NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

With any luck it'll be trapped in the same development Hell as several other British comedies we tried to import in the past several years.

It's pointless making American versions of shows, they should just have our shows and watch them - it would be like us having a British Simpsons. Completly pointless.

And if you ever wonder what is wrong about the Americans making their own versions of our shows, please say to yourself three simple words; "Red Dwarf USA".

Well, in fairness, there are a few classic American shows that were originally British adaptations, such as Sanford and Son, and All in the Family. Nobody doubts their greatness, and rightly so.

But it's all in the execution, and the trust in the material to let it find its own identity, which is all too lacking. The problem with importing and remaking UK shows is no different than the problem with creating new US shows from scratch: the networks want pretty people, inoffensive jokes, and clean, predictable situations. It doesn't matter where the inspiration is drawn from, whether here or abroad...THAT'S the problem with American television.

Cartoon Network and Comedy Central have done a lot to break out of this pattern and, to a very small extent, so have some of the major networks. But it's a long way from being overcome.

I like the US version of The Office approx. 1000000 times better than the Gervais version.

The quiz episode and the staff training episode from the first series of Gervais/Merchant's Office are two of the greatest episodes of television ever produced. The staff episode in particular. I do love the Carrell Office though. It's one of only a handful of U.S. comedies of recent years that have actually been any good.

As for Gervais, the second clip down on this page here is quite amusing if you haven't seen it. It perfectly demonstrates why I like Gervais and Merchant, and I suppose why some people would hate them.

And remaking Spaced is a bad idea. Why not just do a new sitcom with a similar idea?

>Why not just do a new sitcom with a similar idea?

Or, better yet, something fresh! Except that anyone involved in Will & Grace is incapable of creative thought. I would go so far as to say that they are incapable of independent thought, or thought at all.

For the record: I think The Office US is one of the funniest shows currently on TV. However, I genuinely think that the original The Office is a work of art. I've never really understood all the Gervais hate around here.

I think it's biologically impossible for any American to dislike Gervais.

> I think it's biologically impossible for any American to dislike Gervais.

That's just what Gervais wants everyone to think. He's always banging on about his American success but I bet hardly any Americans have even seen his work, only his apperances on shows. Anyway, it's only because he kept saying how much he was influenced by Larry David and Garry Shandling (Extras basically is a mash of Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Larry Sanders Show, but not as good as either of them!). He licked the Americans' arses to get on American television.

> He licked the Americans' arses to get on American television.

I'm suddenly reminded of Eddie Izzard. Not so much the licking arses bit, but definitely his stand-up material has for at least twelve years been had a strange "I'm hopefully going to be big in America, let's see if THIS does it" hue throughout. PS - his "American" accent sounds like me trying the same experiment in secondary school plays. Do the real Americans dig it?

If you can stomach the appalling AICN for a second: Ouch.

I'll deal with the place for Noise to Signal ^_^ . And yes, "ouch" summarizes that pretty decently (for me, at least, who almost never has anything useful to contribute).

So if neither Wright nor Pegg (and presumably Stevenson) have any say over what happens here, nor receive any kind of payment whatsoever, then who exactly DOES call the shots when it comes to Spaced? Its original network? Its distributor?

What a kick in the bread tray.

It was a Paramount/LWT co-production, so I assume one or both of those has the rights...

Speaking of Eddie in The Riches, yeah his accent is fairly cheesy but otherwise he gets away with it quite brilliantly. I like his performance in it. There are parts where you just know it's him riffing on the scene. I bet there's a clause somewhere saying they have to let him do what he wants. For some reason I've never liked Minnie Driver but she's beyond excellent in this. Her accent is perfect for a start, you'd never believe she wasn't American. And somehow as she's got older she's got sexier, not that the daughter in The Riches isn't smoking hot too (I predict she'll be a massive star). I like the show a lot.

By the way, why is every other post on here basically ' Fuck Off' or 'Shut Up'?

> By the way, why is every other post on here basically ' Fuck Off' or 'Shut Up'?

Because we're an angry bunch.

Oh, son of a bitch!