Apart from George Bush and his cronies, and their immoral and illegal war, and many more issues I have with the related US politics and religious fundamentalism and evangelism and creationism ... I am not actually anti-Yank. Pinky promise. I am capable of separating organisations, media and government from the individual. Ok, I may have been heard to utter the 'only in America' line once or twice. But actually, my recent foray into blog reading has been really refreshing as I 'get to know' individual Americans. Many of whom are way cool, and also intelligent and funny and clever, and hey! we have stuff like our parenting ups and downs in common too! Also America is tandem-central as far as bike parts, and the actual tandems themselves, so the country certainly ain't all bad!

I do resist the Americanisation of our language and idiom (and especially spelling). I can't help it, I'm guess I'm a bit old school Aussie, and I fiercely defend the Aussie character that, like it or not, grew out of British colonisation. I have tended to avoid the saturation of American tv in my life partly because I have always avoided watching the commercial tv stations. They tend to broadcast a far greater percentage of American television than the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Commission) and I have grown up feasting on great British comedy and drama programmes. Rightly or wrongly my preference is thus for British shows.... I prefer the sense of humour, and there tends to be something special about British actors. I confess that more recently I've picked up on a few more American shows that I do enjoy. (Just a shame they are mostly shown on commercial telly, so I have to put up with the frigging ads.) Of course we also grew up with some of the great made in the US classics. (I've already mentioned my husband's addiction to Get Smart.)

Frankly, though, there are a lot more crappy American shows than British shows that make it on to our screens, so it tends to skew my perception somewhat. But anyway, you can't blame Americans for selling whatever shows they make to anyone who will buy them. Our bad that we do so indiscriminately!

What really does insult my sensibilities though is the American penchant for remaking English speaking shows. Particularly all these classic British shows! And there are many. What the? And WHY?

I first became aware of this back in my childhood when I realised that the classic British comedy Stepford and Son was remade as Sanford and Son, and Man about the House became Three's Company. And I was highly irritated by it back then. On principle really. I couldn't understand the need for it. If I, in Australia, could enjoy (and understand) a particular British show, how come the Yanks couldn't? It's not like it was in a foreign language!

I am currently on my high horse about it, however, because the American remake of The Office is now being promoted on Australian TV. (If the kids didn't manipulate me and switch stations, I'd still be in my blissful ABC/BBC commercial free ignorance.) But therein lies my real objection. If Americans are so incapable of 'getting' British humour and culture, then, whatever. Their loss, really, if 'they' want to be so insular, though truly it is not a good 'look' on the world stage. [Note: this is not a personal attack on individual Americans, because I know they have as much influence about what gets shown on TV there as I have here! ] But when this recycled Americanised version is then peddled to Australia, and the bloody TV networks buy it and show it, when we have already seen the original, and stupid (Australian) people watch it, then, yes, it does piss me right off!!

As I checked out the list on that wikipedia article, I became more and more incensed. There were even more than I realised! All these classic British shows - being remade. Americanised. Americanized. Thank heavens, as it turns out, not many have actually been shown here, but it is still total, total blasphemy! In no particular order, these are just a few of the classics I've watched over my lifetime, and I can't believe that they have been remade in America. (with varying levels of success it seems.)

Coupling. Red Dwarf. This Life. Fawlty Towers! (Are you kidding me?!) The IT Crowd. The Vicar of Dibley. Porridge. George and Mildred. Love Thy Neighbour. Dad's Army. Cracker. Life on Mars!

(I haven't linked them here, but they are linked on that Wikipedia page.)

Don't get me wrong. I do understand the need to localise game shows, reality shows, and comedy formats that rely on local topical subject matter. (If I never saw another reality show in my life it wouldn't be too soon, but that's another subject altogether.) But it's the essence of dramas and comedies - where they are set - the characters - that are what works for them. Transfer them across to another culture and they surely lose the quality that makes the show what it was in the first place. Imagine doing a British remake of, say, Get Smart? Gilligan's Island? More recent stuff like X-Files?

I was relieved to see that this trend.. habit.. is at least noted and criticised within America. Well, I found one article on page one of my Google search. But seriously, America! Is it little wonder that the rest of the world thinks "America" is too self-centred when they remake shows that are in the same language?!!

As for Australian shows (like Kath and Kim) being remade - well.. it irks as well, but sadly it is more expected. Other than Crocodile Dundee, and that guy who said Crikey a lot and wrestled crocodiles (what is it about crocodiles?) it seems that Americans are not very good at understanding the Aussie accent, never mind Aussie humour. (It's nice to see that now Aussies can actually be cast in American shows as Australians - eg. whatshisname in House - that's good, that's improvement!) It would be nice to think that they could expand their horizons to bring an Aussie sitcom, totally as is, into their homes, and through watching, begin to gain a greater understanding of that country and its people, because it is through comedy, and through a people's ability to send themselves up, that you can sometimes gain a truer insight than any other way!

Why it is apparently possible for us to already do so in reverse I am not really sure.

Labels: grumpy