- Joe Biden does seem determined to live up to his reputation for saying dumb things — like, oh, needlessly fueling the panic over swine flu — but I still find that preferable to a Vice President who is, y’know, evil incarnate. [via]
- I don’t think Roger Ebert liked the new Wolverine movie very much. I’m a little disappointed by his not so subtle digs at comic books in general and their readers — “Am I being disrespectful to this material? You bet.” Keith Phipps didn’t like it much either — “A couple of halfway decent action scenes do little to distract from the story’s mounting ludicrousness…or a conclusion that’s only a little more satisfying than a projector breakdown.” — but he suggests the film might be a failure in spite of its comic-book origins, not necessarily because of it. That may be reading too much into Ebert’s review. Despite the occasional dust-up with the fanboy set, Ebert has liked plenty of comic-book movies. (And X-Men Origins: Wolverine is maybe just a bad one.) Still, it’s hard not to get a little riled up by that constant refrain of “this is good…for a comic book” or “this is good…so it can’t be science fiction. It’s hard not to get a little tired of that.
- Speaking of science fiction, though, these Penguin Science Fiction covers are pretty cool. [via]
- Over at TV Squad, Brad Trechak suggests a list of American actors who could play Doctor Who. I assume he’s not serious — his choices are pretty ridiculous — but it’s an interesting thought experiment nonetheless. Not the idea of casting it, necessarily, nor Trechak’s specific casting choices, but the question of why it can’t be done. Other British television shows have been remade across the pond, some even successfully, so why not this one?
I think you’d have trouble finding a more quintessentially British show than Doctor Who. Its being a British show is so completely wrapped up in its identity that an American remake just seems unimaginable — even though there’s nothing inherently British about the chracter, or nothing that couldn’t easily be made more American with a few minor tweaks. I’m trying to think of an American equivalent that really couldn’t be remade overseas — something that’s too distinctly an American show — and I’m not sure I can. Any thoughts?
- And fianlly, a fascinating look at the ancient Roman bookselling world:
…booksellers were the rich pimps of Roman publishing and authors, or even the books themselves, were the hard-working but humiliated prostitutes.
I’m also amused to learn that “at some periods of Roman history, it was the fashion to copy out the text with no breaks between the words, but as a river of letters.” And we think reading on a computer screen can be tough! [via]
Okay, so Three’s Company and Sanford and Son were successful Americanizations of British TV shows, but Amanda’s (a remake of Fawlty Towers) was absolute dreck. I can’t imagine a U.S. form of Doctor Who being at all successful – or at least worth watching for an hour.
Yes, but in theory Amanda’s could have worked. I’ve never actually seen the show, but my understanding is their big mistake was getting rid of the Basil Fawlty character. Which would be like remaking Doctor Who but ditching the Doctor.
Television history is littered with bad remakes, British shows that didn’t translate well or failed to catch on, on the other side of the pond. But that’s different from a show that can’t be remade at all, that would stop being what it is, even if it was remade well.
I refuse to think about an American Who remake. You hear me? REFUSE! 🙂
(Of course, some people will claim an American version has already been done, with the Fox TV movie. But at least they cast a British actor.)
But at least they cast a British actor.
Not for the Master, they didn’t. 😉
While it may discredit me as a lifelong Who-fan, I *liked* Eric Roberts as the Master. Even if the McGann movie had a little bit too much American ridiculousness to it.
And they also remade Fawlty Towers again (and again, not successfully) as “Payne,” starring John Laroquette as “Royal Payne,” the Basil Fawlty character. I seem to recall they even remade the Germans episode, although I can’t remember what group exactly Payne was trying to avoid insulting. Laroquette can be a funny guy, but just being tall like Cleese didn’t mean he could fill Cleese’s sizable loafers.
The rule I heard back in the 90’s is that British dramas and comedies can be remade successfully in America, while American game shows are a sure bet when remade in England. But that was probably before the American “Life on Mars,” “Absolutely Fabulous,” and “Cracker” all tanked.
By the way — isn’t it nice to have a veep you can actually feel *comfortable* laughing about?
I dunno, what about something like, say, Dallas, which is so seeped in the American idea of wealth, that you’d have to completely re-vamp it to the British idea of wealth to make it in England.
Or Bonanza, or Little House on the Prairie, shows about cowboys, or the frontier and how things were “simpler” then. England doesn’t really have a time-period in history to draw from like that…