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NBC to remake Prime Suspect?

Well, the British channels have been remaking American shows recently (L&O for example) but the US networks have made a few remakes of our shows over the years; some successful (The Office, Eleventh Hour) and others not.

I wouldn't call Eleventh Hour successful. It ran only one season before getting canned.
 
Well, the British channels have been remaking American shows recently (L&O for example) but the US networks have made a few remakes of our shows over the years; some successful (The Office, Eleventh Hour) and others not.

I wouldn't call Eleventh Hour successful. It ran only one season before getting canned.
Compared to some of the drivel that runs on US channels, one season is pretty successful.

It's interesting to note that you prefer to remake our reality shows and comedy series more than dramas.

Hey, leave me out of it. That's not my preference. ;)
That's as it may be. What do you like from my side of the pond?
 
All I know is the genre stuff we get over here -- Doctor Who and its spinoffs, Primeval, Merlin, that sort of thing. Being Human didn't grab me at first, but it turned out pretty well, despite a heavy emphasis on the vampire stuff which was my least favorite thread (I am so sick of vampire stories).
 
That list is kinda wrong - it says Britains Got Talent was remade as Americas Got Talent but S1 of BGT debuted in June 2007 and S1 of AGT finished in August 2006.
 
That list is kinda wrong - it says Britains Got Talent was remade as Americas Got Talent but S1 of BGT debuted in June 2007 and S1 of AGT finished in August 2006.
I think it was a British format though, and AGT just got made first.
 
yes I think the UK version got delayed for some reason, so the US got its to air first.

something similar might happen with an Aussie quiz show, which five have recently picked up for Justin Lee Collins, it has yet to air down under, and the UK version might make it to air first.
 
^Every play Shakespeare ever wrote was a remake. The majority of the most admired motion pictures of all time are adaptations of other works. Conversely, most "original" shows and films are just familiar stories with new names tacked on. Originality is in the execution. It doesn't matter whether your concept comes from an earlier work; all that matters is what you do with it.
 
It's such a shame that they won't work round scheduling to all that sort of thing though.
PBS shows Prime Suspect.

I meant if networks are interested in these shows I think it's a shame that they won't just work out the scheduling problems and show the original, rather than do a poor job of remaking it.

PBS has as much coverage in America as the networks, as far as I know. If anyone wanted to watch this show, it's perfectly available to them. It wouldn't make any sense for networks to run what PBS already does. Why waste airtime when you could devote it to something that hasn't aired elsewhere, even if it's a remake of something else (of course, I'd much prefer something more original).

Every play Shakespeare ever wrote was a remake.

That's a very good point. I'm less bothered by remakes than I am of networks who remake shows in an already incredibly overexposed genre. The only cop show worth watching today is Dexter. How about more along those lines? (Yeah, I know, if they could do it, everyone would.)

I can always ignore a show I dislike. The real problem is airtime being hogged up by uninspired shows, when something fresh and original doesn't get aired at all.
 
PBS has as much coverage in America as the networks, as far as I know. If anyone wanted to watch this show, it's perfectly available to them. It wouldn't make any sense for networks to run what PBS already does.

Oh, if only. PBS may technically be available in nearly as many cities, but it's nowhere near as high-profile as the commercial networks.
 
No, I don't even know what Damages is, except that it's something recent. I'm thinking of something from at least a decade ago.

Okay, I found it. I was thinking of Under Suspicion, a 1994 CBS police drama starring Karen Sillas. It had a similar title and a similar theme, focusing on a lone female homicide detective contending with the sexism of her male colleagues. Apparently it was conceived as an imitation of Prime Suspect but wasn't actually an adaptation.
I never saw the gender politics as the prime mover of Prime Suspect. That was played years before on Cagney and Lacey. What struck me was that the brass seemed to form a task force for every homicide. In Homicide Life on the Street terms we were following "red balls"

In almost every other cop series, besides Kojak or Hawaii 5-0 you had the detective team. The "primary" and his partner fighting the system. At best he was a sergeant and only outranked the local patrol cops. Then came The Closer.

Suddenly we have a LAPD chief with lieutenants, sergeants detectives all doing the ordinary task all to get the star into the box to do the interrogation. I had thought that it was inspired by Detective Chief Superintendent "gov'ner" Tennison
 
What struck me was that the brass seemed to form a task force for every homicide. In Homicide Life on the Street terms we were following "red balls"

:confused: Sounds more like Minority Report.
The Cruise movie?.

Episode 1 of a Prime Suspect series: We have a body, the gov'ner has the entire detective squad in a room with each getting micro assignment to track down. Meanwhile the supervisor does the main interviews and follows the main lead. Maybe 15 to 20 detectives working the one case. There seems to be nothing else as the squad room is all dedicated to the one murder.

Most other cop shows, there is a murder, the detective or detective sergeant and his partner works alone. They come to give reports to their immediate supervisor normally a Black person in position of authority who passes down the pressure from higher about the case or perhaps has an ideal to follow up. There may be other squad detectives around but they are not all working the one case.
 
No, I don't even know what Damages is, except that it's something recent. I'm thinking of something from at least a decade ago.

Okay, I found it. I was thinking of Under Suspicion, a 1994 CBS police drama starring Karen Sillas. It had a similar title and a similar theme, focusing on a lone female homicide detective contending with the sexism of her male colleagues. Apparently it was conceived as an imitation of Prime Suspect but wasn't actually an adaptation.
I never saw the gender politics as the prime mover of Prime Suspect. That was played years before on Cagney and Lacey.
:confused: The sexism of Tennyson's colleagues was played up a lot in the first few episodes of Prime Suspect (coupled with racism in Prime Suspect III, the one with Colin Salmon as Sgt. Bob Wilson).

Cracker also dealt with tensions among the police squad, to an even greater extent or at least more severe consequences.
 
I thought a redball was their term for homicide that was not premeditated. Since it wasn't premeditated, it could only be predicted shortly before it happened. Thus, like a "redball" in real life, an important case that demands the attention of everyone in the squad room.
 
^Whatever. I defer to your recollection of the film. My implied point was, I was puzzled by the use of the term "red ball" in reference to Homicide: Life on the Street. I don't know how or why it was used in that show.
 
^Whatever. I defer to your recollection of the film. My implied point was, I was puzzled by the use of the term red ball in reference to Homicide: Life on the Street. I don't know how or why it was used in that show.

On The Wire and Homicide Red Ball is used to describe cases which cause heavy police, media and political attention. Where as the normal murder of a corner boy is only known to the homicide detectives and the victims family.
 
The term is drawn, I believe, from Simon's book, Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets, and thus, from real life in Baltimore.
 
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