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I never really heard of it going in this direction before. I mean, the US copies British shows all the time. All in the Family, The Office, Life on Mars, Coupling, Jekyll, etc. I'm sure there are plenty of others that I can't think of.
Anyone remember a show called Misfits of Science? Well, BBC just started a show called Misfits. I'm only about 3 minutes in, but I think it'll be interesting.
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I finished watching Misfits. I kind of like it. There's a Wikipedia article, if anyone wants to see what it's about. Warning: the language gets fairly extreme, and the violence... if this was a movie, it would be at least PG-13, if not R.
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Oh, it does go both ways. The UK version of "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?" is "Are You Smarter Than a 10 Year Old?"
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But we got American Idol and Monty Python could never be copied. America's number one export now is culture.
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When asked if his show was inspired by "Friends," the creator of "Coupling" said that it was actually more inspired by Seinfeld! Which is weird, since it has that Friends vibe.
And then NBC, in a case of the dog chasing its own tail, remade "Coupling."
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quote:Originally posted by Clive Candy: When asked if his show was inspired by "Friends," the creator of "Coupling" said that it was actually more inspired by Seinfeld! Which is weird, since it has that Friends vibe.
And then NBC, in a case of the dog chasing its own tail, remade "Coupling."
I rented a couple of DVDs of Coupling (the British one) and noticed several gags and even lines of dialogue that were direct ports from Seinfeld.
But as far as copying the entire show, it does seem like that's happening more in the other direction.
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quote:Originally posted by Teshi: He must know that. It's probably just a poorly written sentence. Something like this:
"But we've got American Idol and [British show] Monty Python is too British to be copied."
Umm, no, you're still missing half the point. "American Idol" is also an American import of a British show; the original was "Pop Idol." (It is an odd juxtaposition with the sentence that follows it, though.)
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quote:They don't bother copying American shows. They just watch the original American versions.
Why don't we (the general American we, not the we in this discussion) do the same with the British shows?
For one, there's the accents. Without subtitles I sometimes have serious problems understanding some British shows. I see this most often with sitcoms where they have fast humor, often utilizing slang or cultural references I'm unfamiliar with, often partially obscured by a laugh track.
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quote:Umm, no, you're still missing half the point. "American Idol" is also an American import of a British show; the original was "Pop Idol." (It is an odd juxtaposition with the sentence that follows it, though.)
Well I wasn't sure about the providence of such shows, I was just trying to untangle what was written.
quote:Without subtitles I sometimes have serious problems understanding some British shows.
The same way British people can watch Australian or American shows, you get used to the accent and the references. It's just the quantity available to you that is preventing you from having the same familiarity with British society as British people have about America.
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quote:Originally posted by katharina: Law & Order: London is currently being filmed.
There's plenty of trading back and forth.
Well that isn't exactly copying. Any more than Law & Order SVU is a copy of Law & Order, which it isn't.
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