Okay now I’ll be honest, I ignored this at first as I presumed it was a joke. However it does actually appear to be for real. As announced on the 29th October, Syfy picks up “Being Human” for U.S. remake
Now maybe this will be awesome, we should all be careful not to judge what we haven’t yet seen. Plus if it drives more global fans to view the original BBC show then all the better.
Obviously I have concerns as let’s face it other conversions of UK shows to the US have not always been huge successes!
My issue here is more about what’s the point of doing this. Firstly it’s not as if the BBC have stopped making the show, to some extent the BBC have only really just got started with it so there is plenty still to come. Secondly the demographics that watch shows like this are generally pretty tech savvy, they are the people that are fully aware of the differences between the UK and US versions of shows. The world has gotten smaller; Europe and the US are aligning far more than ever before when it comes to the things we like, (take the recent growth and popularity of European small vehicles in the US as example of this). So whereas in the past there were some solid cultural reasons for remaking shows, I really don’t think they apply anymore.
If SyFy have money to spend why don’t they create something new and original, in fact if they wouldn’t mind buying and wrapping up ‘The Sarah Connor Chronicles’ that would be appreciated, well by me anyway, oh and a few more seasons of Firefly would be good.
So as I said, until I see it I don’t mind them doing it, I’m not all outraged, just more bemused as to how anyone would think this a good idea…
Andy