6 Podcasts Ripe for TV Adaptations
The recent rise of podcast adaptations has been fueled by the concurrent rise of popularity in podcasts. Some podcasts that have already seen adaptations include Homecoming, My Brother My Brother and Me, and Comedy Bang Bang. The thought process that made these adaptations successful is that they didn’t try to directly mimic the formula of the podcasts. Rather, they found what was the spirit of the podcast and converted that to a television format.
The Comedy Bang Bang podcast is much more conversational than the show, but the thing that attracted people to the podcast was the bits and surrealness that often came up through weird characters and situations. The show leans into this with a more structured and surreal experience, parodying the talk show format while focusing on general thematic weirdness that was present in the podcast. They were able to create a format that could be repeated well beyond its podcast origins, to the point where I think it might be the most successful adaptation of a podcast.
MBMBaM, as a podcast, is just three brother doing random bits based on Yahoo questions. MBMBaM, as a TV show, was three brothers wreaking havoc upon their hometown under the guise of answering one question, like a reverse Queer Eye. This perfectly captured the essence of the podcast but I don’t think could be sustained to a second season, at least for the sake of the people of Huntington.
The podcasts on this list would not only each bring something new to the medium of television, but expand upon the ideas presented in the podcasts through the expanded adaptation. They have to potential to expand upon the idea of their shows or present these ideas in new or interesting ways. They also have the potential to be sustained beyond a few episodes. At the very least, some of them just demand visualization. The creators of some of these shows have not only created visuals through audio but impressive visuals that would remain impressive even after being adopted.
In no particular order, here are some podcasts that have the potential to be great TV shows, as well as suggestions on what those adaptations would look like!
1. Spirits
Spirits could work as an educational talk show where Amanda and Julia sit down with various mythology experts and chat about spooky stuff over drinks. Nobody would have any issues with that direct of a transition. However, something that would make a Spirits TV show really something special would be to lean into the Urban Legends episodes. The hosts could travel to towns with compelling local legends, talk to people and maybe even see some of the locations surrounding the legend in-person. Knowing the general tone of Spirits, there’s no way they would do the Ghost Hunter thing and go to these locations at night with night vision cameras to try and “awaken the spirit” or whatever. They would also check out local breweries and bars, and chat about the legends in these locations. If it weren’t a running series, the show would work amazingly as a short run mini-series, where the hosts specifically travel to supposedly-haunted bars, breweries, wineries, etc. In general, Spirits could be a feel-good travel show about spooky stuff, shining a positive light on small towns and local legends, maybe even encouraging viewers to celebrate their own local legends.
2. Arden
True crime has become a growingly popular genre in the last few years, which means that several different comedic takes have popped up. What makes Arden special is that it does this and also adds commentary to the discussion of the morality of the genre itself. While there have been television shows that focus on the true crime, the only show I can think of that has actually deconstructed the format as Arden has is American Vandel. With the unfortunate cancelation of that show, there is a cultural vacancy for an adaptation of Arden. While a straight-up adaptation of the story presented in season one could be satisfying, a more risky and experimental project could be a continuation of the story. An Arden TV show could be about the hosts continuing to do true crime investigations on a larger platform while dealing with the aftermath of the podcast. This also opens the door to commentary about podcast creators who make the jump between mediums as well as podcasts that have to follow up sudden jumps to cultural relevance.
3. Fall of the House of Sunshine
This is a very risky one because it’s almost impossible to pitch. It’s a challenge to briefly describe this show, so just read Wil William’s recommendation of the show.
Great! So it’s a weird one, but it’s that weirdness that could make the show great. There have been darker takes on shows like The Muppets, but the thing that makes Sunshine unique is that it approaches this darkness without losing the soul of the original shows. You won’t see these Muppets swearing up and down or having sex (one R&B song aside), but there is still a darker air to its absurdity, with the drama getting to almost Shakespearean levels. The imagery of the show would walk the line between children’s educational shows and hard science fiction, keeping thing philosophically dark but visually bright. This show is so weird that it could only originate as a podcast, but would bring so much to the world of television. At the very least, just imagine someone stumbling across this show at 2 AM and having no idea what’s going on.
4. Friends at the Table
Adapting actual play podcasts into any medium can be tricky. It can be challenging to remove the personalities of the players since it puts to the test how much the story they told stands on its own. Friends at the Table avoids this by making the game not feel like a game. The best way I’ve heard the show described was like the writer’s room of a nonexistent TV series. Putting the show on this list might be cheating since there are multiple seasons with multiple different stories within it, but this just means that it could become more than one show. Seasons of Hieron could be a less problematic, more existentially dreadful version of Game of Thrones. Counter/Weight and Twilight Mirage could both be adapted into amazingly beautiful Mech-Noir animes. All of these seasons inspire such striking visuals through spoken word alone, with only precisely-placed music at the most necessary moments. Twilight Mirage specifically has moments, locations, and even characters that just beg for visualization. The representation alone in these shows would be groundbreaking for television (a statement that could be applied to most of the shows on this list.)
5. Alba Salix/EOS 10
While these two shows are each amazing in their own rights, I put them under the same section because I can’t believe there haven’t been shows like them already. The elevator pitched of both shows are ingenious and simple. It’s hard to believe nobody in a pitch room ever said “What about Scrubs but it’s also Star Trek?’ or “What if House were in Game of Thrones?” Those pitches don’t do justice to the shows themselves. An EOS 10 TV show would be similar to Scrubs and Star Trek, but that would undersell the drastically shifting stakes of the series as well as how the characters have interesting romantic arcs while avoiding medical drama romance troupes. The same could be said for Alba Salix’s relationship to House, with the titular character just being likable without being an asshole. Salix also has more of a fairy tale tone than the grim, realistic fantasy one of Game of Thrones. Both of these shows would be both a return to roots for their genres as well as an original adaptation of the existing medical show format.The world and characters of both shows are so well developed that they can be used to tell brand new stories, as opposed to just retelling the stories in the podcast. Nobody would complain about a direct adaptation, but these shows both have a strong staying power.
Listen: (Alba Salix) Apple | Spotify (EOS 10) Apple | Stitcher
You don’t have to agree with me about any of these adaptations. Maybe you think these shows only work in an audio medium or that they should be adapted in different ways. Maybe there are different shows you think should be adapted. Share what shows you think should be adapted to different mediums. There’s a chance that, in the future, they might be!
For more on the growing trend of podcast adaptations, check out Ma’ayan Plaut’s article “What Does Adaptation Mean for the Podcast Industry?” which goes more into the pros and cons of adaptations and the thought process behind adapting podcasts.
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