Why does the US have to remake every freakin' UK show? The simple answer I can come up with is this: money. They want to make money off of UK shows already proven successful and it's the only way they legally can. Beyond that, I can't think of a single, solitary reason what the point could possibly be. Greed and laziness, that's what.
Nine times out of ten, the US version is a total travesty, barely watchable if at all. The original humor, dialogue, and various plot points get either misinterpreted, butchered, or just downright missed altogether. I've also concluded I don't get 90% of American humor, but that's a topic for a whole other blog post.
I'm sorry USA, but the only shows stateside I've found to be good thus far are Supernatural and Fringe. Being Human, Misfits, Doctor Who, and Torchwood are all fabulous shows from the UK. Maybe it's due to the fact that science fiction and fantasy shows are taken a lot more seriously over there than here as opposed to being dumbed down for the kids or sexed up for the desired 18-25 year old male demographic.
Instead of being copycats (and terrible ones at that), why not look and see what makes these shows work and apply that to more original entertainment? Why remake them with horrible acting and a ton of extra special effects to compensate? I admit to being a little leery of Torchwood coming to be filmed here in the US but given the same production crews and writers are in on it as they are in the UK, I will give it a shot. It's certainly a far different scenario than a US remake. Maybe if more US-UK cooperative efforts would occur, the television industry over here could get an education.
Who knows? Maybe the horrible film remakes will stop then, too.
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Adrianne
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Wednesday, March 16, 2011
If it ain't broke, don't fix it: US remakes of UK shows
Posted by Unknown at 12:37 PM
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5 comments:
To the 'brilliant' minds that do this stuff it seems like a no lose situation. Basically all they have to do is take something successful, modify a little for the US audience, film it and BOOM! The money rolls in.
Or so they believe.
But since these people aren't creative, they don't really understand what makes for a successful show. So they'll never understand why they fail.
That's the tragedy. I'd love to see more original, awesome works. It's like their hearts just aren't in it.
I know exactly what you mean! it's not like the shows are in a different language or something there is no need to remake thse shows, and when they do they tend to be dumbed down - rather like the American "translation" of Harry Potter lol I couldn't believe how diffently it read and simplified it had be made and it was a childrens book to start with.
For real? I knew they changed the slang so Americans would understand it, but had no idea there were other changes as well. Now I'll have to read the original. And I DO know British slang. :P
Well, I'm going to be the oddball in this section and say that I like the American remakes of UK shows. I honestly had never heard of The Office until I saw the US version of it. Then I went looking for the UK version. As for Being Human, I don't have BBC America so I never knew about it until the US version came along. As for Skins, well, I do not watch anything on MTV Channel except like two shows on it and no, it's not the Jersey Shore. The only two shows that I know are from the UK and not remakes are Doctor Who and Torchwood and I love both shows. Other than those two, I'm not really aware of American remakes of UK shows until I look them up.
Maybe it's just me but I never would have gone looking for the original shows if I had not seen the American remakes. I'm not going to deny that the remakes were probably done to cash in the popularity of the shows but that's life.
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