why the British are better

[dbskyler]

I'm American. I grew up on American television, and for the most part, I like American television. (I am, of course, not including Jersey Shore, Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, or Fox News in my definition of American television, under the very good justification that they are huge embarrassments and thus hopefully a secret plot by the Canadians to make us look bad.)

However, I recently tried to watch some of the American version of Top Gear, and it was terrible. The most terrible thing about it was that you could tell how hard they were trying while failing utterly. The challenges were the same as the British version. The graphics and music were the same. The camera angles were the same. But it was terrible, and all because of one simple fact: the American version did not feature Jeremy Clarkson, or Richard Hammond, or James May. It featured three Americans who were not interesting, not entertaining, and actually cringe-inducing in their attempts to be both.

Here's the thing, American TV: Sometimes you get it very, very right. Big Bang Theory. The Daily Show. Quark. (Yes, that was a brilliant show! Brilliant!) But sometimes you seem to think that you can buy a formula and put any three jerks in front of the camera and still have a good show. You are wrong.

Try again. Get some hosts with personality and interpersonal chemistry. And realize that ultimately, Top Gear is no more about the cars than Fox News is about news reporting. If you have trouble telling the difference, Jon Stewart can straighten it out for you.

Comments

[shadowturquoise.livejournal.com]

America really needs to learn to leave British TV alone, just import the British version and show that here. No need to reinvent the wheel when it works perfectly fine, and Top Gear works beautifully just like it is. No one can beat those 3 nutheads! Why do we need to redo it anyway, it's fun to watch people drive on the wrong side of the road. But we keep trying and we keep ruining perfectly good British shows. Right off the top of my head is Torchwood Miracle Day and Elementary.

Except for science fiction, I gave up on American TV in the early 90s. Unfortunately science fiction has always been the social black sheep of our culture. I've never understood why The Sopranos is acceptable water cooler talk, but Stargate is not.

However, as badly as I think of American TV and as much as I love British TV, I have discovered that the British are hiding skeletons in their closet. Last year I was visiting a friend who moved from here to London and she pointed out that the UK has plenty of horrible television, they are just smart enough to not push it out onto the rest of the world. She turned on the TV and showed me something called Geordie Shores. Granted, it is a take off on Jersey Shores, but it is WAAAAAYY worse than any TV crimes we've committed over here.

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

I've never understood why The Sopranos is acceptable water cooler talk, but Stargate is not.

Yeah, I've never understood that either.

it is WAAAAAYY worse than any TV crimes we've committed over here.

I shudder to think how bad it must be, then!

[shadowturquoise.livejournal.com]

Oh! One more thing!
Top Gear is no more about the cars than Fox News is about news reporting

Snerk! You are my hero!

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

:D

[thisbluespirit]

We are so much better, yes! :lol:

Aw, shame it's not any good. I could imagine there would be quite a few fun things you could do with a US version. And, ha, yes, EVerybody has filler Tv of some sort or other - you only get mostly the good stuff exported or imported about.

:-)

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

It's the taking good television and making a bad version of it that irritates me the most. Not to say that we can't sometimes get it right. The American version of "Being Human" is very good. And "All in the Family" was based on a British show.

[thisbluespirit]

And Leverage is the US version of Hustle, and the US Office did pretty well, didn't it? So sometimes it gives the world a bonus. And as long as you can still get the real Top Gear, you're all right, really.

But, yeah, sometimes it seems to miss the point of how much success is dependent on a specific combination of actors and writers in a way you can't reproduce at all.

[clocketpatch]

As a Canadian I can assure you its not a secret plot - we're as disturbed by Honey Boo Boo and Jersey Shore as you are.

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

Damn, I was really hoping they were part of a secret plan to invade and conquer us.

But I guess they're really ours then. Sigh.