Why do we keep giving book adaptations a second chance on TV?

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. We know this saying well, so why do we forget about it when it comes to book adaptations? Why, when a film or TV version of a bestselling novel is so bad, do we give it another chance and try again?

Sure, life is all about second chances. Maybe the person who gave off a bad first impression is much better when you meet again. That first day at a new workplace was terrible, but you tried on day two and it’s worked out. Even that restaurant you ventured to right after it opened deserves a second chance once it’s settled into its groove. But book adaptations? If a book—especially a hugely successful one—doesn’t work the first time round on the screen, it’s probably a sign that something about the material doesn’t translate from page to screen.

That’s certainly the case for David Nicholls’ hit 2009 novel One Day. The book is gorgeous, with each chapter moving us to July 15 in another year of Emma and Dexter’s life; the pair meet at university and never become a couple, but their stories intertwine in the subsequent 20 years. One Day has all the hallmarks of something that you think would make for a great film: nuanced characters, a sweep-you-off-your-feet plot, and an ending that truly surprises. The fact that it’s a huge bestseller, in multiple languages and countries, made it a no-brainer for Hollywood executives. And yet, the 2011 film version of One Day was lackluster, devoid of heart, and even a little boring. Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess tried their best, bless them, but their best wasn’t enough to rescue the adaptation.

But now Netflix has decided it wants to have a second go at Nicholls’ book, with the miniseries version of the tome premiering February 8. That’s despite the fact attempt one was largely panned by critics and the central conceit of skipping a year between chapters just did not work on the screen in the way it did on the page. (It’s worth noting here that Nicholls wrote the screenplay as well, and has written a number of successful TV shows and films.) When such a huge part of the book—the bit that made it unique and compelling— doesn’t work visually, what are you doing trying to bring it to the screen again?

One Day is not the only adaptation that’s failed because time was an issue. In 2009, Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams starred in the film adaptation of Audrey Niffenegger’s romance The Time Traveler’s Wife. In just one hour 47 minutes (the kind of film length we dream of now), it attempted to tell the story of two lovers who spend decades weaving in and out of each other’s lives. It’s no wonder it didn’t work, despite the film’s poster telling us it’s from an “acclaimed bestseller.” Still, HBO tried again with a series more than a decade later, and, unsurprisingly, it was greeted with pretty mediocre reviews.

TV and film execs love a bestseller and they especially love a fierce fandom, because it signals a built-in audience (which of course is part of the attraction of taking any sort of already existing IP, whatever its format). They have exactly that in Cassandra Clare’s The Shadowhunter Chronicles, a huge network of connected books (currently 30 across a number of series, including manga adaptations, short story collections, and a codex). The books have everything: vampires, werewolves, love affairs, magic, good vs. evil, hot people. They’re the definition of epic.

When the first film in the adaptation of the series was released in 2013, it was a peak time for YA books on the big screen. Twilight had just finished up a five-year run (look, we all love to hate it and that still earns the studio money). The Hunger Games had come out the year before and its sequel Catching Fire was also out in 2013, while the first films in the Divergent and The Maze Runner films would both be released in 2014.

Despite this appetite, The Mortal Instruments: City Of Bones was a dud—so much so that it’s not the first film in the adaptation, it’s the only one, which feels almost unheard of in an age where everything seems to get a sequel. Diehard fans of the books disliked it, while new audiences just weren’t attracted (unsurprising when you consider all the one-star reviews). Adapting Clare’s works—which are doing quite well, to understate it, as books—should have been quietly forgotten about, but instead, Netflix decided it would have a go with a series, bringing Shadowhunters to the small screen in 2016.

It sort of worked, if we’re being generous. The space and time allowed by a series meant better development, but it suffered both from boring lead characters (we could feel ourselves falling asleep every time we had to watch Clary and Jace interact) and a little too much happening. Still, Netflix made a total of three seasons, which did get marginally better as they went (although let’s face it—we were all only watching for Magnus and Alec, right?), but it never really took off. Clare wasn’t involved in the series, and some fans certainly felt that absence.

An author’s removal from their series can be a death knell. Rick Riordan’s beloved Percy Jackson series spawned two films that never really went anywhere and are disliked by fandom as well as Riordan himself. But Disney+ wanted to have another go, and to be fair to them, it seems to have worked: Kayleigh Dray gave it a B+, noting that “the series has more than enough room to breathe and obsess over the books’ lore when it needs to.” It’s the rare example of a second-chance adaptation working out. But one amongst many isn’t a stellar argument for trying again with a book especially when there’s so much other material out there that might indeed do better. Only working as a book doesn’t make a novel any less brilliant, and not everything is meant to be in multiple formats.

But studios won’t listen. Just this month, HBO announced it was going to adapt Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn’s Dark Places for a series. And yes, Dark Places already exists as a film. It came out as recently as 2015 and starred Charlize Theron, Chloë Grace Moretz, and Nicholas Hoult. And yes, it wasn’t great. But why would that stop a network or streaming service?

As for One Day, only time will tell if Netflix’s adaptation fares better than its filmic predecessor. It may well do, since a series can give its characters and story much more time than a single film can. (And for what it’s worth, The A.V. Club’s Mary Kate Carr, who disliked the 2011 film version, enjoyed the show, grading it a B+.) But if the history of second-chance adaptations tells us anything, it’s that Netflix’s One Day will be the exception, not the rule, if it delivers.