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Gavin & Stacey turns 15: Why wasn't James Corden's British romantic comedy series able to find an American audience?


https://www.vulture.com/2022/05/gavin-and-stacey-15th-anniversary.html

The comedy that James Corden co-created and co-starred in with Ruth Jones about an Essex boy (Matthew Horne) and a Welsh girl (Joanna Page) "whose long-distance relationship quickly turns into an engagement and then a marriage — blending their eccentric families in a culture clash equal parts charming and hilarious," says Tom Smyth. "As a testament to just how beloved this series still is, when the cast reunited for a 2019 Christmas special, it garnered 18.49 million viewers — half of all the people watching television in the U.K. at the time. Despite that incredible success in Britain, Gavin & Stacey has never found a strong American audience. That’s ironic considering that one of its creators and stars, James Corden, has found fame in the States completely separate from the show that made him a star back home. But that cultural gap in the series’ success isn’t for lack of trying. There were three failed attempts to adapt the show in America: first in 2008 by NBC, then in 2009 by ABC, and lastly a 2013 Fox attempt that made it the furthest. Titled Us & Them, the Fox remake starred Jason Ritter and Alexis Bledel and shot seven episodes, none of which made it to air."

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I’m American and I absolutely love this show. I used to watch it via downloading files from a file sharing site. An online friend in the UK used to upload the eps and send me the links.

The series eventually aired on BBC America, but it was edited to allow time for commercials, and because some content wouldn’t make it through the US censors. (E.g. the scene with whipped cream at Stacey’s bachelorette party.)

I think it would have had a chance to find its American audience if it had been more available. Not everyone has BBCA, and the networks weren’t interested in short series (US series are 20+ eps; Gavin & Stacey seasons had 6 eps, iirc.)

If Netflix or Amazon Prime had been around back then, G&S would absolutely have found a US audience.

Another problem is that they removed and/or replaced a lot of the music originally in the eps, because they didn’t want the expense of licensing it for US broadcast and US dvd release. I own the full UK dvd set (except the 2019 xmas special). It’s one of my favorite series.

I love it as an English show set in England and Wales. Not sure I would like a US version.

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