20 movies from the 1980s that have been adapted into TV shows

It took a while to get an adaptation of the “Karate Kid” series. Well, if we overlook the 1989 cartoon that ran a robust 13 episodes. We’re thinking more of “Cobra Kai,” the YouTube show-turned-Netflix success. The show focused on Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence, now middle-aged adults, as they molded a new generation of martial artists while dealing with the fallout from their own experiences in that world.

We didn’t want to populate too much of this list with ‘80s movies that got turned into cartoons for children. Still, it’s not like that happened to every hit film of the decade, and the “Ghostbusters” cartoon was particularly successful. Called “The Real Ghostbusters” owing to copyright issues, the look of the characters in this show probably gave kids a misunderstanding of the actual movie. Plus, in the cartoon (which ran for 140 episodes) Slimer is friends with the Ghostbusters!

Surprisingly, “Gremlins” didn’t get a cartoon adaptation in the wake of the film’s release in 1984. Oh, it got a cartoon adaptation, but not the Saturday-morning variety. In 2023, a prequel show hit HBO Max. Two seasons, with two separate stories, aired. First it was “Secrets of the Mogwai,” and then it was “The Wild Batch.” Fair warning to adults who enjoy the “Gremlins” films: This show is definitely aimed primarily toward children.

Technically, the show in question is built upon the Indiana Jones trilogy of the 1980s. The show didn’t debut until 1992, after all. “The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles” was created by George Lucas, who set the show's creative vision. Now, you can glean some of what the show is all about from the title, but the show features adventures from two eras of Indy’s life. There were episodes about a young Indy, and episodes that focused on his late teens and early twenties.

In the 1990s (and 2000s), the USA network went to the well of adapting ‘80s movies into TV shows multiple times. This was a classic slapped-together adaptation as it is about the same characters but with different actors in the roles. The film is your classic ‘80s teen comedy, but with a sci-fi twist. Two unpopular kids created a dream woman with a computer, and she turns out to be magic as well. The continuing adventures of Lisa and the kids actually ran for 88 episodes on USA.

You know a franchise has perhaps gotten pear-shaped when it gets a TV adaptation that actively ignores or rewrites events from some of the movies. To that end, “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” picks up after the events of the first two movies, but doesn’t consider anything else. As you can glean from the title, Sarah Connor is the main character of this show. It ran for two seasons on FOX.

Okay, so there were a lot of sequels to this film, and also a reboot, before a “Child’s Play” TV show hit the airwaves. They are all variations on the same theme, though. The sequels went heavy into the Chucky of it all, and the show is no different. Hell, they literally titled it “Chucky.” It’s a horror-comedy, but not as outright campy as some of the movies. The show ran for 24 episodes, and it’s pretty fun.

Before there was the TV version of “Tales from the Crypt,” there was “Freddy’s Nightmares.” Just before Halloween in 1988, this anthology horror show debuted. As an anthology show, much of the action didn’t have anything to do with the “Nightmare on Elm Street” film series. Robert Englund reprised his role of Freddy Krueger to serve as the host of “Freddy’s Nightmares.” The first episode also featured Freddy, to be fair.

It might feel obvious that “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” would get a half-baked Saturday morning cartoon adaptation. The fantastical possibilities of the premise would have lent themselves quite well to animation. That’s not what happened, though. In 1997, a live-action sitcom based on “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” debuted. Peter Scolari stepped into the role of Wayne Szalinski, played by Rick Moranis, in the films. Honestly, for syndicated TV casting, that’s not much of a step down.

“Harry and the Hendersons” wasn’t a huge movie, but the story of a family taking in a Sasquatch certainly seemed workable for a TV adaptation. In fact, there’s a decent chance that if you were a kid in the ‘90s, you knew of and watched the TV version of “Harry and the Hendersons” without even being aware of the film. It was a family-friendly sitcom that ran for 72 episodes from 1991 through 1993.

Bruce Campbell seemed to have enjoyed playing Ash, even if his friend, director Sam Raimi, mostly seemed to enjoy messing with his longtime buddy in the “Evil Dead” movies. The iconic horror franchise lasted for three films, but many years later, Campbell stepped back into the role of Ash. Set three decades after the events of the films – fitting for a show that debuted in 2015 – the Starz program lived up to the legacy of the “Evil Dead” movies. That is to say, it’s full of physical comedy and is also often rather gross and gory.

As was often the case, when “Beetlejuice” was adapted into a cartoon for kids, they had to tweak a few things. Gone were the Maitlands, and the main characters, because of Lydia and Beetlejuice himself. That made sense, as Lydia is a child and Beetlejuice is cartoonish. Of course, in the film Beetlejuice torments Lydia and her parents and tries to take her as a child bride. The cartoon figured it would probably be better if they were friends and going on wacky adventures.

A two-fer! During the lengthy film run of the “Police Academy” franchise, there was a cartoon based on the show in the late ‘80s. To make an already silly film series more palatable to children, they added a bunch of talking dogs. Later, when the film series was done, there was briefly a live-action sitcom. Only Michael Winslow (the sound effects guy) was in the cast, but even Winslow dipped out after 13 of the 26 episodes of the show’s run.

Paul Verhoeven’s “RoboCop” is an incredibly violent, intentionally depraved movie. Naturally, the next year, there was a cartoon for kids based on it. To be fair, RoboCop is about a robotic cop, and that is something kids can enjoy. The “RoboCop” cartoon is a frequent talking point in the “Can you believe they turned that into a show for kids!?” conversation, but it only lasted 12 episodes. There was actually another cartoon in the ‘90s, subtitled “Alpha Commando,” which ran for 40 episodes.

One last cartoon aimed to bring young kids into an I.P.’s grasp. Not to sound cynical or anything. It’s easy to figure out why they opted to make a cartoon out of “Excellent Adventure.” Bill and Ted are, largely, well-meaning goofballs, and a time-travel show could be at least partially educational. The first season even has Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter around for the voices. A second season was then done by a different animation studio, but they lost Reeves and Winter in the process.

Anthony Michael Hall was in “Weird Science,” which was adapted into a TV show by the USA Network. In the 2000s, USA adapted “The Dead Zone” as a show…and it starred Anthony Michael Hall. Okay, so the show was sold as being another adaptation of the Stephen King novel, but it doesn’t get made without the 1983 movie to drift off of. Would you believe the TV version of “The Dead Zone” ran for six seasons and 80 episodes?

We wanted to include at least one of these adaptations that flopped and has swiftly been forgotten. To that end, when it comes to “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and television, most people think of “Parker Lewis Can’t Lose,” a show that feels heavily indebted to the John Hughes movie. Simply titled “Ferris Bueller,” as one can’t have a day off every day, the show debuted in 1990 and was canceled after 13 episodes.

While “Poltergeist: The Legacy” is of the “drafting off the success of the movie” type show, it is a spinoff of the film series. “The Legacy” mostly just borrows the title and then tells entirely different stories related to the occult, but the spirit (so to speak) is there. Also, the show was pretty successful. “The Legacy” ran from 1996 through 1998 on Showtime and was picked up for one season on the Sci-Fi Channel in 1999.

“Teen Wolf” is a movie about a werewolf who is super good at basketball, and it was followed by a sequel about a different werewolf who is a college boxer. That is to say, we aren’t irked that the MTV show “Teen Wolf” basically has nothing to do with the movie. It’s much soapier and steamier, befitting the network. However, that fully worked. “Teen Wolf,” which ran from 2011 to 2017, may have been the last successful scripted show on MTV.

We end with a new edition. “The ‘Burbs,” a Peacock show, splits the difference between an actual adaptation and just using the name of an existing property. It has the element of a suburban cul-de-sac and one house that generates rumors of nefariousness among the neighbors, but the show seems to be hitting the mystery more, and also doesn’t have the Suburban Dad (or Suburban Mom, in this case) feel to it. Mostly, we’re disappointed that Joe Dante had no connection to the show and that the comedy is pretty bad.