-1.jpg?q=50&fit=contain&w=1140&h=&dpr=1.5)
Podcasts are the radio dramas of the 21st century. Like their predecessors, they are often revolutionary in storytelling. With new, more precise technology, podcasts can tell more engaging and immersive stories than radio dramas could in the 50s, and anyone can make them with basic equipment and writing skills.
As great as podcasts can be—and as engaging as their narratives are in audio form—how many people have longed to see some of these great scenes outside their own minds? Great television could take the ideas and concepts presented in narrative podcasts and apply color, lighting, set design, and costuming to make them come alive in a whole new way.
Faerie
In a world where faeries exist as malevolent hidden creatures that blend into society, investigator Ryan Bailey is plunged into an encounter with the branch of the EPA in charge of the protection of faeries. What follows is an intense radio show journaling the investigator’s…well, investigations, as she explores how the fae are actually influencing the world.
While the podcast itself has mixed reviews, mostly criticizing the execution, the ideas it presents could be transformed into a television show with ease. The concept of an urban fantasy adventure exploring a secret government agency, if given the right budget, could be extremely entertaining. The serialized format lends itself well to episodes of a television show.
Critical Role
Out of the many DnD-related podcasts to choose from, Critical Role is one of the most popular. After the success of Legends of Vox Machina, a second show based on the hit podcast could be a great decision. While Legends of Vox Machina portrayed the first campaign, there are now two others (Mighty Nein and Bells Hells) that could serve as inspiration for a show.
For example, Mighty Nein starts with a mystery bringing together a diverse set of strangers in a small-town tavern. It quickly becomes the epitome of high fantasy, featuring corrupted cities, cults, and epic battles that, let's face it, would be more epic if listeners didn't have to wait for dice rolls to dictate the results. Any one of the multiple arcs that make up the three-year campaign could star as its own show. Fans can only hope that Critical Role decides to go ahead with another show.
Welcome to Night Vale
This is the kind of podcast that works best as precisely that—a podcast. Still, there’s plenty of potential in Welcome to Night Vale’s odd going-ons to contribute to a unique urban fantasy or paranormal show.
While nothing can compare to Cecil Palmer’s (Cecil Baldwin) deadpan, matter-of-fact delivery of lines like “While the future is fast coming for you, it always flinches first and settles in as the gentle present,” or even the more absurd lines such as "All hail the glow cloud!" fans would love to see some of this stuff on the screen. There are enough poignant themes and abnormal events happening in this story to create great art and hook an audience.
The Bright Sessions
A popular podcast told through voice recordings of a therapist’s sessions, at first they seem normal until Dr. Bright’s clients start talking about how they travel through time at random moments, or how they can see emotions as colors. Because this is not a normal therapy, and Dr. Joan Bright (Julia Morizawa) is not a normal therapist. She helps super-powered individuals (or "Atypicals") come to terms with their powers while evading government officials who are aware of her own dark past.
With the diversity of the powers on display, and the overarching subplot about a government facility and a rogue Atypical named Damien (Charlie Ian), a television show based on The Bright Sessions could add a new unique twist to a genre Marvel has dominated.
Penumbra’s Juno Steel
-Cropped.jpg?q=50&fit=crop&w=1500&dpr=1.5)
A science fiction film noir, featuring its own hard-boiled detective in the form of Juno Steel, the Juno Steel adventures, featured on the Penumbra Podcast, are set primarily in the glittering Hyperion City on Mars. Juno Steel subverts many of the classic film noir tropes—besides its sci-fi setting, it forgoes a femme fatale for a homme fatale love interest (which provides for a complicated relationship filled with distrust), and the main character is bisexual and nonbinary.
A show like this would effortlessly become popular. With the timeless interest in the tension inherent in enemies-to-lovers romances, the Juno Steel-Peter Nureyev relationship would be a huge draw, and the world of Hyperion City as Juno solves crimes would provide for plenty of amazing cinematography and set design.
Wolf 359
The initially-comedic story of a communications officer on a spaceship—just trying to get through his day without dying of boredom and the infrequent space danger—offers enough humor and, eventually, drama to lend television a unique spin.
With fun characters—both human and AI—and a plot that transitions from a workplace comedy to a science fiction thriller after the main character discovers a secret about the organization that sent them into space, Wolf 359 could become a show in the tradition of Stargate Universe or The Adam Project.
The Black Tapes
After a podcast host gets in touch with a paranormal investigator, they begin digging into the supposedly haunted history of a set of VHS tapes. As they travel across the United States interviewing people connected to the tapes, they discover, among the conspiracy theories, proof that the tapes may have a connection to demons.
True crime and paranormal fiction are combined stunningly in this podcast, and the atmospheric horror is intensified by the classic, indie Blair Witch-inspired storyline. The interview-style story might have to be adapted to fit better on television, but the overall plot is intriguing and could appeal to both true crime fans and supernatural lovers.
We’re Alive
While We’re Alive, A Story of Survival is a great example of rising from rejection, working wonderfully as an audio-only production after being rejected as a television pitch, there is plenty that television visuals could add to the story. Those TV executives are missing out.
The award-winning podcast by production company Rusty Quill follows a small group of people as they fight to survive the sudden zombie apocalypse that has descended upon them. As a smaller story than the similar television show The Walking Dead, We’re Alive focuses on the inhabitants of Los Angeles in particular. The dramatic auditory experience could be enhanced by the great visuals of a high-budget television show, and the experience of Army soldier Michael Cross would be a refreshing take on the zombie story.
Alba Salix, Royal Physician
Alba Salix, Royal Physician could become a show in the style of Gallant—the sitcom format is perfect for a podcast like Alba Salix (Barbara Clifford). Following the everyday life of a physician in a fantasy universe as she tends to her royal clients and works through friction with her half-fairy and human assistants.
Even in a fantasy world, Alba Salix runs into much the same issues as a doctor in our world does—the patient who doesn’t listen, sexism, and an utter lack of common sense. A subversion of classical fantasy tropes, a show based on Alba Salix, Royal Physician would be refreshing.
ars PARADOXICA
When accidental time traveler Sally Grissom (Kristen DiMercurio) lets the 1940s US government get their hands on the means for time travel—equally accidentally—Grissom is the cause of an escalated Cold War. The show explores the technicalities of time travel, the nonlinear nature of time and space, and an alternate history where time travel is used as a military weapon.
This could be turned into a classic example of science fiction if adapted into a television show. Whether animated or live-action, the abundance of plot twists that come up to turn everything on its head would allow ars PARADOXICA to become a thrilling journey into science fiction.