TV/Movies Megathread

[dps]

Not really, it's not only about the language, but also about adapting the show to a different cultural environment, and British shows can tend to be very "British".

American shows are very American.

Yet they "travel" better and are already made with a broader audience in mind. Also, like it or not, the American cultural hegemony makes them easily understandable/relatable/acceptable/whatever than British ones. Yet British shows still have their niches, like fancy period pieces, of which Downton Abbey is the flagship, or Sherlock, which is quintaessentially British. As for comedies, humour is a rather peculiar quality and sometimes it's not very relatable when it goes to another country. For instance I remember lots of British TV comedies in Spanish television (mostly in the regional channels) in the 80s, such as The Young Ones, Blackadder, Allo Allo etc, but hardly any nowadays.

Do the British ever remake American shows and films?  I can't think of any off the top of my head.

I recall there were one or two attempts in the distant past that never got anywhere.

Plus gameshow formats of course, but that's a bit of a different thing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_British_television_series_based_on_American_television_series

Interesting that most of those are game shows. 

I've never seen any of them except the UK version of Law and Order.  Which was a weird remake anyway. because apparently they just re-used the American scripts, just changing the names and locations, and not making any plot changes except those necessary to account for differences in US and British laws (not that the original always got NY state law right, anyway--there were lots of references to the death penalty, which NY doesn't have).

[garbon]

To be fair it made sense for them to start with the best of episodes of law and order (original) as gave it strong footing. I thought it interesting to see how they adapted for another legal system/culture.

And they did end up having plots not from the original.

[mongers]

Watching 'Rhod Gilbert's Work Experience', each  episode the Welsh comedian tries out a new job, this week he's trying to be a paranormal investigator.

Ever other line of the narration is amusing:

"My bum-cheeks clenched so tight, they could have milled wheat." 

"The undead wondering aimlessly through the corridors like a fire drill at BBC Wales" 

"Cue the scariest game since the Broadmoor spin the bottle tournament"

[HVC]

They're remaking Ben hur. Fuck you Hollywood, you're turning me into an angry old man.

[The Brain]

They're remaking Ben hur. Fuck you Hollywood, you're turning me into an angry old man.

Again?

[HVC]

They're remaking Ben hur. Fuck you Hollywood, you're turning me into an angry old man.

Again?

im sure someone was complaining in 1959 too

[Admiral Yi]

Watching Warm Springs on HBO GO.  FDR gets polio.  Kenneth Branagh and that boney chick from Sex in the City.  Enjoying, filling a hole in my historical knowledge.

[jimmy olsen]

They're remaking Ben hur. Fuck you Hollywood, you're turning me into an angry old man.

The novel's really all about evangelical christianity. The title is literally, Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ and was equal to Uncle Tom's cabin in its influence on 19th century America.

Is a modern remake really going to use all the Christian imagery that was used in 1959?
Strip that out and a modern remake will just be Deathrace with chariots.

[The Minsky Moment]

They're remaking Ben hur. Fuck you Hollywood, you're turning me into an angry old man.

Ben Hur (Heston) was itself a remake of a successful, well regarded movie.

[celedhring]

Despite the Christian mumbo-jumbo, Ben-Hur is essentially a revenge story (always loved how Ben-Hur doesn't go Christian-hippy until *after* Mesalah dies in the race). I guess they will make a token effort to trick/please the bible thumper audience while going nuts with the action.

The trailers look awful anyhow.

[celedhring]

The Band Wagon (1953). My favorite Fred Astaire film, about an aging Broadway star that seeks to rejuvenate his career with a last show, and comes at odds with a pretentious director. Together with Singing in the Rain (that came a year earlier) they signal the epitome of the Hollywood stage musical. The film is famous for the "That's Entertainment" tune which everybody has heard countless times, but for me the gem has always been the "Girl Hunt Ballet" that Michael Jackson homaged in the Smooth Criminal video.

Heck, I think I'm gonna follow it up with Blue Skies. I love Astaire.

[Savonarola]

Legally Blonde 2:  The Quest for More Money Red, White and Blonde (2003)

Bigger, dumber and blonder than the first one.  In the original Reese Witherspoon's character is obviously supposed to be intelligent but misjudged by her peers.  In this one she actually comes across as stupid; but fortunately so does everyone else in Washington DC (except Bob Newhart).  This film might have worked better if they had gone the Lassie route and made the dog the brains of the operation.

[celedhring]

Why are you subjecting yourself to so much crap lately, Sav?

[Savonarola]

I also watched a collection of Our Gang shorts, that had films from the generation at the beginning of sound (led by Jackie Cooper) to the early Spanky-Alfalfa-Buckwheat-Darla generation.  It's still surprising how young Spanky McFarland was when he started (he was 3) and how young he was when he became the ringleader (age 7.)  Hal Roach had struggled to find a leader since Jackie Cooper left the gang and Spanky fit the bill perfectly.  (And, like most of the rascals, by age 14 he was all washed up.)

[Savonarola]

Why are you subjecting yourself to so much crap lately, Sav?

Some of them are things that my wife wanted to see ("Ice Age: Collision Course" and the Legally Blonde movies.)  Also I've run out of silent films on Netflix, so I've been watching early sound films which, well, there's a reason for the jokes in "Singin' in the Rain."