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AMERICAN HORROR STORY

The 9 worst American remakes of British TV shows

BRITISH humour and culture is a pretty unique thing.

Often steeped in sarcasm and cultural references that will only make sense if you’ve been subjected to British life for a long time, it is something that has trouble translating to other countries.

Take America for example. There is a fair amount of America that loves British humour and grit, but to target the American mass, the heads of TV departments often remake British shows and dumb down the humour and style in order to have a broader appeal. This rarely goes well.

There is the odd example which breaks the rule, such as House of Cards, but even then, if you take into context the era and budget difference, is it that much better than the original?

It's weird that we don't see many American shows being remade in the UK? The majority that are remade are not what you’d call "high quality" with titles such as Geordie Shore (Jersey Shore remake) and The Apprentice being the "highlights".

So, let’s take a look at 9 times America ruined a British show.

9) The Office

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I’ll start with a slightly controversial opinion here.

I’m aware that The American Office has a huge fanbase in the UK, but I’m sticking with my gut and saying the Ricky Gervais original is far superior.

The British version stuck to Ricky Gervais’ two series and a Christmas Special formula, whereas the American version carried on for nine seasons.

The American Office ended up taking the masterfully dreary and melancholy Slough-based atmosphere, turned up the colour brightness, added one too many zany characters and over time, lost all the subtleties that made the original so unique and heartfelt.

 

8) Cold Feet

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There was nothing that really made Cold Feet stand out as groundbreaking when it debuted on British screens in the late ‘90s.

However, those that watched it early on were hooked.

Why does this comedy about boring jobs and normal relationships work so well? The cast.

The cast is such a big factor as to why the dialogue and relationships work in Cold Feet and that is something that is hard to replicate.

Enter America. Some head of department saw the success of the British show and thought it would be a great idea to remake it in the US.

Fast forward to a crap cast with zero chemistry and you have a show that set a record for the all-time record low ratings for its time slot.

 

7) Skins

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On paper, a US version of the gritty and edgy show Skins wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.

Targeted at the right audience with the right level of cultural changes made to the script and it should be a hit.

After a huge and expensive MTV campaign, the first episode had a decent 3.26 million viewership, but things went quickly south after that.

Advertisers found it too racy, but fans of the UK original didn’t think it was racy enough. It was stuck in a middling mediocrity that eventually killed it.

 

6) Top Gear

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Where to start with this one? Whilst it may have been hard to replicate the chemistry of Clarkson, Hammond and May in the UK Top Gear, the show has still been entertaining.

We've all been too busy debating which is better our of The Grand Tour and the new Top Gear, we’ve all kind of missed the horrendous US version.

Just have a watch of some Top Gear America clips on Youtube. I bet you can’t sit through it. It’s agony.

 

5) Life On Mars

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The police detective show was a pretty tired genre, but by adding the scenario of a modern day detective being hit by a car and thrown back into the ‘70s was an interesting enough twist to make this show really work.

The plot twist to explain the situation was that he was in a "restless dead" police purgatory. Interesting, right?

Well, America didn’t think so. Instead, the explanation was that both of his timeline realities were created on a computer on-board a spaceship on its way to Mars.

Nice one America. Real nice.

 

4) Fawlty Towers (US version - Payne)

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Yes, I can’t quite believe they tried to remake this British classic either.

Who did they get to play the Basil Fawlty character you ask? Yes, that’s right.

It’s the bloke that played the bad guy in Richie Rich. ‘Nuff said.

 

3) Men Behaving Badly

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A show about blokes acting like plonkers is always going to live or die by the dialogue and cast.

The lovable Martin Clunes and Neil Morrissey made the lighthearted script work.

Who was in the American version? Rob Schneider. Rob… Schneider.

 

2) Coupling

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Coupling was a cast of hapless, unlucky in love chums that all end up trying to sleep with one another. Basically, it was the UK version of Friends.

So, what on earth was America thinking when they took the show to the US… Whilst Friends was still on the air?

Even if the show wasn’t a shower of sh**e, it would still never be able to compete with one of the most successful shows in history.

If you’re a fan of the UK version of Coupling, just have a go and see if you can watch just one episode of the US version.

I bet you £50 you can’t.

 

1) The Inbetweeners

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One of the best, if not THE best comedy shows Britain has produced in recent years, The Inbetweeners hit a chord with virtually every one of Britain’s youth.

We were all thrown back into our school lives with scary accuracy and relatability.

I remember seeing that an American remake was on the cards and every single one of my friends were in agreement that it wasn’t going to work.

We weren’t wrong.

The American version took out all of the charm and reality that made the British version work.

There was no swearing or drinking, basically something that every teenager does and you’re left with a boring unrelatable comedy that doesn’t make you laugh. Well done America.

 

Are you a fan of any of the American versions? Which current UK shows do you think America should leave well alone? Let us know in the comments.