‘Parasite’ as an HBO Miniseries? This Is Not Your Father’s Foreign-Film Crossover (Column)

There’s a time-honored tradition of turning celebrated movies into television series.

A lot of them have ended up as sitcoms: “The Odd Couple,” “M*A*S*H,” “Alice” (spun out of Martin Scorsese’s 1974 landmark “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore”).

But not all of them.

Did you know that “Casablanca” was turned into two different TV series, one in 1955 and one in 1983? (The latter starred David Soul as Rick Blaine!) In 1976, they tried it with “Serpico.” Sometimes, a series can seem a true extension of the movie it’s adapted from — that’s what happened with “Fargo” and “Dear White People.” Sometimes, the movie that spawned a series will come to seem a mere footnote to the show — that’s what happened with “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Friday Night Lights.” And in the case of “Parenthood” (though it took two tries to get it right), a movie can be turned into

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