Ab Fab - American style?

[TonyTheTiger]

Fans of the British cult comedy Absolutely Fabulous may be happy to hear that Fox has picked up the pilot of an American version set in LA.

Personally, I don't think it'll work!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090124/tv_nm/us_abfab_1

[LoadStar]

Yeah, it'll be another Kath and Kim.

There are some shows that can appeal universally to both British and American audiences (Doctor Who, for example.) There are some shows that can be re-written for an American audience, while still retaining much of what made them hits in the UK (The Office.) AbFab, however, is one of those shows that I'm pretty certain is very specifically British, and any attempt to rewrite it to make it appeal to an American audience will fail miserably.

(Edit: to clarify, I realize that Kath and Kim was a Australian show, not British, but it had the same problem that AbFab will have, IMHO).

[gchance]

I didn't like AbFab to begin with, so I might actually like a US version.

No, wait. No, I can't stand the concept at all.

Greg

[scandia101]

I can hardly wait to see what FOX cancels just to give this crap a shot.

[scooterboy]

I didn't like AbFab to begin with, so I might actually like a US version.

No, wait. No, I can't stand the concept at all.

Greg

Agreed!

[Bob Coxner]

Cybill, with Cybill Shepherd, was a faint attempt to copy it here.

It might work if done for a cable channel, it's totally impossible for an over the air channel like Fox. Can you imagine a network channel getting away with promoting casual drug use as a constant theme? That's a significant element of the plots.

A good comparison is Cracker. The Brit version was some of the best television ever produced. Robbie Coltrane cheats on and abuses his wife, is an alcoholic, a degenerate gambler and an all around bastard. Despite that, you come to love the character and it was a fantastic series. 9.1 on IMDB http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105977/ Then you have had the American version with Robert Pastorelli. They toned down the drinking and gambling and really backed off his relationship with his wife. The result was dreck. 5.0 on IMDB.

I see the exact same thing happening with Ab Fab.

[pdhenry]

I honestly did not know that Cybill debuted in 1995 and AbFab (in the UK) in 1992.

[That Don Guy]

Cybill, with Cybill Shepherd, was a faint attempt to copy it here.
One of the most unintentionally funny things I have ever heard was at an Emmy Awards when Christine Baranski was making her acceptance speech for her role in Cybill, and she thanked somebody for creating "the original character of Maryann" - she should have thanked Jennifer Saunders for creating the character of Patsy Stone.

It might work if done for a cable channel, it's totally impossible for an over the air channel like Fox. Can you imagine a network channel getting away with promoting casual drug use as a constant theme? That's a significant element of the plots.

Agreed. In fact, Americanizing AbFab has been discussed before; Roseanne Barr and Jennifer Saunders were supposedly working on a version intended for ABC at one point, but it was dropped - almost certainly because Saunders would have never allowed the amount of toning down needed for broadcast TV. (Somebody needs to remind Fox of what happened when ABC aired the fourth season of Monty Python - after making a few cuts, of course.)

Then again, with any luck, "The Fox network picked up the pilot" means that it's really going to air on fX.

As to what Fox is going to cancel to put in its place if they do decide to air it (and remember that Fox is notorious for announcing shows for its fall schedule that never air - Rewind, The Ortegas, and Septuplets come to mind), they probably need something to pair with 'Til Death when it comes back. (I am under the impression that Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? is now a fall-only series.)

-- Don

[mattack]

Can you imagine a network channel getting away with promoting casual drug use as a constant theme? That's a significant element of the plots.

"That 70s Show"???

I think the show was hilarious, *despite* all of the drug humor. (Though I did recently see an interview with a very religious guy who was a writer there, and his scripts had much less of the drug use and "dumbass" use.)

[mattack]

(Somebody needs to remind Fox of what happened when ABC aired the fourth season of Monty Python - after making a few cuts, of course.)

What happened?

[Bob Coxner]

"That 70s Show"???

I think the show was hilarious, *despite* all of the drug humor. (Though I did recently see an interview with a very religious guy who was a writer there, and his scripts had much less of the drug use and "dumbass" use.)

True, although the drug references there were strictly for grass. Coke was a major element for AbFab. Also, in the 70's Show I don't recall ever seeing anyone actually smoke a joint. Everything was by indirect reference. In AbFab it was more direct and in your face. You had episodes like the one where Patsy is trying to smuggle coke back from Morocco, is strip searched, etc.

Alcoholism, as a joke, is another element that has pretty much disappeared from American network television. It was a staple with us for a long time, with the falling down drunk characters, but you just don't see it anymore. Take away the drunkeness from Patsy and Edina and you don't have a show.

[barbeedoll]

Agreed!

Scooterboy. Do you watch Flight of the Concords? Murray actually had the king sit next to him and they played out the internet scam. It's the 1/25/09 episode.

Thought of you and your tag line.

Barbeedoll

[That Don Guy]

Agreed. In fact, Americanizing AbFab has been discussed before; Roseanne Barr and Jennifer Saunders were supposedly working on a version intended for ABC at one point, but it was dropped - almost certainly because Saunders would have never allowed the amount of toning down needed for broadcast TV. (Somebody needs to remind Fox of what happened when ABC aired the fourth season of Monty Python - after making a few cuts, of course.)
What happened?
Here's the story: in the 1970s, ABC used to run random 90-minute shows against Carson's 90-minute Tonight Show. When Monty Python became popular in the USA (around 1995), ABC got the rights to broadcast the six fourth season episodes (they only made six, and had to call it "Monty Python" instead of "Monty Python's Flying Circus", because John Cleese decided he didn't want to appear in any of them). The Pythons wanted to make sure the episodes would air as episodes, rather than ABC making a 90-minute "best of" show out of the six episodes combined; the reply was that they would, but they would have cuts for commercials and "decency". (For eaxmple, one episode uses, er, the four-letter T-word that is a synonym for "breasts", which was one of the FCC's "seven unacceptable words" at the time.)

ABC airs the first three episodes, which are heavily cut and censored (they even censored the phrase "naughty bits"), and the Pythons go ballistic; they threaten to sue ABC for breach of contract, and try to get an injunction to prevent ABC from airing the other three episodes. (The judge turned them down, and ABC also prevented the Pythons from requiring that a disclaimer air at the beginning of the broadcast saying, in effect, that they disown themselves from the cut, although ABC did show an "edited for television" graphic (what they used to show for theatrical movies before the "This film has been altered from its original format" screens were created) at the start of the broadcast.) Eventually, ABC, mainly out of fear that the Pythons had a very good chance of winning their lawsuit, agreed not to air them again.

-- Don

[scooterboy]

Scooterboy. Do you watch Flight of the Concords? Murray actually had the king sit next to him and they played out the internet scam. It's the 1/25/09 episode.

Thought of you and your tag line.

Barbeedoll

I've never watched that, but it looks interesting.

[TIVOSciolist]

Alcoholism, as a joke, is another element that has pretty much disappeared from American network television. It was a staple with us for a long time, with the falling down drunk characters, but you just don't see it anymore. Take away the drunkeness from Patsy and Edina and you don't have a show.

I loved Ab Fab but the final season sucked. The low point was the episode when the writers tried to make breast cancer funny.

Americans aren't so big on alcohol humor any more. However, without it, the show would be very different.