Posted: Jun 03, 2013 8:32 am
chairman bill wrote:I do wonder at the US tendency to want to make US-specific versions of British comedies. Did The Office, or Being Human really need to be Americanised? How come we get Frasier, or The Simpsons, but the US needs our stuff re-done for a US audience? I really don't get that.
I don't know about Being Human having never seen any version, but as I noted above, a lot of British humor is a lot more awkwardness-based, and a lot of Americans (and non-British people generally) don't appreciate that as much as British people. Remaking the franchise allows for keeping the stuff that works with Americans and eschewing the stuff that might be regarded poorly.
The Office has a setting that works in many, many cultures, and as such it's both easy and desirable to export. If I recall correctly, there's a The Office-style show in quite a few countries.