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+--- Thread: ABC to remake Spooks in the USA! (/thread-1084.html)
RE: ABC to remake Spooks in the USA! - Kazters - 13-08-2010 09:52 AM
i just dont see the need to remake things like this when the original is so good! i mean we didnt remake friends, x files, house ETC
RE: ABC to remake Spooks in the USA! - Tea Lady - 13-08-2010 10:17 AM
I wonder if they have persuaded any of the UK actors to go over. Peter Firth may decide to play Harry Pearce for 6 months of the year and Hairy Pearce for the other 6 in the US. I can see Hairy and Ruth sitting on their new bench by the Hudson.
RE: ABC to remake Spooks in the USA! - Kazters - 13-08-2010 10:21 AM
hahaha good point ;-) awww how lovely would that be
RE: ABC to remake Spooks in the USA! - Elphie - 13-08-2010 11:17 AM
This is a superbly BAD idea!!!
How could they possibly make a new spooks????
This is not going to be a hit series because eveyone will be comparing it to spooks.
I'm not going to watch this when it starts. Will it even air in the UK or will everyone be too annoyed by the notion??
RE: ABC to remake Spooks in the USA! - age1021 - 13-08-2010 02:12 PM
I have an idea....How about they don't remake "spooks" and just show "spooks" on BBC America! Problem solved!!
RE: ABC to remake Spooks in the USA! - tyme4t - 13-08-2010 02:30 PM
I will probably watch out of curiousity at least.
I enjoy my homegrown version of "spooks-like" genre called "The Border" - focuses on Canadian agents/groups (RCMP/CSIS/Govt etc) I don't think its ever been directly compared to [spooks] but I don't think it should be because it's not spooks....luckily BBC Canada shows [spooks] fairly soon after the new series airs completely in the UK.
RE: ABC to remake Spooks in the USA! - lwhite53 - 13-08-2010 02:51 PM
If spooks is to be "Americanized" then it will need to have American actors and be based in the US, otherwise why do it? An American remake of a "British" spooks just doesn't make sense since the original never really caught on here and, maybe more importantly, the unions would never allow it. If set in the US, then we're really talking about an FBI-like organization (which is the service responsible for internal security) but where would the primary location be -- New York, Washington, Baltimore (even though berto hates it there), Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Milwaukee, Dallas/Ft. Worth? The US is a BIG place. One of the most recognizable motifs of spooks is the use of London as both a geographical backdrop and a character -- that would necessarily be lost in a US remake.
RE: ABC to remake Spooks in the USA! - HelenFlynn - 13-08-2010 04:14 PM
This is just wrong, wrong, wrong! My recent example of what can happen trying to update it for the American market is LIFE ON MARS!
It is not exactly true that Spooks didn't catch on in US. It was on BBCA which is not a good place to be if you want your program noticed and seen. They run commercials through their programs, which would really damage the tension, that is so much part of Spooks. They also do not promote their programs. I brought to their attention that in my market place there was no promotion of the station, as if it didn't exist. Their response was if I was interested in their programing I should go online to their site. Imagine. No wonder it never caught on - it was on BBCA. My local PBS station has run MI-5 at an off time and I was informed by them that the response to it was good!
I don't really understand why people in England can watch American programs without change, but British programs are more often changed with the exception of the syfy and PBS channels.
RE: ABC to remake Spooks in the USA! - Silktie - 13-08-2010 04:36 PM
So an Americanised version of Spooks would have to be about the FBI, which is the US version of MI5. Yeah, 'cos we don't have enough shows about the FBI as it is...
RE: ABC to remake Spooks in the USA! - lwhite53 - 13-08-2010 06:16 PM
(13-08-2010 04:14 PM)HelenFlynn Wrote: It is not exactly true that Spooks didn't catch on in US. It was on BBCA which is not a good place to be if you want your program noticed and seen. They run commercials through their programs, which would really damage the tension, that is so much part of Spooks. They also do not promote their programs. I brought to their attention that in my market place there was no promotion of the station, as if it didn't exist. Their response was if I was interested in their programing I should go online to their site. Imagine. No wonder it never caught on - it was on BBCA. My local PBS station has run MI-5 at an off time and I was informed by them that the response to it was good!
It originally started here on A&E (in 2003, I believe) -- they cut about 12-14 minutes of each ep for commercial breaks. A&E broadcast through s4, and then dropped the series because of lack of viewer interest, which probably was the result of the increasing anti-American sentiment of spooks. BBCA and various PBS stations picked up the show in 2008 or so but I don't think anything past s5 has ever been broadcast here.