Absolutely Fabulous: American Version coming later this year

[Lazario]

http://www.imdb.com/news/ns0000002/#ni0658067

I am quite dumbfounded. I don't know what to say. Does anyone else here?

Anyway, for those who don't like to read outside links, Jennifer Saunders herself will be writing it along with Saturday Night Live writer, Christine Zander. It will air on one of the Fox channels.

[Dottie]

I can't believe it. Why do the American networks always have to adapt programs that are already great? Usually the remake is just horrible, horrible, horrible (I mean you Kath&Kim! altough, I didn't like the original that much either)

And as far as I know Saunders is only producing it and has openly said on British TV that she is only doing it for the money and then run.

[2099net]

As long as this doesn't stop her writing more Jam & Jerusalem....

But really, isn't this pointless? No network TV station in the US will ever let the series retain its drinking/drug based humour, nor I suspect some of the social commentary. So it's probably already down as a watered down version from the get go.

I remember when Fox were going to make their version of Spaced - totally misunderstanding the entire point of the series by filling it with young, successful, good looking adults. I mean

And of course, in the UK we've heard stories about various UK series being optioned, but with no production in sight

Nighty Night I believe HBO optioned this, but even HBO would find it impossible to write a sit-com about a manipulative murderess who's surrounded by such cretins - including one suffering from MS and in a wheelchair - the the audience actually roots for her! America just isn't ready for that kind of humour when sit-coms are still generally people running about causing "hilarious misunderstandings"

The Vicar of Dibley - Optioned by the two female actors from Frasiar years and years ago, yet still no movement. Again, apparently the fact that the programme revolves around a female vicar is just to politically radical for the US.

The Mighty Boosh - Lord alone knows how they aim to reproduce the Boosh's unique ambiance with different performers. The performers are the Boosh - end of story. They write, improvise and perform the show. Getting somebody else is totally missing the point. Plus, the Boosh needs a "home made" feel to work, something I fear the US producers will shy away from, or if not, the audience will.

US TV has a huge track record of missing the fundamental point of UK series... I mean, who else would consider making a version of Fawlty Towers without Basil?

[Lazario]

I know I should be really upset and offended because I truly love the British version too. But for some bizarre reason, I'm completely fascinated with this idea. I think there's a small chance it could work, but I do want to see it happen whether it does or doesn't work. It just might be an amusing trainwreck.

USA-Coupling was a disaster. So, everyone working in television here should know to stay far away from adapting English shows in America. The only way this could ever work is if they get, I think, an actress to play either Edina or Patsy who hasn't yet become huge, and that the exposure makes people psychotic to tune in. That's happened at least 3 times before in TV - Hugh Laurie on House, Tony Shaloub on Monk, and arguably Eva Longoria on Desperate Housewives.

What they should really do is take the idea of Absolutely Fabulous and design a more original concept around that.

For example, I can't imagine anyone watching TV in the U.S. being that interested to see the inner workings of Edina's P-R Company (for which the show will have to have lots of big-name guest stars, since Ab Fab did - Lulu, Twiggy, Helena Bonham Carter, Britt Ekland, Kathy Burke, Elton John, Whoopi Goldberg, Miranda Richardson, Suzi Quatro, Nathan Lane, Zandra Rhodes, Laurie Metcalf and more) or Patsy's magazine. Basically, every snooty gay man in America thinks they know so much about fashion, they'll be the butt of the same jokes that are made at Edina and Pasty's expense.

And the mother-daughter conflicts between Saffy and Edina were probably patterned after some English ideal or something on TV. A satiric concept that would work over there. What are they going to do- make jokes that the daughter is too much like Hilary Duff when they want to say that she's too much of a goodie-goodie? These days, it seems like there are no more repressed girls in American entertainment. If they're not all doing anyone they choose to, they're dressing, talking, thinking, behaving however they want to.

I guess I don't see how they could make any jokes out of this concept work over here. So, per your reply, it would seem Saunders doesn't think the show will work either.

But really, isn't this pointless? No network TV station in the US will ever let the series retain its drinking/drug based humour, nor I suspect some of the social commentary. So it's probably already down as a watered down version from the get go.

I never thought of that.

[2099net]

Do you know Laz, I've never really considered the context of Ab Fab to society at the time. And you're right, Ab Fab really couldn't be done today. The period has gone, passed. Basically it caught the "second summer of love" where teenagers had their own "60's". Rave culture was at its height - drugs, drink and "free-love". Parents could see their own youth in their teenagers actions.

And that's basically the "joke" of Ab Fab - desperate to hang onto her youth, Eddy partakes in the teenage pursuits and fads of the time, while her daughter basically becomes the parent.

Today, teenagers in Britain are more closely associated with binge drinking (much more serious and grotesque than managing to grab an odd drink here or there) and gang culture. I really don't think Ab Fab could ever exist if it were starting up today.

It's interesting, but Jennifer Saunders' latest show is in some respects the exact opposite of Ab Fab - J&J is all about Britain being a better place, full of tradition, a villiage where everybody knows everybody else by name, where everybody helps everybody else when they get into trouble. While in Ab Fab Saunders was wholeheartedly embracing society at the time, with J&J she's doing the opposite; she seems to be ignoring it.

But for your comments on Saffy, I think perhaps you are looking a little too deep. I always just took it as role reversal - in Saffy's case, by necessity.

At around the same time as Ab Fab, there was a character in a sketch show called "Kevin" played by Harry Enfield. There's a clip here:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=55ZXoSxSmdI

Notice how much of his body language is similar to Eddy's in Ab Fab. So Eddy was, in effect, a version of the stereotypical British teenager (or at least, the publics perception of them at the time).

In that clip too, you'll see Kevin's Aunt is very similar to Saffy - but more so. A no-nonsense, "stuff upper lip" almost school matronly type figure. Again a stereotype in Britain that is well know, but not exactly common in reality.

So basically Eddy and Saffy are role reversed. Eddy is the teenager and Saffy the mother. There may be some truth to Saffy as a teenager - there were certainly lots of girls at my school at the time who were serious about their studying and their academic career, but I generally feel Saffy's character is basically dictated to the fact she has had to look after Eddy. She's almost been a child carer who looks after a sick mother.

Finally, did you know that Cybill (starring Cybill Shepard) is often cited as a reworking of Ab Fab. You can sort of see it... Cybill has a "grown up" daughter, a best friend who is self-indulgent and drinks, two ex-husbands (although I don't think either was gay, but Alan Rosenberg's character could be said to be in touch with his emotional feminine side) and of course the main character was in the media (although in this case, as actress).

[Lazario]

Do you know Laz, I've never really considered the context of Ab Fab to society at the time. And you're right, Ab Fab really couldn't be done today. The period has gone, passed. Basically it caught the "second summer of love" where teenagers had their own "60's". Rave culture was at its height - drugs, drink and "free-love". Parents could see their own youth in their teenagers actions. And that's basically the "joke" of Ab Fab - desperate to hang onto her youth, Eddy partakes in the teenage pursuits and fads of the time, while her daughter basically becomes the parent.

That's actually the #1 reason I'm interested in this Americanization. To see whether the writers will actually comment on current American trends with the characters, or try and invent trends that aren't there. It could kind of work, either way. The cluelessness or the potential spot-on possibilities (still I think So NoTorious did this much better, finding current American trends to exploit for comedic effect). Because this will be an American show when it hits the airwaves. Hopefully, they do a lot of work on it so that it doesn't feel like a sad 2nd version of the original, but Dottie's post made it seem like Saunders isn't very optimistic in that regard.

American culture is the craziest, sleaziest, #1 culture that always needs to be satirized and I'm desperate for another show to come along and at least try. So NoTorious had a lot of potential and didn't connect. So, I'm hoping that any writer from Saturday Night Live can come up with something amusing. If not, there's always The Soup. Which is a little too specific for what I'm looking for right now. Great for a killer laugh. But only biting a certain section of Americana. There's so much more to grab on to.

Today, teenagers in Britain are more closely associated with binge drinking (much more serious and grotesque than managing to grab an odd drink here or there) and gang culture. I really don't think Ab Fab could ever exist if it were starting up today.

It's interesting, but Jennifer Saunders' latest show is in some respects the exact opposite of Ab Fab - J&J is all about Britain being a better place, full of tradition, a villiage where everybody knows everybody else by name, where everybody helps everybody else when they get into trouble. While in Ab Fab Saunders was wholeheartedly embracing society at the time, with J&J she's doing the opposite; she seems to be ignoring it.

Sorry if it seems like I'm in any way ignoring the thoughtfulness of those paragraphs, but it's very me to point out that J&J also just happens to be Jennifer and Joanna. I'm sure it's unintentional, but it amused me at the time I noticed it.

I'll probably check out J&J soon.

But for your comments on Saffy, I think perhaps you are looking a little too deep. I always just took it as role reversal - in Saffy's case, by necessity.

I actually never feel I look into anything too deep. I want to keep my sanity.

But during an interview with Jennifer Saunders, someone else (not Jennifer) pointed out that the relationship between Edina and Saffy was a role-reversal. And with all the emphasis on popular culture in England at the time, which I don't know much about, I was just assuming that Saffy was patterned after someone like Helena Bonham Carter or a goodie-goodie type. That that would, in a way, drive any Mother to become more wild, because now she'd be rebelling against her daughter. That in a way, and I think Edina as a character suggested this in several episodes- Saffy had been programmed by whatever aspects in the culture she saw as ideal to be more repressed or whatever. That kids were becoming more like that in England at the time. And if that's not really true of Edina, it's certainly true of Patsy. That she would deliberately make Edina do things just to spite Saffy. Because she hates how serious and straight-laced Saffy is.

I might not have even gone out on this limb, but I remember so many scenes of Edina being afraid of Saffy and that it wasn't always like that. When Saffy dips into her childhood, Edina is always tyrannical and doesn't care about anything Saffy's doing and she's not paying attention. Yet, most of Edina's life is portrayed as being afraid of what Saff will do or say or think if she finds out she's doing something wrong. That makes me think there could be a little truth in Saffy turning her Mother more wild and rebellious. That the humor / set-up of most of the physical gags in their relationship were dictated by that dynamic. And that that was how the show progressed, but not exactly where it started. I think of it as, the daughter was probably designed to at least be like a certain kind of girl in English culture at that time. But like I say, I don't really know that. I was just assuming.

Oh, and that's definitely not looking deep for me to find that. That's all right in the episodes. It's more of: recording a pattern than analyzing complexities the writer may have had in mind.

Finally, did you know that Cybill (starring Cybill Shepard) is often cited as a reworking of Ab Fab. You can sort of see it... Cybill has a "grown up" daughter, a best friend who is self-indulgent and drinks, two ex-husbands (although I don't think either was gay, but Alan Rosenberg's character could be said to be in touch with his emotional feminine side) and of course the main character was in the media (although in this case, as actress).

I sure did. But, not while I was watching the show. Only later, after Oxygen pulled it off their schedule.

And I can say that Zoey was definitely patterned after certain girls in American culture. The sarcastic, sophisticated, smart teenage girl with very clever, sometimes quite biting one-liners. She's a more relaxed version of Darlene in Roseanne, and I believe Daria had already appeared in Beavis & Butthead, so she was another character there. But there are traces of that type in movies, too. Tia in Uncle Buck (though she's incredibly insecure where Zoey is much more breezy and self-confident), the daughter of Christine Baranski's character in The Ref, Wednesday in The Addams Family movies, and that type just became cliche after that. You can see that in Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Reba, 8 Simple Rules, Still Standing, so many other TV shows and movies that- it's shocking really.

Every character on Cybill was a much looser version of their counterpart in AbFab. They even had a Grandmother who was less uptight than the Mother (I think she was played by Eileen Heckart), and we'd see Cybill mostly at home in her life, but frequently going out for jobs, etc. This was something else So NoTorious did that I quite love, showing the humor of Tori trying to make it while fully aknowledging her status in Hollywood as a "has-been." Perhaps the humor is more biting in Torious, though, because it shows that you can go from being a big-time celebrity to a has-been in America quicker now than Cybill Shepherd did.

[2099net]

Well in a "shock" move that will surprise literally no one, its been s#!tcanned.

http://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2009/05/1 ... fab_remake

[Escapay]

Drats. I was hoping that Kristen Johnston would return to television, even if it were in a poor remake of AbFab.

albert

[Wonderlicious]

As long as this doesn't stop her writing more Jam & Jerusalem....

But really, isn't this pointless? No network TV station in the US will ever let the series retain its drinking/drug based humour, nor I suspect some of the social commentary. So it's probably already down as a watered down version from the get go.

Netty, have you seen "The Inbetweeners" yet? Apparently an American version is being made (through ABC no less!), and even though the original writers are (somewhat, my inner cynic cries) involved, I can't help but think that it's also gonna be a bowdlerised version of the British original.