Being Human (Syfy Remake) - News/Discussion/Spec. Spoilers for most recent ep

[lilslim142000]

The BBC's clever 20-something show Being Human about a vampire, a werewolf and a ghost who end up as roommates is the latest British series to get an Americanized version. Syfy has ordered 13 episodes of the new series, which it plans to launch in the summer or fall or 2010 as a companion to its show Sanctuary (which also features a vampire and a werewolf).
Being Human debuted on the digital network BBC Three with six episodes and was popular enough that it got moved up to the larger BBC One. A second season of eight episodes is planned for early next year in Britain, and the show also airs in the U.S. on BBC America.
"It turned out great as we can now do an American version," Syfy president Dave Howe told The Hollywood Reporter. "We've always been keen on vampires and werewolves, and we loved the originality of Being Human, the fact that the fantastical creatures in it are very young, accessible and charming."

Howe said the Syfy version will not just "slavishly replicate the British version."

[AvatarIII]

as much as i loved the show, this could go any way, ie American "Red Dwarf" (horrible) or American "The Office" (great)

and i hope it is different enough to enjoy both US and British series in parallel if it is good

[IcarusAbides]

I don't see much good coming of this, american remakes of british series tend to lose the type of humour from the original series and suffer as a result.

[Killdeer]

I've been seeing a lot of good things about this show from my LJ friends, but haven't actually seen it myself yet. However, I don't get why Syfy doesn't just air the BBC version instead of remaking it. Haven't they shown BBC shows before?

[huntress]

I hope they will fail spectecularly with this. I HATE all those re-makes and was very happy when ABC failed with their re-make from LoM. When will they ever learn.... I have also read somewhere that some channel in the US is re-making "Five Days" : headdesk :

[Replicator Todd]

I don't understand why they just don't show the BBC version, they show Primeval, Doctor Who, and SJA on the channel already. Well, the haven't shown them in a while...

[Dr. Harry Sullivan]

Official Press Announcement for Re-Imagined Being Human on Syfy - see link below

http://scifiandtvtalk.wordpress.com/...comes-to-syfy/

[Skydiver]

being human was great...kinda spooks me to see skiffy 'reimagine' it.

how about just taking hte idea and letting it be different? does it HAVE to be the same formula?

[IcarusAbides]

I'm sure that by the time they are done it will be nothing like the original anyway.

[retiredat44]

dammit, I was hoping we would have the show back in a few months,, that's a very long wait..


great show..

[IcarusAbides]

dammit, I was hoping we would have the show back in a few months,, that's a very long wait..


great show..

It is a great show but the problem is how good will a remake of it be.

[knowles2]

Personally I do not believe the American version will get the right mix of comedy and drama. An I am going to bet that they will probably take most of the drama out of it or most of comedy. Which is a shame because the UK version had the right mixed.

But I guest it wait an see,

[IcarusAbides]

Personally I do not believe the American version will get the right mix of comedy and drama. An I am going to bet that they will probably take most of the drama out of it or most of comedy. Which is a shame because the UK version had the right mixed.

But I guest it wait an see,

Somehow i just don't see it being that good.

[Skydiver]

my money is on the ghost running around in a tank top, the vamp being sexy and hot and yeah, the comedy will not be a good mix.

i don't trust skiffy to even try to do it right, here's hoping they surprise me

[AvatarIII]

I've been seeing a lot of good things about this show from my LJ friends, but haven't actually seen it myself yet. However, I don't get why Syfy doesn't just air the BBC version instead of remaking it. Haven't they shown BBC shows before?

probably because the british version of the series is just not long enough, 6 episodes a year is not enough to satisfy the american audience. and since they are 1h long without ad breaks (and not designed with adbreaks in mind) they would be annoying to air with ad breaks. they'd be all over the place and the show would have to air over a 1h30m slot.

[SGLAB]

probably because the british version of the series is just not long enough, 6 episodes a year is not enough to satisfy the american audience. and since they are 1h long without ad breaks (and not designed with adbreaks in mind) they would be annoying to air with ad breaks. they'd be all over the place and the show would have to air over a 1h30m slot.

BBCAmerica aired the show a few months ago. The eps were 1 hr and 15 mins. Saying that there still might have been parts cut out of the eps.

And I'm with Skydiver's theory on how a US version will go. I can see there being UST instead of being really about the characters' friendships. I have serious doubts about this going well.

[IcarusAbides]

BBCAmerica aired the show a few months ago. The eps were 1 hr and 15 mins. Saying that there still might have been parts cut out of the eps.

And I'm with Skydiver's theory on how a US version will go. I can see there being UST instead of being really about the characters' friendships. I have serious doubts about this going well.

That's allways the theory with anything British, well we have to put ads in and it just won't be as good as if we did it. If the series wasn't very good for airing in america then it wouldn't have had the success it has so far and they wouldn't be making a US version.

[Skydiver]

there's both a 60 and a 75 minute versions that aired on bbc america. and if you get the channel they occasionaly re-run them

i don't know if stuff was cut per se, but things were blanked out. times when the language was inappropriate for what bbc america wanted to air

I really liked it and even recently taped a marathon to have all the episodes

[IcarusAbides]

there's both a 60 and a 75 minute versions that aired on bbc america. and if you get the channel they occasionaly re-run them

i don't know if stuff was cut per se, but things were blanked out. times when the language was inappropriate for what bbc america wanted to air

I really liked it and even recently taped a marathon to have all the episodes

It's a solid series, especially for the budgets they were working on.

[Thunderstorm]

I absolutely love this show. One of the best series I've ever seen and certainly better than anything I watched on tv in the last couple years.

I've been seeing a lot of good things about this show from my LJ friends, but haven't actually seen it myself yet. However, I don't get why Syfy doesn't just air the BBC version instead of remaking it. Haven't they shown BBC shows before?

Syfy doesn't own the rights.

BBCAmerica aired the show a few months ago. The eps were 1 hr and 15 mins. Saying that there still might have been parts cut out of the eps.

And I'm with Skydiver's theory on how a US version will go. I can see there being UST instead of being really about the characters' friendships. I have serious doubts about this going well.

The 1 hr 15 min versions had extra behind the scenes stuff in them.

I'm actually very worried at how bad Syfy could ruin this show. I think they would lose all the subtle things that made it great and just go with the superficial, werewolf, ghost and vampire concept.

Yes the show had those elements but it was more about how they struggled to retain their 'humanity' and moral compass while still having to live with the problems they afflictions cause and try to somehow to be as much like normal humans as possible. Thus the title 'Being Human'

BBCAmerica still airs the eps from time to time. The finale was re- shown last week. The BBC is filming a 2nd season of 8 eps that will air in the UK in January and sometime later on BBCAmerica here in the US. Aaaaaggggghhh - I can't wait that long.