They should've made Power Couplings, the wacky sitcom about hook-ups on the Millenium Falcon

[seriousfic]

So I've been watching the wildly successful UK Coupling and, naturally, curiosity has driven me to check out the wildly unsuccessful US Coupling. Yes, the concept of young, attractive people hooking up and the comedic shenanigans that ensue was so compelling that it just had to be remade for American audiences.

Now, you can probably imagine a lot of reasons for the failure: Trying to directly translate British humor into American humor and somehow ending up with a crass, obnoxious comedy, chopping down 22-minute episodes into 22-minute episodes, and the fact that on paper, the leads are all either prattish man-children or shrill caricatures of womanhood and thus it takes a very light touch and very good chemistry to make them sympathetic and universal rather than unbearable. Just repeating their lines in an American accent doesn't cut it.

But you can't fault the cast, which offers all the starpower of an FMV game if they still made those. They all went on to make vastly funnier, more acclaimed shows. For Steve they had Jay Harrington, who went on to Better Off Ted, for Patrick they had Colin Ferguson who ended up on Eureka, for Jane they had Lindsey Price who then starred in Eastwick... okay, I'd better stop there.

My belated point is, the biggest reason Coupling US failed is because of the accents. Just skip to the four-minute mark on this convenient Youtube video and watch the same scene, one with a British accent, one chillingly without:

Notice how Richard Coyle's insane accent makes him a feckless oddball. Then marvel at how the American remake managed to find a poor man's Michael Rapaport. Who's Michael Rapaport? Exactly!

Never underestimate the power of British accents. They make comedians funnier, women sexier, and villains more villainous. Hell, why do you think Harry Potter's done so well? It's an entire universe full of British people!

Also, is it just me or does Coupling UK star people who, while attractive, look like they might actually have trouble dating, while Coupling US looks like a Maxim photoshoot with an odd theme of pretending to be unlucky in love?

Comments

[jennyo.livejournal.com]

Also, is it just me or does Coupling UK star people who, while attractive, look like they might actually have trouble dating, while Coupling US looks like a Maxim photoshoot with an odd theme of pretending to be unlucky in love?

Ding ding ding. It's kind of like why Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip failed -- there's nothing wrong with doing a show about SNL, but I knew that one was doomed even with Sorkin because it wasn't funny. Don't make a show about friends with wacky sex adventures if they wouldn't know a wacky sex adventure if it bit them on the well-toned ass. :)

[seriousfic.livejournal.com]

Proving once more that only the moderately attractive are funny. Sorry, Jennifer Aniston.

[left-of-weir.livejournal.com]

I don't understand why they had to remake the UK version. I mean, they're already speaking a language Americans can understand. :P

[mcity.livejournal.com]

>But you can't fault the cast, which offers all the starpower of an FMV game if they still made those.

http://www.heavyrainps3.com/

>Who's Michael Rapaport?

He got eaten by a shark in Deep Blue Sea while having a poor goatee.

*whistling*

[mcity.livejournal.com]

http://www.nbc.com/The_Office/

[rann.livejournal.com]

The main thing about Coupling was that it was a blatant Friends ripoff, just made for England. And then they decided to make it back into an American version which... y'know, made it just a Friends ripoff.