Top 20 Awful American Remakes Of Great British Shows

[TMC]

They took some fantastic television... and they turned it into something fantastically bad! For this list, WatchMojo UK counts down the top 20 (yes, 20!) worst US remakes of Great British TV shows. And they're are some classics in the running for this one... From "The Inbetweeners" to "Top Gear", "Doctor Who" to "Skins", and "Peep Show" to "The IT Crowd"... It's amazing how so much can go so wrong all at once!

20. Red Dwarf

19. Absolutely Fabulous

18. Top Gear

17. Trigger Happy TV

16. Free Agents

15. Spaced

14. Men Behaving Badly

13. Gavin & Stacey

12. Cracker

11. Peep Show

10. Life on Mars

9. The Young Ones

8. Cold Feet

7. Blackpool

6. Fawlty Towers

5. Doctor Who

4. Coupling

3. The IT Crowd

2. The Inbetweeners

1. Skins

[MA]

Payne from 1999 should be on that list.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by MA

Payne from 1999 should be on that list.

Payne is on the list under Fawlty Towers (#6).

[MA]

Originally Posted by TMC

Payne is on the list under Fawlty Towers (#6).

Thank you.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by TMC

20. Red Dwarf

19. Absolutely Fabulous

18. Top Gear

17. Trigger Happy TV

16. Free Agents

15. Spaced

14. Men Behaving Badly

13. Gavin & Stacey

12. Cracker

11. Peep Show

10. Life on Mars

9. The Young Ones

8. Cold Feet

7. Blackpool

6. Fawlty Towers

5. Doctor Who

4. Coupling

3. The IT Crowd

2. The Inbetweeners

1. Skins

LANGUAGE WARNING

INTRO -

2003, marked the beginning of one of the greatest comedies of all time. Created by Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain, and starring the now national heroes Robert Webb and David Mitchell, Peep Show took the country by storm with its never seen before presenting style of every single shot being a point of view perspective, which has since become a trademark of the series.

Now this is a gimmick that had an awful risk of never transcending its gimmick-ness, and acting as a desperate ploy for uniqueness, especially because it makes traditional establishment of settings and directions far more difficult to conceptualize. Now fortunately the tight-knit team that worked on the show were nothing less than comedic and film-making marvels, managing to take this gimmick, and evolve it into a very intentional stylistic choice that actually improves the development and emotional readings of its characters.

The British noughties boasted such an insane plethora of incredible comedy, and it became one of the country's best and biggest media exports. Unfortunately in the midst of their exportations, there seemed to be a filter somewhere in between England and the States, one that refused to allow the passing of supposedly crude and confusing British humor. Aside from Peep Show the three biggest comedies of this era were The Inbetweeners, The Office, and The IT Crowd, and what all of these shows have in common, other than being brilliant, is that they all fell victim to this aforementioned anglo-american filter, leading to remakes of each and every one of them, and each of these remakes ended up being nothing short of awful. Although The Office did manage to find its footing later on, this was only when it became a total shell of its inspiration, becoming unnoticeable from the original by the 3rd season.

The titular Peep show can be most likened to The IT Crowd in this respect, as the remakes of these two never went past a critically lambasted pilot, however it seems as though the American take on Peep Show is nowhere near as notorious as the IT Crowds, so I thought today I could go over that time in 2005, when America tried to remake Peep Show.