Americanizing Other Nation's Shows: BBC Being Human vs. SyFy Being Human?
 

I've become a huge fan of the BBC Being Human series and when I heard that SyFy was going to carry it, I thought "YAY! I won't have to have BBC America or buy it on iTunes" until I saw that they were creating their own version of it (Americanized). Literally, word-for-word the same except slang.

And I'm not sure why. I've refused to watch the redone version as I tend to find a lot of "uniqueness" of the show is the actors and original language that it's in. It's along the same avenue of how I feel about Steig Larsson's Girl With the Dragon Tattoo et al. original Swedish versions vs. the soon-to-be released American version (which apparently will have a different ending :blink: )

So how do you feel about it? Good? bad? Ugly?

The US is probably at the forefront of this practice, but we're hardly the only people to adapt things.

Generally speaking when it comes to film I will lean toward the original, but if the story is compelling enough for me I'll see the US version as well. With any creative endeavor you never know who will be able to bring out different nuances.

La Femme Nikita is one of my absolute favorite films. I love it to bits. And I've seen the US movie version starring Bridget Fonda. It's abysmal. And I've had no desire to see any of the TV versions. Zero.

For the Larsson books... I'll see the US versions. I saw all three of the Swedish films and I had mixed feelings about them because I really enjoyed the books. When you consider that entire chunks of the story were left out or altered slightly I can't see a reason why NOT to see the US version. Will it be better? Doubt it. But so what? It's not the Americanization that bothers me. It's the poorly executed remakes that bother me.

I think a couple of Canadian shows were "borrowed".

And ya, Dawn French's The Vicar of Dibley would be hard to remake here.

There was also the IT Crowd which was redone for the US but never took off (it still does well, I believe, in the UK and I happen to love the British version).

The Swedish films were done for TV, technically (IIRC). And any time you do a movie-from-book lots is often left out. What I've heard about the American version is that they are going to be "happier", which struck me as odd since it takes away from the book.

That said, I don't see why the original series, particularly TV series, cannot be done in their original format/language rather than redoing it. Unless there truly is something that is unique to the locale that would be misunderstood, I don't see the need or understanding as to why.

I would think that it would be cheaper than doing a remake of the series. Wouldn't it?

The thing with any filmed (whether for TV or cinema) entertainment is that in order to connect with an audience the audience has to be able to connect themselves to it. That is what, at the end of the day, limits the appeal of foreign language film.

You may notice that on HGTV a fair number of the series are filmed in Canada. The cultural dynamics are similar enough that it's not an issue. Our accents, save a few words, are similar - as are our neighborhoods, etc. That's not the case with the UK or Australia. The accents create a sense of "other" that most folks can't overcome. And that's, of course, made worse when you introduce actual foreign languages.

So, while you might think that it would save money (and it would), it also wouldn't make money because the audience would be so much smaller.

If that (accents and other cultural dynamics) were true then Coronation Street wouldn't be so popular in Canada. ;)

I think there is far more of an incidence of xenophobia in the US than in Canada. To me, it stems from both the desire to not expose Americans to different cultures *AND* Americans not wanting to be exposed to those cultures. It's interesting that the US is ok with bringing Canadian shows to the US because Canada is often viewed as the "51st State of the US".

UK and Australian cultures are different but it's not 100%. For example, Doctor Who has remained entirely UK and the US has never attempted to remake it even with the large following it has (although Torchwood, a spin-off of Doctor Who, will be a co-production with Channel 4 [??] and Starz, keeping many of the main original actors).

I suppose for me it's still a cultural adjustment and I admit to missing the multicultural view I get from daily, regular TV in Canada (not specialty channels but regular from the air channels).

I haven't watched the SyFy version but based on the commercial, they seem word-for-word the same.

I know next to nothing about what is broadcast on television in Canada. But you asked about the dynamics of this in the US. And I stand by my answer. Even your xenophobic comments reinforce exactly what I'm saying. I worked in the film distribution industry for years and while I've seen it get better in the decade+ since then, it holds true today.

Dr. Who certainly has a following, but to say that it's *popular* in the US would be vastly overstating it.

Here's a little something for you to chew on - each of these shows has been remade for the UK:

Married With Children
The Golden Girls
That 70s Show
Law & Order
Mad About You
Who's The Boss
Maude
Good Times

And I can't even count the number of "reality" series and game shows.


AND... here's a little gem that just floors me. The Nanny, with everyone's favorite nasal-affected actress, Fran Drescher, was shown in over 90 different countries, but TEN countries felt it worthwhile to make localized versions: Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Greece, Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, Poland, Russia, and Turkey.

Cool! I didn't know that about those shows (except for L&O) and it would be cool to see how other nations took those shows. I believe the L&O was a spin-off and only the first series (season) is expected to follow the traditional L&O model.

The SyFy remake of seems to be a word-for-word remake. So, while I appreciate and understand remaking it to address cultural differences, wouldn't a different script make sense?

As for Doctor Who, a viewership of 1-1.5 million in the US seems rather large given that it's on a specialty channel, no? (although it was originally on SciFi -- before it's rename -- and did well there; compared to the 3 mill or so that watch Eureka regularly, a unique SyFy show, it seems to do well).

I loved the three Larsson films and want to read the books. In all honesty I have no desire to see American versions. My first thought was that the American versions will probably first take out all the lesbian sex, they will remove the scene where she rapes the man but I bet they will leave in the scene where she is raped, and I bet they make her feminine. What I loved about these films was that she was never a victim. She fought back just as hard if not harder, never felt sorry for herself, made mistakes, learned from her mistakes and never backed down. The best scene was in the third film when she sat through the trial in full punk gear. I don't expect the American film to keep that scene either.

Melissa

I assumed it was sort of a trade off for Law and Order- UK...

I hate it.
I hate it when foreign films (or television shows) are americanized.
I am completely biased and anti-american in regards to this issue. It annoys me hugely. I think it is almost always an exercise in dumbing-down and disney-ising. It makes me roll my eyes and make *tsk* noises.

Even 'Queer As Folk' for fucksake.
The UK version (the original) was brilliant - it was cutting edge, it had socio-political content, it was stylish and fun.
The US version was a bad soap opera full of whiny muscle-marys listening to bad house music.

I dread the americanized versions of the 'Millennium Trilogy'; I really liked the Swedish adaptations and I loved the books.
I feel fairly certain that they will be a debacle of 'La Femme Nikita'/'Point of No Return' proportion.

I think, with a few exceptions, most films or television series should not be adapted. They should be enjoyed for what they are, within their original cultural context.

I think it depends on your chosen metrics. It obviously did well enough to keep it on the channel. And that's the metric that matters.

When you look at the premier of Weeds on Showtime, a premium cable channel, at 1 million households and a viewership that steadily climbed over the next four seasons and compare that to the ongoing performance of Doctor Who at 1-1.5 million on a network that comes in a variety of basic to advanced television packages it's harder to say. I think it's a cult show and the people who love it will watch it. And that makes it successful. When you look at the performance of either of those shows against a broadcast show then they both look pathetic.

You're probably quite right there. I'll still see them. At least the first one. And don't even try to pretend you won't, even if you wait for the DVD.

I'll let other people go see them first and if it is as bad as I anticipate I will try to avoid them. But I'm sure, at some point, morbid curiosity will get the better of me. :|

Being Human isn't the first BBC show we've ruined. Won't be the last. We've also ruined Life on Mars. I'm just thankful my favorite BBC shows will never likely be replicated on American TV -- M.I.-5 and Luther. I also love Waking the Dead, which is the BBC version of a "cold case" show. I find that the characters on BBC (or ITV) shows are usually more richly and deeply written. Some of the most complex characters on TV are BBC shows -- Mike Walker on "Trial & Retribution" (ITV), Peter Boyd on "Waking the Dead," Tony Hill on "Wire in the Blood" (RIP...I can't believe ITV cancelled this great cop show!), and John Luther on "Luther" (which, btw, is one of the best shows on TV on either side of the pond, imo).

Jake
British cop show junkie

Love both of those shows and I agree I don't think Americans can do anything good with The Vicar of Dibley. It grinds on my nerves when the US tries to redo stuff like they can do it better. They tried to do it with Death At A Funeral too but I preferred the original version.

Spooks/MI-5 is one of my most favorite shows EVER.
I'm currently waiting extremely impatiently for Vol: 8 to be sent from Netflix.

BUT, I'm very sorry to tell you this but ABC bought the rights to adapt it. :|
I'm hoping it comes to nothing, but I fear it will.

Kind of like how the US got a show called "Cold Case Files" (which I've never seen) a year after we started airing "Cold Squad" (which I love)?

Yeah, that's kinda annoying.

And we had This Hour Has 22 Minutes 4 years before the US had The Daily Show.

I've heard mixed reviews of the American remake of 'Let The Right One In'.

My friends from outside of the country hated it and hated that someone remade it so soon. My friends that live in the US, who have seen both, thought the remake was "ok".

I thought it was a very well made film (the original) but too bloody and gory for me. The whole first hour creeped me out, a lot. :|

I love Being Human....love it... oh wait I said that. I also really enjoy the American/Canadian version. I couldn't wait to hate it. Then I watched an interview with the actors before I watched the show. None of them had watched the original version of the show, as a way of not influencing the characters they were playing. I was then able to put my prejudice aside and give it a try. That said... while I would watch the BBC version over the Filmed in Montreal version, I really like the new one. It is fun, has light qualities and there is more discussion of the characters motivation.

In my "tv watching head" I don't compare the two. They are two very different shows, that just happen to have a similar story line.

"Let the right one in" - I just could not bring myself to watch the American version. I felt it would sully the flavour of the original.

:hanging:

I always liked "Who's Line is it Anway?" :)

I loved Wire in the Blood and Waking the Dead too. Have you seen the Inspector Frost mysteries. Not as dark or intense as the others but still great. I loved Cracker, too. I think the US tried to do a Cracker version but it didn't make it.

If you have Netflix I also recommend a Canadian show called Intelligence. It only ran for two seasons but some of the best TV I have seen in a long time.

Melissa

Nobody has had the audacity to try to remake AbFab. Thankfully.
And French & Saunders seem to have the integrity not to sell out to the highest bidder.

I miss Eastenders.

My Best Femmes (& I) do our best Patsy, Edie & Bubbles impressions, upon occasion, and its really not made for network television! :)

There probably is some site I can stream 'Eastenders' from, I've been too lazy to find it. I have so many sources for "entertainment" - netflix, hulu, comcast on demand - that I can't keep up.

So I saw the Americanized version of Dragon Tattoo and I have to say... it was honestly far better than I expected. I certainly still prefer the Swedish version but they didn't really "Americanize" this. They kept it based in Sweden, they still maintain a lot of the original storyline and, I believe, had more than the original mini-series.

I was particularly impressed with the actress who played Lisbeth (Rooney Mara) as she came across very well as the character. So I take it back on this one.

Not a remake, but because of one of your chaps, there will be years of House re-running on U.S. television. No apologies for anything we've done after that. You have to pay. *clearly not a fan of House though i like Hugh Laurie*

Ok, this is something I'm going to complain about. It seems like lately American television/film industry has been butchering a lot European TV shows and films as well as films/TV shows from other countries. Before Hollywood decided to butcher Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, there was also another American remake of another Swedish book/film called Låt den rätte komma in (Let Me In was the horrible remake). The film is a vampire film but not of the stereotypical variety. It deals with themes of bullying as well as the relationship between a boy and a vampire who's gender is a bit ambiguous. The vampire is presumed to be female in the film, but actually because the director wanted the vampire's voice to be more androgynous they did not use the actress' real voice in the film. Basically she acted and spoke the lines, but another person's voice was dubbed over because the director wanted a more gender ambiguous voice. Overall pretty awesome film.

Of course Oskar and Eli were replaced by Owen and Abby from New Mexico, gender ambiguity and other themes pretty much obliterated from the remake. Which seems to be a pattern, considering I've heard that Girl With the Dragon Tattoo remake hasn't taken on the strong themes of violence and vengeance of the victim on the rapist that the original novel intended.

Kind of same with the American remake of Prime Suspect, where it feel like issues of sexism and other issues of oppression are a bit watered down when compared to the original. And why does it seem US TV shows are unable to make films/TV shows about strong women/feminist values without sexualising female protagonists to silly degrees.

I don't see why American audiences can't just watch non-American films and TV shows the way others around the world watch films/TV shows not from their own countries. It's like anything an American audience "might like" Hollywood needs to remake and, consequently, water down. It looks like Hollywood/American television has just been running out of ideas the last ten years, and so remakes shit or defaults on stupid comedies or "reality" shows.

In continental Europe/Scandinavia foreign films are shown in major movie theatres with the option of subtitles or in original language. US should start doing the same, instead of remaking everything.

I will never ever ever ever forgive the BBC if they turn Downton Abbey over to us Americans to remake. I am a HUGE British film fan and have not liked any of the US remakes.


http://cdn-3.nflximg.com/en_us/boxsh...s/70213223.jpg

I just read that NBC has bought the rights to "Bad Girls"

http://www.afterellen.com/tv/nbc-wil...tory-ever-told

"Bad Girls" was never high art, not by a long stretch, but like a lot of British soap operas it had a delightful tongue-in-cheek salaciousness that allowed the viewer to relish the over-the-top aspects of the genre. There was a self-effacing irony amidst the high drama. American producers don't do that well (understatement).