Americans gave you computers, television, vehicles, and a multitude of other things you'd go crazy without. Yet, God forbid we make our own versions of "The Office," "Deal or No Deal," or this show. Sure, most of the time our versions are inferior, but if you don't like them, don't watch.
sharei think us british people just think its crap that you remake out shows instead of showing our versions which, by the way, never works anyway. Its like us making a Geordie version of 24, or a Cockney version of Seinfeld featuring Jim Davidson or something; completely pointless and doesn't work.
shareAmerican TV can't show British versions because of the differences between how shows are made in each country. If it's a half hour BBC show then it doesn't run adverts so it would have to be edited down by about 6 minutes to run the allotted time on a network. Also shows in England have limited productions series so actors can work on other projects making between 6 and 12 shows, as opposed to American shows that make 22 to 28 episodes in a season.
Reworking a series into different countries does work; look at the American hit shows "All in the Family" "Three's Company" "Sanford and Son" and "The Office" which were remakes of the English shows "Til Death Us Do Part" "Man About House" "Steptoe and Son" and "The Office".
And ultimately if there is any one to blame in all this it's the shows creators. By allowing Americans to remake the show or directly remaking it themselves they stand to make several times more than what their English shows garnered.
PS: This is what part of the alphabet would look like if Q and R didn't exist.share
good point
share[deleted]
Hi,
I love Brit-coms, and I live for BBC America and Public Television playing them for us. I have also seen some of the shows that BBC-A/PBS won't play (e.g., Two Pints). The reason many shows don't come straight over is our censors are INSANE. We could NEVER get away with half the stuff in these shows. Even when we got the real Coupling, on both BBC-A and PBS, they censored it for content. But we can keep hoping...
That is why I hope and pray the US versions are even half as good, so I can at least get some Brit-Com action over here.
** Fools Plan, and Plans Fool **
YOu do realise that Teachers was not shown on the BBC. It was made for Channel 4. It has adverts.
shareToo bad that the shows you keep copying can't be extended to 28 episodes per season.
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Computers - Most people i think would say Konrad Zuse invented them so thats German.
Tv: ''The German student Paul Nipkow proposed and patented the first electromechanical television system in 1885.''
Vehicles erm well im not sure what you mean, cars, the wheel what exactly?
The wheel was introduced to North America by Europeans so you can't mean that.
The first designs for cars go back to Italy i believe so you can't mean that.
So care to give some more examples? Oh and btw guess what language you are reading this in? Heres a hint it isn't American.
The thing is the need for America to remake these shows seems quite clearly to me to show just how nationalistic they are, in that most of them will watch something if it has American actors in and is made in America but not if its foreign. There has been no need for some remakes, the remake of ring for example. They made a worse version of the movie except it had American actors speaking English in it.
If they remake these shows fine it doesn't affect me, i just think it is rather telling of the average American. Note i said average so by all means i do not mean all Americans.
Its not like we are the only one's who do it, I mean Russia took "sex in the City," from us and started its sitcom there.
shareu have to rememeber that american tv cant show/say things that britch tv can, so we have to remake so the networks dont get fined
shareSeriously, I'm one of the least "Go America" types I know, but your post was so condescending I wanted to scream.
The language thing has nothing to do with anything. Nationalistic? Sure. But I wouldn't speak so proudly considering the British Empire was one of the most vile things in history.
Having lived in England myself, and knowing some of the British idioms, etc., and then coming back to America and hearing how people didn't understand Wallace and Gromit helps me personally understand why we don't just borrow the British versions. I loved Wallace and Gromit (I know it's kind of a stupid connection, but it works), but I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that I'm familiar with British humor.
shareThe main reason I get annoyed is because we watch all the American shows without remaking them yet, I think it comes down to the brit actors/actresses and other people involved in the shows not getting the recognition they deserve.
like in Friends for example everyone knows Courtney Cox,David Schwimmer,Matt Le Blan,Matthew Perry,Lisa Kudrow and Jennifer Aniston but no-one knows Natalie Casey, Will Melor(actors from the popular british comedy show Two Pints of lager...), It's things like that.
I dont think you can put two pints of lager in the same league as quality british sit coms. Its on bbc 3 along with three non blondes for a reason...
shareThe reason we get annoyed is that 99% of the time they're completely awful and humourless and then people who might have liked the original version won't bother watching them. I mean I saw a couple of episodes of American "Coupling" and I don't know how they managed to make such a good show so bad.
Americans might not get the humour at first but the rest of the world might not get American humour but for the fact that we are constantly exposed to it. After watching a zillion episodes of "The Simpsons" you adjust and get all the references to things we don't even have here. Why Americans can't make the effort I don't know (or why TV execs don't think they can anyway).
British TV shows are shown in countries like Australia and do quite well apparently. And the adverts argument doesn't entirely hold water as there are plenty of programs like "Teachers" and "Peep Show" that are shown on commercial channels here and so will have the right length but are still being remade. They're going to remove all the funny but rude jokes and dumb it down so it won't offend the bible-bashing morons in middle America.
So I've rambled a bit but if you don't understand, just try and think how you'd feel if Michael Bay were to remake "Citizen Kane."
And 2 Pints of Lager does indeed suck.
If it weren't for my horse I wouldn't have spent that year in college.
Oh, and "Deal or No Deal" is French originally I think so if there are any Brits complaining about that they're being silly. And there's a big difference between remaking sitcoms/dramas etc. and game shows as it's just a format and not a script and showing the original wouldn't work so well (except for a few things like "The Apprentice" and "Pop/American Idol" which work both as originals and remakes in my opinion.)
If it weren't for my horse I wouldn't have spent that year in college.
I have to disagree with you on the advertising argument. Network tv keeps cutting the length of tv shows because they want more money to produce more bad tv. I don't think they care about quality anymore. Almost half of the 30 minutes are commercials of some sort. Shows are even putting in more product placements which is annoying as hell. Nothing can be funny or entertaining when a show runs around 20 minutes. You have no time for character or plot development. Everything has to be short and choppy.
The censors are harder than ever since Janet Jackson. I can definetely see a difference in a lot of shows. Supposedly, most of the indecency complaints come from one group, some Christian/Parent group(I don't remember their name).
It would be nice to have British shows air here unedited but that won't happen anytime soon. If it ever happens it would be on cable or PBS not network, which is really sad.
"Citizen Kane" directed by Michael Bay, I can see it now. Something blows up. Something blows up. Rosebud. Something blows up.
[deleted]
PBS showed Monty Python back in the day and now its the only british show some americans can name. That and "are you being served" "Benny Hill". They were/are all well loved over there and they weren't changed. If the same happened with our current TV, which is miles better than all those, nearly all of the outer bits of America would love them. We have had some really good sitcoms come out over the past few years.
We want you to watch our shows, not remake them.
Peep Show (nearly the best TV show ever)
The Might Boosh (Genius)
Nighty Night
Huslte (is pretty cool)
Spaced
Black Books
Green Wing (Excellent example of something that could be described like scrubs, but is NOTHING like scrubs or anything else actually)
Peter Kay's Phoneix Nights
The Royale Family
Green wing's style is like that of Chris Morris's Jam, even though thats not actually a sit com. Im pretty sure that's where they get the idea for the speeding up/slowing down thing, aswell as the general randomness.
shareProserpine4 hit the nail on the head. US TV is nothing more than a business. It's not about art...it's not about quality. They make what they can, for as little as they can hoping to make as much money as they can. Occassionally we get very lucky and have great programs, but you have no idea how many failed sitcoms and dramas we have to endure as they try to find something that works (i.e., makes money). Often, there's a brilliant show that vanishes simply bacause it made no money, meanwhile awful shows stay on because they do. Friends was on for WAY too long. "Seinfeld" was excellent, and left before it got too dry.
I personally LOVE Britcoms, but we just don't get enough of them. And a lot of what has been said is very true...many Americans will NOT take the time or effort to try to grasp British humor/humour. Even if they did, they'd spend the commercial breaks trying to figure out what was said or meant and advertisers would pull their ads, killing the show. God forbid anything questionable airs, then advertisers will pull ads fearing "boycotts" by the zealots, again killing the show. Thank God for Showtime and HBO!
If not for "Are You Being Served" and "Mr Bean" back in the early 1990s then "AbFab" a bit later, I might not be so addicted to good British sitcoms. However, we get very few Britcoms here because, again, it's all about profit and what can be sold.
Even BBC America is drowning us in "What Not to Wear" (there's a remake version of that here as well), "Cash in the Attic," and such "reality" shows. We have enough of that crap on our major networks. The sitcom, sadly, is a rare bird on on BBC America, and when they appear, they are "sanitized for our protection" or on after 11pm. PBS is too hit or miss because local affiliates pretty much do what they want, and you never know what's going to be on until it's on.
But at the end of the day, don't blame Americans for bad remakes--blame greedy American corporate "entertainment" executives for bad remakes. We are, afterall, the victims of the bad remakes!
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http://www.glennferrell.com/
you'r right. american humour (and i dont mean to be disrespectful) is a bit simpler and the tv shows need to be dumbed down a little. british comedy is fantastic but generally doesnt export well, american sitcoms whilst still funny are a lot more base. I will use "friends" as an example. i love the show but the humour is based around the caharacters and is v simple and v exportable which is why it can be trnslated into a multitude of languages and enjoyed anywhere.
i think its ok to remake tv shows if you really feel the need but it seems, with the exception of one or two (quiz shows like deal or no deal and who want to be a millionairre dont count)they generally crash and burn. Plus sometimes they are cleaned up to such and extent that they lose the point. I saw the us "men behaving badly"- it should have been called "men behaving well".
Because they're crap.
It's an insult to the original.
I'm writing from Australia here and i am a big fan of the British version of Teachers. A very witty and clever show with very realistic storylines and charachters. British TV is extremely underrated on a world stage when it comes to writng and producing comedy Shows. I find it extremely dissapointing to Discover that American Televison has poached another fantastic british show to remake as thir own, without taking a chance on their audience and exposing them to a different type of humour and TV style to their own.
everyday Australians and british TV viewers are subjected to the american way of life, humour and storytelling. And like previously mentioned, this can be quite hard to get around, but hey, it works and becomes accepted. However i find it puzzling that Americans cannot accept british (I'm not going to mention Australian TV shows cos even we know that they suck) Tv and it seems very insular to me.
British teachers, was fantastic and it works without the laugh track. I dont understand while American shows feel the need for this inane noise over a show which DRIVES ME INSANE!!! this was one of the reasons i stopped watching friends, Besides the fact that the storylines were dwindling. If i want to laugh at a joke, i'll laugh i shouldn't have to be subjected to the laugh track, pretty much telling me when to laugh at quite frankly, Half A**sed jokes.
I am hoping that American Teachers doesn't get picked up by Australian TV, although i think it would be great because i feel that it would make a great British TV show, look even better.
Also one show that wasn't mentioned as being poached by american TV, correct me if i am wrong, but wasn't "Queer as Folk" a british take off as well.
PS- Long Live AbFab.... "Cheers Pats"
Indeed "Queer as Folk" was ripped. However, it was done for Showtime (a subscriber premium network), so at least they were able to keep it on the same edgy level. Of course they then kept it on the air way too long and it got dull--just sex and trite dialogue. But Americans were about as equally exposed to the British QAF as they were the American version--at least initially. Sadly most Americans aren't used to the accents or cultural references--and we're a culture of immediacy. If it doesn't slap us in the face, we miss it.
Drama shows are a bit easier to sell to Americans, though, but our broadcast networks only like to air originial programming and a few movies. They will never air shows they didn't make or purchase as original. Again, it's all about profits and control...and about federal "decency" standards. We have to be "protected" from the commies, pinkos, and other "deviants." You know, the best way to do that is to make sure the word "sh!t" or a flash of breast never airs on broadcast TV.
Our cable networks do often air shows from elsewhere. Comedy Central aired "AbFab," and there were only rumors that someone would dare make an American version. "Wallace and Grommit" showed up quite a few times somewhere. Our PBS affiliates seek programming that's cheap and unique, so we get British shows that way. HBO (another subscriber network) has aired a lot of British programming over the years, and I think it was Showtime that initially aired all the British "Queer as Folk" episodes?
The thing with American entertainment: we have about 130 networks on cable. We have 5 big broacast for-profit networks--soon to be 4. They ALL only want original programming when possible, as they all have shareholders and government censors to answer to. They are ALL competing for viewers and advertisers. Only the subscriber services (most with 5 or 6 channels each) can do what they want to some degree. Even the new gay/lesbian cable network in the US could NEVER air either version of "Queer as Folk" as both shows are "indecent."
And with all that that for-profit programming competing for viewers and advertisers, there will certainly be borrowing and all out theft--but RARELY airing British repeats. Again, it must be "original" to appease the advertisers and shareholders...and to woo viewers. "Great new show!" "Groundbreaking Television!" "You've never seen THIS on TV!" And all that crap. It also seems they are all always on the verge of collapse from poor ratings--or they like to say so. So we get nothing truly original or risque, and we rarely get anything that's great but aired elswhere first.
We only have ONE subsidized network (PBS), and even they fall under government censorship. And only that network gives local affiliates control to change programming to any large degree, and at most 1% of our population is exposed to any one affiliate at a time. Hell, at most, only 5% of our population is exposed to any broadcast channel at one time. Not much hope there for changing popular tastes. Most Americans don't get BBCAmerica, but it's for-profit and American controlled, and is mediocre at best. Most of us do NOT pay $10 or $15 a month for the subsriber networks either. So no hope there of opening up American TV.
In the end, it's a no win. There will never be much foreign programming in our for-profit entertainment industry. The best we can hope for is a GOOD remake or a good PBS affiliate that airs foreign programming. We can also hope that high-speed internet will enable BBC to sell programs or subscriptions for programming via the internet! Then I can watch the antics of Hyacinth Bucket ("It's Bouquet!") at work! :-D
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http://www.glennferrell.com/
As to your last comment, it has come to my attention that
www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/
shows playback of a couple britcoms. But they are accessible only to UK users. As a US user, that was very disappointing. However, there is still hope! According to the site,
* * * *
At BBC Three we're giving you the chance to see programmes first and for free at bbc.co.uk/bbcthree.
You can see each episode of our premiered programme at bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/ at any time during the week before it's on TV, as well as previews of new shows. It's TV, but not as you know it.
This is all part of a wider BBC initiative to explore how programmes are consumed via the web. Given this is a pilot, it is currently only available to UK users.
* * * *
I would happily pay money to be able to see the britcoms I Choose, as opposed to the ones chosen for me.
Exactly! I would too. I'll cross my fingers.
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http://www.glennferrell.com/
Borrow is an understatement. What they're doing is taking a good show, screwing it up, publicizing their screw ups, taking the credits for the screw ups, then leaving the original show in the dust rotting in the screwed up publicity. Don't borrow!
shareBut that, my friend, is capitalism. Don't think that most Americans are blind to their ignorance, though. At this point, we loathe our broadcast networks anyway, and pay very little attention to their idiotic attempts at being "revolutionary." Most of the time, these remakes come and go with no notice. "Coupling" anyone?
Americans who do like British telivision usually find a way to get it. I just bought the box sets of "Are You Being Served," as well as "Mr. Bean" and "Keeping Up Appearances."
And until BBC/Channel4 decides to open a REAL British outlet in the US, our worthless networks will continue to steal what they assume is "unknown" in the US.
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http://www.glennferrell.com/
Another issue is that the writers, actors, and creators of the original shows often aren't asked. Just look at IT Crowd, and Spaced- two very VERY upset creators for that.
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It's not a British thing, it's a taking-programs-and-constantly-making-them-crap thing. I'm from Australia and I thought the UK version of Teachers was one of the most brilliant shows I've ever watched. If the US version had given justice to the original, by being just as edgy, dark and sharp-witted, then I'd be a fan. But, as with so many other American remakes, this is just a dumbed-down, unfunny and overall lamer version of the show, which I already had a feeling it would be. What pisses me off even more is that the British version gets absolutely no credit and instead is associated with a cheap ripoff. Whenever someone mentions the show Teachers they won't think of the awesome UK version but of the lesser quality US version, and that's why I'm pissy about Americans stealing this particular idea.
shareEverything from England sucks except Rooney.
shareGeneralized, Brits and Americans have completely different tastes, entertainment wise. The concept of shows from the UK are great, but most Americans dislike Brittish shows. So they make it into a new show.
Dont think of it as a remake. If the shows are as different as you say, think of them as completely different shows. Not remakes.
I guessing you haven't seen the original versions of either Coupling or Teachers have you Bryan?
Or maybe your just an ignorant cretin, who can honestly say
How would you feel if an english artist painted a copy of a good american painting, and then it became more famous? Id imagine you'd be pissed off, and want to complain or bring awareness to the origional.
also you cant compare art to technology, as im sure its been said before.
I'm not British nor American.
I've gotta say I've always liked the original British versions more. The characters are more interesting. In American versions the characters are usually a bit forced. Of course the characters have to vary. People are different in different cultures.
I haven't seen the American Office yet. Steve Carell's in it so it's probably good. Hopefully. =)
I don't know how to write this in english =)
the original sitcoms might be a bit darker in tone than what they are in copies.
No one probably reads this x)
it's o n l y my opinion.
lol do we?
I think it is just a matter of - it was a HIT here... give it a chance. Thats all.
I personally dont care. Whst does it matter as long as people can see the 'funny' or drama and appreciate it in the3 new form as much as we enjoyed the original - cause that is where some of the classic / gold performances are lost.
... I have to say though (and i know there are gonna be alot of people that disagree) - but I actually prefer the american office to the english one... the Brit version was too cringe worthy!! my other half keeps trying to get me to watch it - but i just cant!!