American remakes of British TV programmes have long been filling up stateside schedules – Ricky Gervais’s The Office, for example – but Episodes, a new comedy which explores this ‘special relationship’, has prompted discussion among our panellists. Opinion is split between those who agree with the concept of remaking, those who think that Americans should be watching British originals, and those who bemoan the success of ‘inferior’ remakes across the pond.
Some of our panellists argued that there was a big difference between US and UK audiences and therefore somewhat agreed with the need to remake certain shows.
Others wanted American audiences to watch the original British programmes.
Some people thought remade programmes were unsuccessful.
Furthermore, most panellists would not like to see the tables turned with British remakes of US shows.
Episodes is a combined American/British effort that is based around the Hollywood re-shooting of a British couple’s (Green Wing’s Tamsin Grieg and Stephen Mangan) successful comedy series. However, it soon transpires that the American producers have never actually seen the original show and, instead of hiring someone of the same calibre as the Shakespeare veteran who plays the lead in the British version, they choose Matt LeBlanc, best known as the lovable but intellectually-challenged Joey in hit 90s series Friends, securing initially disastrous results.
Recent remakes of successful British shows include US versions of Shameless, Skins and Being Human.
The next episode of Episodes is on Monday 17th January, at 10pm on BBC Two
