Variety is reporting that, despite comedian Sacha Baron Cohen's current international popularity, both of his signature characters are having a tough time gaining any kind of traction in, of all countries, Spain. Not only has the Borat movie only taken in 2.1 million euros since being released almost a month ago, but the TV3 network's broadcasts of the old HBO series Da Ali G Show are tanking in the ratings. The article speculates a bit as to why this is happening: since the TV3 network has been showing Britcoms like Blackadder with success, that's not a reason; the time slot seems to be suitable for the audience the network wants to attract.So what's the problem? Well, the article does state that Spain has their own version of Cohen in Santiago Segura, who does similar humor that hits cloer to home with Spaniards. Also, Spaniards might not get the running jokes in the show unless they spent time in London (which is weird, because not many Americans have been to London, and the show was popular here). But it could be as simple as the fact that, even though the show is dubbed, you can still hear the original audio. That's pretty annoying during an interview on the news, so I can't imagine it being less annoying during an entire half-hour show.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
12-11-2006 @ 8:00PM
lorth said...
Hi, i'm from Spain, and more specific, from Barcelona.
I've a few thinks to say about that. TV3 is an autonomic TV Chanel, is like a TV that only can be seen in California, in our case, Catalonia.
Another problem with the low ratings, is the timming, is at 11:30pm at night, against House, a tv series very very famous here in Spain.
Another thing that is not right, is about "our" Ali G. I Love Torrente, Santiago Segura's Ali G, but, in Catalonia, we are a bit diferent than the rest of Spain, like the language. Here, in Catalonia, Torrentes is not as like as in the rest of spain (i don't know if I expresed correctly, sorry)
So, the problem is not because we don't like Ali G, i've seen the movie more than 10 times, the problem is when it airs, where it airs, and the hour.
The low ratings in Borat's movie, maybe, is because people is expecting another Ali G type of movie, and not every one like's this type of humor...
Well, sorry for my english, i wish i've explained more or less what i wanted to say.
Bye
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12-12-2006 @ 12:26AM
Ndric said...
Never found him to be funny :|
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12-12-2006 @ 12:46AM
Erica said...
What? Everyone, everywhere doesn't like Cohen?? The horror!!
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12-12-2006 @ 3:37AM
nushu said...
Hi, everyone...
I'm also from Barcelona. And I'm completely agree with "Lorth".
And also, the problem it's the dubbing. It's so horrible, and annoying. So you just lose interest.
And I can't compare Ali G with Torrente (Santiago Segura). This one shows the old fashion fascist
police, who use to run this country during the dictator ship of Franco.
And yes, I Borat it's a stupid movie.^_^
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12-12-2006 @ 4:14AM
jT said...
Dubbing is a disaster in many cases, but is usually a must in order to reach to a wider audience than the "urban elite" who wants subtitles and already owns/rents DVDs (even downloads a lot) anyway.
That said, dubbing is why i can't watch TV series on my local channels since everything is dubbed in french. And if you think CSI Miami is unwatchable in english, try the french version.
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12-12-2006 @ 9:25AM
Adrienne Yun said...
Borat is the funniest movie I have ever seen. I laughed myself silly. I have just purchased Da Ali G so I have relive all the great moments of the show. I think the character Da Ali G is funnier, but Borat still rocks.
As to why it's not playing in Peoria, Spain, I can see why there may be a problem. Do they know who Andy Rooney is in Spain and what a pompous ass he is? I think not and I think they don't care.
Borat should be doing better as it makes fun of America, a favorite of the world's audience now.
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12-13-2006 @ 12:26PM
elpidio said...
the point is that here in europe, you have to dub a movie, otherwise nobody's gonna watch it. it works for most of them but not for the kind of humor of baron cohen + catalans are wird people...
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