TV vs Books
True Blood TV series vs The Southern Vampire Series
by Charlaine Harris
The Vampire Diaries TV series vs The Vampire Diaries
by L. J. Smith
The Dresden Files TV series vs The Dresden Files Series
by Jim Butcher
by Jim Butcher
Blood Ties TV series vs The Blood Series
by Tanya Huff
My new poll question made me wonder, should we ever judge a book by its TV series? With the debut last week of The Vampire Diaries based on the series by L.J. Smith, and the continued success of True Blood based on the series by Charlaine Harris, this is the perfect time to ask this question.
I have read at least the first book in each of these series and, with the exception of True Blood (wayyyyyyyy too much profanity for me, I couldn't finish the show), seen the first episode of each show. I have to say definitely not. The TV series are in each case only loosely based on the books they claim. The Vampire Diaries is the most recent example. The book was a catty and trite look into the life of a teenage girl who sets out to compete with another popular girl for the attention of the new hottie in school. The second half of the book is a flashback to how the aforementioned hottie and his brother got vamped way back when. Since I clearly thought so little of the book, why did I bother to watch the show? Because I thought the previews looked much more Twilight than the books. And so far, the previews proved accurate. The TV show, while still for a teen audience, is much more thoughtful and will, I suspect appeal to adults as well.
Please chime in with your opinion and take the poll and leave a comment with your thoughts (please let me know if I overlooked a book-to-TV adaptation).
