This article is based on a TV show that I actually watched. The names and events reflect what I actually saw.

The best drama that I have seen on television so far this year is the one that I expected to actively dislike. Instead of trying to simply imitate its source material, Fargo went in a completely new direction. It kept all of the darkest elements of the original Fargo while weaving together a completely original story. It is a triumph.

While Fargo is its own entity, it also does Joel and Ethan Coen proud. The Coen Brothers have such an original voice that it seems nearly impossible to replicate it. Yet, Noah Hawley somehow managed to do this. The Coen Brothers Universe are the kind of people who base stories off true events that never happen and adapt movies from novels that they have never read. Fargo does just the same, and it has a blast messing with our heads.

What Fargo made me realize is that everything the Coen Brothers does definitely exists in the same world. It is a singular universe that I may just enjoy more than, say, the one created by the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. While Fargo goes its own way, it also references films of Coen Brothers past, and connects itself to their universe many times over. Like Deputy Molly Solverson would do, its time to create a crazy web of conspiracies. Here is every Coen Brothers reference that I could find in FX’s Fargo:

Based On True Events- At the beginning of Fargo the film, the audience is informed that what they are about to see is based on true events. This has become a very famous inside joke, as Fargo is completely fictionalized. You can see this same warning at the beginning of every single episode of Fargo, and it is stretched even further (letting us know that the characters are also real). Once you know that none of this is real, the disclaimer becomes hilarious.

The White Russian- The Dude’s drink of choice is referenced in the pilot when Lester walks into a bar offering the drink as a special.

Front of the Car- One distinct characteristic of a Coen Brothers film is a POV shot from a car’s front windshield. Off the top of my head, I can remember seeing it in Blood Simple, The Big Lebowski, No Country for Old Men, and Inside Llewyn Davis. There were plenty on the show.

Lorne Malvo- Malvo is perhaps the most Coenesque of all the characters in Fargo. Malvo is a cross of Anton Chigurh from No Country for Old Men and Leonard Smalls in Raising Arizona. Like these two characters, Malvo’s motives and morals are questionable. What he does value most is survival, and he will kill anybody who stands in his way, whether you are a cop or an innocent bystander.

Lester Nygaard- Lester is clearly the Jerry Lundergaard of this version of Fargo. Initially, Freeman played Nygaard as a William H. Macy imitation but deviated as the season went on. Like Jerry, Lester is a timid man who is stuck in a dead end job. Unlike Jerry, Lester got to prove he was much more than just that. He was also a half-decent liar who just wanted to get revenge on everyone who ever wronged him.

Molly Solverson- Molly is obviously the Marge Gunderson figure here. She is a pregnant cop who is a whole lot smarter than her co-workers. She’s a dynamite detective in a Minnesota Nice world.

The Rich Man’s Parable- In one episode, Gus’s neighbor tells him the story of a rich man who killed himself because he discovered that he alone could not solve all of the world’s problems. The moral of the story is, well, you can’t solve all of the world’s problems. This is the kind of lesson the Coen Brothers would love to teach in their films. Also, this parable is shot and told similarly to the story of The Goy’s Teeth from A Serious Man, complete with characters mouthing the words of the narrator. There’s something very Jewish about it. I don’t know, I can’t explain it.

The Briefcase- Creator Noah Hawley confirmed that Fargo the TV show and Fargo the film take place in the same universe. This was apparent in a flashback from 1987 when Stavros Milos found the briefcase of money buried in the snow not long before then by Carl Showalter (Steve Buscemi). Marge Gunderson warned us all that nothing good would come of that money. Too bad Stavros wasn’t around to hear that.   

The Ducks/Former Cop Backstory- This is just a minor detail, but Lou’s Coffee Shop is covered in duck decor. Maybe this is just a symbol of The North Star State, but I believe that it is a montage to Norm’s duck paintings from the film. While making the film, the Coen Brothers had Frances McDormand and John Carroll Lynch (who played Marge’s husband Norm) come up with a backstory for the couple. They came up with the idea that Marge and Norm met on the police force but one of them had to quit once they got married. Marge was a better cop, so Norm decided to quit. I always thought that backstory was cool, and should have been made into a prequel. Luckily, Gus and Molly’s storyline was basically that. (Information via IMDB’s Fargo trivia page)

Knudsen- One of Molly’s fellow officers working in the Bemidji Police Department goes by the name of Knudsen. In The Big Lebowski, it is briefly mentioned that Bunny Lebowski’s birth name is Fawn Knudsen. Fawn is originally from Moorhead, Minnesota, a town that is not too far away from Fargo, North Dakota. If only the characters of Fargo could share some of The Dude’s zen attitude, then maybe less people would have ended up in wood chippers and frozen lakes.

Image via ScreenCrush

Today, the common wisdom is that television is so much better than film. What people fail to mention is that TV wouldn’t be where it is today without film.

That being said, TV is getting inspiration from just about any source it can, and lately they have been turning towards older movies. Bates Motel and Hannibal, which are still running strong today, made headlines when they debuted last year. This past Wednesday, Fargo premiered on FX and accomplished the nearly impossible task of replicating the unique tone and style of The Coen Brothers.

Turning a movie into a TV show used to be viewed as a poisonous idea (anybody remember My Big Fat Greek Life?), but now it has become a popular practice filled with rewards. TV shows adapted from movies work when they take what they have been given and craft it into something new. Don’t try and rewrite history: have the series take place in the same world as the given movie, with an unspoken awareness that this movie and the events that took place in it actually happened at some point in either the past or future.

As much as I would love to rant against this trend as a killer of originality, it just seems pointless. It is easier to accept that some stories will just be told over and over again in different forms because that is how storytelling works. Besides, given the liberties they take, Fargo and Bates Motel might as well be separate stories. The truth is that familiar brands sell.

So instead of fighting against this trend, I will embrace it. Here are a few films, new and old, that could make great TV shows:

Chinatown

As long as they can find somebody else as good as Jack Nicholson to play Jake Gittes, then I would be on board. Los Angeles in the seedy 1930s is interesting enough for one film. I can’t even imagine the possibilities that backdrop could lend for television. Sure, the characters in Chinatown are incredibly memorable, but there is a lot you can do with that setting.

Ghostbusters

There has been plans for a third Ghostbusters movie for way too long now. Ivan Reitman and most of the stars have no interest in the project. Instead of trying to ruin a classic, they should just start from scratch with a new series. This could either be a prequel or a loosely based adaptation with completely different characters. I could see Jake Johnson, Damon Wayans Jr., and Adam Pally in the leading roles. There are endless possibilities with this idea. There are a lot of ghosts out there, or so I am told.

Hot Fuzz

Here is another action comedy with a lot of potential for new stories. Hot Fuzz might have been more fitting as a movie, given that it is all about a love for movies. Yet, I would enjoy seeing Simon Pegg and Nick Frost back together on the small screen with Edgar Wright at the helm (the three of them first collaborated on Spaced).

In Bruges

The ending of In Bruges doesn’t necessarily leave a lot of room for more stories from these characters. You could say the same thing about Fargo though. An In Bruges TV show would be amazing if it could recapture the sardonic and hilarious tone of the source material. Bruges is a tiny city filled with possibilities. The only issue would be finding somebody who could drop an f-bomb as elegantly as Ralph Fiennes can.

This Is the End

It is about time the Apatow Gang came back to TV. No matter how big of movie stars they all become, the small screen will always be there for them. It would just be fitting if the likes of Seth Rogen, James Franco, and Jay Baruchel just played themselves, given as it is hard for me to separate them from any character they play. That’s not a bad thing. This is about as close as I can get to reviving Freaks and Geeks without creating a Frankenstein monster from pieces of a long cancelled TV show.