Yet another BBC series is being adapted to American audiences. Only this time, it sounds like it's going to be a movie.Universal Pictures will be adapting the 1999 BBC series Second Sight which launched the career of Clive Owen. It will be produced by Angry Film's Don Murphy and Susan Montford. The story is about a homicide detective named Ross Tanner who suffers from a degenerative eye illness that leads to blindness and hallucinations. As a result, he must rely more on his intuition to solve crimes.
There have certainly been any number of American adaptations of British shows over time. Some are good and some are utter crap. Second Sight does sound like a good premise (I've never seen the show), but I think the movie would have more credentials if they made sure to involve members of the original crew. I wonder if they'll get Clive Owen to reprise his role?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-16-2008 @ 12:19PM
Carl said...
I'll watch it as much as I watched Blind Justice starring Ron Eldard -- not at all.
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7-16-2008 @ 12:31PM
Steven said...
The original British show was great.
I am uneasy about American remakes of British shows. For something like this off the air, it can be ok, but I think it is pointless to do an American remake of a current British show. Why not just broadcast the original in America. It has worked for shows such as Doctor Who, MI-5, Hotel Babylon, and Hustle. The shorter seasons typical of a British series can be a problem, but the additional revenue from America should be able to fund expanding the production of them.
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7-16-2008 @ 10:16PM
RobynM said...
No offense, but I hardly think lack of funds is the reason behind the shorter seasons in UK programming. They just developed a different methodology than we did.
Personally, I think a number of US shows would benefit from a shift toward the shorter season model. More meat, less filler and all that.
I do, however, agree with your basic concept that in this day and age, it's generally better to run the original programme rather than remake it from both a financial and artistic standpoint. Eleventh Hour without Patrick Stewart? Life On Mars without John Simm? Those are gonna be some pretty tough hills to climb.
7-16-2008 @ 1:37PM
Kyle said...
I believe they already did remake this a few years ago as "Blind Justice" with Ron Eldard--which I remember as being almost unwatchable.
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7-16-2008 @ 3:01PM
bc said...
I have some difficulty understanding why you think a show about a detective who returns to duty after being blinded and suffers prejudice and conflicts with his former compatriots who believe he shouldn't be there is a "remake" of a show about a detective who suffers randomly occurring visual anomalies that will eventually cause blindness but conceals this from his family and coworkers as he tries to keep his job and normal life. There are some common elements, but it's like saying "Seaquest: DSV" was a remake of "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea".
7-16-2008 @ 1:48PM
C C said...
I loved Second Sight. They aired it on both PBS' Mystery and BBC America. The problem with doing a "new" version: Clive Owen was the original star! How do you find an American equivalent? A tall order.
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7-16-2008 @ 5:27PM
Mel said...
Noo!! America please leave this one alone. Such a good show and theres no way it can be done for 7 seasons or anything. Grrr!!
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