You can't have one...
April 25, 2012 9:58 AM Subscribe
My thoughts on the Polish version:
1. I never thought that six Poles could look so utterly unrelated to each other.
2. I'm really glad that the guy on the left was able to find acting work.
3. Wait, what's that thing behind him?
4. Do they live in an Olive Garden??
posted by theodolite at 10:08 AM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
1. I never thought that six Poles could look so utterly unrelated to each other.
2. I'm really glad that the guy on the left was able to find acting work.
3. Wait, what's that thing behind him?
4. Do they live in an Olive Garden??
posted by theodolite at 10:08 AM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
The UK version's Al is completely unconvincing. Tall? Has hair? Is British?
posted by DU at 10:13 AM on April 25, 2012
posted by DU at 10:13 AM on April 25, 2012
I don't even like Married with Children or anything, but this article makes me realize that there is so much TV programming around the world that I have not yet seen!!
posted by The Biggest Dreamer at 10:15 AM on April 25, 2012 [3 favorites]
posted by The Biggest Dreamer at 10:15 AM on April 25, 2012 [3 favorites]
I've always loved comparing different country's takes on similar stories.
Wonder if the dysfunctional family sitcom thing was popular in any of those countries beforehand?
posted by The Biggest Dreamer at 10:17 AM on April 25, 2012
Wonder if the dysfunctional family sitcom thing was popular in any of those countries beforehand?
posted by The Biggest Dreamer at 10:17 AM on April 25, 2012
If you are interested in this, you should really check out Exporting Raymond. A documentary about creating a Russian version of "Everybody Loves Raymond." It was on HBO GO for a while, but I'm not sure if it is currently streaming anywhere.
posted by Rock Steady at 10:20 AM on April 25, 2012
posted by Rock Steady at 10:20 AM on April 25, 2012
Ah geez.
posted by emelenjr at 10:20 AM on April 25, 2012 [3 favorites]
posted by emelenjr at 10:20 AM on April 25, 2012 [3 favorites]
emelenjr: "Ah geez."
Haha! I am Raymond and you are Robert!
posted by Rock Steady at 10:22 AM on April 25, 2012 [8 favorites]
Haha! I am Raymond and you are Robert!
posted by Rock Steady at 10:22 AM on April 25, 2012 [8 favorites]
I kind of preferred emelenjr's laconic Virginian take on the link.
posted by Iridic at 10:24 AM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by Iridic at 10:24 AM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
I'm reminded of the various foreign versions of The Nanny.
The Wikipedia article on the Russian version is also interesting.
Clips of these variants of The Nanny can be found at Mental Floss.
posted by Roentgen at 10:25 AM on April 25, 2012
The Wikipedia article on the Russian version is also interesting.
Clips of these variants of The Nanny can be found at Mental Floss.
posted by Roentgen at 10:25 AM on April 25, 2012
Rock Steady: If you are interested in this, you should really check out Exporting Raymond. A documentary about creating a Russian version of "Everybody Loves Raymond."
“They’d look at me kind of stunned,” he said of the producers, directors and writers he met in Moscow, who were charged with Russianizing his show. “ ‘Real life is terrible. Why would you want to show real life?’ ”
posted by filthy light thief at 10:35 AM on April 25, 2012 [2 favorites]
“They’d look at me kind of stunned,” he said of the producers, directors and writers he met in Moscow, who were charged with Russianizing his show. “ ‘Real life is terrible. Why would you want to show real life?’ ”
posted by filthy light thief at 10:35 AM on April 25, 2012 [2 favorites]
The surname of the Polish family is also an adjective meaning cheap or crappy (Polish last names are often adjectives).
posted by migurski at 10:39 AM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by migurski at 10:39 AM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
The New York Times had an article about the Russian Married With Children a few years ago. IIRC, the original writers from the show were even exporting the new scripts.
posted by dgaicun at 10:41 AM on April 25, 2012
posted by dgaicun at 10:41 AM on April 25, 2012
Jesus, Croatian Bud Bundy is like Barry Manilow and Clay Aiken go to Deliverance.
posted by uncleozzy at 10:42 AM on April 25, 2012 [8 favorites]
posted by uncleozzy at 10:42 AM on April 25, 2012 [8 favorites]
I posted the above quote from the NY Times article too soon. It's full of interesting tidbits about exporting US sitcoms to Russia. According to the article, the local productions of the original US scripts for The Nanny did so well that new scripts had to be made. The Nanny was the first of Sony Picture Television's US exports to Russia, followed by Who's The Boss?, then Married ... With Children. Raymond was the fourth go at exporting sitcoms.
Here's an article on the popularity of some US shows exported to Russia.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:44 AM on April 25, 2012
Here's an article on the popularity of some US shows exported to Russia.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:44 AM on April 25, 2012
And if the developing world really wants the to recapture the wonder of early 90s Fox programming, they need to get to work on adapting Get A Life and In Living Color. Or, dare I say it, Herman's Head.
posted by dgaicun at 10:49 AM on April 25, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by dgaicun at 10:49 AM on April 25, 2012 [2 favorites]
dgaicun: "And if the developing world really wants the to recapture the wonder of early 90s Fox programming, they need to get to work on adapting Get A Life..."
That show barely made sense in America. I can't imagine trying to adapt it. Although, maybe the black humor would work better in other cultures?
posted by Rock Steady at 10:56 AM on April 25, 2012
That show barely made sense in America. I can't imagine trying to adapt it. Although, maybe the black humor would work better in other cultures?
posted by Rock Steady at 10:56 AM on April 25, 2012
Spanish Ted looks a pretty fun guy. Turkish Ted looks like a mess.
posted by roll truck roll at 10:57 AM on April 25, 2012
posted by roll truck roll at 10:57 AM on April 25, 2012
That's right, ladies and gentlemen. I just confused Al Bundy with Ted Bundy. I'll let myself out.
posted by roll truck roll at 10:58 AM on April 25, 2012 [21 favorites]
posted by roll truck roll at 10:58 AM on April 25, 2012 [21 favorites]
Interesting how the Eastern European versions are the truest to the original.
posted by swift at 11:02 AM on April 25, 2012
posted by swift at 11:02 AM on April 25, 2012
German Al Bundy is kind of terrifying. For some reason I'm imagining "Married... With Children" meets "Christiane F.".
posted by DecemberBoy at 11:07 AM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by DecemberBoy at 11:07 AM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
Ed O'Neill has Modern Family, Katey Sagal has Sons of Anarchy, Christina Applegate has Up All Night, all of which are decent to excellent shows. Poor David Faustino seems to have gotten the short end of the stick.
posted by Rhomboid at 11:08 AM on April 25, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by Rhomboid at 11:08 AM on April 25, 2012 [2 favorites]
Russian version
So that's where Brendan Frasier went.
posted by m@f at 11:15 AM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
So that's where Brendan Frasier went.
posted by m@f at 11:15 AM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
I once saw David Faustino at the Big Apple Comic Con (which is not to be confused with the New York Comic Con by any means.) He was sitting at a table signing autographs. There was a line.
posted by griphus at 11:16 AM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by griphus at 11:16 AM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
Ed O'Neill has Modern Family, Katey Sagal has Sons of Anarchy, Christina Applegate has Up All Night, all of which are decent to excellent shows. Poor David Faustino seems to have gotten the short end of the stick.
David Faustino is in Avatar: The Legend Of Korra.
I remember a joke in an episode of 30 Rock, back in season 2, about German sitcoms being treatises on the misery and futility of human existence. The picture of the German cast seems to reinforce this perception.
posted by kafziel at 11:18 AM on April 25, 2012 [2 favorites]
David Faustino is in Avatar: The Legend Of Korra.
I remember a joke in an episode of 30 Rock, back in season 2, about German sitcoms being treatises on the misery and futility of human existence. The picture of the German cast seems to reinforce this perception.
posted by kafziel at 11:18 AM on April 25, 2012 [2 favorites]
TV history time!
Married...With Children was a reaction against the 'perfect family' sitcoms of its day; the original working title was "Not the Cosby Show."
Ironically, the producers of The Cosby Show immediately copied the formula and, because their version was broadcast on a network people actually watched (most people couldn't even receive Fox at the time, and if they could, the reception was terrible), their version was an immediate hit.
posted by Sys Rq at 11:18 AM on April 25, 2012 [5 favorites]
Married...With Children was a reaction against the 'perfect family' sitcoms of its day; the original working title was "Not the Cosby Show."
Ironically, the producers of The Cosby Show immediately copied the formula and, because their version was broadcast on a network people actually watched (most people couldn't even receive Fox at the time, and if they could, the reception was terrible), their version was an immediate hit.
posted by Sys Rq at 11:18 AM on April 25, 2012 [5 favorites]
Rhomboid: "David Faustino seems to have gotten the short end of the stick"
Faustino owns a night club in Los Angeles named Balistyx, which is the same name as his rap album. Short end indeed.
Also, I see what you did there.
posted by Rock Steady at 11:19 AM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
Faustino owns a night club in Los Angeles named Balistyx, which is the same name as his rap album. Short end indeed.
Also, I see what you did there.
posted by Rock Steady at 11:19 AM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
... their version was an immediate hit.
Funny enough, the original casting choices for Married... were Sam Kinison, who later had a cameo as Al's guardian angel, and Roseanne. I'm pretty sure that show would have been unwatchable.
posted by griphus at 11:25 AM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
Funny enough, the original casting choices for Married... were Sam Kinison, who later had a cameo as Al's guardian angel, and Roseanne. I'm pretty sure that show would have been unwatchable.
posted by griphus at 11:25 AM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
Funny enough, the original casting choices for Married... were Sam Kinison, who later had a cameo as Al's guardian angel, and Roseanne. I'm pretty sure that show would have been unwatchable.
Not to mention unlistenable.
posted by Sys Rq at 11:27 AM on April 25, 2012 [3 favorites]
Not to mention unlistenable.
posted by Sys Rq at 11:27 AM on April 25, 2012 [3 favorites]
griphus: "I'm pretty sure that show would have been unwatchable."
Certainly would have been unlistenable.
posted by Rock Steady at 11:27 AM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
Certainly would have been unlistenable.
posted by Rock Steady at 11:27 AM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
Argh!
posted by Rock Steady at 11:27 AM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by Rock Steady at 11:27 AM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
It'd be like the Dennō Senshi Porygon incident, except with inner-ear ruptures instead of epilepsy.
posted by griphus at 11:29 AM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by griphus at 11:29 AM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
Related: Comparing three regional variations on the Office pilot to the UK & US versions.
posted by shakespeherian at 11:41 AM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by shakespeherian at 11:41 AM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
The Wikipedia article on the Russian version is also interesting.
I am pretty sure I need to see this now.
posted by elizardbits at 11:51 AM on April 25, 2012
I am pretty sure I need to see this now.
posted by elizardbits at 11:51 AM on April 25, 2012
Barry Manilow and Clay Aiken go to Deliverance.
I heard that's currently in turn-around at Bravo.
posted by yerfatma at 11:53 AM on April 25, 2012
I heard that's currently in turn-around at Bravo.
posted by yerfatma at 11:53 AM on April 25, 2012
It's sort of funny, because the extravagant way Fran dresses on the American version of The Nanny is basically how Russian women are expected to dress all the time.
posted by griphus at 11:54 AM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by griphus at 11:54 AM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
Also, instead of being Jewish and from a less ritzy side of town, she's from a Ukranian village.
posted by griphus at 11:56 AM on April 25, 2012
posted by griphus at 11:56 AM on April 25, 2012
I thought it was strange that there was a Russian version, because when I studied in Russia in 2003, I remembered watching dubbed episodes of the original American series just about every day after class. Reading now (and here in Russian), the original ran for 3 years, and then a Russian adaptation started in 2006 and is still going, having exhausted all of the original scripts and enlisted the help of a couple original series writers and the public to create new scripts.
posted by msbrauer at 12:07 PM on April 25, 2012
posted by msbrauer at 12:07 PM on April 25, 2012
I was part of a small group tour of London and then Liverpool in the mid-1990s (my husband won the trip via a radio contest)...most of the folks in our group were Americans, but there were also two Dutch girls. One spoke fairly good English, the other not so much. But I'll always remember climbing aboard the bus one evening after having struggled with the hotel room toilet for four flushes (my "output" hadn't been anything overwhelming or unusual, it was just that this WWII-era plumbing was pretty sluggish). I commented to no one in particular "I think Al Bundy used our bathroom recently." The non-English-fluent Dutch girl piped up excitedly "Al Bundy! Da nudie bar! Ya!! Da Mighty Ferguson!" I was frankly surprised to find that Married...with Children had made such an international impact.
posted by Oriole Adams at 12:21 PM on April 25, 2012
posted by Oriole Adams at 12:21 PM on April 25, 2012
I just wanted to say how gorgeous Christina Applegate was (and still is). She seems like a decent person as well, and is a cancer survivor.
posted by maxwelton at 1:31 PM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by maxwelton at 1:31 PM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
"In 2006 I was invited to take part in one of the great adventures of modern broadcasting - conquering the booming Russian television market."
posted by vidur at 1:33 PM on April 25, 2012
posted by vidur at 1:33 PM on April 25, 2012
This is fascinating, I love stuff like this and am glad they provided pics and even video in some cases!
According to Wikipedia, there are at least eight versions of "The Office", including the US and UK versions.
Also, The IT Crowd has a German counterpart called "Das I-Team", which appears to be the same as the original, only in German. There was also an unaired US pilot starring Joel McHale(!) as Roy and the original Moss reprising his role, where they do a line for line remake of the first episode (with a few minor changes). It makes it a bizarre exercise where you keep expecting Moss to be like "Wait... Something's not right here. Wait I know! Roy! have you lost weight?" and then Joel McHale tries to help Moss escape the America dimension.
Finally, it's strange this article is about clones of "Married With Children" and yet no mention of "Unhappily Ever After"
posted by Uther Bentrazor at 1:49 PM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
According to Wikipedia, there are at least eight versions of "The Office", including the US and UK versions.
Also, The IT Crowd has a German counterpart called "Das I-Team", which appears to be the same as the original, only in German. There was also an unaired US pilot starring Joel McHale(!) as Roy and the original Moss reprising his role, where they do a line for line remake of the first episode (with a few minor changes). It makes it a bizarre exercise where you keep expecting Moss to be like "Wait... Something's not right here. Wait I know! Roy! have you lost weight?" and then Joel McHale tries to help Moss escape the America dimension.
Finally, it's strange this article is about clones of "Married With Children" and yet no mention of "Unhappily Ever After"
posted by Uther Bentrazor at 1:49 PM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
You mean the Married with Children knock-off with nega-Bud, nega-Kelly and the stuffed rabbit?
I think that we are celebrating the fact that Married ... with Children actually premiered 25 years ago. Put into perspective, when Married with Children premiered in 1987, The Beverly Hillbillies had premiered 25 years earlier.
posted by jabberjaw at 2:11 PM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
I think that we are celebrating the fact that Married ... with Children actually premiered 25 years ago. Put into perspective, when Married with Children premiered in 1987, The Beverly Hillbillies had premiered 25 years earlier.
posted by jabberjaw at 2:11 PM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
Ed O'Neill has Modern Family, Katey Sagal has Sons of Anarchy, Christina Applegate has Up All Night, all of which are decent to excellent shows. Poor David Faustino seems to have gotten the short end of the stick.
You must have forgotten about the timeless classic Star-ving. Decent to excellent doesn't even begin to describe it.
posted by 6550 at 4:19 PM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
You must have forgotten about the timeless classic Star-ving. Decent to excellent doesn't even begin to describe it.
posted by 6550 at 4:19 PM on April 25, 2012 [1 favorite]
just wanted to say how gorgeous Christina Applegate was
Kelly Bundy played a not-insignificant role in the... awakening of 11-year-old Rock Steady.
posted by Rock Steady at 4:19 PM on April 25, 2012
Kelly Bundy played a not-insignificant role in the... awakening of 11-year-old Rock Steady.
posted by Rock Steady at 4:19 PM on April 25, 2012
I had no idea that there had ever been an English version of Married... with Children, and I am just tickled pink to see that the layout of the "Butler" household is very similar to the Bundy's - only swapped left to right. How perfect is that?
posted by John Smallberries at 5:59 PM on April 25, 2012
posted by John Smallberries at 5:59 PM on April 25, 2012
Am I the only one who came in here expecting a really badass mash up of early Oasis tunes?
posted by wondrous strange snow at 6:25 PM on April 25, 2012
posted by wondrous strange snow at 6:25 PM on April 25, 2012
The guy playing Al in the British version is Russ Abbot, a successful light entertainer in the 1980s.
posted by arcticseal at 8:03 PM on April 25, 2012
posted by arcticseal at 8:03 PM on April 25, 2012
I remember reading about how Ed O'Neill got the job as Al Bundy. He was asked to walk through an imaginary door and say his lines. Unscripted, he stopped before opening the imaginary door, gave a long, slow sigh, then reluctantly opened the door to his sad life and family. They immediately knew they had their man.
posted by eye of newt at 10:13 PM on April 26, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by eye of newt at 10:13 PM on April 26, 2012 [1 favorite]
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posted by notsnot at 10:06 AM on April 25, 2012