Law & Order: UK...ripoff?
- Thread starter Warped9
- Start date
Yes, in that sense it is a ripoff, but it's not like it's secret or anything - the producers of the original and the UK version have stated that publicly numerous times. Apparently it's a contract issue of some sort.
The French version of Law & Order: Criminal Intent also mirrors the original series. I don't quite see why they would think that it is a good idea, but ultimately I guess the American producers just want to stay in control of their franchise.
L&O Russia:
In the criminal justice system there are two seperate yet equally important groups: The informants who call attention to dissenters and the secret police who torture the suspects to get them to confess - these are their stories.
In the criminal justice system there are two seperate yet equally important groups: The informants who call attention to dissenters and the secret police who torture the suspects to get them to confess - these are their stories.
The word to use here isn't the snide and overused "ripoff." A ripoff is an imitation done without the consent of the owners of the original property. These episodes are remakes of episodes of the original series.
Think of it as a sort of translation -- adapting the same stories so that they're more comprehensible to audiences from different cultures. Like the trend to do versions of Shakespeare plays updated to the modern world. (Not to mention that many of Shakespeare's plays were themselves modernized and Anglicized updates of tales from ancient history and mythology.) There's plenty of precedent; a number of successful American sitcoms, including All in the Family, Sanford and Son, and The Office, are Americanized remakes of British shows (though I don't know to what extent the same actual stories were used). This past season's Life on Mars was an Americanized remake of the British show of the same name, and many of its episodes were moderately faithful adaptations of the stories from the original series. The Power Rangers franchise is an adaptation of the Japanese Super Sentai franchise, and many of its story and character arcs have been fairly faithful adaptations of the originals, sometimes more than others.
Think of it as a sort of translation -- adapting the same stories so that they're more comprehensible to audiences from different cultures. Like the trend to do versions of Shakespeare plays updated to the modern world. (Not to mention that many of Shakespeare's plays were themselves modernized and Anglicized updates of tales from ancient history and mythology.) There's plenty of precedent; a number of successful American sitcoms, including All in the Family, Sanford and Son, and The Office, are Americanized remakes of British shows (though I don't know to what extent the same actual stories were used). This past season's Life on Mars was an Americanized remake of the British show of the same name, and many of its episodes were moderately faithful adaptations of the stories from the original series. The Power Rangers franchise is an adaptation of the Japanese Super Sentai franchise, and many of its story and character arcs have been fairly faithful adaptations of the originals, sometimes more than others.
Since Dick Wolf had a major role in the conception of L&O: UK I don't see how it could possibly be a "rip-off". Hopefully the next series will have some completely original stories in it (and proper actors).
I understand your point - it is ridiculous that they were stuck remaking L&O episodes, and I don't really understand why the contract allowed only this. Especially since a number of them really didn't translate that well to the UK and had me squirming a bit watching them.
I really hope they get a better chance to be original next year.
I think they should be doing this same thing with Star Trek - new Russian versions of "The Doomsday Machine" and all like that there. Pure revenue for CBS.
L&O recycles its own stories. THere are only so many crimes!
Yeah, they apparently had to drop one of the ones they were planning to do because there was no way they could make it work in the UK justice system.
I don't watch the American version, I tried but couldn't get in to it, but I do quite like the UK version.
I don't watch the American version, I tried but couldn't get in to it, but I do quite like the UK version.
Which doesn't make it any less an abuse of the word, a word that is obnoxiously overused and abused in general. Words are not meaningful if used incorrectly, and that is simply not what the word "ripoff" means.
Actually, he's using the word in its correct sense: something that's a bad deal for the consumer.
Not really, since it's aimed at the UK market, which while we have the US Law & Order series, they tend to be on the less watch channels, where as Law & Order UK is on the most watched commercial channel in the country.
There are several interpretations of the word "rip-off." The whole board doesn't have to follow your personal definition.
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