[size=+1]Community Post #127 UK to US TV Comedy Show Special-Type-Thing[/size] Why is it that the only comedy show I can think of that moved from UK to the US is probably The Office up there. Originally the show that put Ricky Gervais on the map, paving the way for him to appear in Night At The Museum where we was strange, stilted, awkward and unfunny. Something of a charisma back hole when he opens his gob and never, ever... OK, so I'm not a fan but it's clear that The Office was popular enough to migrate. The UK version was a weekly story about a budding romance between a woman and Young Bilbo Baggins. It had a cast of characters in a situation that tried to emulate real life, sort of. It was pretty damn popular. It seems like the US version stripped almost everything out of it. They stuck in Steve Carell then also created Dwight Schrute, who seems to be an amalgamation of every horrible, competitive co-worker you've ever had till your left with a psycho prepared to do anything to further his career. Although, I know there's another show that's made the jump from the UK to the US and been good...What was it again? Umm... The difference here is that it was actually worse over here. I've sat through episodes of the UK version that aired between 1988 and 1998. Early episodes where made up mainly of actual actors and Paul Merton (who is wonderful in this as he's the only one trying to actually make up jokes). Clive Anderson has it in him to be funny but rarely manages it. I dunno, he's a little stiff for my tastes. What livens up the show is when someone awesome and funny does show up like Steven Fry, Hugh Lorrie and Sandi Toksvig. Pictured is Sandy Toksvig (the woman at the back) who now hosts the new version of 'Fifteen to One'. Paul Merton (sitting on the floor in the grey jacket) has taken permanent residence on political satire panel show 'Have I Got News For You'. Clive Anderson (in the middle with the pinstripe suit) has appeared to fallen off the face of the globe apart from the odd appearance on panel shows. Josie Lawrence (the woman sitting on the floor, bottom right) and Tony Slattery (in the black jumper on the far right) are both working as TV actors. They might pop up here and there. Later series would add in people you might recognise: Colin Mochrie, Ryan Stiles, Wayne Brady and Greg Proops. Yep! They practised over here for a while before they turned up on American shores with the show that would explode over there. Over here, Who's Line is only remembered as being American. But, as interesting as they are, what about when it doesn't quiiite work? Well there's a couple I can think of but the big, biiig example known throughout a certain fanbase is...No, there was never a UK My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic that you've never heard of. It's Red Dwarf. Are you a fan of Sci-fi? Awesome! Your likely to enjoy this. It's a mix of jokes and bizarre science fiction concepts. There are no aliens out there, humanity is alone! The only other creatures are either mechaniods or genetically engineered by humans. The idea is that the very last human being alive is David Lister, a beer-soaked space bum. He's stuck on a colossal mining ship that's three million years out into deep space, slowly trying to get home. Meanwhile, there's a steady stream of weird things trying to ruin Lister's day or kill him. Which would be problematic for the whole 'Human Race's Last Hope' thing. His crewmates are Arnold Rimmer; his irritating Bunkmate who died but was resurrected as a hologram, a creature who evolved from Lister's cat over the 3 million years on the ship and Kryten; a flustering android programmed for housecleaning but seems to have such a depth of scientific knowledge that it even puts Holly; the Ship's computer, out of a job eventually. So, in the UK, this is considered one of the best sit-coms ever made. Right up there with Blackadder and Fawlty Towers and such. "Additional: Our deepest fear is going space crazy through loneliness. The only thing that helps me keep my slender grip on reality is the friendship I have with my collection of singing potatoes." - Holly, Red Dwarf So, they tried seeing if they could export it to the US. From what I know from interviews, there were plenty of problems. One was that UK Show Writers Rob Grant and Doug Naylor were almost entirely ignored in the writing process, instead a bunch of American sitcom writers took over, trying to plug in all these ideas. A cast was hired and shooting was about to start soon, even though the script was pretty much disliked by almost everyone but the people in charge. Grant and Naylor did rewrite the script with something that was far better liked by the cast but something closer to the original was performed and recorded instead, despite their best efforts. The result is frankly pretty infamous for just how flat it is. [youtube]8mlnntKi2no[/youtube] Apologies for the quality of this video but try to understand that this thing has been bootlegged the hell out of over the decade or so since it was made. So, there's a few things of note here. One, some jokes are OK but not enough to really save the show. It's a lot goofier than the UK Original. I mean, there's a hologram talking right to camera about being dead, which seems like it's treating you as an idiot rather than how the original shoved that lot into conversations between Lister and Rimmer. Next, you'll recognise that the only member of the cast from the original present here is Robert Llewellyn as Kryten, a little like how they handled the US version of the IT Crowd (yes, that is a thing, and yes, a Youtube video of the whole thing is floating around somewhere). Mainly, we're getting some of the best jokes Kryten had at the time being shoehorned in along with trying to get him into the continuity early rather than finding him on a derelict ship much, much later on. Next, yes! That is Jane Leeves as Holly, who is better known as Daphne Moon from Frasier. And...I guess she's OK. I mean, not all her lines quite work and, well, Norman Lovett has such a strangely underplayed charm about his performance that completely threw the idea of what a ship computer should sound like out the window. That's why it was funny because it was little daft little head that wasn't entirely all there. Leeves' computer is actually very like how you imagine an AI computer to be like for the most part, so doesn't quite work as well. Maybe if another actor was there...I dunno...Steven Wright? "We've run out of almost all supplies of food on the ship. Meat, vegetables, Hot Dogs. All gone. But it's OK: we have enough napkins to last us for decades." Lastly, David Lister in this is too handsome. Yes, that's an issue because the character is meant to be a loveable slob that enjoys getting hammered and eating curries. Craig Charles makes sense in this role. Handsome and tall Craig Bierko does not. Even with that stubble, he does not look like the type to just lounge around as the last of the human race. As you can imagine, the pilot didn't go well and the show never went anywhere! There you go. Know you know! Both about those TV shows and that I have way, waaay to much information in my head about largely inconsequential trivia. [size=+1]- Site News[/size] Artist - Song From 1/31/2015 &I ft. Giggly Maria - Dive Callenby - I am Still Pony! - -Destructionism_ PonyFireStone - Aftermath - Pull Me Through (PonyFireStone Remix) Reuel - Diamond (A Theme for Rarity) SDreamExplorerS - Curse Of Atlantis Pegasus Simon Hjort - Foal Mountain Sphere Of Ability - Stop The Bats TAPS - Battle The L-Train - The Crystal Pendant Vanna -The Real Pink Pony (Vanna) WoodLore - Down South In Appleloosa Furthermore, we're working on some renovations for the site so, if you notice any dips or if the site suddenly stops working, that's what we're doing: fiddling. More when we're a little more done. [size=+1]- Recommended Reading[/size] I think this is still open. It's a competition for either a picture or poem concerning Celestia and Luna after Luna's return from the Moon. The prize is still unclaimed. Mysterious! Wait?! I over looked this? No way! Right, I must rectify this! There is a fantastic looking chest of specially written Daring Do Books that not only come in a set but come in this amazing looking chest that almost everypony would want badly. Because reasons. It's such a neat piece, it's hard not to find it appealing. A Fandom Comparison Thread. Kinda amusing. Reminds me of a debate I had about who would win in a straight up fight: Daleks or The Borg. We all agreed that The Borg's ability to adapt to enemy weapons and their sheer numbers would likely devastate the Daleks, as long as they could figure out how to open the Dalek's armoured hulls. We just could never figure out how much of a fight Dalek's would be able to put up before being overwhelmed. We argued for ours over the fine details of how powerful a Dalek death ray was and where on a Borg ship you ought to fire. We're still arguing about it three weeks later... This Thread won't stop being weird. So far, it's established my middle name as Dennis and put the head of one of my school photos onto the body of The Terminator then pitted me against Nazi Zombies, with a nuclear explosion as the backdrop to this. I may consider closing it when start making My Little Foxy or something... Speaking of what I've been getting up to, I made myself into a My Little Pony: CCG card! Because I'm just that kind of nutjob, I guess. Still, they're surprisingly easy to make while also being enormously close to the real thing, Plus, Tyro riding a dragon. That's pretty cool! Fun Fact: This was very close to getting into the new 'Jurassic World' trailer but was cut because the Dragon wanted more pay. EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! SO CUUUUTE! [size=+1]- Survival Guide[/size] How about some Youtube Music, I know of? [size=+2]331Erock[/size] A Metal Cover of A-ha's 'Take On Me' I like metal. This guy is a damn good guitarist and seems to have managed to make a decent name for himself by covering a wide variety of songs, giving them this energetic, metal make over. This version of 'Take On Me' is one of my favourites by him but most of his arrangements are tones of fun. [size=+2]Disney Melody[/size] Watch Here An A-cappella version of a selection of Disney classics. Despite the crude set up and having to endure the audience, this is a really entertaining little collection from a surprisingly talented group. Worth a look and maybe a little sing along too... [size=+2]State Farm® - Eat, Fry, Love: A Cautionary Remix[/size] Watch Here What you were likely expecting was State Farm to make a safety video about their Turkey Sized Deep Fat Fryers and the dangers of using them. What would weren't expecting was the fact that William Shatner stars in it and he's not drunk in it. He's not taking it very seriously either. Even more hypnotisingly baffling is that they turned the weird little video into a catchy remix that will not leave your head, no matter how hard you try. [size=+2]Somebodies: A Youtube Orchestra[/size] Watch Here I'm a fan of Gotye. You'll remember him from the surprise hit: 'Somebody That I Used To Know'. It's likely you heard it somewhere. Well, plenty of people tried to make they're own version of it in a huge variety of instruments, styles and methods. Everything from guitar, to choir to saxophone. Gotye then took as many as he could find and made a huge remix out of as many renditions as possible to create a fantastic remix of the original that seems something of a celebration and thank you to the interest in the song. Well worth checking out. In my opinion, all of Gotye's stuff is worth checking out but start somewhere, ay? And that's that for this week. Now, I'll think of something else for next week's topic. I promise it won't be more TV stuff... Even if I didn't get to vent my spleen over what the American's did to Life on Mars!
