Coupling, for those who don't watch BBC America or PBS (late nights) is a witty, raw and very funny comedy.
My wife and I have been fans for about the last year or so and were shocked to find NBC was coming out with a show this fall called, you guessed it, Coupling.
Now being a fan of the original Coupling on the BBC I was interested in this rip-off that NBC is whipping up.
I had quite a shock when yesterday I saw a preview of the show and it's verbatim the exact same set, lines and situations as the BBC hit. I was outraged to say the least.
How un-original I thought, they could not even come up with their own scripts, they stole it straight from the BBC.
I did some more research into this and found that a few months ago the BBC posted a news release on their site stating that they sold NBC the rights to produce Coupling for American TV. In fact the shows creators are here working with NBC on it.
That being said I'm not so much shocked now that NBC "ripped" Coupling off but that the shows creator gave in to NBC's money and whored the show out.
From what I've seen of the American version it's not funny. What is funny is it's almost an exact duplicate of the BBC original and yet it's nowhere as classy or funny. (from the short clips I've seen)
I suppose we'll have to wait to see how this turns out Thursday as the 25th is the premiere.
I agree 100% with Sarah Alexander who plays Susan on the BBC hit who put it so honestly.
"While it's about thirtysomethings, it's also British. So, if you Americanize it, essentially you're taking all the Britishness out of it, which is perhaps its success, or it's little sparkle. I think that's where it sort of starts to fall down. Some of the British jokes won't work in America, and when you Americanize them it's not the same joke, it becomes a different one. So, I think by transferring it to America you lose the essential ingredient that makes 'Coupling' a success."
Stay tuned for the final verdict after Thursday's premiere.
Sources :
Zap2it.com
herm- so is the basis of the show exactly the same?? if so it doesnt really suprise me- survivor and millionare and i'm sure tons of others were ideas from other countries- :-P
Posted by: kevin at September 21, 2003 02:49 PMYes, every detail is the same.
Except the actors don't look the same, the sets and all the lines are the same.
It's like if the BBC took friends copied the sets, used the exact same lines, scripts, gags verbatim.
Only thing that is different are the actors.
there isnt a universal copyright law saying "you can't do that!" ??? i know other countries really can't copywrite soemthing here- BUT if it's in syndication on an American station, it must have some protection..
Posted by: kevin at September 22, 2003 09:03 AMbad part is the creators of it in England are the ones helping bring it to the U.S.
So it's not a copyright problem.
i hope they are making bank off of this :-(
Posted by: kevin at September 22, 2003 11:00 AMAll I have seen is a few of the commercials, and a promo I watched on the web and it looks tragic. I love the original, and would love to see the creators make some more money and get some fame here, but it looked TERRIBLE. I hope I'm wrong.
Posted by: Baker at September 23, 2003 02:45 PMAnother thing - it is not EXACTLY the same. They've had to tone it down for the US audience. They had to change some jokes because they were too racy. I'm sure they also changed a few references. Not sure that anyone will be having fantasies about Marianne Frostrup in the NBC version...
Posted by: Baker at September 23, 2003 02:47 PM