Even for a Reverse Sheep answer that would be incorrect

I honestly didn't know MASH was based on a movie, don't really know much about MASH

ok so after MASH

What about any recent ones ? (last 10 years)

Stargate is definitely a good one, i used to love some of the shows

Alice
Little Rascals
Gidget
Flipper
Peyton Place
La Femme Nikita
Alien Nation
War of the Worlds
Peayton Place

The first 5 or 6 were likely more successful than Buffy, but of course MASH can't be topped and should be the first one that comes to mind for most.

The Little Rascals was not a TV show

It's probably not an answer that I would have given for a reverse sheep question, as there's so many shows based on movies that there's no need to get creative.

I just thought it was an interesting one to throw out there. Bill Cosby: Himself was a theatrically released film, and a lot of the pilot for the Cosby show is lifted directly from the bits he performed in the film.

IMDb lists it as a "spin-off" of the film.

That's very limiting, Buffy isn't even in the last 10 years.

MASH was a Robert Altman movie, his then 14 year old son wrote the lyrics to the theme Suicide is Painless and ultimately made more money from that than Robert Altman did from the movie.

Friday Night Lights would be in my top five.

BTW: If anyone hasn't seen it or has seen it but hasn't got it on DVD yet - Best Buy is selling the whole series (five seasons) for $39.99 this week.

Of everything mentioned(outside of M*A*S*H), I think Stargate would have to take the #2 spot. Four spinoff series, 18 seasons, 380 episodes of television. Plus a bonus two straight to video movies.

Buffy + Angel is probably a solid choice for #3.

However, Friday Night Lights might be my favorite.

Um, no. "After MASH" was a piece of shit show. "Hey, let's take the most boring MASH characters and build a new show around them, it can't miss!"

What about W*A*L*T*E*R? Does that count for anything?

"And let's put it on opposite Monday Night Football!"

I'm still puzzled about how a show centered around Radar could be interesting. Did anyone here watch it?

Not to get too nerdy but it was originally based on a series of books.

Alien Nation was fantastic...but, sadly, not very successful.

The obvious answer to this is Lethal Weapon...we just don't know it yet.

I watched it, but I was a kid and had only seen a few seasons of MASH.

I remember watching the final episode. The power went out across the street so some neighbors came over because of course they couldn't miss it.

I guess it depends on how one defines success. Angel and Buffy were watched by far more people then Stargate and still get watched in reruns.Whereas despite the mass amount of merchandising it sells and the endless amount of sequels I doubt 90% of people were not aware or only vaguely aware of the shows existence. There's really almost a mini Kiss/Phish fanhood that has flown under the cultural radar.

So financially Stargate might be more profitable then even Mash but cultural impact I don't think it even is anywhere close to Buffy/Angel or even Friday Night Lights.

There are a number of yardsticks you can measure "success" by: Number of seasons/episodes, cultural impact, critical acclaim, ratings...

None of them are all that culturally substantial. Buffy was a show that peaked with 5m viewers an episode, Stargate had less than that, Friday Night Lights even less than that.

Even looking back, sure Buffy has a dedicated following still, but it didn't leave a huge impact outside of Whedon.

MASH is the only one that was truly a cultural thing.

Technically, these two are based on books, although people are more familiar with the film franchises.

Recently, Parenthood ran for 6 seasons, which is remarkable considering it had already previously had a failed TV adaptation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parent...010_TV_series)

Teen Wolf on MTV also is going to have a 6 season run:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teen_W...011_TV_series)

Nikita had a 4 season run on CW, and is notable since it's the 2nd successful TV adaptation of that particular film.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikita_(TV_series)


The upcoming HBO series Westworld looks like a really interesting adaptation of that film, and it will actually be the 2nd TV adaptation.

The Real Ghostbusters was such a successful animated TV show that some of it seeped into the live action sequel (changing Janine's look, including Slimer).


Wikipedia has a list of shows:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...based_on_films

W*A*L*T*E*R never aired. The pilot was produced and now it is on youtube.

First measure: Are people outside the cult of devoted fans familiar with the existence of the show?

Inaccurate:

Since the pilot was never picked up by CBS as a series, it was shown as a "CBS Special Presentation" on July 17, 1984. It was shown once in the Eastern and Central time zones of the United States, but pre-empted on the West Coast by CBS News coverage of the Democratic National Convention. This is the only known broadcast of the pilot.[3]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/W*A*L*T*E*R

You haven't seen the truckloads of academic literature produced about Buffy.

If you use that criteria, you have to throw out M*A*S*H as well.