Why do some American remakes of British TV shows do well and others flop?

[TMC]

And how do you successfully adapt these kinds of shows when British and American viewers tend to have different senses of humor? Also, has there ever been a reverse, a British remake of an American TV show?

[brtcmfn]

For example Fawlty Towers was tried twice in the USA: Amanda's place with Bea Arthur and Paine with John Laroquette, they both failed miserably, they did not have the chemistry of the Original, and also they were PC, Vs Fawlty Towers.

And recently the US tried Call me Kat which is the american version of Miranda. Miranda is so much better in chemistry between the cast, story lines, and not PC.

The one so called sitcom that I think was more successful in the USA vs. the UK is Shameless. Even though Shameless was originally from the UK.

Here is a list on Wikipedia: As you can see very few sitcoms have been duplicated in the UK:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...evision_series

VS.
UK->USA:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...evision_series

[DJM77]

Originally Posted by brtcmfn

For example Fawlty Towers was tried twice in the USA: Amanda's place with Bea Arthur and Paine with John Laroquette, they both failed miserably, they did not have the chemistry of the Original, and also they were PC, Vs Fawlty Towers.

And recently the US tried Call me Kat which is the american version of Miranda. Miranda is so much better in chemistry between the cast, story lines, and not PC.

The one so called sitcom that I think was more successful in the USA vs. the UK is Shameless. Even though Shameless was originally from the UK.

Here is a list on Wikipedia: As you can see very few sitcoms have been duplicated in the UK:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...evision_series

VS.
UK->USA:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...evision_series

There was also the failed pilot called Snavely in 1978.

[SledgeBarone]

Game shows seemed to translate well in both directions.

It looks like the only US original to succeed as a UK derivative was The Upper Hand, a knockoff of Who's the Boss.

The Wikipedia entry for the Golden Girls knockoff (The Brighton Belles) said that GG was already familiar to the UK television audience, so they weren't interested in different characters speaking the same lines. I guess that means the US aversion to watching most British original series makes it easier for US derivatives to succeed.

[shotzette]

Brits and Yanks have very different ideas of comedy. A lot of vernacular does not translate well.

For instance, the British version of The Office is considered superior to the American one. I however couldn't even get through the first episode of the British version because the David Brent character was so unlikeable and the cheap production values made me cringe. I also was not a huge fan of the first season of the American version because they initially presented Michael Scott as a David Brent clone. From season two on, however, the character developed more into a needy and socially clueless character which was more sympathetic to viewers.

I LOVED the British version of Being Human, but couldn't make it past the first episode of the American version.

Britain's IT Crowd was amazing, but the American pilot didn't get picked up even though it starred Richard Ayoade.

[Spiny Norman]

Originally Posted by TMC

Why do some American remakes of British TV shows do well and others flop?

All I can think of is: But do (m)any do well?

Pilot not picked up:
Snavely, Amanda's, Paine (Fawlty Towers)
Red Dwarf
Beane's of Boston (AYBS?)
Read guard (Dad's Army)
Oh no not them (The Young Ones)
etc.

Quickly cancelled:
Coupling
Desmond Pfeiffer (Blackadder (losely))

Hit:
The Office




Some of this is decades ago by now. But I can't think of any others...

[Chocolate Moose]

I don't think many Americans see the British version or even know it's a remake. House of Cards, for example - it was popular because it was good, not because of any English cross over.