Elvira

Just in case some of you would like to know:

http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/sto...=ticker-103704

britvic

Well I certainly will not be putting myself through the pain of watching it or any other of the shows they mention, they just destroy them

Elvira

Maybe some of our USC members can explain to us WHY they feel the need to do this? What is wrong with the original Brit versions?

TruBrit

yeah i wish they'd stick to their own shows and leave ours as is

Circus-of-Power

Its far too funny for the American's ....they need to extract at least 94% of the jokes out of it to make it palatable to the average US viewer.... I wonder if they will keep Alice as a character They should ...most American females I have come across would be able to identify with her....

Paul S

thats evillllllllllllllllllllllllllll, but true

can see now the problems that will occur when she turns her pictures of jesus round to worship Sean Bean (or in the US version, prolly John Travolta )

BigDavyG

Their office is ok - different but ok

paddingtongreen

It's a pendulum swing. I can remember when a lot of British shows were derived from US shows, and not copied well, from an American point of view.

It would be better if they just described them as "An American show, inspired by ...".

dan_alford

QUOTE=Circus-of-Power;4371040]Its far too funny for the American's ....they need to extract at least 94% of the jokes out of it to make it palatable to the average US viewer.... I wonder if they will keep Alice as a character They should ...most American females I have come across would be able to identify with her....[/QUOTE]

Spot on.

Conclusive proof that American TV execs are stupid

• Find well loved, award winning British commedy series
• Get rights to do a US version of it
• Remove all of the British style humour
• Add the worst styles of American humor
• Avoid all of the best plots in the show because they would be too risky for US television.
• Wonder why the show bombed in the ratings?

britvic

Well may be you just get it "the so called funny side" better than I did, you do have to work in that environment poor lamb.

another bloody yank

I watch maybe two or three hours of TV per month so I'm no expert.
Having said that, if I had to hazard a guess, it's because TV in general appeals to the lowest common denominator and programming is geared towards such. Usually it's the same people who like ketchup on steak, Tater Tots and Busch light beer. I actually like British humor (when I can understand what the hell you're saying! ) but the local Duke and Dutchess of Doublewide Estates probably wouldn't. TV is a tool for selling products to idiots. The way they get idiots to watch the advertisements is by interspersing them with "Shows". The more imbecilic the show, the longer the idiot is going to watch and the better the chance of him buying something. If they put a show on TV that required some aptitude for analytical thought the nonsentient morons would immediately switch the channel to "Mama's Family" reruns and miss the advertisements for the ALL NEW dingleberry flavored Pop-Tart.

That's my guess anyway. I could be wrong.

gardnma

Not a copy or anything, the film "Office Space" was closer to a decent satire on a US office......"the office" just makes you cringe, esp the UK version.

Elvira

Thank you kindly for your stab at an explanation!

Now then: since most Americans don't understand British comedy, but most Brits understand American comedy, does that mean:

- Americans are less smart than Brits; OR
- American comedies are 'more basic' than British comedies?

britvic

Well you are a very strange American indeed

Elvira

I say let's make him an HonoUrary Brit!!!