obscurity wrote:
Do they do the same thing with Aussie TV shows, Ray? Come to that, how come all we ever get over here are soaps - surely there's more to Aussie TV than that?
Heh!..no, there isn't much more to Aussie TV - soaps is about it really.
OK - that is not really true. We do satirical/topical sketch-type show very well.
The Chaser is the best of these at the moment. In the past there has been the
D-Generation, Fast Forward, Blah Blah Blah, The Late Show...all very good - but not very exportable as the references would generally be lost. (A bit like your
Dead Ringers - which we saw over here, and though it was very funny in parts, much of it we just didn't understand).
There have also been some wonderful satirical sitcom type things - sort of half sitcom/half reality TV - such as
The Games, Frontline, Grass Roots. I'm surprised some of these haven't made it to the UK - I think you guys would get them (they would be way beyond the Seppos though - and completely untranslatable for them).
We also have some good light variety/comedy-type shows like Thank God You're Here, Spics and Specs, Rockwiz. I thinks some of these concepts are already being copied elsewhere. And there have been a lot of very good drama series (
Changi, Bastard Boys, Marking Time, Power Without Glory) - but they are almost always about Australian historical events - so may not export that well (to people not interested in other cultures but their own)
Australians seem to do genuine sitcoms very badly. Very very badly. We have only produced one genuinely funny one -
Kath & Kim. And apparently the Seppos are making a copy of that. It sounds horrendous:
"
THEIR names are Kath and Kim, but they'll speak with American accents.
They don't live in Fountain Lakes, but their plain-brick abode will sit in the urban sprawl of Phoenix, Arizona, the fastest growing city in the US.
Instead of footy, franks and Tiny Teddies, Kim scoffs down Cheetos and Reese's peanut butter cups.
Love or hate the idea, US TV network NBC is moving ahead with its plan to make an American version of Australian sitcom, Kath and Kim.
The mastermind of the plan is Hollywood agent turned super producer Ben Silverman, who has made a career, and tens of millions of dollars, by buying the rights to some of Britain's and South America's top TV programs and tailoring the shows for the US.
Silverman's American version of The Office, based on British comedian Ricky Gervais' sitcom, has become the hottest comedy on US TV, scooping Emmy, Golden Globe and Screen Actor Guild awards"
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/ ... 22,00.html
