I'm afraid of Americans

[trinityofone]

Trailer for ABC's Life on Mars remake

...

I think I just threw up in my mouth a little.

There goes my strategy of remaining cautiously optimistic! Reality: 1, Optimism: 0

Also, I think it's worth noting that I finally hit my limit with American Voice Over Guy. I miss the calm, soothing voices of the BBC. I can be ex-pat now?

Picture it:

Some Guy in a Pub, 5 Years From Now: So what finally drove you away? Was it political?
Me: Nope. They remade Life on Mars.

Comments

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

Los Angeles. Which, I maintain (http://community.livejournal.com/lifein1973/1195998.html?thread=14291678#t14291678), could have been awesome.

[ms-maree.livejournal.com]

It might still be. Maybe if they like, do an original series set in LA in the 70s, which is 'inspired' by Life on Mars, instead of redoing it word for word.

I'm not against adaptation, or things being remade, but shouldn't they wait a few years or something, maybe a decade.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

That's not what they're doing, though. And I'm not against adaptation, either—just against bad adaptation. ;-)

[ms-maree.livejournal.com]

I just remember watching the US QAF and how the storyline was word for exactly the same, barring a few lines here and there.

Do you think this is the same with Life on Mars?

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

The preview I linked to suggests that, at least with the pilot, the American version is going to be sticking pretty close. Which I wouldn't mind if they also stuck to the spirit of the original show...but that they don't seem to understand very well. :(

[ms-maree.livejournal.com]

I'm wondering if in part 'the spirit' is something that can't really translate.

It's like, some shows are quintisentially American, or British, or Australian.

For instance, I heard they the Americans (studio) are redoing a popular Australian comedy, which is about a working family in West Sydney - all the humour is about that, the show is popular in Britain, but I wonder how much of the humour they get, there is a lot of nuance in it.

And then I wonder why the Americans want to redo it, when they have similar themed shows about the working class like Roseanne or My Name is Earl.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

I think what you're talking about in terms of spirit—that can often be a problem, especially, I think, when it comes to comedies, as humor can be somewhat region-specific. However, with a drama like LoM, I really do think it could work—if the people making it got the show. From what I've seen and heard, they are mimicking the concept and plot of the original, but they don't seem to understand what it's actually about. Gene Hunt mixes metaphors; American television producers, apparently, fail at them completely.

[burntcopper.livejournal.com]

I'm really confused about how it's going to work, since for a start, the American seventies cop show is a very different beast from the UK seventies cop show. They had Streets of San Francisco (which I think is why they've picked '72) with a bit of Starsky and Hutch, we had The Sweeney. Which are... was SoSF sleazy and gritty and rather kitchen sink? Did they even *manage* such lines of glorious awesomeness as 'Getcher trousers on, you're nicked' and 'We're the Sweeney, son, and we haven't had any dinner' ? (I bet he'll make the occasional ref to Starsky and Hutch so that everyone else goes 'WTF is he talking about?', since S&H is '75) Half the point of 00s vs the 70s attraction for Sam is the fact that he can go in all guns blazing without all the forms and sterility of 00s policing. Which, er, going from SWAT team to seventies... And I bet they take out all the casual racism.

Not to mention if you really wanted to mimic it, you'd set in somewhere like Chicago or Detroit which relies heavily on the manufacturing industry - which they at least successfully did with the Office and QAF, set it somewhere that has the same characteristics as the original show's town.

My head hurts.

[ms-maree.livejournal.com]

And I bet they take out all the casual racism.

That crossed my mind when I saw that there was a black cop on the US trailer. I do believe (I don't know) but I'm prepared to believe there were black police officers in the US at that time, in a minority (as I've just recently read a book on the FBI at that time, and they had a black agent).

But I have doubts that there is going to be that 'casual racism' which would have been part of the culture then. How will 'Gene' interact with the black officer? Etc.

And then, am I suppose to think that everything was hunky dory in race relations in the LAPD in the early 70s as opposed to the UK? (but maybe I'm jumping to conclusions too early...I don't know).

[burntcopper.livejournal.com]

I'm hoping they keep it in. that and the sexism, because the whole point is to show how different the 70s are - the ugly stuff as well as the fun stuff. Also see me turn to mum at one point after they said something to/about Annie and she pointed out that how they were treating Annie was mild.

[ms-maree.livejournal.com]

Annie and she pointed out that how they were treating Annie was mild.

Yeah, that thought also crossed my mind. Maybe they are getting confused with shows like 'Cagney and Lacey' or that one back around that time with a policewomen, and it pretended everything was fine, or almost fine with easily resolved prejudices.

Because it's one thing to watch a show in that period, where actual history is being retconned to rosie 'everyone held hands and it was all super nice' and then doing a show now set in that period today.

If it's a serious drama about the times, it's the responsibility of the TPTB to no sugarcoat the prejudices of the era.