U.S. Sitcoms Adapted from British Sitcoms: From All in the Family Forward

Thanks to some great casting and a script that hasn't deviated too much from the original British series 'The Office' has become one of the more successful sitcoms (both in ratings and critically) of recent years. I believe it would be fair to say that most people who watch the series are aware that it was based on the British sitcom of the same name starring Ricky Gervais, and it is probably the most successful re-make of a British Sitcom since the '70s or '80s, when re-tooled U.K. imports seemed to be all the rage. So let's take a short tour of some of the most successful American sitcoms that were actually retooled versions of original British Sitcoms.

Probably the most popular and socially ground-breaking of these was 'All in the Family' putting a humorous spin on the ugly underbelly of in-bred racism in America. Although without 'Carol O'Connor' consummate acting skills portraying 'Archie Bunker' it's hard to see it becoming as popular as it did. Based on the long-running British series Till Death us do part which starred 'Warren Mitchell' who along with 'Carol O'Connor' made the role (this time 'Alf Garnett') his very own. In the 70's when West Indian immigration into Britain was probably at its peak the racist rants and paranoid fury of Alf's old-world ideology was as shocking and revolutionary on British TV as 'All in the Family' was to become to it's American audience. Curse worlds 'Bloody', 'Coon' (A mild negro expletive) were thrown around with wild abandon but Alf's favorite and most recognizable put-down was 'silly moo' which he used when referring to his long-suffering wife. The fact that he seemed to be constantly adorned in 'West Ham' football regalia (soccer for the Yanks) made him more palatable, linking Britain's most popular sport to his uncouth character. The fact that the 'Hammers' (West Ham's nick-name) was my team of choice made him even more appealing to me as a small boy in the 70's and there lies the rub (sorry Shakespeare). He is uncouth, low-class, ugly in mind and body but he does have one thing in his favor. Humor! and as racist and stuck in the ways of old-Britain as he was humor always pulled him through and made him appealing, at least in some form or fashion to the audience. For me the funniest moments came when on being shocked to learn that a Black person was intelligent or helpful he would try to be nice and in doing so probably lay out more insults than his usual racist tirades.

A lesser known adaptation of a British Comedy would be 'Sanford and Son' adapted from the British 'Steptoe & Son' whose stock in trade was that of 'rag and bone' men. Rag and Bone men could be regularly seen trotting around town in a horse and buggy collecting unwanted items from people, scrap metal, old TV sets, unwanted items for which they would pay a small pittance. I remember well horse-drawn rag and bone men clip-clopping up and down my street in the 70's although nowadays they are just a nostalgic footnote. Possibly the best ever British Comedy Sitcom duo in 'Harry H. Corbett' and 'Wilfrid Brambell' who played 'Harold' and 'Albert' Steptoe respectively. Living in a run-down hovel come shed of a home Harry the son always aspiring to greater things above and beyond the grim reality of daily life whilst the cantankerous father 'get-out-of-it!' 'Albert' was up for every and any deplorable shenanigans in order to make life easier for himself, much to the consternation of his ever-beleaguered son.

In an amazing run of U.S. copy-cat sitcoms 'Three's Company' spawned two other British Sitcoms 'George and Mildred' and 'Robin's Nest' and all three of these were adapted for American Television, becoming 'Three's Company', 'The Ropers' and 'Three's a Crowd' respectively - all with only subtle changes. Sexual innuendo, short skirts, sexy blond bombshells, nosy neighbors. It seems that the innocent and somewhat corny set-ups 'Man pretending to be gay so he can co-rent' etc. of the British 70's Sitcoms lent themselves perfectly for the American market. Since the 70's however nothing much has worked in translation. The 'Office' not-withstanding.

Certain British sitcoms were not (Thankfully!) successfully copied, although it was attempted. According to 'en.wikipedia' the following Britcoms were pushed into ill-fated and short-lived runs, those being 'Fawlty Towers' turned into 'Payne' (can you imagine whose brilliant idea that was), 'Are you being served' turned into 'Beanes of Boston' (Thankfully America had the sense to see just how horrendous either version was), 'Coupling' which became 'Coupling' and 'Men behaving badly' which became um' well 'Men behaving badly'.

American T.V. finally cottoned on to the realization that they had enough talent to produce uniquely themed shows of their own with classics such as 'Cheers', 'Seinfeld', 'Frasier', 'Friends', 'Rhoda' etc. Britain was also guilty of the copy-cat syndrome with a truly awful adaptation of the 'Golden Girls' called 'Brighton Belles' which suffered a quick death.

Thankfully many of the great British sitcoms stayed uniquely British without being adapted or translated in any way. In fact some were I submit almost impossible to translate such as 'The rise and fall of Reginald perrin' and 'Rising Damp' starring the best comedy character actor of the 70's 'Leonard Rossiter', 'Porridge' a prison comedy no less, 'Good Neighbors' a quintessentially English garden fuzzy sweater of a comedy, 'Dad's Army' about Britain's over-aged Home Guard in WWII, The 'Blackadder' series with Rowan Atkinson, the 'Young Ones' from the early 80's and other totally British classics like 'Liver Birds', 'The Likely-Lads', 'Watching', 'Last of the Summer Wine', 'Yes Minister', 'Allo, Allo', 'Hi-De-Hi', 'It ain't half hot mum', 'Absolutely Fabulous' and the most politically incorrect racial comedy of all time 'Love thy neighbor' which made 'Till Death us do part' aka: 'All in the family' look tame in comparison and would certainly never get green-lighted nowadays.

With the Writers strike currently in full swing it should be hoped that future comedy sitcoms can be written with as high quality as the classics of yesteryear and that U.S. companies don't go looking abroad for the next best sitcom.