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And sadly if turns out to be hugely successful in the states, most of it's viewers will be completely oblivious to the original British series. Just like The Office and Queer As Folk to cite a couple fairly recent examples of needlessly made American TV version of UK series.
Cheers,
Louis
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Someone just told me that the original guy who was making it (David E. Kelly I think) was no longer involved and that it was going to be a lot worse. Anyone hear that, too? I've never had high hopes for it, but I do like Colm Meaney a lot.
I'm going "Full Circle" and putting my avatar back to what it was when I first joined. :)
IMDb and Wiki still list David Kelly as an executive producer.
Aint it Cool News had posted a link to several clips of new fall shows including Life on Mars (Unfortunately the link doesn't seem to work any longer).
I was very much not impressed with what I saw. It seemed like a sad parody of the original. I am not opposed to remaking British shows outright, and there are some that I have been quite fond of, but usually they don't come close to the source material (I am looking at you Coupling and Viva Laughlin).
Anyway, the way studios have been dropping shows after one or two episodes into a season means that if this doesn't get a good audience quick we may never truly know how well they handle it.
Coming to theaters this fall, Frau Blücher and Harpo Marx star in 'The Shadow Proclamation'!
I don't know why they can't just bring the shows over and show them. It's working for Sci-Fi and PBS. Given that there is some language issues, but that hasn't stopped Showtime's Dexter from being shown on prime-time.
How many US shows air on a regular basis in the UK? So why not the reverse? I guess the people out in LA just think we are all too stupid to pick up on the differences between the two cultures so they must remake so they'll have successes like Red Dwarf...er...Coupling...er... The Office.
[Quote by: Sabalon] I don't know why they can't just bring the shows over and show them. It's working for Sci-Fi and PBS. Given that there is some language issues, but that hasn't stopped Showtime's Dexter from being shown on prime-time.
How many US shows air on a regular basis in the UK? So why not the reverse? I guess the people out in LA just think we are all too stupid to pick up on the differences between the two cultures so they must remake so they'll have successes like Red Dwarf...er...Coupling...er... The Office.
Well, for one, the British don't make enough episodes per season to fill an American TV schedule. For another, you make more money licensing the idea and then making your own version. I don't even wanna think about the gobs of money NBC has made off of The Office (and it's a great show in its own right). Still other reasons to adapt a British show include genuine creative differences owing to differences in the target audience. Steptoe and Son wouldn't have worked nearly as well as Sanford and Son, IMHO. And, really, having seen both, Sanford at its best is better than Steptoe. And there's always the question of how you recut a show that wasn't made to have commercials such that it still works narratively on commercial TV. Seriously, check out the SciFi version of Doctor Who. It's often a travesty. I don't know how people can watch it on SciFi, to be honest.
"I think of myself as ambitious in casting terms, and I know that Bonnie [Langford] has the potential to make the part totally unirritating . . ." — JNT, 1986
There's also been a recent attempt to duplicate "The IT Crowd" for American audiences. It al least had one of the original cast members in it. IIRC, it might also air this coming fall.
Did you say "74,384,338 to 1 against"? That's my lucky number!
It looks like Life on Mars is moving to NYC from LA. THis seems to make more sense to me. I think the NYC of the 70s better fits the program. Also, it looks like there may be other changes.
This is all I've seen so far, and I'm not impressed...
/-edit-/
Well, lookie here. Apparently there is a domestic red eye flight to where you can see a pre-screener of the first episode. I'm booking my ticket as we speak.
My favorite comment overheard at the travel agency...
[Quote by: MrRocKING]
It's like someone put the script through Babelfish, translated it into Russian, then French, then back to English and said...
"Hey! let's film this one!"
Poor Colm Meany...
I'm going "Full Circle" and putting my avatar back to what it was when I first joined. :)
Just got done watching the pilot. I certainly hope they scrap this one completely, and maybe come up with a new take on the concept, rather than a frame-by-frame remake. I love Colm Meaney, but I don't think he's right for the part -- he's just not that believable as that big an ***hole that is Gene Hunt.
And Jason O'Mara? Who the hell is he? He may be British by birth, but he's obviously gone through the Hollywood Hunk machine, which makes him so much less interesting. And what's up with the hair? At least John Simm look believable in both decades, requiring only wardrobe to signify the change. And THAT was my biggest beef with "Ashes to Ashes" - the heroine's hairstyle changed too dramatically. If I got transported back in time, it would take a while before I started fixing my hair differently, and if I didn't wear a lot of makeup in 2007, I'm sure am not going to start in 1981, even if it is the style.
Sunday, May 18 2008 @ 08:42 PM EDT
