British TV v.s. American TV

I watch a lot of Netflix since I don’t have cable and most of the TV shows I have gotten into are British television shows that also have American adaptions. When I talk to my friends about it most of the time they only know about the American versions so I decided that I’m going to talk about how much better British TV can be in most cases and they are not just better because of the accent.

1. Skins

I immediately fell in love with this show because it captured what life was like at that age, just a bunch of kids looking for love and a good time. I absolutely love every character, mostly because they are a bunch of dysfunctional rebels. The American version of this show is one that bothers me the most. I understand that Americans have a lot of censor issues, especially since this show was played on MTV, but it kind of slaughtered the British version. The American version copied the British version but it lacked commitment. The characters in the British version had such a fantastic personality. Tony was a conceited pretty-boy jerk. Sid was a weird outcast who could never get laid and Cass was just up in the clouds suffering from multiple disorders. They were just so eccentric in their own way and they were shameless.

2. Shameless

To begin with I really enjoy watching shows about dysfunctional families. I love how close of a family they are while still being far from ordinary. Now I haven’t seen too much of the American version but there is no way it can be as good as the British mostly because Americans are so cautious of what they put on TV. Americans also don’t appreciate the terrible humor as much so they haven’t really liked the show as much. I think it’s mostly because they’ve adapted the shows to the people watching it. I don’t think that’s wrong but for me it just takes away the excitement. Once again the British version has more character in its show than its American counterpart.

3. Being Human

This one is completely different from the rest because I actually enjoyed the American version even if the whole idea of a vampire, werewolf and ghost living together is kind of cheesy. First off the British version switched after the first couple of episodes so that kind of killed it for me but the British version lacked complexity. I enjoy have characters you really have to figure out. That’s where the American version succeeds the characters are very similar but have a certain depth to them. Going by the title Aiden (Mitchell, since they changed the names.) does a better job at trying to fit in with normal humans. Sally (Annie) isn’t as stupid so that makes me feel better about her. Finally Josh (George) this guy was just terrible overall in the British version he was selfish, he didn’t care about his friends and to me that’s gross.

I was thinking about bringing up Inbetweeners and The Office but in all reality I don’t like either version of The Office, except for Jim and Dwight, and the Inbetweeners is fantastic so I don’t really want to talk about anything wrong with them. I think that if you can connect with the characters and start to like them any show or movie can be great.

~ by Sydney Erickson on February 2, 2013.