In yet another attempt to do the least work possible, ABC has approved a pilot ripping off retelling redoing the British ITV series No Heroics. If you’ve had the opportunity to catch the original series, it is quite funny as it showcases a group of superheroes who hang out in a bar after hours and have interesting exchanges.
The list of international television shows that have been redone for American television is simply staggering, and I wonder what would happen if ABC simply gave No Heroics in its original form a chance on American TV. Obviously there are some issues with language in the original series, then again it’s been a while since I’ve heard the censor beep.
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Yeah… ’cause we know how well the american revamp of “Coupling” did few years back. Staggering sucess. In Bizarro World.
Y’know – whatever. There’s always a special place im my heart for TV shows featuring grown people in spandex.
Eye-Roller Lass: If you have the opportunity to “obtain” the original series, you’ll find No Heroics is quite good.
@Eye-Roller Lass
Sure it probably will be worse than the original but there’s nothing wrong with the concept of..Okay its not something i would call a creative practice BUT the existance of Dwight Schrute totally legitimizes it.
I read this news blurb and I immediately thought of Coupling. The original Biritsh version is freaking hilarious, and then we got the watered down American version.
America may have “invented” the sitcom, but the Brits have done for it what the Japanese did for the … everything electronic ever invented. Being Canadian, I have long been upset by our inability to import the UK stuff, and yet we are spoonfed the Americanized versions of everything DESPITE our link to the British Empire. I guess that’s what “big tv networks” are for — protecting the local industry, despite the quality of said industry.
My evil minions are checking that ‘Tube O’Yours’ site for some sample scenes at this very moment.
The good people at ABC might at least find some of the writers from The Tick. I don’t know the general opinion about that show, but as far as superhero comedy goes, that one was a doozie.
Always made me laugh, anyway.
@ Eye-Roller Lass and Josh P.: Coupling may not have flown, but The Office certainly has. I think it has little to do with the source material and more to do with the relatability of the subject matter and how well the show is done.
(Besides that, a lot of Coupling’s failure can be attributed to Friends’ success. Re-make of a popular British show or not, it came off as a rip-off of an already extremely popular — and, by that point, tired — show.)
There have been many Americanized versions of British shows. Some have been successful, others not. Two of the most successful were probably All In The Family and Three’s Company.
And even “Cybill” (ab/fab pseudo-derivative) lasted a few years more than people mighta thought it should… There are cases for “good idea” and “bad idea” that can be made all day. Generally speaking, it is the nature of modern entertainment to recycle, as opposed to create. Otherwise, how else could you explain all the “sampling” that goes on in music? (In the interests of disclosure, I happen to enjoy a properly sampled track…)
The British original was almost exclusively about sex jokes and bad language. I’m not sure if any American network can adapt that or how they want to change the premise.
I agree with campaigner. I’m eagerly awaiting season 2 to kick off (I hope it hasn’t already,lol).
As an American living in England, I can see the gigantic differences in production in general in sit-coms and ‘brit-coms’. Obviously the swearing and the sex jokes, but also the general cinematography. If you can’t at least duplicate those two things in the American version, then you may as well call it something completely different.
That and there’s just something about one of the main female characters saying the words ‘tit-wank’. I just don’t think the American version could capture that!
Can I say:
This is F*cked-up?
No, of course not.
Because this is America.
Guess what boys and girls, your humble narrator give the disastrous American remake of what is a really good show -2Capes.
You don’t have to be a Timebomb and see 60 seconds into the future to know THAT!!!