Hi, Matt. Love this section ...
Question: Hi, Matt. Love this section of TVGuide.com. There's an awful lot of great British stuff out there:
MI-5,
Hustle and, most recently,
Doctor Who. U.S. drama gets pretty well recognized in the U.K. — while the ratings are pretty measly, they get praised nonetheless. A lot of British stuff goes unrecognized in the U.S., like
Dancing with the Stars being a deal made by the BBC and ABC following the BBC's hit of
Strictly Come Dancing. Now the rumor mill is churning again, saying that
David E. Kelley is penning a pilot for ABC based on the BBC's latest big hit
Life on Mars. Do we care about any of this? What do you think of the latest U.K. shows to be sprinkled over the U.S.?
Answer: Most of them are fine, but I think they get plenty of respect, when deserved, in the U.S. critical press. (BBC America in particular gets glowing notices for many of its imports, from class acts like
Viva Blackpool to guilty pleasures like
Footballers' Wives.) AMC's
Hustle and A&E's
MI-5 (which the network insists will air in the "third quarter," meaning this summer) have also been greeted well, and the recent
Masterpiece Theatre broadcast of
Bleak House justifiably got some of the new year's best reviews. As for British shows remade into American series, the track record is spottier, and we tend to take most of them (the reality hits, anyway) at face value regardless of where the original concept came from.
American Idol and
Dancing with the Stars aren't hits because of where they originated, but because they were executed just right for the American audience. I wish David E. Kelley luck with
Life on Mars (which the
Hollywood Reporter says isn't due until fall 2007), but it's tricky getting these things right. (Witness
Coupling and, more recently, the dreadful
Teachers.)
The Office had some initial trouble being appreciated in some corners (including mine) because of the indelible merits of the original series. I like NBC's
Office more now than before (although it's best when in the office, as in the bring-your-kids-to-work episode, not when it goes outside, as in the dreadful episode where Dwight gave a motivational speech at a convention), but even
it pales compared to the original. If Kelley makes
Mars a hit, I'm sure he and we will acknowledge its source. But its success will have little to do with its origins.
