5 Reasons Why American Remakes Of British Sitcoms Fall Flat

4. What Happens To Our Beloved Characters

Things can get lost on the transfer from one side of the pond to the other. One being what makes a certain character likeable, distinctive and have depth. When a sitcom changes hands with different writers, producers, editors, audiences and so on, characters might be reworked, replaced or in some cases taken out altogether. This isn't always a bad thing, but unfortunately some of the best, most beloved characters are crumbled into mediocre dust. The US remake of Men Behaving Badly (yes... it happened!) starring Ron Eldard and Rob Schneider took the same messy, laddish lifestyle surrounding the two flatmates named Kevin and Jamie, but somehow they didn't match up to the original Gary and Tony. Kevin and Jamie are bland and characterless and lack the uniquely amusing silliness of Gary and Tony. The title is Men Behaving Badly because it focuses on two childish, disordered, pathetic, lustful, beer-loving guys who spend their nights raising their thighs in order to fart and discussing fantasy scenarios with Kylie Minogue. The US remake doesn't reflect this at all. It should have been called Men Behaving Banally. Would you watch 35 episodes of that? No, thought not.