American Versions of English Shows

[smurf_you]

The american remake of Life on Mars was pretty good.

I actually couldn't bring myself to watch the american version..... I love the british version far too much... also the previews always looked terrible =/

I did love Whose Line is it Anyway however ^_^

 

[Malkavian]

I quite prefer american The Office to the original. While the jokes may or may not be funnier in the brittish version, the american managed to splice in a healthy dose of drama too... Meaning I don't just watch it and laugh, I also watch it and almost cry sometimes, and feel much closer to the characters and their individual stories. The Office is really one of my favourite shows.

I also quite prefer the american version of Whose Line, mostly because of Colin Mochrie and Ryan Stiles.

As for anything else... No, america should stop remaking everything. I don't know what it is. I am danish, and I can certainly watch things not made in my specific country aimed at my specific tastes, and still enjoy it very, very much. Why do americans need everything localized? It's not even like anything american CAN be localized, seeing as its such a huge country with so many different demographics and all. So why do they feel a need to make shittier versions of everything? I mean, come on... This "Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" remake is just taking it too far.

 

[Ectoplasmicz]

The american remake of Life on Mars was pretty good.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE be kidding.

OT (continuing with Life on Mars): Life on Mars (UK) is one of my favourite shows of all time, and has one of the greatest endings to anything ever. Naturally i was already sceptical about an american remake of it, but i didnt think they could screw it up so badly. I mean it was just awful. The characters were all wrong, they didnt capture the charm of the UK version, and the ridiculous ending they quickly came up with because the show got cancelled (or something along those lines) was insulting to any viewer.

Spoiler: Ridiculous american ending

Upon learning they'd been canceled, the show's producers scrambled to ensure their final episode would offer viewers some closure. So they activated the daring twist ending they swear they'd been planning on all along.

Sam wakes up in the year 2035 as an astronaut aboard a spaceship bound for Mars. It turns out his life as a cop in 1973 was a holodeck-type virtual-reality program?one Sam had picked out to entertain himself as he hibernated in a pod during the long space voyage.

How does this explain the fact that the first episode of Life on Mars depicts Sam as a cop in 2008? Why would his virtual-reality program briefly plop him into one past era, and then confuse him by booting him further back in time for no clear reason? Ah, that too is part of the computer mirage. A glitch in the software caused the whole cop scenario to flicker between decades!

This is the worst ending for anything ever.

Angryness out of the system now. grrrrr!

 

[manaman]

Personally, I prefer not to touch American remakes. Why would I? It's basically the same show, but with most of the stuff that's culturally relevant to me taken out so as not to alienate the US...

Says the person with an anime avatar.

 

[Deacon Cole]

On a side note to the US; If you ever, EVER, touch Doctor Who, we will officially declare war.
. . . We'd lose, but then they wouldn't be able to steal our shows any more.

You're apparently unaware of the eighth Doctor who was on Fox.

 

[Suicidejim]

Personally, I prefer not to touch American remakes. Why would I? It's basically the same show, but with most of the stuff that's culturally relevant to me taken out so as not to alienate the US...

Says the person with an anime avatar.

Dammit, I only changed that today as well. I would've been safe if I kept the Discworld picture.

 

[FalloutJack]

However I have to say I prefer the American version of Whose Line Is It Anyway? That was hilarious.

Totally. When it worked, it worked very well. Drew Carey was great.

I saw both versions of this. They were both very good. And now, for your enjoyment...

 

[philosophicalbastard]

Spoiler

The american remake of Life on Mars was pretty good.

Really? I couldn't stand it, to be honest. No subtlety at all, they just revealed everything.

The american remake of Life on Mars was pretty good.

Are you kidding? You're talking about the program that they changed so it actually turned out that they were in fact ON MARS because the ideas of life and death in the British version were too complicated so they just went uhh.. it was all a dream, they were on Mars this whole time! Surprise!

The american remake of Life on Mars was pretty good.

Get out!

I'll sit here and listen to peoples opinion on this. But they royally missed the mark on that one,

The american remake of Life on Mars was pretty good.

I actually couldn't bring myself to watch the american version..... I love the british version far too much... also the previews always looked terrible =/

I did love Whose Line is it Anyway however ^_^

I'll agree that the ending sucked massively, but the rest of it wasn't that bad. When I first watched it I didn't know that it was an americanised version of a UK show, so that may be that's why I don't find it to be terrible.

 

[octafish]

I say the American versions of Wilfred and The Office are much better and funnier than the Aussie and British versions.

Neither are as dark as the originals though. I miss the mandatory "****" from Wilfred once per episode. Really the US Wilfred wouldn't have worked without Jason Gann's disconcerting menace.

 

[manaman]

Personally, I prefer not to touch American remakes. Why would I? It's basically the same show, but with most of the stuff that's culturally relevant to me taken out so as not to alienate the US...

Says the person with an anime avatar.

Dammit, I only changed that today as well. I would've been safe if I kept the Discworld picture.

Safe? From me? Nobody is safe!

<color=red>And now I must fly!
<color=aliceblue>.
.
.
.
.


Up up and AWAY!

 

[vrbtny]

However I have to say I prefer the American version of Whose Line Is It Anyway? That was hilarious.

Totally. When it worked, it worked very well. Drew Carey was great.

I saw both versions of this. They were both very good. And now, for your enjoyment...

Classic Ryan Styles, although i always found Wayne Brady to be the most consistent lulz. Seriously, the things that guy can do with his body in terms of flexibility need to be banned under the Geneva Convention or something.

 

[manaman]

The american remake of Life on Mars was pretty good.

Get out!

I'll sit here and listen to peoples opinion on this. But they royally missed the mark on that one,

Sounds like you might be stating as a fact that something is bad.

I find this hilarious after how much effort you put into trying to "prove" the story to the first Gears of War as good.

 

[Vault101]

the american version of being human was surprisingly good. also if my country ever DOES touch doctor who, i will immediately start a riot.

Is ok...I think they already tried that

that fact you didnt know (and Im only half sure) might indicate that it thw Idea is dead and buried..
...hopefully

 

[Mugen]

The American version of Shameless, its is just too good.

Also the American version of Wilfred, although that was adapted from the original Australian.

Two great examples of Americans doing a great job of ''Americanizing'' awesome shows.

And then there was the god-awful train wreck known as Skins.....

 

[Lejsen]

The Office :3

 

[Edible Avatar]

Im going to have to agree...as far as sitcoms go I cant think of one american I would say I "like"

I dont liek to call american stuff "stupid" (theres still great stuff) it just lacks subtlety at times

Give Seinfeld a try, I really don't enjoy sitcoms too much but the jokes are fresh and relevant, while the characters are funny and entertaining. The writers were top notch with the stories too:

 

[zHellas]

I mean, come on... This "Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" remake is just taking it too far.

That's actually a really great movie.

The only problems I had with it were that it felt kinda long and was a bit slow in the beginning.

Other than that, amazing movie.

Plus a fucking great opening credit sequence.

 

[Freaky Lou]

Why they can't just show the British version I don't know. We watch your shows without adapting them. Making they just wouldn't get the British jokes and feel the need to change so audiences don't get confused >.>

Well, the government-sponsored PBS shows unaltered British shows.

Stuff like Keeping Up Appearances, As Time Goes By, One Foot In The Grave, and My Hero!

To be fair, PBS also shows BBC news and a lot of other BBC programming, just late at night. I wish so much of it wasn't soaps, though.