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The IT Crowd US Pilot (2007) [video]

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Re: The IT Crowd US Pilot (2007) [video]

#51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not at all. There's a cadre of people who enjoy British television programming in America, but they don't count. I'd estimate that the number of people that have watched for example the UK office is maybe 1% or less than the people that watched the US office in the US.

You wouldn't have look very hard to find an American who has seen Downton Abbey, Doctor Who, or Bake Off. The biggest problem keeping Americans from watching UK TV is access, not some inherent dislike or disinterest in compelling television whenever British people are involved. A show has to be wildly popular before Americans even get the chance to be exposed to it, which really limits the amount of viewers for UK pr…

> I wish they'd do it with panel shows

My guess is that Poms value wit, and the majority of Americans don’t (in my experience). Within most any social class in the UK, wit is recognised: watching say a street cleaner make a sublimey witty comment is comedic fools gold. Also the British colony owerlords relentlessly take the piss out of themselves, maybe just so the French can’t beat them, oooo errr.

Meanwhile us colony exploiters would like to be able to give the BBC money so we can enjoy their terrible programmeing. But those anti-capitalist-royalist-uneuropean-twats won’t accept our livres for their crooked tooth pictures.

Disclaimer: if English were a race, I’d lose.

Re: The IT Crowd US Pilot (2007) [video]

#52
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

no, they've changed quite a bit, only the first scene is sticking somewhat with the original version. 5 minutes in at least half the dialog has been rewritten. and all the changes are for the worst.

I watched the scene where they first introduce the IT guys and was disappointed to see they cut the finger-licking for some reason.

They completely undermined the first establishment of "have you tried turning it off an on again?"

The line doesn't land half as well without the entire 45 seconds (no exaggeration, I counted on the seek bar) of Roy licking his fingers and drinking tea while the phone rings first.

Re: The IT Crowd US Pilot (2007) [video]

#53
post #50
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The formula for Travel Man was genius. The producers just have to pick various people who are a good pick to play off Richard Ayoade being himself, and send them off places to film how they get along with each other. Ideally, picking people who love to travel and have a good time to slightly annoy Richard. TV that produces itself. The curve ball, which defied all expectations, was the episode in Madeira which paired…

What about An Idiot Abroad? Similar concept, albeit Karl is more of a crank.

A very good series but was way more contrived. The relationship between those two is uncomfortable at times too (which is pretty much 100% Ricky's schtick).

Re: The IT Crowd US Pilot (2007) [video]

#54
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The guy is a legend. Travel Man is excellent and a great format. Rewatched during lockdown and completely recommend.

The formula for Travel Man was genius. The producers just have to pick various people who are a good pick to play off Richard Ayoade being himself, and send them off places to film how they get along with each other. Ideally, picking people who love to travel and have a good time to slightly annoy Richard. TV that produces itself. The curve ball, which defied all expectations, was the episode in Madeira which paired…

Season 1 episode 2 with Richard and Adam Hills in Istanbul is truly excellent too, particularly the bit at barber and the massage.

Re: The IT Crowd US Pilot (2007) [video]

#56

This seems oddly redundant. The laughing track didn't help. I had a strange feeling this was just an extended SNL sketch all throughout watching it.

The laugh track was definitely the worst part. Why would the crowd break into laughter when he doesn't answer the phone on the first ring?

Re: The IT Crowd US Pilot (2007) [video]

#57
post #33
post #8

I'm pretty sure this pilot is the same script as episode 1 of the original UK series. Clearly someone felt the need to recast and reshoot the series with US actors (plus Richard Ayoade), like they did the US Office. I wonder if that's old thinking (or wasn't actually needed) - the amount of UK TV that's now on Netflix and other OTT platforms seems to suggest that US audiences are open to enjoying original UK series w…

A lot of people in the US would turn it off because "I can't understand what they are saying with their funny accent". The reason they get away with being on Netflix is that they don't need to be super popular to be worth it for the streaming networks if they pick it up for a cheap price. Linear TV had a limited number of time slots and had to be very choosey with what they put on. It needed to have massive appeal in…

The argument is a bit undercut when a staggeringly expensive show such as House of the Dragon is the most watched show to ever debut on HBO, and features mainly UK actors and accents.

Especially when you factor in the pirating audience on top of this, it’s a massively popular show and among the most-watched in the US.

Not saying you have no point at all. Personally I have a harder time with the accents in contemporary shows aimed at UK audiences such as IT Crowd because they can at times speak faster and with more slang. But I don’t think it’s purely about disliking accents.

Re: The IT Crowd US Pilot (2007) [video]

#58
post #8

I'm pretty sure this pilot is the same script as episode 1 of the original UK series. Clearly someone felt the need to recast and reshoot the series with US actors (plus Richard Ayoade), like they did the US Office. I wonder if that's old thinking (or wasn't actually needed) - the amount of UK TV that's now on Netflix and other OTT platforms seems to suggest that US audiences are open to enjoying original UK series w…

Part of it is simply different television formats. The Office UK specifically aired on BBC One without commercials which meant that it had to be cut down to fit on a major network's timeslot of 20-24 min. Shows like that typically have to go to special TV stations like PBS or BBC America in order to get a commercial-free timeslot or (in BBC America's case) finagled into a less common time slot with weird commercial b…

[deleted]

Re: The IT Crowd US Pilot (2007) [video]

#59
post #8

I'm pretty sure this pilot is the same script as episode 1 of the original UK series. Clearly someone felt the need to recast and reshoot the series with US actors (plus Richard Ayoade), like they did the US Office. I wonder if that's old thinking (or wasn't actually needed) - the amount of UK TV that's now on Netflix and other OTT platforms seems to suggest that US audiences are open to enjoying original UK series w…

Not at all. There's a cadre of people who enjoy British television programming in America, but they don't count. I'd estimate that the number of people that have watched for example the UK office is maybe 1% or less than the people that watched the US office in the US.

The Office is a bad example in this context though, because it's the one show where the US version was (arguably) an improvement over the UK version, and way more popular than the UK version even outside of the US.

Re: The IT Crowd US Pilot (2007) [video]

#60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You wouldn't have look very hard to find an American who has seen Downton Abbey, Doctor Who, or Bake Off. The biggest problem keeping Americans from watching UK TV is access, not some inherent dislike or disinterest in compelling television whenever British people are involved. A show has to be wildly popular before Americans even get the chance to be exposed to it, which really limits the amount of viewers for UK pr…

> The biggest problem keeping Americans from watching UK TV is access I love British TV. I would happily pay for a UK television license if I could access iPlayer/Channel 4/etc from the US. I don’t get why they are so hell bent against making more money and insist on region locking content. Instead I have to resort to pirating it or buying import DVDs/BluRays. A long time ago I used to pay for a Linux shell account o…

You should look into BritBox[0], a BBC and ITV project, available on Roku, Amazon, and probably other platforms. I have no affiliation; I was just born and raised as a child in the UK and miss the shows. It's got quite a lot.

[0] https://www.britbox.com/us/

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