Do. Not. Want.

[kaliha]

Comedic actor John Michael Higgins ("Best in Show," "Fred Claus") has been cast in the lead role of an American remake of cult Irish comedy "Father Ted."

Higgins tells Teletext UK that "It's not on Craggy Island, it's a fishing village down on its luck in New England."

The big question is, will it work? Only a scant few shows (eg. "Pop Idol," "The Office") have made the transition, most have crashed and burned or not even gotten off the ground.

Higgins himself is dubious "The English have a very robust history of being unkind about religion. We don't have that in our country, we're frightened of it. It's basically that you guys are doing an Irish joke also, we don't have that. So I'll be Father Ted, we'll see how it goes."

Shooting is scheduled to begin in January.

*wishes she still had her Father Jack icon*
ETA: Now with added FT action.

Comments

[mayblossom.livejournal.com]

Oh dear. I try to be open minded but this sounds like it could be worse than the Life On Mars remake.

[lovepollution.livejournal.com]

Dear America,

STOP REMAKING BRITISH PROGRAMMES!

Kthxbye.

I think the only Brit show I watch they haven't tried yet it Doctor Who (not counting the TV movie of course).

[gypsyjr.livejournal.com]

Uh... guys? When your LEAD ACTOR has no confidence in the success of your project, you may want to rethink things a bit.

[--kali--.livejournal.com]

I know, it just goes to show how badly thought through the whole thing is.

[macphista.livejournal.com]

Father Ted will make no sense in the US! It's exactly the religious mockery and Irishness what makes the show funny. How are they going to do that with the amount of religius freaks they have over there?

Epic fail.

[--kali--.livejournal.com]

However, it is lolarious to think that there would be pickets a la the time Ted and Dougal picketed the cinema

"Down with that sort of thing!"

[neadods.livejournal.com]

They may be banking on the fact that most of the religious freaks here are Protestant and thus won't mind people picking on Catholics... heck, it'll probably be cited as "proof" of some things, like the wingnuts citing the Onion article as proof that J.K. Rowling is secretly Satanic.

Oh, how I wish I was joking when I said that.

[txvoodoo.livejournal.com]

I think they have chosen well setting it in New England - that area has the most "old time" churches in the nation, along with a lot of VERY idiosyncratic personalities.

[sal101010.livejournal.com]

Well, the good news is that as it's an unnecessary remake of a perfectly good programme it's almost guaranteed to bomb.

*Rubs hands together in anticipation...*

[doylefan22.livejournal.com]

Worst. Idea. Ever.

If they couldn't make Red Dwarf work what on earth makes them think they can do this?

[supertrink.livejournal.com]

oh, how i wish america would stop ripping off english shows! it is so very rarely a good thing!

[cryptile.livejournal.com]

But guys, it's only legitimate entertainment if it's American!

[txvoodoo.livejournal.com]

With all due respect to Higgins, this is the kind of thing we once did very well, when we poached "Til Death Do Us Part" and turned it into "All in the Family." It hit on religion and politics in a comedy format.

It's really not brain surgery to do it properly - you have to localize the humor, and of course have good writers and comedic actors.

The Office, US succeeds because it did what The Office, UK did well - it captured Generic National Office Workers and their plights, comedically.

Our Coupling failed because it tried to copy the UK version down to the last syllable - and the same words just don't work coming out of mid-US mouths. We have our own speech rhythm and cadence, not to mention, colloquialisms.

I actually have more hope for this one because of its very nature - small town. It's easier to do a microcosm than a macrocosm. If they do it well, they'll play up on the tensions and humor of small town USA, like the UK version did of Ireland.

Down with that sort of thing

[thinkzinc.livejournal.com]

That is just craziness. The original is perfection, and you just can't improve on perfection!!

[si-lloyd.livejournal.com]

Even the lead actor thinks the idea is fucking retarded.