The 10 Most Cursed American Remakes Of Beloved TV Shows

Spare a thought for Peep Show fans because they’re dealing with the news the series will be remade in the U.S.A. As the ancient proverb goes: “The enjoyment of any TV show made outside of America is soon eclipsed by the thought of an American remake.”

In an essay for The Guardian, Peep Show co-creator Sam Bain said: “What would Peep Show have been like with women as the two leads? It’s a great question — and it’s one I’ll shortly have the answer to, because there is a script in development for a US Peep Show with two female leads.”

Gender flipping popular things is all the rage now, but Bain’s response is a workaround because this is the fourth attempt at an American remake of the show about two mates (David Mitchell and Robert Webb) and their inner thoughts.

Since 2008, two versions failed to make it out of the writer’s room, and one made it to the pilot stage with Big Bang Theory’s Johnny Galecki — watch at your own risk.

I guess forth time is the charm but they’re ignoring the graveyard of American remakes.

As Peep Show prepares to wear the red, white and blue we look back at the shows the US took from their home towns and poached and mangled.

Kath and Kim

They didn’t?!? OH, THEY DID.

Relations between America and Australia hit an all-time low when Fountain Lakes became Florida. Molly Shannon (SNL) and Selma Blair (Cruel Intentions, Legally Blonde) play the mother and daughter, and the remake begins with Kim moving home after her marriage breaks down.

Kel Knight becomes Phil Knight (John Michael Higgins from Great News) and they erase Sharon from the series completely. None of the oddities from the original translate and the show got cancelled after one season. When it aired in Australia, Channel 7 pulled it from prime time after the second episode.

Not noice.

The IT Crowd

Networks usually re-cast and tinker with the premise a little when a show is remade in America.

Not the case with The IT Crowd. In 2007, NBC made a near shot-for-shot remake of the first episode with Joel McHale (Community) as Roy, Jessica St. Clair (Playing House) as Jen, and Richard Ayoade reprised his role as Moss.

The remake was set to air but NBC pulled the plug last minute. The disastrous pilot leaked online a few years later and you can see the amount of effort they put in to remake the show: copy + paste.

Gracepoint aka Broadchurch

Let’s not just remake a prestigious British drama with its lead actor, David Tennant, but let’s rename it, too, and prove how redundant these American makeovers can be.

Welcome to Gracepoint. Tennant returned to investigate a murder in a coastal community, this time in the States, alongside a post-Breaking Bad Anna Gunn (replacing Olivia Colman, the nerve). But a big question lingered over this shameless remake: what’s the point?

The Inbetweeners

We get so many gross-out dude comedies out of the America that when the original Inbetweeners came out it was kind of ‘refreshing’ to see the British perspective.

So, immediately the Americans had to reclaim their territory and remake the same thing they’ve already been making for decades. The remake was swiftly cancelled.

Skins

I hope you like your teen dramas edgy!!

MTV was hoping they could offer a show that stood out from the glossy teen series like Gossip Girl and The O.C by remaking the acclaimed British series. In a very American way they tried too hard and ended up with a show that came across more like a bunch of public service announcements for unruly teens.

Men Behaving Badly

If you stayed up late watching the ABC in the 90s, you may have come across this British sitcom with Martin Clunes, before he became the star of every show your parents love. The show does what the title says — the Christmas special is called: ‘Jingle Balls’.

The Americans found a way to make this show worse by remaking it with Rob Schneider. Case. Closed.

Fawlty Towers

There are three things you don’t mess with in life: radiation, circus folk and Fawlty Towers.

Surely, the Americans would not touch one of the most iconic British TV series of all time? You’d expect they’d show a little respect. Nope. There have been four attempts at remaking Fawlty Towers in America.

Most were short lived but the one that stuck around longest was Payne (8 episodes before cancellation) and it’s title is accurate.

Thank God You’re Here

The Australian improv comedy series seemed like it could work in any country if you had the right guests; the American remake did not.

Considering the amount of comedic talent at their disposal, the American Thank God You’re Here had guests like Tom Arnold, Wayne Knight, Jason Alexander, Tom Green and Shannon Elizabeth. Even reality TV game shows do not translate.

Cold Feet

In the late 90s everyone went awwwwwww to Cold Feet.

People in Britain are capable of love, too. The series follows the highs and lows of three relationships and it’s still going after a recent revival. But as we now know, it’s the law in America to remake any show that’s popular in the UK and Cold Feet moved to Seattle, the U.S. capital of love.

Eight episodes were made. Only four aired before the network broke up with the remake.

Rake

Australia’s bad boy lawyer, Cleaver Greene (Richard Roxburgh), got an American makeover and became Keegan Deane (Greg Kinnear).

Seriously: Keegan Deane. America, you’ve got so much explaining to do. The U.S. Rake looked just like all their other legal dramas, which became a problem because it blended in with the pack rather than standing out.

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Cameron Williams is a writer and film critic based in Melbourne who occasionally blabs about movies on ABC radio. He has a slight Twitter addiction: @MrCamW.