These monthly lists are primarily focused on general, adult-targeted programming across most broadcast, cable, premium cable, and streaming platforms. With my passion for and background in kids media, I keep an eye on those programs and dates and have included, in the same format, those details in their own section towards the end of the page.

February 1

Detective Conan: The Culprit Hanzawa

Network, Format: Netflix, anime spinoff series, Season 1 Based on: Detective Conan (Case Closed) manga series by Gosho AoyamaAdditional notes: Detective Conan happens to be one of the most prolific manga series in the world, and is still ongoing since its 1994 debut. The comics so far have been collected into 102 volumes, and it’s due to legal issues with the title Detective Conan that, for the US, Funimation and Viz renamed the English releases to Case Closed.

The manga has been sold in 25 countries while the long-running anime has been distributed in 40 countries pre-Netflix, clocking in over 1,000 episodes since its 1996 debut. This anime series adapts one of the spinoff mangas, which itself has been ongoing since 2017 and collected into 7 volumes so far.

There’s a plethora of additional media adaptations, from video games, live action dramas, soundtracks, and even a whole city—Aoyama’s hometown, Hokuei, Tottori, installed many statues of characters, themed its airport and train station, and promotes itself to visitors as Conan Town. This caught the attention of America’s Conan, who then went on to visit Japan for a remote in 2018.

February 3

Dear Edward

Network, Format: Apple TV+, live action seriesBased on: Dear Edward by Ann NapolitanoNotable names: Jason Katims (creator, writer, producer), Connie Britton (star, producer), Taylor Schilling (star)

Stromboli

Network, Format: Netflix, live action filmBased on: Stromboli (Dutch) by Saskia NoortAdditional notes: There’s an English ebook but no print translation yet available.

February 4

Sweeter than Chocolate

Network, Format: Hallmark, live action filmBased on: Sweeter Than Chocolate by Lizzie ShaneNotable names: starring Eloise Mumford, Dan Jeannote, and Brenda StrongAdditional notes: There’s a fancy tie-in partnership with Bissinger’s of the “Cupid Chocolates” featured in the film! $15 for 5 chocolate and raspberry truffles.

February 5

Curious Caterer: Grilling Season

Network, Format: Hallmark, live action filmBased on: https://bookshop.org/a/5722/9780553584707 by Diane Mott DavidsonNotable names: starring Nikki DeLoach and Andrew WalkerAdditional notes: This marks the second entry into the adaptation series of a subset of the Goldy Bear Culinary Mysteries, with last year’s Curious Caterer: Dying for Chocolate adapting Davidson’s Catering to Nobody and Dying for Chocolate. Cozy-ish mysteries have always found a home on women’s networks and in publishing, but it seems like the trend to pair the category with a touch of the culinary is getting more popular.

What’s even more exciting: the opportunity for this particular category to shepherd in more opportunities for women of color! I’m super excited and have activated the group chats in anticipation of Meera Syal’s upcoming Mrs. Sidhu Investigates, which will stream on Acorn TV in the US in May, where an Indian Aunty becomes the Benoit Blanc of Berkshire; hopefully still on its way to the screen is Indonesia-based Jesse Q. Sutanto’s Dial A for Aunties, which, after a fierce bidding war, went to Netflix in 2020 with Fresh Off the Boat creator and Always Be My Maybe director Nahnatchka Khan set up to direct and produce.

February 7

C.B. Strike: Troubled Blood

Network, Format: HBO Max, live action series, Season 3Based on: Cormoran Strike series by J.K. Rowling (as Robert Galbraith)Additional notes: In the UK and initially in the US during its first run on Cinemax , the series was just known as Strike; now outside of the UK, most territories use C.B. Strike. It’s both funny and quite sad, the corporate determination to semi-scrub Cinemax out of existence and memory, a channel that offered a release launchpad for all the shows that couldn’t be, for prurience or plentiful programming, be aired on HBO proper.

On the companion cable channel, a show could still stand out as something new or of priority, get a little sparkle as “this is our special original for this week 🤗.” (This lament is also less so about C.B. Strike, which is an impressive adaptation but inessential storytelling, and more about how, in the world of streaming, it’s hard to distinguish between lesser priority, non-priority, and library programs.)

February 8

Not Dead Yet

Network, Format: ABC, live action series, Season 1Based on: Confessions of a Forty-Something F**k Up by Alexandra PotterNotable names: Gina Rodriguez (star, producer)Additional notes: I love me a good broadcast show and Rodriguez’s breakthrough, Jane the Virgin on The CW, performed solidly on broadcast and on streaming on Netflix. There was a time where ABC would have kept the long title of the text (see: Don’t Trust the B—-- in Apartment 23), but the new title is a much stronger positioning for a TV show. Primarily, a lot of television viewers aren’t necessarily interested in the confessions of a forty-something f**kup when it’s framed in that manner; the “confessional” framing is particularly out of vogue and stale in a manner that’s reminiscent of Bridget Jones’ Diary, and well, that third movie didn’t do so well, did it? (The first remains a very dated classic).

Today’s TV viewer has also grown more sophisticated in its expectations of the characters we watch, so being forty-something or a f**kup isn’t really a hook. Older woman can have very compelling stories, and we now also have forty-something and over-forties females fucking up. Not Dead Yet leans into similar promises of And Just Like That…, pledging that there’s something to look forward to, that the main character is striving towards, when you tune in. And Just Like That… also ties in perfectly with Carrie’s in-story writing and narration; Not Dead Yet similarly alludes to Rodriguez’s character of Nell Stevens, an obituary writer.

The most important thing to note about TV adaptations: if you can get a show to stick, on broadcast, there’s so, so much money relative to cable or streaming based on grandfathered pay structures. It can be difficult—broadcast, broad audience—but if you are seeking success down this kind of route, your best bet is to come up with some kind of repeatable framework that can lend itself to weekly episodes, a primary character with a unique perspective or set of skills, and an endearing bench of supporting characters.

The Flash

Network, Format: The CW, live action series, Season 9Based on: The Flash comics series from DC ComicsNotable names: Greg Berlanti, producerAdditional notes: The final season and the end of an era! Nexstar closed the deal on its acquisition of majority ownership of the network last year and most of the 2022-2023 programming will be concluding as the network pivots strategies towards a broader, older appeal for 2023-2024 and beyond.

February 9

You

Network, Format: Netflix, live action series, Season 4 Part 1Based on: You series by Caroline KepnesNotable names: Penn Badgley (star); Greg Berlanti (developed by, producer); Sera Gamble (developed by, showrunner)Additional notes: Possibly the funniest part of Penn Badgley doing promo for You is Penn Badgley repeatedly reminding everyone not to stan serial killers.

His beard for this upcoming season has him, at certain angles, recalling for me Jason Mantzoukas’ Tick Tock Man from John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum. (Now imagining in my head that the two are long-lost brothers and how a crossover into either universe would be ridiculously chaotic).

Subscribe for my upcoming You key art, book cover, and badging deep dive! I’ll be sending it out to those on my email list February 1, and then posting to the site at a later date.

February 10

10 Days of a Good Man

Network, Format: Netflix, live action film, 1st of trilogyBased on: İyi Adamın On Günü (10 Days of a Good Man) (Turkish) by Mehmet EroğluNotable names: Uluç Bayraktar (director), Ay Yapım (producer)Additional notes: Netflix Turkiye is adapting Eroğlu’s trilogy into films; the second film is expected soon as well, titled 10 Days of a Bad Man. Turkey is another one of the locations Netflix is focusing on internationally for producing local content. The books are not yet available in English.

February 14

Re/Member

Network, Format: Netflix, live action filmBased on: Karada Sagashi manga by WelzardAdditional notes: The film was released theatrically in Japan in October 2022 to mixed reception. The webcomic has been extremely popular, particularly among Gen Z readers in Japan, with over 3.4 million copies in circulation of 17 volumes. The series, which was serialized online via Shonen Jump+ from 2014 to 2017, was the first series to reach over 100 million views. There are also two spinoff manga series.

February 17

Unlocked

Network, Format: Netflix, live action series, Season 1Based on: Sumaho o Otoshita dake na no ni by Akira ShigaAdditional notes: The story was adapted into a 2018 Japanese film titled Stolen Identity.

February 23

Call Me Chihiro

Network, Format: Netflix, live action filmBased on: Chihiro-san manga series by Hiroyuki YasudaNotable names: Imaizumi Rikiya (co-writer, director)

February 24

The Consultant

Network, Format: Amazon Prime Video, live action series, Season 1Based on: The Consultant by Bentley LittleNotable names: created by Tony Basgallop, starring Christoph Waltz and Nat WolffAdditional notes: It’s been a minute since Waltz last terrorized the masses! Excited to experience him doing so in a more contemporary setting than what we’re used to.

E!'s Movies We Love About Love

E! is getting back into original scripted films, and just looking at the key art, this trio could very well be mistaken for contemporary romance novels. Why Can't My Life Be a Rom-Com? airs February 19, Royal Rendezvous February 26, and Married By Mistake March 5. Look at these key art posters! The only way they could overlap even more with real published books is if the characters were flat-illustrated and the titles hand-drawn.

Looks like the network is trying to capitalize on the rom-com revival trend and angling itself as more cosmopolitan than Hallmark, more mature than Netflix, and more bite than Lifetime; the promo above calls out key words like “raunchier,” “funnier,” and “lovey-dovey with a modern twist.” I’m slightly intrigued by the direction the network’s taking—they did bring us in the past the E! True Hollywood Stories docu-series and Keeping Up With The Kardashians, but their scripted fare has been mostly misses in the past (RIP The Royals).

When it comes to women-targeted cable programming, Lifetime is the network that I think consistently flies under the radar but does excellent work. Melodrama might make up a lot of its fare, but the cable channel significantly over-indexes when it comes to offering opportunities for women in the TV industry: in 2019, for example, Lifetime shared that they had 78% female directors for its projects compared to the industry average of 17%, as part of its ongoing Broader Focus initiative to be a launchpad for female writers, directors, and producers. And it draws higher caliber actors for its projects, including Oscar winners Sigourney Weaver, Jennifer Hudson, and Laura Dern for the opportunity to take on more complex characters and stories than most outlets used to offer.

Some of its best projects, critically and commercially, have been book adaptations, including the movies of Prayers for Bobby by Leroy F. Aarons and Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. Messily, Caroline Kepnes’ You first debuted on cable, but only after the series began its Netflix syndication did it become a viral sensation.

February 3

Curious George

Network, Format: PBS, animated series, Season 16Based on: Curious George by Margret and H.A. ReyAdditional notes: This co-production with Peacock continues to be strong on a global level.

Pinecone & Pony

Network, Format: Apple TV+, animated series, Season 2Based on:The Princess and the Pony by Kate BeatonAdditional notes: Absolutely charming.

True SpiritNetwork, Format: Netflix, live action filmBased on: True Spirit: The True Story of a 16-Year-Old Australian Who Sailed Solo, Nonstop, and Unassisted Around the World by Jessica WatsonNotable names: supporting cast includes Anna Paquin, Cliff Curtis

February 10

Marvel's Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur

Network, Format: Disney Channel & Disney+, animated kids series, Season 2Based on: Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur comics from MarvelNotable names: Laurence Fishburne, producerAdditional notes: The series features a writing and directing crew of all female writers of color. The linear cable premiere is February 10; the first six episodes all drop in a batch on the streamer on February 15.

February 13

Pinkalicious & Peterrific

Network, Format: PBS, animated series, Season 5Based on: Pinkalicious series by Victoria and Elizabeth KannNotable names: Dorothea Gillim (executive producer)

February 24

Pretzel and the Puppies

Network, Format: Apple TV+, animated series, Season 2Based on: Pretzel and the Puppies by Margret and H.A. ReyNotable names: voices Mark Duplass and Nasim PedradAdditional notes: I might be very biased in this, but I think this was horribly snubbed by the Children & Family Emmys. It’s a charming preschool program in a richly textured dog universe, a delightful and nondenominational holiday special that premiered late last year, and its commitment to inclusive storytelling is top notch. These puppies are cute.

We Have a Ghost

Network, Format: Netflix, live action filmBased on: “Ernest” short story by Geoff ManaughNotable names: Christopher Landon (writer, director); starring Anthony Mackie, David Harbour, Tig Notaro, Jennifer CoolidgeAdditional notes: Here for more Jennifer Coolidge scene-stealing, any time, all the time.

If you've made it this far, thank you for wading through! What did you enjoy? What surprised you? What other details about upcoming books and television programs would you find useful?

I'll be releasing some combination of curated articles, collected lists, and analysis from my decade of working across TV & publishing, and on a monthly basis, Q&As, industry interviews, and a calendar of what adaptations are getting released on the small screen.

If you enjoyed or found this useful, please share with a friend or colleague. And please, I'd love to get your feedback! DM me via @trundlings or email me directly at [email protected].

Disclosure: I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org and I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. To view all the books getting adapted in January 2023, please visit this issue's list on Bookshop here, Books on TV: February 2023. To view all the books mentioned in my commentary but not getting adapted, you can find those listed on Bookshop at this second link, Books on TV: February 2023 Mentions.