Remake Rant

[mattmn]

I watched the first episode of the US version of Shameless last night that aired on the premium cable Showtime channel.

What's the point? Seriously? The original UK show is still going strong after seven seasons. It's a great show. Why remake it? The original is already in English.

I'm sure that Studio Execs, in their infinite wisdom,

Comments

[spacevlad]

Well, tell us how you REALLY feel!

My one counter to this is: the sad reality is that 95% of Americans would never have even heard of these shows, much less see any of them, unless they are remade here. If you have to choose that these people 1. never see these shows which are based on great ideas, characters, and writing, or 2. watch an American remake, I'd go with #2. I know that's sort of a bullshit choice and ideally we'd go with option #3 (US channels just show the originals) but that's not happening. I mean, even somebody who likes good TV like my cousin Teddy had no clue that Shameless was based on a UK show...but he seems to like the US version.

The other thing to consider is money. These production companies, actors, etc...they all get to make money on these remakes, probably more than they would have if they just ported over the UK original (that's certainly the case for the writers, actors, and production crews). It always comes down to money.

Besides even if they did play the UK originals on US channels, you'd download them anyway because you wouldn't tolerate the editing down to 45 minutes and PAL-to-NTSC weirdness that somehow still vexes people. ;)