Americanizing Other Nation's Shows: BBC Being Human vs. SyFy Being Human?

[Linus]

Originally Posted by Waldo

I know next to nothing about what is broadcast on television in Canada. But you asked about the dynamics of this in the US. And I stand by my answer. Even your xenophobic comments reinforce exactly what I'm saying. I worked in the film distribution industry for years and while I've seen it get better in the decade+ since then, it holds true today.

Dr. Who certainly has a following, but to say that it's *popular* in the US would be vastly overstating it.

Here's a little something for you to chew on - each of these shows has been remade for the UK:

Married With Children
The Golden Girls
That 70s Show
Law & Order
Mad About You
Who's The Boss
Maude
Good Times

And I can't even count the number of "reality" series and game shows.


AND... here's a little gem that just floors me. The Nanny, with everyone's favorite nasal-affected actress, Fran Drescher, was shown in over 90 different countries, but TEN countries felt it worthwhile to make localized versions: Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Greece, Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, Poland, Russia, and Turkey.

Cool! I didn't know that about those shows (except for L&O) and it would be cool to see how other nations took those shows. I believe the L&O was a spin-off and only the first series (season) is expected to follow the traditional L&O model.

The SyFy remake of seems to be a word-for-word remake. So, while I appreciate and understand remaking it to address cultural differences, wouldn't a different script make sense?

As for Doctor Who, a viewership of 1-1.5 million in the US seems rather large given that it's on a specialty channel, no? (although it was originally on SciFi -- before it's rename -- and did well there; compared to the 3 mill or so that watch Eureka regularly, a unique SyFy show, it seems to do well).

[Waldo]

Originally Posted by Linus

Cool! I didn't know that about those shows (except for L&O) and it would be cool to see how other nations took those shows. I believe the L&O was a spin-off and only the first series (season) is expected to follow the traditional L&O model.

The SyFy remake of seems to be a word-for-word remake. So, while I appreciate and understand remaking it to address cultural differences, wouldn't a different script make sense?

As for Doctor Who, a viewership of 1-1.5 million in the US seems rather large given that it's on a specialty channel, no? (although it was originally on SciFi -- before it's rename -- and did well there; compared to the 3 mill or so that watch Eureka regularly, a unique SyFy show, it seems to do well).

I think it depends on your chosen metrics. It obviously did well enough to keep it on the channel. And that's the metric that matters.

When you look at the premier of Weeds on Showtime, a premium cable channel, at 1 million households and a viewership that steadily climbed over the next four seasons and compare that to the ongoing performance of Doctor Who at 1-1.5 million on a network that comes in a variety of basic to advanced television packages it's harder to say. I think it's a cult show and the people who love it will watch it. And that makes it successful. When you look at the performance of either of those shows against a broadcast show then they both look pathetic.