I Want That One: Foreign Shows You WANT U.S. Adaptations Of

[Kromm]

In general I'm anti-remake/anti-adaptation, but there are always exceptions to every rule. What shows from overseas do you think might actually work WELL in US adaptation?

 

They can be Dramas. Comedies. Reality Shows. Quiz Shows. Variety Shows. Whatever.  Often the last three on that list don't get noticed as much when they DO get adapted, so there's some discussion to be had about them (for example, both Who Do You Think You Are and Neil Patrick Harris' new show, Best Time Ever, are adaptations from the UK and likely a lot of people don't know).  The shows can be from anywhere in the world, of course, but I'm betting the UK and Australia supply the most suggestions. And don't shy away from shows that have been adapted in the past, but badly. In that case, simply describe what you think went wrong and how it could be fixed in a  future adaptation.

 

I expect to see some real disagreement here, some fire, but hope we can be civil!

 

[Kromm]

I'll start with a few.

 

I'd love to see a US adaption of the UK show "Through The Keyhole".  It features a jokey character named Keith Lemon as the host (who's actually an actor named Leigh Francis literally doing this over the top character), and he wouldn't work in a US version at all, but I could see recasting it with a similar US character (some over the top cheeky type who can annoy people in an entertaining way) and it working. The conceit is simply that this over-the-top uncouth guy visits celebrity houses and that a panel watches a VT of him traipsing through the house and then tries to guess who's house it is. I'd change the show a bit besides the host though. The UK show tells the viewing (and studio) audience who the celeb is relatively early. I'd hold that back and make both the home viewers and panel guess.  Then after the panel figures out who's house it is, part 2 is an interview on the set with the celeb.  So it's a dual purpose show.

 

I'd also like to see another UK show, QI.  A kind of panel/quiz show, hosted by Stephen Fry. Fry can stay as host, if he'd do it in the US, because he's a great host and US audiences already like him. QI literally stands for "Quite Interesting" and it's really just an excuse for trivia and banter. It might be hard sell to get US audiences to actually watch this, but if it works it would be amusing.

 

And finally the Australian renovation reality competition, "The Block", needs a good US adaptation. I say a "good" one, because it actually HAS had bad ones--twice actually. First there was a single season version on CBS back around like 2003 or so, and then more recently a really cheap-ass version renamed as "Flipping the Block" on HGTV. Both were really bad. I just recall the first one being kind of scattered and badly cast, but the second one suffered from being somewhat like the Australian one, but mega-cheap with budgets, tasks, scale, prizes, etc.  The show works in Australia because it's very over the top, with both the production and the prize (basically they sell the renovated properties at the end and the couples competing get to keep every penny above a reserve price, from a real auction--and there's also a winner--who gets the most above that reserve price--who gets like another 100K on top of that). The problem is that the day of the big water-cooler competitive reality show is over in the US.  So this may be a pipe dream, since it needs a lot of public notice.

[Luckylyn]

I'd love to see an American take on In The Flesh a British show about zombies who have been cured if they take their medication reintergrating into society. It was a great show that ened too soon.

[Crim]

^ You are more optimistic than I am. I'd expect the deeper issues in In The Flesh would be shaved off and replaced with easy melodrama.

 

I'd like to see a remake of Mammon); the subject is interesting and would support multiple takes just fine imo.

[GreekGeek]

I haven't watched many foreign shows, but I've often wondered what an American Keeping Up Appearances would look like. Would we identify with an American Hyacinth Bucket trying to be classy and avoid poor relations, or would our sympathies go to the poor relations?

[Kromm]

I haven't watched many foreign shows, but I've often wondered what an American Keeping Up Appearances would look like. Would we identify with an American Hyacinth Bucket trying to be classy and avoid poor relations, or would our sympathies go to the poor relations?

Oddly enough, I think the only way it might work is if you go African-American. Why?  Because they're a population that desperately strives for upward mobility, but also really takes it on the chin sometimes from poorer relations who resent the success. 

The whole concept of "putting on airs" is alive and well in that population, and less so in white culture in the US.

[Demented Daisy]

I've been wanting an adaptation/reboot of The Crystal Maze for years -- but only if Richard O'Brien can host again.  Seeing the same puzzles in episode after episode could have been quite dull, if Richard hadn't been so engaging.  I was much more entertained by his antics than I was the contestants.

 

It wasn't the same when Ed Tudor-Pole took over.

 

If you are unfamiliar:

 

[smices]

My Mad Fat Diary, please. Or at least make it accessible on BBC America or Netflix.

[blueray]

I'd love to see an American take on In The Flesh a British show about zombies who have been cured if they take their medication reintergrating into society. It was a great show that ened too soon.

As much as I love that show, I feel like America could never do it justice. As an American I much rather watch the original show, as appose to a remake, especially if it was/is a good show. Why not just increase the audience.

 

I know some shows worked as remakes such as Being Human or the Office, but other shows such as Primeval didn't even come close.

Edited September 28, 2015 by blueray

[htomsirveaux]

Extras...starring Patton Oswalt.

[SnideAsides]

And finally the Australian renovation reality competition, "The Block", needs a good US adaptation. I say a "good" one, because it actually HAS had bad ones--twice actually. First there was a single season version on CBS back around like 2003 or so, and then more recently a really cheap-ass version renamed as "Flipping the Block" on HGTV. Both were really bad. I just recall the first one being kind of scattered and badly cast, but the second one suffered from being somewhat like the Australian one, but mega-cheap with budgets, tasks, scale, prizes, etc.  The show works in Australia because it's very over the top, with both the production and the prize (basically they sell the renovated properties at the end and the couples competing get to keep every penny above a reserve price, from a real auction--and there's also a winner--who gets the most above that reserve price--who gets like another 100K on top of that). The problem is that the day of the big water-cooler competitive reality show is over in the US.  So this may be a pipe dream, since it needs a lot of public notice.

I'd settle for a good Australian version. It's so bad. Most Aussie reality shows these days seem to be created with a promo-friendly gimmick (It's restaurants, in your houses! It's Survivor, with luck! It's restaurants, in shipping containers!) and the thinnest possible filler format on top of that, and even shows we get from other countries combine obnoxious theme gimmicks (The Biggest Loser, with an entire town! The Amazing Race, with phony nationalism and New Zealanders for you to hate! Beauty and the Geek, on an island!) with a sea of recycled challenges chosen with no thought as to what made them work the first time. You're better off without any Aussie reality shows.

 

Sorry. Had to vent.

 

(If we're looking for shows that do gangbusters business in Australia despite US adaptations being done poorly, allow me to make a thinly-veiled jab at Masterchef US.)

I've been wanting an adaptation/reboot of The Crystal Maze for years -- but only if Richard O'Brien can host again.  Seeing the same puzzles in episode after episode could have been quite dull, if Richard hadn't been so engaging.  I was much more entertained by his antics than I was the contestants.

The Crystal Maze literally gets brought up every few months as the subject of a potential UK revival, but then it never goes anywhere because everybody in British television thinks it would only work with Richard O'Brien. I think the closest there actually is right now is The Cube, which CBS actually made a pilot for years (with freaking Neil Patrick Harris hosting, because of course) ago but scrapped once NBC and the decidedly more lacklustre Minute to Win It stole its thunder.

[Meredith Quill]

On 2015-9-25 at 1:47 PM, Demented Daisy said:

I've been wanting an adaptation/reboot of The Crystal Maze for years -- but only if Richard O'Brien can host again.  Seeing the same puzzles in episode after episode could have been quite dull, if Richard hadn't been so engaging.  I was much more entertained by his antics than I was the contestants.

 

It wasn't the same when Ed Tudor-Pole took over.

Crystal Maze Reboot is happening!

[SVNBob]

On 9/14/2015 at 0:23 AM, Kromm said:

I'd also like to see another UK show, QI.

While I would love to see this also, I've heard that it's incredibly unlikely to happen.  Because QI contains images and music that are not in public domain.  The enormous cost of getting all the rights to everything they'd need for a single episode seems to far outweigh the potential revenue from ads during the show.  So I don't hold out hope for there ever being an American QI, even though John Hodgman as the host would be brilliant.

And one for @David T. Cole as well as myself; The Genius (from South Korea) would be amazing if brought to the US.  They could even modify it as a cross with Big Brother and have the contestants stay on site until eliminated, and it might still work.

[bmasters9]

How about All Creatures Great and Small?

[Blergh]

On 6/4/2017 at 3:41 AM, bmasters9 said:

How about All Creatures Great and Small?

I like that a GREAT deal (and I could imagine it taking place in a Western or mountainous locale (due to the great number of livestock, pets and wild animals still about) . Or how about "Last of the Summer Wine"? Even though the latter was about some daft oldies in a town time forgot in Yorkshire, I imagine it could be done if they made the place somewhere in New England (AKA New Hampshire, Maine or Vermont).