Stop the Americanization
I don’t know why anyone would think that it would be a good idea to take a British television series and remake it with an American cast. Coupling. The Office. Life on Mars. Edgar Wright has voiced his opposition to the rumors of an American remake of Spaced. Are there really no new ideas to be had?
What’s next? An American version of Doctor Who with David Schwimmer as the Doctor? How about a bunch of talentless stand-up “comedians” coming together as the American Monty Python’s Flying Circus?
I wouldn’t be so pissed off if original shows like Firefly could actually get past season one.
October 22nd, 2008 at 12:32 pm
That’s horrible. Extremely frightening - if Doctor Who was ever americanized, I mean. That would be an utter disaster.
But I’m a comedy hater. That could be it.
Speaking of the Office, did you know that there was a French, Brazilian, German, and French Canadian version of the show? Pretty crazy… I guess that one everyone adored, but I have to say I don’t find the American version too funny
November 18th, 2008 at 8:32 am
It’s true that series like firefly should have progressed past S1. However, the Office was fortunate to expand beyond just a remake and Americans made it their own.
I remember watching the UK office when it originally aired over here in on BBC 2 and I’m glad that it stopped at a 2nd series as it was too polarising. Ricky Gervais as david Brent just had a way of making too many feel too uncomfortable, which couldn’t be sustained.
The US version started off as a like for like but managed to progress making it their own, and subsequently Michael (Carrell) is a more likeable character. Less cringeworthy and more comic.
To remake something of the likes of spaced, you would have to understand that at it’s very heart it was a labour of love. Wright, Pegg and Hynes (nee Stevenson) wrote this themselves, it wasn’t cooked up by a team of writers. To “americanise” it would be reducing it to just another sitcom.
The problem is that with these home-brewed shows, the people involved in creating them (Whedon, Wright etc). They need so little input from the networks, that the networks start to panic and they meddle (Family guy, Firefly, TV Nation) and the shows are shutdown/censored/shown in the wrong order.