Urban Fantasy discussion
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Movies & TV shows with an Urban Fantasy setting
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blackrose - I think you'd remember. Herrick was black for a start (Adrian Lester) and was great, the ghost and werewolf were different. I think only George remained the same from the pilot.
Ana, can you give me the name of a remake that didn't translate? For some reason all I can think of right now is All In The Family and Three's Company both of which did very well in the American versions.
Starling wrote: "Ana, can you give me the name of a remake that didn't translate? For some reason all I can think of right now is All In The Family and Three's Company both of which did very well in the American ve..."Sorry, but I didn't understand the question.
Anyway, my point is: why make remakes of english spoken tv shows, when you can use the time, resources and actors to make something original? While still enjoying the english show?
But maybe that's just me, and I personally always try to watch the original, not the remake.
Most of the ones I can think of didn't last very long, or never even got past the pilot episode: Coupling, Men Behaving Badly, Beanes of Boston (never past pilot version of Are You Being Served?), Amanda's (Faulty Towers)... and then there's one which is successful but which I still think the British version is better, The Office.Though I have to admit that my intitial comment was based on my horror at the upcoming Chris Rock remake of a British movies called 'Death at a Funeral' which was a quintessential British farce and freaking hysterically brilliant.
By-the-by, I've also just read that they're planning on making an Americanized version of 'Torchwood'. Doctor Who will be next, and then I'll cry...
Of course, the American version of 'Being Human' might be good. I don't know. Personally I always thought 'Supernatural' was too... I don't know... to teenagey soap-opera for my taste, so the fact that the writer from it is doing 'Being Human' does not, personally, comfort me.
I just think that one of the reasons they do remakes is because of the differences in British humour and American humor (leaving aside the tangent that there is no one thing that is 'British humour' nor 'American humor' as both the Brits and the Americans have different takes on different types of humo/u/r.) But, sometimes, if you take a show which is funny because of it's British-ness, and then you adapt it, you end up losing what made it funny in the first place.
In the case of 'Being Human', which isn't funny, per se, then all I can do is hope that they keep the social relevance of the show - i.e. the analogs to addiction, homosexuality, etc, and that they don't 'dumb it down'.
Starling's right, there are a ton of shows remade by America that are more popular then the original. Not every remake is a success, but not every show is a success either.You know what I realized the first time I watched British television? They are watching our television.
I assumed that mostly we watch our shows, and they watch their shows, but that's not the case. They make references to things like Disney World, and Angelina Jolee all the time.
I bet about ten percent of the movies that are part of popular culture world wide are made somewhere that is not America.
mostunexpected wrote: "You know what I realized the first time I watched British television? They are watching our television. I assumed that mostly we watch our shows, and they watch their shows, but that's not the case. They make references to things like Disney World, and Angelina Jolee all the time."As a 'they' what the hell does that mean?
That last line is such a random statement I'm intrigued!
They are the charactors in British tv shows.I'm just saying that everyone is watching American content. It's popular.
Ana C. wrote: "Sorry, but I didn't understand the question...."The question was can you think of a British to American remake that did not do well. I gave two examples that did very well indeed. They are both quite old shows, so it is possible that you never saw either of them, but they are great examples of why one might want to do the show as a remake.
I don't think I ever saw the original of All in the Family, but I did see one episode of the British Three's Company. It was OK. But in both cases the American versions were supposed to be better shows with better actors.
A lot of content is basically international. For classics programming, you've got several different US entities (and not just PBS these days) in combination with several different British entities. There is a lot of Australian programming on various Cable networks. Less obvious Canadian stuff, but a lot more than most people realize unless they are addicted to reading the credits. At one point it looked like half the stuff on HGTV was made in Canada.Sometimes you can tell where stuff came from. There are accents, or the generic city stuff isn't quite as generic as the producers thought. Sometimes you can't except for the credits.
mostunexpected wrote: "They are the charactors in British tv shows."More intriguing. So you are saying Disney World and Angelina Jolie are characters in British TV shows?
And I wouldn't necessarily say American content is popular. It's a huge country and they make a lot of content and buying content is a lot cheaper than making it yourself.
As for the All in the Family comment from Starling. I would be stunned if that show was anything like the British show. I can't see it working at all over there. And the reason it was a massive hit here was because of the actors rather than because of the show. Likewise to a lesser extent Three's Company.
I agree with Starling about the international flavour. US shows I've watched/watching don't feel particularly American anymore. FlashForward, perhaps that's the British lead or Lost or Heroes or Supernatural or True Blood whereas someone told me to watch Glee, now that is very US to me. I definitely think US content is being made with an international eye these days.
Bill wrote: "mostunexpected wrote: "They are the charactors in British tv shows."More intriguing. So you are saying Disney World and Angelina Jolie are characters in British TV shows?..."
Bill, I believe what mostunexpected was saying was that Disney World and Angelina Jolie have been mentioned in British shows/movies so it would seem that the British TV creators/writers are watching American shows/movies just like American creators/writers seem to be watching British shows. For ideas and such.
If I'm wrong, mostunexpected, please let me know. :)
Hardly Theresa. I would imagine that Angelina and Disney are mentioned pretty much everywhere. They are 'Global brands'. Jolie is an international film star and the daughter of an international film star. She's not talked about because she's American. Sorry but that's a really odd thing to say.
Bill wrote: "Hardly Theresa. I would imagine that Angelina and Disney are mentioned pretty much everywhere. They are 'Global brands'. Jolie is an international film star and the daughter of an international fil..."Bill, I wasn't saying that I agree with Mostunexpected or that it was my opinion. I was trying to explain what I thought they were trying to say in an earlier post that you questioned.
Personally, I think it would be a fair assumption that British and American producers/writers/etc check out each other's work. You never know when you might get inspired by what you see. Is British television better than American? I haven't a clue since I only watch a few shows on BBC. But those that I do watch, I love!
I would guess TV is pretty much the same everywhere. Some of it is great and some of it not. So 'better' wouldn't come into it for me. I would also presume British TV wouldn't buy a US flop and vice versa. I don't think we remake US shows as seems to happen in the US with British shows from what I read, we seem to just buy the US show. I guess that's down to money. Small market, small budgets. I think the budget for one episode of Heroes would keep a whole Chanel going for a week here.
Bill wrote: "I would guess TV is pretty much the same everywhere. Some of it is great and some of it not. So 'better' wouldn't come into it for me. I would also presume British TV wouldn't buy a US flop and vic..."I don't know how to convince you that American content is popular world wide. I can tell you that I just went to the DVD section of amazon.co.uk, and most of it is staring big name American actors.
Ed Asner
George Clooney
Mark Wahlberg
Matt Damon
Julia Roberts
Leonardo DiCaprio
Jeff Bridges
Robert Downey Jr
I don't know. Maybe your experiences are different. Maybe you don't know who these people are.
mostunexpected wrote: "I don't know how to convince you that American content is popular world wide."I'm not sure why you think you need to?
Or what that list of names is supposed to prove.
Or what it has to do with the TV discussion.
mostunexpected wrote: "Bill wrote: "I would guess TV is pretty much the same everywhere. Some of it is great and some of it not. So 'better' wouldn't come into it for me. I would also presume British TV wouldn't buy a US..."Mostunexpected, if you read message 145, I think you'll see that people aren't saying those individuals aren't known internationally. Most of them are what Bill called "international" stars. I also don't think there was a debate that American content ISN'T popular.
Plus, the actors you menioned are MOVIE actors... I believe this discussion started about remakes of TV shows, not movies.
My mistake.It thougt you were trying to saying that the first two examples I gave were exceptions to the rule, so I gave some more.
So, one of things I like best about BBC's version of "Being Human" is that they are so working class. I'm afraid that's going to go straight out the window for the American version, and instead of being hospital orderlies, they'll be ER doctors...I'd like it further if they set in a very tough town like Detroit or New Orleans or Newark. But, I don't see that happening.
Julia wrote: "So, one of things I like best about BBC's version of "Being Human" is that they are so working class. I'm afraid that's going to go straight out the window for the American version, and instead of ..."I am so afraid we Yanks will just totally f*** up this show. It's perfect just the way it is!
Bill wrote: "As for the All in the Family comment from Starling. I would be stunned if that show was anything like the British show...."My understanding was that the basics behind the two shows was very much alike. It is possible that the British "racist" hated the Welsh or the Scots and that would not have played too well in the US. We would not have gotten it. But it could also have been black/white racism. Don't know for certain.
Supernatural and Buffy the Vampire Slayer are my all-time favorite UF tv shows.
I saw this thread some time ago and couldn't think of anything to post... I can't believe I forgot about Supernatural.
Being as I'm American I suppose I should prefer the American versions... and I'm sure some shows have translated well, but others - not so much.
Bill - I don't think I ever saw the pilot, as I don't remember any different actors. I don't know if the BBCA never showed it, or if I just missed it. Ah well.