Comments on: British Television Shows Remade For America……Why Do Some Work and Some Bomb?

By: alexandra

alexandra — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 18:12:08 +0000

americans are gay and have nothing for themselves so they copy other countrys i hate them

By: Richard Bevan

Richard Bevan — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 00:28:23 +0000

Is it really humour? Not sure about that. I think the fact that American producers hate anything that isn’t aspirational is one reason why the stuffing is taken out of gritty Brit comedies and dramas and made into some glossy, syruppy mush – is possibly one reason why many formats fail in the States. One Foot In The Grave is an example. Original down to earth suburban middle-class English characters and curtain twitching setting transmuted into impossibly glamorous and ‘unreal’ characters. It’s amazing that a show like Roseanne got made. Isn’t it more likely that Vicar of Dibley was rejected – not because of British humour – but because the central character was a female vicar, with a bit of a slutty attitude, irreverant views and not the kind of paragon of priesthood that would be welcome in such a religious country? She would have to sanitised beyond belief – taking away the whole point!

By: Em²

Em² — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 10:58:32 +0000

This has long been a constant source of curiosity for me. Cultural differences? The biggest disaster of recent years must have been Viva Laughlin, the US remake of Blackpool that was funded by and featured Hugh Jackman which many cite (even in the US) as the worst remake in TV history. In ‘translating’ the BBC original for US cultural tastes and references it just crushed the entire charm of the original and was very quickly canceled after only a few episode airings.

A remake for local sensibilities doesn’t entirely explain the relative success of comedies that remained untouched such as Monty Python & even Benny Hill which would on face value appear too full of Brit specific sensibilities.

In a previous life I used to work in a video production facility and regularly had to standards convert and make edited show-reels of US game shows for consideration as potential British modified versions this side of the pond. It would be interesting to see which ones were rejected, which adopted and the leeway for change that was eventually permitted within the licensing & eventual franchise.

By: Aoi

Aoi — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 21:59:03 +0000

The Vicar of Dibly was great. Don’t see any need to remake it; just broadcast it here, or get the DVDs.
And don’t anyone touch Dr. Who, or I’ll unleash my army of Daleks…

By: Richard McLaughlin

Richard McLaughlin — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:09:56 +0000

OK, I’m a bit of an odd-ball. An American that has lived longer in France than the US – plus I have lived in Ireland, Chad (central Africa, go to the middle of an African map and go one country south of Libya) and in Japan.

In Ireland i watched a lot of Brit TV and really appreciate the sense of humor and the actors are often great.

Americans have a hard time laughing at themselves sometimes, Brits don’t. I think that Brit TV, like The Office, work better because the Brit version was weak. Easy to improve on.

On the other hand, how could one possibly improve on Spooks if re-made American?
Would anyone dare touch Doctor Who?

There are American shows that I enjoy watching – Man Men and Life, for example. But Brit TV is what I download the most often.

By: Jeff Grode

Jeff Grode — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 17:01:01 +0000

Personally, as an American I don’t get why British shows have to be remade. I’ve watched many in my lifetime and rarely do I have a run-in with humour or phrases that are not understandable. I’ve heard some mention they don’t get the accent and that may be the only reason I can think of why the show might be remade, though again personally I have never had a problem in that area.

Totally agree with you where it comes to shows that just fair poorly if tried to do “American Style”. Red Dwarf didn’t go over well but the British version is a cult classic here along with Doctor Who.

Some programs just don’t get a fair chance, and that is quite probably because of the short-sightedness of the network executives.

Of course, there must be some market for purely British shows, or we wouldn’t have BBC America. What would be nice is a channel that features shows more than what are strictly from BBC. For the most part, most Americans think BBC is the only viewing choice available to anyone in the UK.