DA
Dave
Founding member
Ive seen the first American The Office and its crap!
Not surprised its lost 1/2 of it viewers, I sure as hell wont be wasting my time downloading it!
The Office is meant to be a sarcastic approach to office live, the Americans don’t do sarcasms and that’s why it doesn’t work! If it not be to be the same as the UK The Office then they should have made a far bigger effort to differentiate it from the BBC version. Well that’s what I think anyways!
Not surprised its lost 1/2 of it viewers, I sure as hell wont be wasting my time downloading it!
The Office is meant to be a sarcastic approach to office live, the Americans don’t do sarcasms and that’s why it doesn’t work! If it not be to be the same as the UK The Office then they should have made a far bigger effort to differentiate it from the BBC version. Well that’s what I think anyways!
MS
Why won't NBC learn!? I really do not get this! They ALWAYS do this.
They take British shows, re-make them (badly), show them and then end up cancelling them half way through the first series or not show them at all! Mostly due to falling ratings.
Red Dwarf and Coupling are the ones that come to mind. Coupling was only 1 or 2 years ago. It was re-made badly and so got poor viewing figures and bad reviews.
Yet they do it AGAIN?!
Won't they ever learn...
And why is it always NBC?
They take British shows, re-make them (badly), show them and then end up cancelling them half way through the first series or not show them at all! Mostly due to falling ratings.
Red Dwarf and Coupling are the ones that come to mind. Coupling was only 1 or 2 years ago. It was re-made badly and so got poor viewing figures and bad reviews.
Yet they do it AGAIN?!
Won't they ever learn...
And why is it always NBC?
GS
Gavin Scott
Founding member
What's with this "ALWAYS" nonsense you are spouting? For heavens sake, do a bit of research before these outbursts.
There have been dozen of UK > US transfers which have been successful.
Agony > Lucy Arnaz Show
Antiques Roadshow > Antiques Roadshow
Are You Being Served? > Beanes of Boston
As If > As If
Ballykissangel > Hope Island
Changing Rooms > Trading Spaces
Dear John > Dear John
The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin > Reggie
Fawlty Towers > Amanda
The Grimleys > The Grubs
George & Mildred > The Ropers
Man About the House > Three's Company
I could go on and on, but its a long long list and I really can't be bothered.
There have been dozen of UK > US transfers which have been successful.
Agony > Lucy Arnaz Show
Antiques Roadshow > Antiques Roadshow
Are You Being Served? > Beanes of Boston
As If > As If
Ballykissangel > Hope Island
Changing Rooms > Trading Spaces
Dear John > Dear John
The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin > Reggie
Fawlty Towers > Amanda
The Grimleys > The Grubs
George & Mildred > The Ropers
Man About the House > Three's Company
I could go on and on, but its a long long list and I really can't be bothered.
MS
Well I don't know if NBC made any of those ones, but all of the NBC changeovers i've ever heard of all go the same way. Especially when they tend to alienate the original writers as is the case with Red Dwarf. They completely rejected a much better script for the Red Dwarf US pilot from Rob Grant and Doug Naylor which everybody else preferred. Instead they used an Americanised version of the original which was a lot less funny.
The same happened with Coupling. They took the British scripts, made them less funny, stuck in American contemparary humour and it ended up not working and getting bad reviews. They cancelled it after 4 episodes. The Red Dwarf US version didn't even make it past pilot.
I'm just saying with the Coupling mistake so recent, you'd think they would have learnt their lesson. I think they even named Coupling the suprise hit of the year when it originally aired.
I'm willing to bet that at the current rate, the American version of the Office will be cancelled either mid-season or after 1 season.
And wasn't a Fawlty Towers made where they actually removed the character of Basil Fawlty because they thought his character was unfunny?
The same happened with Coupling. They took the British scripts, made them less funny, stuck in American contemparary humour and it ended up not working and getting bad reviews. They cancelled it after 4 episodes. The Red Dwarf US version didn't even make it past pilot.
I'm just saying with the Coupling mistake so recent, you'd think they would have learnt their lesson. I think they even named Coupling the suprise hit of the year when it originally aired.
I'm willing to bet that at the current rate, the American version of the Office will be cancelled either mid-season or after 1 season.
And wasn't a Fawlty Towers made where they actually removed the character of Basil Fawlty because they thought his character was unfunny?
GS
The question of "better" or "funnier" is a purely subjective one, and there certainly are cultural differences and expectations between British comedy fare and North American, (as well as a world of similarities, I admit). Those programmes which successfully transferred to American versions are split between those which were rewritten and those that were not - and it's a mix. There is no standard formula to guarantee success but the one thing you can say for NBC is that they consistently try it again and again - and if it doesn't work they cut their losses and move on.
But to back up your point, NBC also had The Weakest Link - admittedly a different genre - but one of the biggest smash hits of their portfolio, whilst it lasted anyway. And it was copied to the letter.
If you are the man who knows when to tinker, and when not; you would be a very rich executive indeed.
Gavin Scott
Founding member
Mr-Stabby posted:
Well I don't know if NBC made any of those ones, but all of the NBC changeovers i've ever heard of all go the same way. Especially when they tend to alienate the original writers as is the case with Red Dwarf. They completely rejected a much better script for the Red Dwarf US pilot from Rob Grant and Doug Naylor which everybody else preferred. Instead they used an Americanised version of the original which was a lot less funny.
The same happened with Coupling. They took the British scripts, made them less funny, stuck in American contemparary humour and it ended up not working and getting bad reviews. They cancelled it after 4 episodes. The Red Dwarf US version didn't even make it past pilot.
I'm just saying with the Coupling mistake so recent, you'd think they would have learnt their lesson. I think they even named Coupling the suprise hit of the year when it originally aired.
I'm willing to bet that at the current rate, the American version of the Office will be cancelled either mid-season or after 1 season.
And wasn't a Fawlty Towers made where they actually removed the character of Basil Fawlty because they thought his character was unfunny?
The same happened with Coupling. They took the British scripts, made them less funny, stuck in American contemparary humour and it ended up not working and getting bad reviews. They cancelled it after 4 episodes. The Red Dwarf US version didn't even make it past pilot.
I'm just saying with the Coupling mistake so recent, you'd think they would have learnt their lesson. I think they even named Coupling the suprise hit of the year when it originally aired.
I'm willing to bet that at the current rate, the American version of the Office will be cancelled either mid-season or after 1 season.
And wasn't a Fawlty Towers made where they actually removed the character of Basil Fawlty because they thought his character was unfunny?
The question of "better" or "funnier" is a purely subjective one, and there certainly are cultural differences and expectations between British comedy fare and North American, (as well as a world of similarities, I admit). Those programmes which successfully transferred to American versions are split between those which were rewritten and those that were not - and it's a mix. There is no standard formula to guarantee success but the one thing you can say for NBC is that they consistently try it again and again - and if it doesn't work they cut their losses and move on.
But to back up your point, NBC also had The Weakest Link - admittedly a different genre - but one of the biggest smash hits of their portfolio, whilst it lasted anyway. And it was copied to the letter.
If you are the man who knows when to tinker, and when not; you would be a very rich executive indeed.
NW
IIRC Fawlty Towers has been remade several times in the US, the most recent one was called 'Payne', which wasn't that good, Manuel was from Mexico and the Gourmet Night episode wasn't fantastic, instead of Fawlty whacking the car, the car falls off a cliff.
It also explains why it was on ITV1 at 3.00am a few years ago.
It also explains why it was on ITV1 at 3.00am a few years ago.
RA
As you already said, the Weakest Link is an entirely different genre, the only thing that needed to be succesful was the host. Where as sitcoms need a good script, characters and actors when they make the change from UK to USA.
To be honest I'm not suprised the USA version of The Office failed, maybe if the original Office hadn't been shown it would have got SLIGHTLY better ratings, but I doubt it would have made any difference.
Gavin Scott posted:
The question of "better" or "funnier" is a purely subjective one, and there certainly are cultural differences and expectations between British comedy fare and North American, (as well as a world of similarities, I admit). Those programmes which successfully transferred to American versions are split between those which were rewritten and those that were not - and it's a mix. There is no standard formula to guarantee success but the one thing you can say for NBC is that they consistently try it again and again - and if it doesn't work they cut their losses and move on.
But to back up your point, NBC also had The Weakest Link - admittedly a different genre - but one of the biggest smash hits of their portfolio, whilst it lasted anyway. And it was copied to the letter.
If you are the man who knows when to tinker, and when not; you would be a very rich executive indeed.
But to back up your point, NBC also had The Weakest Link - admittedly a different genre - but one of the biggest smash hits of their portfolio, whilst it lasted anyway. And it was copied to the letter.
If you are the man who knows when to tinker, and when not; you would be a very rich executive indeed.
As you already said, the Weakest Link is an entirely different genre, the only thing that needed to be succesful was the host. Where as sitcoms need a good script, characters and actors when they make the change from UK to USA.
To be honest I'm not suprised the USA version of The Office failed, maybe if the original Office hadn't been shown it would have got SLIGHTLY better ratings, but I doubt it would have made any difference.
PO
I don't know how people can watch shows like 'The Simpsons' and still say Americans don't do sarcasm. It's one of the biggest urban myths ever.
Im not American btw
I always thought that the common belief is that Americans can’t do irony .
Why can't they just broadcast the English version anyway? We have to put up with plenty of their over-manufactured crap.
besty posted:
Dave posted:
The Office is meant to be a sarcastic approach to office live, the Americans don’t do sarcasms
I don't know how people can watch shows like 'The Simpsons' and still say Americans don't do sarcasm. It's one of the biggest urban myths ever.
Im not American btw
I always thought that the common belief is that Americans can’t do irony .
Why can't they just broadcast the English version anyway? We have to put up with plenty of their over-manufactured crap.
PC
That seems like the best thing to do in general, just stick with our version only, instead of remaking it and running the risk of it failing. But there's probably some problem with doing that which I don't know about.
Pootle5 posted:
Why can't they just broadcast the English version anyway?
That seems like the best thing to do in general, just stick with our version only, instead of remaking it and running the risk of it failing. But there's probably some problem with doing that which I don't know about.