kevin75

i just found this and thought some might be interested...while i hope that this will be entertaining, it can't compare to the original.


http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/TV/0...eut/index.html

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Breckin Meyer canned from 'Coupling'

Tuesday, February 18, 2003 Posted: 1:37 PM EST (1837 GMT)

HOLLYWOOD, California (Variety) -- Breckin Meyer ("Road Trip") has been cut from "Coupling," a potential NBC sitcom based on the successful British series of the same name.

Meyer, who returns to theaters on Friday in "Old School," had been set to play one of the leads in the ensemble cast; other cast changes are a possibility.

The project, which revolves around six thirtysomethings, also stars Jay Harrington, Emily Rutherford, Colin Fergsuon and Lindsay Price.

Meyer's exit comes as part of a shakeup that will see the pilot reshot in the next few weeks. Original scribes Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont ("Can't Hardly Wait") have also exited the project. Veteran scribe Phoef Sutton ("Cheers") is finalizing a deal to come on board as writer-executive producer.

Chew

I'm sure NBC will continue to find a way to screw it up. They'll tone down the humor as it is too "adult" for American audiences.

movieking

I saw a special preview of Old School, and I didn't notice Breckin Meyer in it. What role did he play?

huzefa

Stupid NBC. They should just bring the show over here and pay those actors $1 million each. They do deserve it.

Iron Chef

I can't stand Breckin Meyer, so for me this is a step in the right direction.

mllefoo

Dammit. We never learn. Why can't we just NOT remake a perfectly good british show (still in production, I might add)?

We always screw up the original intent of the show. Just leave well enough alone ferchristsakes.

huzefa

Do the American people hate British shows that much that they can't just bring Coupling over to NBC in its current form? I'm not British and I understood all the jokes. And you don't HAVE to know who the people they are talking about are, because as long as you have the gist of who they are, it's still very funny. For example, the show with Mariella and Angus: i had no idea who these people are but from the characters on the show, I was able to pick up they are some sort of celebrities.

benedict

huzefa (& mllefoo).

When I hear tv execs (and sometimes book editors) make excuses for why they have to "dumb down" material to make it palatable to US audiences it annoys me!

It is somewhat similar to people who profess not to be able to understand certain accents: if they are listening, nearly always the meaning is clear from the context. But they can't or won't listen. Grrr!

kevin75

is the bbc coupling going to still be in production when the b@atardized (read: american) version is on?

Iron Chef

I would love it if NBC would just air Coupling in its original form.

calhoun07

[ignorance]I thought Friends was already the Amercianized version of Coupling?[/ignorance]

huzefa

I'm a huge Friends fan and let me put it this way: On a scale of 1 to 1000 where 1000 is funnier-than-a-pony-riding-a-midget and 1 is reruns-of-grace-under-fire, I'd say Friends is 500 and Coupling is 999.

MrPeanut

I've seen two episodes now. While I've enjoyed them, I don't quite understand what's going on. Can someone give me a quick explanation? Who are they main characters? I see three guys and three or four girls talking about how two of them met, like Grease but randier and without the singing. Is this what happens every time? I would think the same characters could only meet so mant times. TIA

JTH182

British shows have a weird "feel" to them... I watched this one night on BBC, but I wasn't too impressed... it had its funny moments, but the production value and comic timing is different in British shows. Doubt the original would get a big following in primetime US slots... it would seem out of place... but I can't see how a remake will fare any better (it won't).

huzefa

Its best to watch this show from the start. Buy the coupling season one dvd (it's out here now in Region1). There is a season 2 dvd out in region 2 as well (i got mine from amazon UK). The season BBCamerica is airing is the 3rd season. You get to see exactly where the characters are coming from if you watch from the start.

Tom Campbell

No network is just going to bring "Coupling" over the way it is for one overriding reason: Not enough episodes. They could certainly offer the actors enough to try and get them to film a 22-24 episode season, but would they want to commit to that many episodes?

Additionally, all the actors would have to relocate to Los Angeles as its highly unlikely that the show would get shot in England.

Add to that the fact that American networks are skittish about having shows which don't have at least one recognizable "name" actor. (I can't speak for their popularity in England, but I certainly wouldn't recognize anybody from that show.)

Honestly, if there were one current British show that would have even the slightest chance of being brought over "as is", it would probably be "Manchild" and even that would be iffy because "Buffy" doesn't get the ratings to suggest that Anthony Stewart Head would be much of a draw.

huzefa

Yup, the whole 24 episode thing would be too hard to do. The way it is now, each episode of Coupling is great and I'd rather not water it down by having 24 episodes of mediocre comedy rather than 6-8 episodes of stellar comedy. But as to your argument about unknown actors, I find that very hard to believe. Take Scrubs for example; the lead actors in that show were completely unknown before their debut (atleast to the general tv viewer). The only actor on that show close to celebrity status was Dr. Cox (I still don't know his real name); and even he was never that big before Scrubs. I think the networks are just afraid that Americans will be too stupid to realize a good show when it's in front of them; and frankly I don't think they're wrong in thinking that (eg. Newsradio, SportsNight, Action!).

I don't know why you think Manchild would work here if Coupling wouldn't.

Tom Campbell

My point was that "Manchild" has one thing going for it that "Coupling" doesn't, namely that American audiences would at least recognize Anthony Stewart Head. Would this translate into fantastic ratings? Probably not, but it would have a better chance of getting people to take a look than "Coupling".

Chew

An update I read on this:

Link

Two pilots already, that's encouraging.

kevin75

sheesh, two pilots?? i gots a baaaaddd feeling about this.

tasha99

I've seen the guy who plays Jack in other things (Ultraviolet, but he seemed familiar from that too, but I couldn't think of where.)

I think it's a mistake to try to Americanize this--it's hilarious as it is.

tasha

sherm42

Actually, re-doing Coupling would be fine with me if it was done by HBO where they would not hold back on subject matter and language. NBC will kill it though.

BDB

2 min clip up on zap2it
http://tv.zap2it.com/shows/video/nbc/coupling/

MrPeanut

AAAHHHH!!! MY EYES!!! MY EARS!!! MAKE IT STOP!

are we ever gonna get a fourth season of the original?

rskinfn

I have never been fortunate to see the british orginals for some American situation comedy remakes like Sanford and Son, All in the Family , Cosby ( the late 90's version) etc. I simply skipped both versions of Men Behaving Badly.

I would like to say well it was the stitled images from my poor dial-up connection, or say it was only 2 minutes, but this is simply BAD. This is a textbook example of how to homogenize TV for possible mass comsumption on Thursday night NBC. If you have BBC America I would strongly suggest you give the British version a look -even if you may normally be averse to British comedy in general. I don't see this version- at least based on the pilot - lasting too long.

I do know retooling will continue from now until the fall and since the British creator is working on this version I will defintely give it a fair shot in September.

At least there is Scrubs.