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Sep. 2nd, 2010 10:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tvordljOh crap. It's happening again. The American's are remaking another British tv series. They butchered Life on Mars and let's not even discuss Coupling. This time? It's Shameless which is a brilliant UK series about a large family in a run down part of Salford, what we would call public housing or projects. The father, Frank, is an alcholic who is pretty much useless and there are 6 kids, pretty much dragging themselves up. The first seaon had the oldest daughter, Fiona, as the mother figure since their mother had left them. Frank eventually gets involved with an agoraphobic woman, Sheila, who is mad as a box of hammers and quite a brilliant character. In the American series, being made by a cable station, Showtime, William H. Macy is playing Frank and he might be able to pull it off. He's a really good actor, low key, not flashy and with a sad-sack kind of demeanor often times. Apparently Joan Cusak is going to play Sheila as a recast. I do think she'll do the character justice as well.
The real problem comes with the child actors and the fact that American tv tends to sanitize things. Also, though there are very good actors here, i do find they don't have the same methods of delivering lines and the same subtlety as the British actors. The British sense of humour doesn't seem to translate as well either. I'm sure there are many North Americans that "get" British humour but the majority don't. I think it's probably a bit higher on average in Canada where we have a stronger connection to the U.K. Casting is so important. Anyone that saw the US version of Life on Mars probably shuddered at the original pilot with Colm Meany as Gene Hunt. They recast most of the roles and relocated it to New York which helped a tiny bit but as good as Harvey Keitel is, he was far too old for Gene Hunt or even Gene Hunt's dad! I think if you hadn't seen the UK version, you might not have minded it so much, i suppose. The US series was cancelled and i think they may have scrambled to write an ending. It showed. It was appalling!
So ... Shameless... Having said that, i think even the UK version isn't as good as it was in the first few seasons. The focus has shifted to the Maguire family and a number of the Gallagers have grown up and left the nest. There can't be too many more seasons left. I doubt the US version will make it past one or two. Having it on a cable station might give it a bit of a chance as they can get away with a lot more profanity, nudity and political incorrectness. Time will tell.
The real problem comes with the child actors and the fact that American tv tends to sanitize things. Also, though there are very good actors here, i do find they don't have the same methods of delivering lines and the same subtlety as the British actors. The British sense of humour doesn't seem to translate as well either. I'm sure there are many North Americans that "get" British humour but the majority don't. I think it's probably a bit higher on average in Canada where we have a stronger connection to the U.K. Casting is so important. Anyone that saw the US version of Life on Mars probably shuddered at the original pilot with Colm Meany as Gene Hunt. They recast most of the roles and relocated it to New York which helped a tiny bit but as good as Harvey Keitel is, he was far too old for Gene Hunt or even Gene Hunt's dad! I think if you hadn't seen the UK version, you might not have minded it so much, i suppose. The US series was cancelled and i think they may have scrambled to write an ending. It showed. It was appalling!
So ... Shameless... Having said that, i think even the UK version isn't as good as it was in the first few seasons. The focus has shifted to the Maguire family and a number of the Gallagers have grown up and left the nest. There can't be too many more seasons left. I doubt the US version will make it past one or two. Having it on a cable station might give it a bit of a chance as they can get away with a lot more profanity, nudity and political incorrectness. Time will tell.
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Date: 2010-09-02 01:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-02 04:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-02 04:37 pm (UTC)It would be like us over here trying to recreate "My Name is Earl"!
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Date: 2010-09-02 05:28 pm (UTC)http:\\diggerjohn.myopenid.com
Date: 2010-09-02 02:07 pm (UTC)Re: http:\\diggerjohn.myopenid.com
Date: 2010-09-02 04:33 pm (UTC)Re: http:\\diggerjohn.myopenid.com
Date: 2010-09-03 11:32 am (UTC)I know what you mean about the Maguire's but I've even warmed to them as they've moved from two-dimensional villains to having more depth.
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Date: 2010-09-03 11:34 am (UTC)Re: http:\\diggerjohn.myopenid.com
Date: 2010-09-03 02:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-02 02:18 pm (UTC)