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There is a long history of movies that hit the silver screen diving into television sets in the forms of TV shows. Some were met with huge success and longevity, but the majority of them were virtual train wrecks.

On the surface it seems like a logically brilliant idea: take a film that audiences adored and extend it into a more digestible, bite-sized version that they could watch every week from the comfort of their homes. But carrying over the success of a movie into the television realm seems to involve a tricky and delicate science that no one seems to know the formulas to.

A television series adaptation of the Blade trilogy and the recent news of a live-action Star Wars television series coming to life near the end of this decade beg us to ask whether or not either will succeed. Of course, success in this sense can be interpreted in a variety of ways. Does it depend only on the quality of the show? Most likely not, since there have been movie-to-television cross-overs that were critically acclaimed but were only given a few months to run. Does it depend solely on the popularity of the show? Not as much as one would think. So what does success in this genre depend on?

Let’s take a look at some TV shows that were originally movies that ran for long periods of time, and then some that burnt out quickly to see if there is a visible pattern.

Distance Runners

- M*A*S*H*: Many people forget that M*A*S*H* was originally a movie (1970) that was met with approval in the theaters. It made its way onto television screens in 1972 and ran all the way to 1983.
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The movie was released in 1992 and was met with very mixed results. Somehow the show managed to run for seven solid years (1997-2003) as a television series with a huge fan base.
- Stargate SG-1: Stargate was a film released in 1994. It was met with mixed responses, but the show fared much better, running from 1997 all the way till now.
- Highlander: The film version hit theaters in 1986. Audience response was decent, but the TV series that was launched in 1992 found a faithful following. It ran until 1998.
- La Femme Nikita: Nikita was a film directed by Luc Besson that was released in 1990 and received good responses from audiences. The television series had a strong following and ran on TV from 1997 to 2001.

Short-Distance Losers

- My Big Fat Greek Life: Though movie studios underestimated My Big Fat Greek Wedding’s chances for success on the big screen, CBS overestimated its chances for similar triumph as a television series. This big fat disaster ran for seven episodes in 2003.
- Clueless: In 1995, Clueless did well in movie theaters as a comedy-romance. However, when the movie became a TV show in 1996 it was nothing more than a vain, painful, and lame television experience. The show somehow managed to remain on air until 1999.
- Ferris Bueller: Ferris Bueller’s Day Off was a huge hit in 1986, but the TV series only lasted one miserable season in 1990. Ferris has had plenty of days off since then.
- Planet of the Apes: The Charlton Heston-infused movie did well in the theaters in 1968, but for some reason the TV version only lasted one season in 1974.
- Uncle Buck: Was the movie really that great in 1989? It was just a standard comedy that tried to teach youngsters the idea of appreciating your family. So was the TV series in 1990 really necessary? One season tells us “no.”

There are countless other movie-to-TV shows that only lasted a few months, if that. Dangerous Minds, Fast Times, and Parenthood are just three of many, many failures in this genre.

The odds are against the soon-to-be Blade television series and George Lucas’ live-action Star Wars TV show. Though Blade does not really seem to be anything special, it will be interesting to see whether the vampires and monsters that carried the film trilogy will be able to do the same on television screens.

Star Wars does have an insanely huge and loyal fan base, the likes of which no movie-to-TV series has had the luxury of having, and could be the tipping point for the show’s potential longevity and success. But in no way will this guarantee the triumph of the adaptation. Neither will high caliber storylines or acting.

It seems that television audiences and studios are infinitely more fickle than their movie counterparts, so good luck to both the creators of Blade and Star Wars’ Lucas, both of whom will be at the complete mercy of factors that are virtually unknown.

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Educational guides are a very useful medium for delivering flexible deliverance when the topic and circumstances are conducive to it.

According to Bruhn and Guthrie (1994), a Educational Guide is a ’structured booklet designed to direct the learner through a series of learning activities and to a range of resources to achieve specified competencies or learning outcomes”.

A learning guide is not a ‘how to’ manual like manuals that accompany television sets, microwaves and computers etc, but they may be used in conjunction with them. The key focus of educational guides (hereafter ‘guides’) is that they guide users through a structured learning experience. Manuals don’t do that, they simply a number of activities users can follow to get certain outcomes. An example will highlight the difference.
Example:

On one occasion I used guides to cover a half dozen or so small topics that were important, but which did not warrant group training sessions (I redeveloped them as computer based instruction modules delivered online). This was in an organisation that had six offices spread throughout the Northern Territory (Australia), two of which were remote. Costs for training were often high due to the need for travel, therefore, it was desirable to find alternative modes in order to keep costs.
One of the topics my guides covered for example, was titled “Using Delegations” and consisted of only 16 pages.

Note: For those not familiar with delegations, they refer to the acts or omissions a person holding a specific job can do or not do eg, approve leave of absence for a staff member,buy goods and services valued up to $30,000, or terminate an employee’s service. People exercising a delegation are called delegates. If you don’t hold delegation, then you can’t lawfully execute a task.

It was important that delegates knew what they were, or weren’t authorised to do. Non-delegates had to know who had delegation to carry out the tasks required. My short learning guide included the following parts:
A Module Overview setting out the purpose, strategy, learning outcomes, how to achieve the outcomes, resources required, and details about how the topic was to be assessed
Five learning activities
An assessment questionnaire
A summary and review page
An attached answers guide for the intermediate assessment topics (self assessment)

Educational activity one detailed the framework in which delegations exist ie, Constitutional and other legislative matters that allow delegation. There were two activities at the end of Educational Activity One. The first required learners to obtain a copy of an Act of Parliament and study several sections (about delegation). The second required people to read a description, find the section of an Act that related to that description and write in the answers on a blank table. (This was my way of making sure people actually read specific sections).

Learning activities two through five all had a similar process of getting learners to do something followed by a short self-assessment.

Finally, learners were expected to answer 10 “fill in the answer” questions and provide answers for two small case studies involving real life delegations activities.

The former required learners to refer to the organisation’s Delegations Manual and record which delegation (if any) fitted a specific circumstance. When learners completed the assessment questionnaire, they would fax it to the Training Department. One of my people would mark it and feedback about the result.

Each learning activity covered a separate, small part of the whole topic. (People learn in small bits). I provided feedback through self-assessment and faxed assessment. (People need feedback). Topics were logically sequenced. (People need to work from general concepts to specific concepts). Learners used the manuals and legislation that actually applied to them in their everyday jobs. (Adult learners particularly want to learn ‘real’, practical solutions, not deal with fiction).

You’ll understand now how the structure in a educational guide and the use of instructional design principles makes them different from a standard operating manual. One key advantage of educational guides is that you don’t have to incorporate documents that are elsewhere available … all you do is reference them. If they change, it’s not that difficult to update your learning guide.

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