Hoping for an ‘Office,’ rather than a ‘Coupling’
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- October
- 30
We all know the American version of The Office has been extremely successful.
Few (hopefully) remember what an unmitigated disaster the American version of Coupling was.
Fox is hoping for more of the former in ordering a pilot for an American version of the British sitcom Spaced. McG, of music video and Charlie’s Angels (the movies) fame, is on board to executive produce, along with writer Adam Barr, who wrote and produced on Will & Grace for seven years and recently has worked on The New Adventures of Old Christine, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Spaced is about “two strangers who pose as a married couple in order to rent an apartment.”
The key for Britcoms to succeed in the U.S., it seems to me, is to be different from their forebears.
The Office, it has oft been said, really came into its own after it started the second season, after it stopped simply mirroring the original British series (British series tend to have seasons of just a handful of episodes, and The Office’s two seasons totaled just 12 episodes, plus a two-part Christmas special.
The British Coupling had four seasons, with a total of 28 episodes. Its American fraternal twin only had four episodes that aired. I remember watching the first episode and, so far as I could tell, the pilot episode was pretty much word-for-word the same as the original British show.
But something was lost in translation. While I found the British version pretty damn funny, I was kind of creeped out by the American version. Same words, decent actors (including Eureka’s Colin Ferguson), totally different effect. Why? Maybe it’s the accent.
Seriously, why did this happen?
Being a Brit of sorts myself (my dad’s a Cockney, though you wouldn’t know it from his  quite  proper elocution), I’ve always enjoyed and understood British humor. I still remember when I was in kindergarten and my mother woke me up at about 11:15 p.m. on a Sunday (during the school year!) because I’d never seen the Monty Python Ministry of Silly Walks sketch (it was on) and my parents realized that would be an incredibly gaping hole in my education.
There’s definitely a difference in sensibilities between British and American humor, though I’ll be damned if I can explain it. People either get it or don’t. And it never sounds quite right coming from an American.
Can you imagine an American comedy troupe (Second City, perhaps?), no matter how good and how funny, doing a remake of Monty Python and the Holy Grail? I think not.
But it’s not just doing the scripts word-for-word that is a failing. A few years back, CBS tried out High Society, a remake of the fabulous Britcom Absolutely Fabulous. It was amusing, had a terrific cast  starred Jean Smart and Mary McDonnell  but it was an incredibly tamed version of its British cousin. What had made AbFab so great was how over the top it was. High Society didn’t even come close. It lasted a mere 13 episodes, better than the American Coupling, but certainly no Office.
Which way will Spaced go?
Perhaps we’ll find out, come fall.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, October 30th, 2007 at 4:03 pm by Amy Vernon.
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