Unperturbed by an extensive track record of failures when rebooting UK comedies, ABC invited the original writers of huge hit The Inbetweeners, Iain Morris and Damon Beesley, to make a pilot in 2008. This was promptly rejected. In 2011 the pair became executive producers on MTV's pilot episode. This time the series was picked up for a 12 episode run. The reboot was swiftly cancelled at the end of the series due to low ratings. The show, for the few who don't know, follows the adventures of four friends, Will, Simon, Jay and Neil as they struggle to come to terms with the pitfalls of life towards the end of Sixth Form. As an outright comedy it's far lighter in tone than Skins but its failure in America was for very similar reasons. The tone is very crude and defiantly British which meant the attempts to americanise were almost universally doomed to failure. And yet, there is still the chance of a revival. An adaptation of The Inbetweeners Movie was announced in the summer of 2012 again with the active involvement of Morris and Beesley. For a while it was unsure if this project was scrapped along with the series' cancellation but in August 2013 the film was re-titled Virgins America before stalling in development hell. Have any other great shows been ruined by remakes? Share your picks down in the comments.
