SyFy has picked up the rights to broadcast an American version of the BBC show Being Human. For those who are unaware, Being Human is about a twenty-something ghost, a werewolf and a vampire that live together, each with their own set of melodramatic problems. It's a bit like a supernatural Melrose Place.Actually, given the context of the program, it would go much better on The CW. But that's not likely at this point. They already have The Vampire Diaries anyway.
While relaunching Americanized versions of Brit shows has been successfully done on television before (such as The Office), it's the first time that I'm aware that SyFy has tried it. Usually they have new versions of old television shows with hit-or-miss results (there was Battlestar Galactica, and then there was Flash Gordon).
The BBC series was okay but not great. If the British makers of the show are lucky, SyFy won't butcher it beyond recognition.
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. on 'Faces of America' and the Beer Summit
Six Reasons Why '24' Has Jumped the You-Know-What
The Super Bowl Commercials: The Best
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-29-2009 @ 2:45PM
tjj0819 said...
Well, the British version is only shooting it's second season, and the 1st season was only 6 or 7 episodes long and got better as it went along. It's improving and I'm looking forward to the 2nd season.
Reply
10-29-2009 @ 2:57PM
Ryan said...
"The BBC series was okay but not great."
Really? I quickly fell in love with it and its characters when it aired this summer on BBC America. I'm of two minds about this acquisition. I love it since it will open up the great stories and the cool concept to a wider audience, but I'm more than fearful that the American version will pale in comparison or worse, butcher it all together.
Having said that, I'll keep an open mind. Getting the cast right will be key since they need to have chemistry from the get go. They should also focus on getting the perfect writer (Whedon? Fuller?).
Reply
10-29-2009 @ 3:12PM
Sarah said...
Oh yeah, I agree with you Ryan. Even though it was a short season I really got into Being Human and the characters. (I still really want to know what Annie said to freak out her ex so much).
Anyways, if it's going to be Americanized I really hope they get the casting right and yes, Whedon would be perfect.
10-29-2009 @ 3:25PM
Jo said...
One day, America will be original and stop copying our programs. Life on Mars (English version) was amazing. The American one failed because they just copied it. I hope this does the same.
In any other place, this would be called plagiarism.
Reply
10-29-2009 @ 3:52PM
0megapart!cle said...
I don't think you know what plagiarism is. It's certainly not copying with the express permission of the original creators.
10-29-2009 @ 4:02PM
bc said...
Exactly. How many localized versions of 'Yo soy Betty, la fea' have there been so far? In some countries you can watch the local version and imported ones the same day.
10-29-2009 @ 4:25PM
mark perna said...
It's not plagarism, it's licensing. One is illegal and the other is big business. And the two shows weren't direct copies. The British version was vastly superior but they weren't copies. The American one had it's charm though and might have gone on to something nice if it had had the chance.
10-29-2009 @ 5:00PM
GL said...
"It's a bit like a supernatural Melrose Place."
I don't think this is a good description at all.
Reply
10-29-2009 @ 5:36PM
Anita said...
On the one hand, yay. On the other hand, American TV has become increasingly afraid of developing original TV in the past 5 years and that concerns me. When I visited Britain two years ago I was tired of seeing re-runs of American shows (SATC, Law & Order, etc.), but now it's happening in reverse. Thanks to the increasingly global community I can see the original British versions if I want through BBC America, DVDs, on-line, etc., so I'm hoping TV producers get tired of copying material from 10-20 years ago & other countries and return to what they used to do - original programming -
Reply
10-29-2009 @ 5:41PM
svrkevi said...
Cool, the UK show is really fun without trying to hard to be quirky about it...and it did get better as the season went on the pedo episode was pretty funny
Reply
10-29-2009 @ 5:51PM
mj said...
Enough with copying. This show is great. We never seem to get it. From Fawlty Towers, Coupling, Eleventh Hour, etc, we ruin good Brit shows. Why not just enjoy the original? Sorry, I will stick to that one.
Reply
10-29-2009 @ 11:20PM
RobynM said...
I tend to prefer the originals myself. I'll probably give this one a courtesy audit, but it does whiff of Unnecessary Remake.
10-30-2009 @ 12:58AM
cathy said...
I LOVE the British version... and I'm not sure I'd watch an American remake.
Reply
10-30-2009 @ 1:06PM
bwilly321 said...
I agree with those who despise US remakes. I can understand doing it back when we couldn't get the originals broadcast here, but now it's absurd. I will probably watch the syfy version only out of curiosity, and my expectations are pretty low.
Reply
10-31-2009 @ 10:51PM
meg said...
I loved the summer run of it on BBCA. I have also come to love british scifi a little more then american scifi. In my own way I think it's smarter. I'm afraid syfy will "americanize" so it looses it's point. But then again syfy is getting better this year so I hope I'll be surprised.
Reply