io9 
Enter your username and password.
San Francisco, 8:41 PM
Sat Nov 7
12 posts in the last 24 hours
Tip your editors: tips@io9.com
Editor-in-Chief:
Annalee Newitz | Email
News Editor:
Charlie Jane Anders | Email
Associate Editor:
Meredith Woerner | Email
Assistant Editor:
Lauren Davis | Email
Weekend Editor:
Graeme McMillan | Email
Contributors:
Joshua Glenn
Stephen Goldmeier | Email
Ed Grabianowski | Email
Austin Grossman
Paul Hogan | Email
Lauren Davis | Email
Chris Hsiang | Email
Lynn Peril | Email
Ann VanderMeer
Alasdair Wilkins | Email
Graphic Designer:
Stephanie Fox | Email
Interns:
Tim Barribeau | Email
Julia Carusillo | Email
Alex Eichler | Email
Cyriaque Lamar | Email
Caitlin Petrakovitz | Email
Mary Ratliff | Email
Josh Snyder | Email
Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
10/30/09
I hate the majority of US televison shows. The actors and actresses with few exceptions are pretty and vapid. They just cannot act. Too many female characters are portrayed as fashion-obsessed airheads. The males are portrayed as douchebags.
The actors and actresses in the UK look more like real people. "Spaced" was the first televison show I could actually relate to as a female geek. I am Black and there are no Black geek characters on US televison except that horrible Urkle character from "Family Matters". "The IT Crowd" is a UK show has a Black geek character named Marcus Moss.
I hate shows like "Desperate Housewives" , "Girlfriends", and "Gossip Girl". "Ugly Betty" is the only US show I actually bother to watch.
I read they are planning to remake "Shameless" which is one of my other favorite UK shows. The very "Britishness" is what makes shows like "Being Human" and "Shameless" unique. Americans know so little about other cultures. We have to "Americanize" everything. This madness has to end! #beinghuman
10/29/09
10/29/09
Siffy, not so much... #beinghuman
10/29/09
10/29/09
like i have been saying many times we need new scifi not remakes #beinghuman
10/29/09
How about, if something is good, you release it in the states? Doctor Who has found a gigantic following here, so much so that BBC America has started airing things concurrently. So why can't SyFy just buy Being Human's syndication rights and air it here instead of trying to make it over again?
I feel the same way about the Americanized version of Top Gear that keeps faltering here in the states. Top Gear can't be brought over because there can be no imitation of it. It's those three hosts and that format specifically that makes the how what it is.
I haven't seen Being Human yet, but I imagine it's the same way. British networks air American shows instead of making their own versions, don't they? Aside from game shows I mean. I'm sure that they loved Stargate and Babylon 5 just as much even though it wasn't made on their shores. Can't we return the favor?
10/29/09
The pilot/prototype eppisode thing was a lot more fun, imho.
Its certainly no "Jeykll" #beinghuman
10/29/09
10/29/09
10/29/09
First: if there's one thing SyFy can actually do in it's scripted shows, it's finding actors with some sort of unique charisma and fitting them together with unique chemistry.
Say what you want about the network's shows, but the casts have all had chemistry. We'll start with SG-1, which granted, wasn't originally pulled together by Sci-Fi, and ditto with Farscape, which was technically put together by Jim Henson studios. Both those casts had incredible chemistry, and with the exception of Richard Dean Anderson, were mostly unknown actors-- and let's admit that when SG-1 started, Richard Dean Anderson was risking has-been status.
But let's give credit where credit is due-- Battlestar Galactica. Even leaving out the rediscovery of Olmos and Mcdonnel (not to mention their unique chemistry together), consider a few names: Jamie Bamber. Tricia Helfer. Katee Sackoff. James Callis. There's a whole list of actors that BSG discovered and set on the path to promising careers.
Also, Warehouse 13 has a pretty awesome cast, and they've had chemistry from day one. The quirky chemistry of the cast is what makes the show work, as it makes the quirky nature of it's writing believable, of an entire world dominated by mad scientists and flukes of nature somehow gone wrong.
In just a few episodes, I've also been impressed by the casting of SGU. And the writing is fresh, even if the show is basically Stargate: Voyager. My main concerns about the show have more to do with wondering if the writers will give their better cast characters with enough depth to fill and round out.
Even SyFy's other shows that I don't like show amazing casting with incredible chemistry. They just have problems with plot and writing. The reason Eureka lost interest with me was that I hated it's premise, but I'll be the first to admit that it's cast has great charisma and carries the show much further than it's writing deserves. I was hooked on SG Atlantis until the writing got a bit too drawn out. From what I've seen of Sanctuary, the cast is again spectacular, but the writing is just too hooked on the 'we fight bad guys' trope. It feels like it wants to be Buffy with bigger guns.
Which brings us to Sci-Fi's problem with writing, in which case I think an American Being Human is actually well-suited to the network.
Let's admit it: SyFy's writing problem is budget.
They had to cancel the amazingly well-written Farscape because they couldn't afford the production budget of the show's costuming, set pieces, etc., and a universe that wasn't as exotically alien just wouldn't have been Farscape.
That's why SG-1 fared better; less freaky aliens, and military surplus is cheap to buy for costuming. SG-1's eventual writing problem was a reluctance to pull the plug on what was obviously the network's flagship show in favor of the untested SG-Atlantis or the more expensive BSG.
BSG fared better because it didn't require many new sets, and those that it did were cheap to replicate. It's budget problem was paying for it's amazing cast, and they finagled their way into that by strategic DVD sales and cutting the seasons in half.
SG-Universe has worked so far because so far there's only really one set that counts that isn't modern day America (aka Vancouver).
Warehouse 13 works because it's major set piece is both cheap to replicate, and most of the show takes place in modern day America (Vancouver), and it's major technical needs are a few cool looking props.
Eureka blows because it eventually settled into 'super-science breakdown of the week.' Tied to it's set and more importantly it's in-character location, it's too repetitive. Sanctuary doesn't have Eureka's location problem, but suffers from the monster of the week bit. SG-Atlantis was great until they had to start re-cycling bad-guys to live within their budget.
Being Human simply doesn't have these budget hurdles. Extreme costuming is limited. The setting would be modern day America (read: likely Vancouver again). It's a drama, so there doesn't have to be as much budget for complex action scenes or monsters of the week. There is no escalation to apocalypse, as in Buffy/Angel, that requires an ever escalating cast of bad guys to fight. In other words, it presents no major budget hurdles to feedback into the writing and moderate it towards lame.
As for 'not being British enough,' meh. Some people have a fetish for anything British, but really.. meh. British comedy isn't really all that special. I don't like either version of the Office.
And I'd question whether SyFy isn't going to be edgy enough. I mean really, they're looking to compete with shows like Mad Men, to capture some of the audience of True Blood. They got pretty edgy in BSG (seriously, how many times did we see near naked Jamie Bamber, or Katee Sackoff, or Tricia Helfer, or... list goes on. The BSG crew screwed like rabbits, in retrospect.) #beinghuman
10/29/09
10/29/09
But I fear they'll focus-group it to death. #beinghuman
10/29/09
And as far as chemistry is concerned. They had none until the fourth episode. Even Tovey (aka George) has stated this. Now for a six episode show, that is not good.
So, I say. Bring it on. Though if I were redoing the show, I'd set it in Boston or Philly. Then redo George and Mitchell's initial meeting. (Outside of a diner, really? That's the best you can come up with for a vampire and werewolf?) And redo Annie's storyline because I never bought it.
As far as humor goes? Really? You don't think Americans can do dark humor? Watch Rescue Me or Dexter for some dark humor. We can do it fine. #beinghuman
10/29/09
10/29/09
10/29/09
10/29/09
10/29/09
10/29/09
Have you lot paid ANY attention to any of our TV shows, movies, books, or news? Of COURSE we have social classes -- every society does!
Pff. And you call Americans provincial.
("You" plural, not "thou" megaorange. Really would have been useful if the singular-plural 2nd person pronoun distinction had survived. We need to adopt the "y'all" construction.) #beinghuman
10/30/09
10/29/09
Also, there's no way Americans would accept the British accents of the original. The six episodes would be over by the time the audience figured out the slang. It's best left for BBC America.
10/29/09
Six good episodes that do everything the writer wanted to do, as opposed to 6 good episodes, 8 passable, 4 filler and 6 that actively damage the series. (Dollhouse, je t'accuse).
That said, I'm sure you could make a decent show that stands on its own. After all, Being Human is very focused on the British Flatmate Experience, and British Horror Tropes.
There's room for an American version around the same core concept of Monsters trying to fit into society. But it'd probably end up being quite Men in Black. #beinghuman
10/29/09
10/29/09
Maybe the fact that the original series was so good is partly because the seasons are so short. #beinghuman
10/29/09
Imagine taking Heroes' budget and dividing it among 4 6-episode series. Even if three of the four are garbage, that's still a winning decision. Bring the best back for a second 6-episode season, lose the garbage, and try again. #beinghuman
10/29/09
I have a feeling Being Human was limited to six eps for financial reasons (due to the smaller British audience) not because the story had to be told that way. If more money was available, I'm sure the creator could have planned a longer and richer story.
I think we like so many of the British series so much is because we're always left wanting more.
10/29/09
10/29/09
I've watched Doctor Who, The Office, Torchwood, Merlin, Robin Hood, Jekyll, Life on Mars, Demons, and probably others I can't remember and I found the slang of Being Human a little difficult to grasp at first. For me, the British slang is part of the fun but I just don't think the average American viewer enjoys it. Come to think of it, maybe it's the slang more than the actual accent that's the problem. #beinghuman
10/29/09
10/29/09
10/29/09
The issue isn't just British accents, it is any accent. A long time ago I tried to figure out why on the show Cheers, which takes place in Boston, there was only one character who sounded like he was from anywhere near Massachusetts. Cliff Claven, and the rare episode with his mother, were the only times you would hear an accent on that show. #beinghuman
10/29/09
10/29/09
This raises a larger question of why do American audiences not accept the original British version? Or maybe more accurately why does Hollywood feel they need to be reworked for us Americans? It seems like the British accept American shows, Friends for instance, as is. If the British can understand all the cultural Americanisms that are in a show like Friends, why can't we do the same for their shows? Or has America gotten to the point where we no longer have any original ideas. Perhaps that is the case, what with all the movie remakes and movies based on the toys of my childhood that are coming out of Hollywood these days.
10/29/09
10/29/09
10/29/09
Also, you can't really extrapolate from a self-selected group like BBCA viewers to the average NBC viewer, and Torchwood already had a built-in fan base. #beinghuman
10/29/09
This won't translate well in the U.S. Most U.K. shows don't work when that's done. Why can't SyFy just show the original version? While they're at it, why not air the original episodes of Red Dwarf, as well? #beinghuman
10/29/09
10/29/09
I've said the same about Top Gear. I'm not a car guy by any means (or I would be over at Jalopnik) but I love Top Gear. America is arguably the strongest car culture in the world and has the diversity of locations required, but we have never had a car show get to that level (well, maybe Pimp My Ride). There is something in the way that the Brits deliver the humor (subtle, no waiting around for laughs) that just makes those type of shows work. #beinghuman
10/29/09
I can't imagine an American version of the show I would enjoy enough to actually sit down and watch, let alone love as much as I do Brit Top Gear.
After talking it up, now I really want to go watch some Top Gear.