Doing more with -less

In 1995 there was Clueless, writer/director Amy Heckerling’s updating of Jane Austen’s Emma; the big-screen version begat a TV series by the same name. Last year brought Limitless, another movie-to-TV recycling, this one about “an average 28-year-old man who gains the ability to use the full extent of his brain’s capabilities” and is hired by the FBI as a consultant. It lasted barely a season.

This season, get ready for four TV shows with one-word “-less” titles. Minimalism? Austerity? Theft? Whatever the reason for the trend, good luck keeping them all straight.

Timeless.

 

“They’re time-traveling to the past to save America’s future.” Premieres October 3 on NBC.

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Speechless.

A comedy starring Minnie Driver as the single mother of a nonverbal child with cerebral palsy. Premiered last night on ABC. Image via SpoilerTV.

 

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Spotless

“A sexy and bold one-hour drama laced with dark humor and set in London.” Season 1 now available on Netflix; Season 2 premiere has not yet been announced.: Originally aired on France’s Canal+.

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Shameless

The longest-running TV –less. It stars William H. Macy as an unapologetic miscreant and single father of six children. Season 7 premieres Oct. 2 on Showtime.

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And coming next year:

Weightless, from director Terence Malick, starring Michael Fassbender and Natalie Portman.

Powerless, a TV comedy that “shows how an insurance company deals with destruction left by DC Superheros [sic].”

Godless, a TV series set in the American West in the 1880s. (Not to be confused with the 2011 documentary Godless that featured Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins.)

Sleepless, a thriller based on the 2011 French film Nuit Blanche and starring David Harbour, Michelle Monaghan, and Dermot Mulroney.

 

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Other -less titles:

Breathless (originally and most memorably in 1960, with Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg; and again in 1983, 2012, and 2013. The 2013 version is a TV series set in a gynecology ward).

Flawless (twice – in 1999, with Robert De Niro and Philip Seymour Hoffman; and – different story – in 2007, with Michael Caine and Demi Moore).

Lawless (2012, starring Shia LaBeouf, Tom Hardy, and Guy Pearce).

Self/less (2015, with Ryan Reynolds and Natalie Martinez).