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The IT Crowd US Pilot (2007) [video]

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

#201

Post by denton-scratch »

Longlius wrote: post #20
dotBen wrote: 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…

There are detective shows called Endeavour and Lewis running (repeats) in the UK; they're offshoots of the Morse series. They have ad-breaks, i.e. the narrative stops and the show titles appear; but there are no ads. I think that's on ITV. And sometimes there are ads between the titles.

There's something I was watching on Sky, that had ad-breaks, but no ads; instead, they showed a still frame saying that normal content would be resumed shortly.

When they do show ads, they are nearly all:

* Motorised recliner armchairs

* No-medical life insurance

* Home equity release plans

* Charity appeals with fluffy puppies and sobbing grandmas.

That is, the ads mostly seem to be pitched at retired people, and the ad slots are being sold to low-budget advertisers. I use a PVR, so I barely notice ads. Most cable and satellite providers these days provide a PVR as part of the service. So my guess is the TV advertising business model is collapsing; only poor people, and people too demented to learn to use a PVR, actually watch ads.

Meanwhile, running an ad slot with no ads in it must be saying something rather loud to potential advertisers: "We can't sell this ad slot, so lowball your bid!".

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

#202

Post by denton-scratch »

tonfreed wrote: post #42
RajT88 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "I can't understand what they are saying with their funny accent" This is charitable. Probably a lot of folks here just have a general disdain for all things foreign. I am not sure anyone has ever tried to put numbers to the distinction between the two groups.

The thing that amuses me as an Australian is the subtitles when a pom, Irish, or Scot is talking. I've not seen it with Australians, but I wouldn't be surprised

The subtitles made me roar with laughter when I first saw Jimmy Cliff's The Harder They Come. The whole movie is in Jamaican patois, so there's some logic in translating it; but most urbanites here have plenty of exposure to Jamaican patois, so it's a bit like having English subtitles on an English movie.

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

#204

Post by denton-scratch »

ryanbrunner wrote: post #174
autoexec wrote: post #14

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…

Comedy is too fractured in the US for panel shows to really work IMO. I think a big part of why panel shows work so well in the UK is you have a lot of camaraderie and familiarity with the relatively smaller and more tightly knit group of UK comedians (it doesn't take long at all watching panel shows to start seeing familiar faces), which definitely helps keep banter running smoothly.

The Daily Show did well.

The UK panel show that I can't miss is Have I Got News For You. It's a weekly 30min news review, by very quick-witted comics. As a review of UK news, it obviously wouldn't travel; and the two (permanent) team captains are very English, and likely unknown in the USA. But there's clearly a market for that kind of satirical news review.

They skate close to the libel laws; Ian Hislop, one of the two team captains, is the editor of Private Eye, a satirical print weekly that has a long history of defending (and losing) libel actions. "Did I just say something libellous? Never mind, they'll cut it before transmission".

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

#205

Post by denton-scratch »

pndy wrote: post #189
quietbritishjim wrote: post #6

That wasn't nearly as atrocious as I was expecting. Partly because the script is almost the same as the UK first episode, of course, but even putting that aside it was OK. Richard Ayoade is still great but also Joel McHale is a pretty decent choice as Roy. Even the actress playing Jen, although a bit annoying, wasn't too bad. And the twist that the boss actually isn't crazy is interesting. Not like the US Red Dwarf p…

> the US Red Dwarf pilot Terry Farrell got role of Cat in the 2nd attempt for pilot, a year before arriving in Deep Space Nine as Jadzia Dax

Why would they re-cast Cat? In the UK version, he spoke with a US accent. (Maybe that's it - Cat was a stereotype of a black american street dude, and perhaps that stereotype only works for brits).

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

#206

Post by denton-scratch »

rsynnott wrote: post #199
tragomaskhalos wrote: post #125

I wonder if anyone ever tried to do a US version of Father Ted, as that would certainly have been an atrocity for the ages. Although I can't imagine Mathews and Linehan getting on board with such a thing.

There have been at least three attempt; thankfully they seem to have sunk without a trace.

Three? I'm astonished that anyone ever got budget to try it once.

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

#207

Post by FiniteField »

Jaruzel wrote: post #152
KingOfCoders wrote: post #100

I'm with Douglas Adams, "Please don’t let anyone Americanise it".

He was right. Hitchhiker's the movie is a travesty.

That film always seems like 2 films interleaved into 1 to me. Most of the British cast are great, and really capture the style and humour of the book - Stephen Fry as the narrator, Martin Freeman as Arthur Dent, Alan Rickman as Marvin, even (IIRC) Bill Bailey as The Whale. Then you have the American-cast characters and their writing, and it's just so cliche and dull. It feels like they split production of the film up by character and handed it off to two separate companies, one British and one American.

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

#208

Post by rbanffy »

mjhagen wrote: post #192
rbanffy wrote: post #180

I find it awesome they couldn't recast Moss. Nobody else can be Moss.

Leonard Nimoy in the second Star Trek pilot vibes.

Even though Zachary Quinto out-spocked Nimoy in the Kelvin movies. Ethan Peck is almost there, but his take is markedly different.

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

#209

Post by rbanffy »

mjhagen wrote: post #183
rbanffy wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was watching Fringe at the time. I felt a bit like Walter interrogating a corpse while doing it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99Sk2ZnjGQA

“I need the body” is still a running gag between me and my partner.

My wife was very impressed with my ability to make dead disks talk.

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

#210

Post by lupire »

ck425 wrote: post #154
bckygldstn wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was a US remake of Taskmaster, which is like 50% a panel show. It was exceedingly terrible despite keeping 1 of the 2 UK hosts, and especially compared to the excellent New Zealand and Swedish Taskmaster remakes. I agree about access though. I've introduced a bunch of US friends to Taksmaster who devour the seasons available on youtube, but are then out of options to see the rest.

I can't find it but Alex Horne did an interview about the US remake and why it didn't work. The main reason in his opinion was that the network insisted on making it 30min (presumably 22min with ads) and that meant they had to cut out a lot of the contestant banter. The tasks themselves are funny but what really adds the humour is the interactions between the contestants, the TaskMaster and his assistant. Maybe that…

USA "unscripted" shows are terrible. The producers think the audience is too dumb to tolerate genuine conversation, and/or they can't find any charismatic people to put on screen. Kitchen Nightmares is the canonical side-by-side example of how the USA style ruins everything.
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