Comments on: 4 Great American TV Shows Stolen from the British

By: Stuart

Stuart — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 00:00:09 +0000

The British original of ‘The Office’ was one of the greatest comedy tv shows ever written. For me at least having a remake, really ruined it. It should have just been left as it was.

As for ‘Life on Mars’ this is my favourite tv show of all time. Maybe I held a bit of a prejudice when I watched the American remake, but I hated it. I understand that they wanted to make it different but the characters didn’t match, especially Gene Hunt. It just seemed to let down a great original tv show.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 16:04:58 +0000

I’ve heard that they’re making an American version of Torchwood. It’d probably be confusing though, since there’s no American Doctor Who for the backstory.

Aand, I prefer the American Office. They’re both pretty funny, though.

By: greg t.

greg t. — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 14:42:03 +0000

excuse me, “Humphries” not humphrey.
sorry

By: greg t.

greg t. — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 14:39:24 +0000

They even had an pilot for an american version of “Are you being served”. It was called “Beans of Boston”, and it flopped.
It had Charlotte Rea in the “slocombe” part, with alan sues (laugh in) as the “humphrey”, and John Hillerman (magnum P I) as the “peacock”.
I love the original.
an American Hyacinth Bucket wouldn’t work either.

By: Patty O'Heater

Patty O'Heater — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 07:45:41 +0000

I’ve never seen the American version of The Office, but it could not be worse than the British version. Ricky Gervais is about as funny as dysentery.

By: berserkley

berserkley — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 18:49:45 +0000

It’s stupid to compare the US Office with the British Office. Because of the differences in culture and humor between America and Britain, it’s like they’re two completely unrelated shows. Both are very funny, and both deal with truths unique to their respective cultures. I have personally worked for bosses who were exactly like David Brent (filled with an over inflated sense of self worth and importance) and Michael Scott (someone with a pathological need to be liked), which for me makes the comedy even better because I worked in similar situations to both series. I ‘m not going to waste time saying which one is the better show; I have the complete British Office recorded, and I’m currently enjoying the US Office on prime time. They both make me laugh my ass off, and in the end that’s all that matters.

By: freakaway

freakaway — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 16:34:53 +0000

excuse me im not american or british but this whole british superiority is kinda sickening who cares who copied who…as long as the shows are entertaining tat should be enuf…there are plenty of countries copying other countries shows and ideas besides the UK-US and u dun see them wasting time creating a forum discussing the shows that were copied…u guys are basically just looking at it from one angle…there are pleeeeeeenty of shows that the UK has copied off from america too as in who’s the boss sorry to say is originally from the US which started airing in 1984 and the british made a version of the show called the upper hand in 1990 so no question on who really is the original creator and also coupling is like an adaptation from friends as friends started airing in 1994 and coupling only 2000 so i dun get how can u guys keep insisting that friends was ripped from coupling i mean cant you see the difference in the clothing and tv quality??? the era was clearly way different from the 90’s when friend was 1st shown..IMO it doesn’t matter who used whose ideas as long as the viewers enjoyed it tats all tat matters as the reason shows are created are to entertain who cares where it came from originally…plus american humour is far easier to understand than british humour cuz most of the time the references made and ur use of language can only be understood by the british themselves so of cuz u may find it funnier but for the rest of us from other countris the US versions are funnier cuz of its obvious humour qualities…it may seem dumb to you British superiorities but as one person said humour depends on each person so whose to say urs is better???as long as it makes us laugh its fine by me….i loveeed friends even in the later seasons it still managed to make me laugh out loud every episode even after watchin it over a million timess….

By: Kate H

Kate H — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 08:34:46 +0000

I’m a huge fan of British humor (loved “Fawlty Towers” and of course “Monty Python’s Flying Circus”), but between the UK and US versions of The Office, I have to say, US wins, hands down, For the very simple reason that the US version has John Krasinski…oh yeah.

(don’t feel bad, Brits, you’ve got the ever so sexy and Scottish David Tennant, although he’s not on Doctor Who anymore so I’m not sure what you’re going to do)

By: @cheesehead1976

@cheesehead1976 — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 00:52:55 +0000

Is it really considered stealing if the British counterparts are making money off the show? (Ricky Gervais/Office)

By: kara

kara — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 23:08:46 +0000

american ‘the office’ makes me anxious and i cant watch it…silly sounding i know. comedy central has starting airing the british version, but ive not watched it because i didnt get the english humor in that ‘have you been served’ or what ever its called that airs on PBS, so i assume i wouldnt get it either.