NationStates Jolt Archive


NBC Again Trying To Americanize Britcoms

Gauthier
08-03-2005, 12:00
Saw a commercial on NBC a couple nights ago, which turned out to be an Americanized version of "The Office."

My God, do they not get the point? Didn't work with "Men Behaving Badly," didn't work with "Couplings," and now this? Hell, even a pilot for an American Red Dwarf* was shot down before it got off the ground.

Will someone tell NBC to give up all ready?

*- There was a small upside to the American Red Dwarf project however. Robert Llewylynn was still cast as Kryten and they made a much better looking Condom Head mask compared to the previous model. The new Kryten look had been incorporated into the series since that point. Okay, and Terry Farrell as The Cat might have been something too, Meeeeee-ow.
Kellarly
08-03-2005, 12:03
Saw a commercial on NBC a couple nights ago, which turned out to be an Americanized version of "The Office."

I heard about that, isn't the boss going to be a good looking succesful guy rather than.....well whats he is meant to be...a complete loser stuck in a dead end job until he retires?
Pure Metal
08-03-2005, 12:05
apparently americans hated Coupling - 'too rude' :p

don't they get it? it was funny!



ps: you can't have Red Dwarf without Lister for gods sake :mad:
Davo_301
08-03-2005, 12:14
apparently americans hated Coupling - 'too rude' :p

don't they get it? it was funny!



ps: you can't have Red Dwarf without Lister for gods sake :mad:

who is you faverate dwarfer?? mine has to be Kryton..... your a smeeeeee, your a smeeeeeee heeeeeeeee
Bitchkitten
08-03-2005, 12:18
Damn Brits! Don't they know about Manifest Destiny? We must rule the world. They are a threat to our Destiny. Bomb them! Bomb them! Pre-emptive strike. Mwa ha ha ha ha ha ha! :sniper:
Estradas
08-03-2005, 12:19
Saw a commercial on NBC a couple nights ago, which turned out to be an Americanized version of "The Office."

.
just watched it there.....I have to agree, how shit is that?!
Davo_301
08-03-2005, 12:20
Damn Brits! Don't they know about Manifest Destiny? We must rule the world. They are a threat to our Destiny. Bomb them! Bomb them! Pre-emptive strike. Mwa ha ha ha ha ha ha! :sniper:

may i suggets less suger in you diet??
Bitchkitten
08-03-2005, 12:27
may i suggets less suger in you diet??

You must have more sugar-then you'll pass for a nice fat American. :D
Pure Metal
08-03-2005, 12:34
who is you faverate dwarfer?? mine has to be Kryton..... your a smeeeeee, your a smeeeeeee heeeeeeeee
all of em :D
if i had to pick, i'd probably say Lister - i can see myself turning into him if i were in his situation ;)
(that whole "which is hotter: Wilma or Betty" scene convinced me of it :p)
Davo_301
08-03-2005, 12:35
You must have more sugar-then you'll pass for a nice fat American. :D

WHF??? how did you turn that into an american bash??? and i'm a brit anyway.. but i think it odd, an americal show can come over to brittion and it good but a brittish show goes over to america and they manage to cock it up? How??? :confused: :confused: :confused:
Grave_n_idle
08-03-2005, 12:36
Saw a commercial on NBC a couple nights ago, which turned out to be an Americanized version of "The Office."

My God, do they not get the point? Didn't work with "Men Behaving Badly," didn't work with "Couplings," and now this? Hell, even a pilot for an American Red Dwarf* was shot down before it got off the ground.

Will someone tell NBC to give up all ready?

*- There was a small upside to the American Red Dwarf project however. Robert Llewylynn was still cast as Kryten and they made a much better looking Condom Head mask compared to the previous model. The new Kryten look had been incorporated into the series since that point. Okay, and Terry Farrell as The Cat might have been something too, Meeeeee-ow.

I believe that was actually the SECOND pilot - with Hinton Battle cast as the Cat in the first one - which might have been worth seeing.

Of course - the network axed it even before the pilot was actually shown...
Davo_301
08-03-2005, 12:37
all of em :D
if i had to pick, i'd probably say Lister - i can see myself turning into him if i were in his situation ;)
(that whole "which is hotter: Wilma or Betty" scene convinced me of it :p)
Lister Boxer scene with Kryton cracks me up and the legdary "groinal attachment socket" was born
The Winter Alliance
08-03-2005, 12:44
may i suggets less suger in you diet??

I highly doubt sugar is her problem.
Kellarly
08-03-2005, 12:46
the legdary "groinal attachment socket" was born

Lister: "I'm not in there all the time!"

Rimmer: "Yes you are! That thing (groinal attachment) has a lifetime guarantee and you have worn it out in under 3 weeks!"

:D

Also the episode on the theme park world where you see gandhi running at hitler with an old sten gun before getting blown up by a landmine...priceless!
Gauthier
08-03-2005, 12:47
Lister Boxer scene with Kryton cracks me up and the legdary "groinal attachment socket" was born

Favorite Kryten moments include:

-The Banana Lie Test
-The argument with the Other Heads after the molecular rearrangement
-Archie the Pet *****
Bitchkitten
08-03-2005, 12:57
I highly doubt sugar is her problem.
*cackles madly*
Davo_301
08-03-2005, 12:57
Favorite Kryten moments include:

-The Banana Lie Test
-The argument with the Other Heads after the molecular rearrangement
-Archie the Pet *****

what about the driving test

"i've failed havent i? that one little misstake and your going to hold it against me" (the little misstake was he accidently shot rimmer through the roof of starbug 1)

Or

Kryton: I'm sorry but i learnt to drive in starbug 2, i'm not use to the controls in starbug 1"

Rimmer: there exacly the same

Kryton: I know, thats the problem
LazyHippies
08-03-2005, 13:04
Americanizing a british sitcoms has worked very well in the past. In fact, one of the most successful sitcoms in US history, "All in the Family" was an Americanized version of the British sitcom "Till Death Do Us Part". Its no surprise that they are continuing a tried and true strategy. Most sitcoms fail whether they are imported or not anyway.
The Winter Alliance
08-03-2005, 13:05
Well, for British comedy, I like Monty Python. But I like the skits a lot more than the movies.

I tried to watch Red Dwarf but it was too hard to keep track of the continuity of the series. Plus PBS would keep re-showing the first two episodes in the middle of the season, which was very confusing.

I think the characters have a lot of potential if they could make the show a little more structured.
Bitchkitten
08-03-2005, 13:07
WHF??? how did you turn that into an american bash??? and i'm a brit anyway.. but i think it odd, an americal show can come over to brittion and it good but a brittish show goes over to america and they manage to cock it up? How??? :confused: :confused: :confused:

Hey, I live in Oklahoma, one of the fattest states in the nation. I could stand to lose 10 or 15 pounds, but I feel downright svelte here. So I feel I can make fun of us anytime I like. Though I should quit hijacking the thread. :D

Don't worry, it's just because somebody thinks it's a great show but the thinks Americans won't understand it if they don't dumb it down. Though I like the American "Queer as Folk." What was it called over there?
Kellarly
08-03-2005, 13:13
Hey, I live in Oklahoma, one of the fattest states in the nation. I could stand to lose 10 or 15 pounds, but I feel downright svelte here. So I feel I can make fun of us anytime I like. Though I should quit hijacking the thread. :D

Don't worry, it's just because somebody thinks it's a great show but the thinks Americans won't understand it if they don't dumb it down. Though I like the American "Queer as Folk." What was it called over there?

Was called exactly the same. Comes from the saying as i know it of "Theres nowt as queer as folk."

Not that i come from the north you understand! ;)
Gauthier
08-03-2005, 13:33
what about the driving test

"i've failed havent i? that one little misstake and your going to hold it against me" (the little misstake was he accidently shot rimmer through the roof of starbug 1)

Or

Kryton: I'm sorry but i learnt to drive in starbug 2, i'm not use to the controls in starbug 1"

Rimmer: there exacly the same

Kryton: I know, thats the problem

Forgot about that :D

Another favorite scene was the Oven Baked Space Weevil:

KRYTEN: Confidentially, sir, no. We've no meat, no pulse and hardly any grain. Worse still, the only liquorice allsorts left are those whirly little black twisty ones that everybody hates. If that weren't bad enough, space weevils have eaten the last of the corn supply.

RIMMER: So what's under the grill?

KRYTEN: Space weevil.

RIMMER: You can't serve space weevil, Kryten. I mean, not even Lister with his single remaining tastebud will knowingly sit down and eat insectoid vermin. Well let's face it - with him it's practically cannibalism.

KRYTEN: But it's incredibly nutritious, sir. After all, it is corn fed.
Creas
08-03-2005, 13:36
When Kryton becomes a man...

"but my nipples don't work!"

"what do you mean"

"well (twisting them), I can't pick up FM radio!"
Gauthier
08-03-2005, 13:50
When Kryton becomes a man...

"but my nipples don't work!"

"what do you mean"

"well (twisting them), I can't pick up FM radio!"

Don't forget the "defective attachment" and the accompanying photos.

:D
Davo_301
08-03-2005, 13:54
When Kryton becomes a man...

"but my nipples don't work!"

"what do you mean"

"well (twisting them), I can't pick up FM radio!"

how about from Quartine
Lister: Kryton are you ok man
Kryton: I have a medium sized fire axe embedded in my spine, that could put a crimp on your day.

and the following gibberish he gives after it is pulled out.
or from "white hole":

Lister: the doors are only internal door, there a light alloy we could break them down if we used a battering ram, all we need is someting 6 feet long fairly strudy with a flat top *all look at kryton*
Kryton: oh sirs surly you don't me.. 53 doors! *rimmer nods*

*after beaking down the last door*
Lister: Kryton are you ok?
Kryton: Im fine thank you susan.
Independent Homesteads
08-03-2005, 15:00
a brittish show goes over to america and they manage to cock it up? How??? :confused: :confused: :confused:

When US shows come to britain, we just *watch* them. When UK shows go to america, the americans can't understand them, so they translate the script into american, take the jokes out, get a new cast where everyone is at least *very good looking* and then re-record them.
Independent Homesteads
08-03-2005, 15:01
Hey, I live in Oklahoma, one of the fattest states in the nation. I could stand to lose 10 or 15 pounds, but I feel downright svelte here. So I feel I can make fun of us anytime I like. Though I should quit hijacking the thread. :D

Don't worry, it's just because somebody thinks it's a great show but the thinks Americans won't understand it if they don't dumb it down. Though I like the American "Queer as Folk." What was it called over there?

Er, "Queer as Folk".

Do you have that saying?
San haiti
08-03-2005, 15:25
When US shows come to britain, we just *watch* them. When UK shows go to america, the americans can't understand them, so they translate the script into american, take the jokes out, get a new cast where everyone is at least *very good looking* and then re-record them.

I'd like to see an american rerecorded version of Monty Python. :rolleyes: :p
Manawskistan
08-03-2005, 15:38
I'd like to see an american rerecorded version of Monty Python. :rolleyes: :p
It would. suck.


I've given up on US television, the only things worth watching are objective things like "Modern Marvels" and those Junkyard shows and Mythbusters and every once in a while I'll watch "British Sea Power in the 18th Century" or some such on the History Channel.

If I want situational comedy, I'll go pick up a real britcom from the library.
New British Glory
08-03-2005, 17:15
When Kryton becomes a man...

"but my nipples don't work!"

"what do you mean"

"well (twisting them), I can't pick up FM radio!"

RIMMER: Take us up to blue alert
KRYTEN: Are you sure sir? It does mean changing the bulb

Rimmer is definitely my favourite Dwarfer - I always love the sarcastic, bitter neurotic characters in comedies (e.g. Chandler from Friends, the little Welsh one from Coupling, Ted from Father Ted).

Father Ted is the best comedy ever though. God forbid the Americans do anything to that.

And anyone who thinks that Americans dont cack up British sitcoms: consider that over the last 50 years you have been given the best (and I mean the best) comedies in the world and each tiem you make dodgy, Hollywood versions of it.

Have you seen the America Red Dwarf? Lister is a tall handsome man for God's sake! Why is it Americans can never have bad looking loser as the lead - thats half of the joke in Red Dwarf. The fact that the only people left alive in the universe are 4 completely neurotic, mornic, slobbish, incompetent, ugly halfwit who fool their way through space and time as if it were a Friday night pub crawl in Slough.

In the American Fawlty Towers they removed Basil Fawlty because he 'didn't work'. REMOVE BASIL FAWLTY???? REMOVE THE ONLY REASON PEOPLE WATCH THAT COMEDY IN THE FIRST PLACE???? WHAT DRUGS ARE YOU ON????

In the American Dad's Army they removed the class issue between the two main characters.

From what this thread says, it once again sounds as though the Americans havent got the joke about the fact that David Brent is meant to be STUPID, UGLY, NEUROTIC, INCOMPETENT AND UNSUCCESSFUL. Its the biggest damn joke in the series!

We can only pray that Father Ted remains protected...
I V Stalin
08-03-2005, 17:39
Calm, calm. Just let the Americans watch their inferior versions of our sitcoms. It's no surprise they don't understand our sense of humour when they don't get exposed to it enough.
Creas
09-03-2005, 03:03
Oh well, their loss of quality comedy...not ours to worry about, we've still got it!!! :D :D :D :D :D :D :D
New Foxxinnia
09-03-2005, 03:12
I guess with The American Office they're going to remove the reality of it and therefore all the humour. And add a laugh track because the American Populas is apparently unable to laugh without other people telling them when to laugh.
Katganistan
09-03-2005, 03:21
Hmm, those shows NEVER work.

Nope.

Oh wait, except Sanford and Son..... and All in the Family......

;)
The Winter Alliance
09-03-2005, 03:21
I guess with The American Office they're going to remove the reality of it and therefore all the humour. And add a laugh track because the American Populas is apparently unable to laugh without other people telling them when to laugh.

I'm American, and I laugh at people on here all the time! :p
Bodies Without Organs
09-03-2005, 03:24
I saw the pilot of the american vesion of The Office a month or so ago after picking it up off some torrent site. Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear...
Einsteinian Big-Heads
09-03-2005, 04:22
I have this friend, and he keeps saying "watch the office"

But I dont...

*runs away after pointless post*
Manawskistan
09-03-2005, 04:28
Oh well, their loss of quality comedy...not ours to worry about, we've still got it!!! :D :D :D :D :D :D :D
We've got PBS. You think it's just for Lawrence Welk and fundraisers...

Aw hell nah, dawg. We get everything you've taken off of the air... back in the 70's. But it's just as funny. I'm used to watching 30 year old television anyhow.

Edit: Arrested Development is likely getting the can because it's considered over the heads of the viewing public :rolleyes: Probably because they didn't use a laugh track.
Pan slavia
09-03-2005, 04:36
I've seen alot of americanized british comedies like Ab.Fab. truly i have never felt so bad about watching a TV show and knowing im supporting it. Vicar of Dibly and Father Ted were awesome I personally will lead a riot should they touch a show like that and ruin it.