ABC to remake Spooks in the USA!

[A Cousin]

(25-08-2010 01:37 PM)Tomsdouble Wrote:  Bertowud

I know you're right with a lot of what you say, although I can't watch the American version of the Office, not because I don't like it - I've heard it's really good, I just like to think that the original is the only one that exists because I adore it so much.

I love both of them. I think the reason The (American) Office works as well is because 1) Ricky Gervais is involved, at least originally and 2) it takes a very American "spin" on the same situation and characters that are very familiar in our own ways but just short of stereotype and 3) the casting, in both cases, is brilliant.

We are not interchangeable culturally. As they say, we are two countries separated by a common language. It doesn't stop at the language. If they must "translate" into American, producers must recognize that and adjust accordingly. It is a delicate balance which I generally agree is a bad idea and doesn't work more often than it does. Sometimes, a program will not translate culturally and they should just leave it alone. As for stealing ideas, maybe it is lazy, but even Shakespeare stole ideas. He just translated them for his audiences brilliantly.

IMO, Life On Mars didn't work primarily because Gene Hunt didn't work. The Gene Hunt they wrote for Harvey Keitel, an actor I generally like, was such a watered-down PC sack of nothing, that it ruined it. It was a bad choice because they were scared of his brutality and it not being PC enough, as Berto mentions. One of our differences is that Americans, as a whole, are pretty literal minded. The general plot device for Sam's transport into 1972 and the way and reasons he stays there in the end is something Americans in general couldn't accept. It was a perfect example of a program that could not transcend our cultural differences.

I think Spooks will suffer from the same problem.