Just finished watching the Coupling pilot episode (US version)
07-12-03, 02:49 PM
#1
DVD Talk Legend
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Downers Grove, IL
Posts: 10,470
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Just finished watching the Coupling pilot episode (US version)
Here are a few thoughts:
There are a lot of similarities here between the US and the UK version; right down to the sets and the scripts. But even with these similarities, there are still a lot of differences. There was one scene in the ladies room between Steve, Jeff and Susan that I do not remember happening in the UK one, but was still hilarious. The timing on some of the jokes seems to be just a little off (For eg. Jeff explains the porn buddies thing too quickly to Susan, without even giving Susan a chance to ask what the heck that is). Also, the actress playing Jane doesn't do a very good job. She doesn't act like the Jane from the UK version, and in fact in some scenes it really looks like she's looking over Steve's shoulder (maybe at cue cards?). If I were to replace anyone, it would be her.
As for the guy playing Patrick, they've done a good casting job here. He is just the right amount of arrogant and funny. The same goes Rena Sofer(Susan) and Sonya Wagner(Sally). As far as the actor playing Steve, in some scenes he actually felt like the Steve from the UK version except his facial expressions don't really match the words coming out of his mouth.
As far as the gags go, some are just not that funny because I don't believe they can transfer over from the English culture to the American one. Like when Jeff says stuff like "Excellent!... or Diabolical!... " it feels staged because nobody uses words like that in the normal course of events. That's just my opinion though.
The show has definite potential. I think they ought to stay away from scripts that the UK version has and start fresh. That would limit the comparisons between the UK and US version as well as not bind them to anything. The jokes that are added into this American version are actually pretty funny. It's just the British jokes that don't transfer over too well.
By the way, this is the second version of the pilot. The first one had Breckin Meyer as Steve and Melissa George as Susan. I think Melissa George would have done great as Jane; hope they bring her back.
I forgot to add, the theme song is the same as the one in the UK version; except it's sung by some soft rock band whose lead singer has this incredible hoarse voice. They really need to can that band, and just go with somebody else.
There are a lot of similarities here between the US and the UK version; right down to the sets and the scripts. But even with these similarities, there are still a lot of differences. There was one scene in the ladies room between Steve, Jeff and Susan that I do not remember happening in the UK one, but was still hilarious. The timing on some of the jokes seems to be just a little off (For eg. Jeff explains the porn buddies thing too quickly to Susan, without even giving Susan a chance to ask what the heck that is). Also, the actress playing Jane doesn't do a very good job. She doesn't act like the Jane from the UK version, and in fact in some scenes it really looks like she's looking over Steve's shoulder (maybe at cue cards?). If I were to replace anyone, it would be her.
As for the guy playing Patrick, they've done a good casting job here. He is just the right amount of arrogant and funny. The same goes Rena Sofer(Susan) and Sonya Wagner(Sally). As far as the actor playing Steve, in some scenes he actually felt like the Steve from the UK version except his facial expressions don't really match the words coming out of his mouth.
As far as the gags go, some are just not that funny because I don't believe they can transfer over from the English culture to the American one. Like when Jeff says stuff like "Excellent!... or Diabolical!... " it feels staged because nobody uses words like that in the normal course of events. That's just my opinion though.
The show has definite potential. I think they ought to stay away from scripts that the UK version has and start fresh. That would limit the comparisons between the UK and US version as well as not bind them to anything. The jokes that are added into this American version are actually pretty funny. It's just the British jokes that don't transfer over too well.
By the way, this is the second version of the pilot. The first one had Breckin Meyer as Steve and Melissa George as Susan. I think Melissa George would have done great as Jane; hope they bring her back.
I forgot to add, the theme song is the same as the one in the UK version; except it's sung by some soft rock band whose lead singer has this incredible hoarse voice. They really need to can that band, and just go with somebody else.
07-12-03, 02:55 PM
#2
DVD Talk Legend
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Downers Grove, IL
Posts: 10,470
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
One more thing; they have tamed the language in the US version; lesbian became bisexual and so forth. I wish it was going to be on HBO or something.
Last edited by huzefa; 07-12-03 at 03:04 PM.
07-13-03, 09:26 AM
#5
DVD Talk Legend
Originally posted by huzefa
One more thing; they have tamed the language in the US version; lesbian became bisexual and so forth. I wish it was going to be on HBO or something.
One more thing; they have tamed the language in the US version; lesbian became bisexual and so forth. I wish it was going to be on HBO or something.
07-16-03, 10:39 PM
#10
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2002
Posts: 668
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
In the original Jeff did not go into the bathroom. Steve went to buy the condom from the machine in the bathroom rather than make Jeff get it (which actually made a funny exchange with Patrick). This did not make up for completely throwing away the "unflushable" reference though.
The characters need to just be themselves and not try to be copies of the originals. It felt like they were trying to hard to mimic something, rahter than just do their best acting. Like the Brady Bunch movie. I swear I even caught them doing a British accent a couple times.
The "Perhaps" theme by Cake was used, but the version I (we?) saw was by no mean a finished product. It didn't have proper credits and surely didn't get the music liscesed. I have no idea what they'll do, but using the Cake song would be a great move.
They also tried to translate a lot of things and it didn't work. Little stuff like "talk of the devil" and "toilet" translates fine, but when they got used in jokes they just didn't. Examples aren't coming to me, but at times it was like watching a movie with subtitles where I knew what they meant to say, and how it would make sense originally, but in the translation it just didn't.
I thought the Jane girl was pretty cute though.
The characters need to just be themselves and not try to be copies of the originals. It felt like they were trying to hard to mimic something, rahter than just do their best acting. Like the Brady Bunch movie. I swear I even caught them doing a British accent a couple times.
The "Perhaps" theme by Cake was used, but the version I (we?) saw was by no mean a finished product. It didn't have proper credits and surely didn't get the music liscesed. I have no idea what they'll do, but using the Cake song would be a great move.
They also tried to translate a lot of things and it didn't work. Little stuff like "talk of the devil" and "toilet" translates fine, but when they got used in jokes they just didn't. Examples aren't coming to me, but at times it was like watching a movie with subtitles where I knew what they meant to say, and how it would make sense originally, but in the translation it just didn't.
I thought the Jane girl was pretty cute though.
