At some point you just have to admit defeat. There are just some shows that don't copy well from one country to the other. Case in point, The Young Ones. Can you imagine ever seeing that show on US television? It would suck balls. It is classicly British and works best like that. Just enjoy it for what it is and don't try and f**k with it. The Office on the other hand is something that everyone knows in every country of the world. Hell, there probably is an Indian version of The Office airing right now for all I know. It will work anywhere.
For at least the 5th time, maybe the sixth depending on how you count. I know, I know, 1, 2, 3. Whatever. Fox is going to take a shot at redoing Absolutely Fabulous. Notice I said the word redoing. It is not going to be a direct copy. It also won't work. Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley were just a pair that cannot be found again. Networks have tried it here again and again and it just won't work because no one will go edgy enough or take enough chances. Maybe, maybe FOX can do it because they do like taking some chances, but this is a show that needs to be on one of the cable networks or even like HBO or Showtime. Someplace where people can just let loose.
Everyone will take a look and what it will be will be two women who are blah and bland and with no spark and no life. What FOX should do is try and talk the two women out of retirement, set them up for about a year and see how many episodes they can crank out.
SO WRONG! SO VERY, VERY WRONG!
ReplyDeleteWait, can it be Shirley MacLaine and Sharon Stone?
ReplyDeleteI LOVE ABFAB, but you're right Enty, only Cable can do it justice.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I remember the CBS version with Jean Smart and Mary Macdonell that was okay.
Then there was Cybill with Christine Baranski playing a very Patsy like character.
AbFab is one of my all time fave shows.
ReplyDeleteYou're right it has to be on a cable network like HBO or Showtime to be successful. It won't work without the crude, rude and lewd jokes on the show.
Little Britain-USA is on HBO. Love that show!
The one good sign about this show is that Jennifer Saunders is producing it, I think.
ReplyDeleteOh no. I mean, can't they realize that it just won't work and can't work with anyone else playing those roles? This is awful. Some people never learn. Remember when they tried to Americanize Fawlty Towers? eeeeesh.
ReplyDeleteWill Eddy and Saffy hug it out at the end of each episode? Will coffee replace booze and drugs? Will Oscar de la Renta be the new La Croix, darling? It's going to be lovely!!
ReplyDeleteFYI, Jennifer and Joanna are both still working. They are just done with Ab Fab.
Love love love Ab Fab! How about they just show the original show instead of f'ing it up.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the clip Enty. I flove the Young Ones! And I agree, it would NOT go over in the US.
ReplyDeleteI was never able to get into Ab Fab. And I have no clue what the hell was going on in that clip, it made no sense to me whatsoever.
ReplyDeleteI don't think even cable can do AbFab justice. And even though I love the Office, I still think the UK version is best.
ReplyDeleteI miss Brit TV. :(
I was a huge Ab fab fan when it was on, but watching it now, I really don't find it all that funny. Except for Patsy, of course. She is a TV classic.
ReplyDeleteYou can't replace the originals or even find anyone who could remotely do them justice. Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley were the only, and should forever and ever be the only Eddy and Patsy.
ReplyDeleteLoved the Young Ones in Bad News.
ReplyDeleteBad news...Bad News...Burning, and looting, and raping, and shooting! Bad NEWS!!!
even the latest abfab wasb't as funny as the origs of the 90s.
ReplyDeletethey really need to stop raping the UK of their sitcoms.
Ah, Young Ones. I remember watching this on YTV Friday nights at midnight, along with Aeon Flux and The Head.
ReplyDeleteGood times...
Wait, Mitch Hurwitz is heading this up?! Hmm...
ReplyDeleteLoved the Young Ones. "Vivian! You know I don't know who your father is!!!" Bad News is friggin hilarious.
ReplyDeleteAs for ABFab, they are going to fuck it up. No doubt. Has to go to cable for it to even have a chance. No way are they going to show Patsy smoking a doob and all sorts of other drugs. That was half the fun.
I was just trying to remember the name of the show this weekend
ReplyDeleteTHE YOUNG ONES!!!
I love this show.
You rock, Enty.
first they try and "re-do" Spaced and now this? I officially hate fox.
ReplyDeleteSweetie darlings, Patsy Stone was my favorite heroine, but there's no need for a remake. Like somebody said, even the last made episodes were not very good. The time for AbFab has come and gone. Buy the DVDs of the original shows and be done with it.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised Jennifer gave them permission to do the show after all these years. At least it's not NBC after they managed to stuff up Kath and Kim.
ReplyDeleteDon't even try it!
ReplyDeleteGyahh, they have to rehash everything. Just wouldn't compute here in the US.
LOVED Young Ones and Ab Fab too. Loved 'em so much.
OH.MY.GOD! I ADORED the Young Ones! Especially Vivian & The People's Poet (Rick spelled with a silent "P") LMAO, thanks for the memory and video Enty!
ReplyDelete