would be. I Think each book should have its own season on the TV show. But its too late, saying how the 5th movie is coming out soon (which doesnt look too bad).

thoughts?

They're okay as movies. They wouldn't work as a TV series for the reason that the characters change too much and the plot fluctuates a little too much for a TV series

There are certian problems when making a TV series, making a continued profit off of it, having all of the special effectts that you would have in the movie, oh and last but not least, the experience, the fact is when you go to see Harry Potter some go for the expeience of the big screen.

If it had been a series, that would have translated into the audiance having to find time to watch it. I do think it is better as a movie, no matter how much I may complain about what they lack when compared to the books, but there are some adding things that I can't help but enjoy. I feel I should mention that, being the greedy thing I am, I would enjoy to have both movie and series; the movie's taking the shortcuts they need while the series being an exact replica.

I think neither movie or tv really does it, but well beggars can't be choosers. A tv series I don't think would really work. There are just too many factors to be considered. For one thing it would cost quite a sum of money for not only the actors but also props, special effects, scenary, etc. It just wouldn't have been cost effective to produce the series of books. Lets face it there is just too much in each book to cover in a series. If it were to be made it would have to be atleast 200 episodes. That's alot and even though Harry Potter is pretty popular, but I'm not sure how many people would actually stick with the series till the end. Although if it were a cartoon then that changes some aspects greatly. It would probably still cost quite a bit too make, but it would still be feasible to do.

That would be cool to see it on TV, but I'm sure the kids would get sick of it faster than making the movies.
I don't know, it would give them solid employment, but they're rich either way lol
But I guess it's more of a chance for people to lose interest.
I'd like to see a series tho, that'd be pretty cool.
I don't think they've based many shows here on ongoing book sets.
Hm.
Can anyone give me an example if they think of one...?
I know they based books on TV shows, not sure of vice versa in the states.
Let me know ;D

there are several tv shows based off stephen king books, like "the Dead zone", as well as others

I think books translated to tv series won't work out... as a fan of Harry Potter, I think the thrill of the events would be lost if Harry Potter would be in the form of tv series.. even if the movie doesn't include some parts of the book, I have already accepted that since it isn't really possible for a movie to cover all that happened in a book.. but they could have made the movie a bit longer...

Having something at the shortness of TV series (whether that's 23 minutes or 45) would mean the whole thing would feel clunky and disjointed. The thing about movies or any single-part media based on a book is that you're getting that book in one go, no interruptions, as it should be.

I dunno... that's how I see it, at least. Maybe it would have worked as a series if the chapters in the book were more definite -- maybe they are, I haven't read any of them -- but since I've seen the movies and how THEY progress, I seriously doubt they would have worked as a series, even if you manage to cram every bit of detail from the book in them.

I think stories like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings would actually do really well as a TV series with one caveat. They would have to spend to money to find the right actors, get the effects right, not go over the top, and stick to the story line and all the sub-plots.
The problem with this is finding the right people (Harry Potter could be really difficult due to the fact that it takes place over 7 years so unless the series was set to run that length of time (like Babylon 5's five year arc) it would probably be difficult to maintain the aging of the characters.
The other problem is making sure people do not lose interest.

I also wish the movies were a little longer, with some details that weren't there... I think they made the fifth movie not so long in order to save money for the sixth. But the movie was great and ok for me, mo matter the 'cuts'

I think they should have made the movies longer- think Lord of the Rings. Of course seven four-hour movies makes... 28 hours total, but I like the movie format because of the higher budget, tighter screenplay etc.

Hm, maybe a TV series wouldn't be such a bad idea. On the other hand, it would have ended up too long, and a book is too short to have a season of its own (speaking about the first 3 ones, the others are pretty huge).

I agree, they could have spent more on the movies. Had they included more details and stuck more with the books, the movies would have been more successful, in my opinion. In the 5th movie I had to explain a lot of things to my friend who saw it with me, because she didn't understand almost anything from it alone.

hmm tv series is a really good idea but the fact of a movie is much more exciting coz it is just like a book coming out each time but yes it does lack detail but i cant blame them coz if they put it in the full contence of the book it would have to be atlest six hours long O.o

Well,sometimes I think it's good that it's a TV series,but I thought for awhile why can it be like Lord of the Rings,with 3 Cds or 2 DVDs,they can fit all those details in!I was so angry when I saw the 4th movie that I didn't even finished it and I refused point blank to watch the 5th.

Naw it only works as a movie, the size of a budget makes a huge difference in all things, and visuals need to be at its best to create the feel and enviroment that it has now. If it were a TV show I doubt it would look as great as it does now.

Another problem is that they have the potential to ruin a series by trying to continue passed the book. You can have 7 fantastic movies, or a library of mediocre tv shows that could ruin the books. I vote Movies