Sometimes the so-called “special relationship” the U.K. and the United States share seems a lot like a sibling relationship. Did you ever feel like your younger sibling was constantly trying to copy everything cool you did? U.S. television has frequently done the same, producing American remakes of many popular British shows.
How do these shows tend to fare after crossing the pond?
The Office
The most famous American remake of the past decade has to be The Office, which remade Ricky Gervais’ U.K. show of the same name into a wildly popular sitcom starring Steve Carell. Although both shows are office comedies, the U.S. version ran for a whopping 201 episodes compared to the U.K.’s 12-episode run.
As for which one is “better”? Both shows have passionate fans, so it’s more interesting to think about how each show’s different tone speaks to different cultures. The Office (U.K.) leans heavily on dry cringe comedy that doesn’t shy away from making viewers uncomfortable, while the U.S. version focuses on zanier, absurdist humor that gradually develops more likable characters.
Shameless
The U.K.’s comedy Shameless (2004-2013) focused on the life of the Gallagher family, a working-class family on a Manchester council estate. In order to make the storyline feel more relevant to American audiences, as many remakes do, U.S. producers transplanted the Gallagher family to the South Side of Chicago. The change obviously worked: Shameless is now Showtime’s longest-running original scripted series.
Although U.S. Shameless followed the same storylines for a season or so, a major difference between the two is the cast. In the U.K., most of the original cast rotated out of the show, leaving only the Gallagher patriarch remaining. In the U.S., his children and other characters mostly stayed on the show, allowing audiences to enjoy watching the same characters develop.
Skins
Then again, there are numerous American remakes of U.K. shows that never see the light of day…or, if they do make it to air, we wish they hadn’t. MTV’s 2011 remake of the wildly popular, gritty British teen drama Skins was a disastrous flop.
The controversial subject material translated poorly to the U.S., where advertisers and audience members condemned the show’s depictions of teenage relationships. It’s a common complaint (at least by British viewers) about remakes: that America’s more puritanical culture often sanitizes out the raunchier elements of U.K. television.