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

[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.