If anyone is interested, you can watch me take a look at the American version of the IT Crowd over on my Patreon! (Free trial available) www.patreon.com/posts/89997689?
Only Fools and Horses was such a quintessentially British program with very British language, phrases, references, locations, characters and sense of humour that making an American version of it would never work. Its very different to The Office because work life, interpersonal relationships, love etc are all universal themes, whereas Only Fools was specific to England, therefore an American adaption was doomed from the get go.
“It’s very different because work, life, interpersonal, relationships, love etc are universal” 😂😂😂 You do realize that Only fools has work life, interpersonal relationships and love etc. which are universal. The reason it “didn’t work” for any only fools fan is “it’s American” So it’s going to have shit tons of money spent on it, it’s going to have a lot more laugh track, the situations will be unrealistic, 90’per cent of the cast will be waaaay sexy and far too good looking which makes it again totally unrealistic, unlike British soaps, British dramas and British sitcoms. It will be paced much much faster, so will always seem like a series of sketches or set ups. It will have “celebrity guest stars” and will reference “celebrities” because American audiences have a much greater knowledge of celebrities rather than cultural references. The jokes weren’t that bad in this show, the Christopher Lloyd is dead joke was typical American “friends” “everyone loves Raymond” “king of queens” “Seinfeld” “Frazier” material. The Shatner reference was typical American humor. The Gay joke wasn’t offended especially when given how many “queer” jokes or “paki shop” references were used in Only Fools. Gay Astronaut was mildly amusing. It wasn’t offensive. “Are they a couple of goers” “they’re a couple of geezers”
The reason The Office worked around the world is because nothing was essentially changed from the original. The characters are all basically the same with the same story line. However, even though some jokes were repeated the script writers could be creative within the framework of the original show which is why it worked. A US version of Fools and Horses could have worked if they stuck with the original framework of why people liked those characters and could have tailored the jokes to suit the home audience.
Actually, most critics say the exact opposite. All in the Family, Sanford & Son, Three's Company and The Office were all much better than the British version.
@@kevinbrown-ge6szjudging by this remake, I beg to differ. Many remakes of our comedies have failed and for good reason. I doubt you’ve seen the British originals.
I'm only 28 and Irish but one thing that I loved about the original was that OFAH and the Trotters are from the post war Era of England a mix between the changing demographics of London and families who lived there through the change. It's a snapshot of an Era gone by. Their slang, their family history, the small shops and sense of community. Meanwhile America would have to struggle to replicate this due to the lack of Ariel bombings, government policy around housing and the segregation between groups.
I kind of agree accept for the "segregation between groups" bit. The show was set in the Eighties. If you really knew that working class part of London as I did because I also grew up in south London in the eighties then you would know that the segregation was not a big thing. Their were acknowledged differences between cultures, yes, but on the whole people got along. There was no hard segregation between cultures. Of course, the original Only fools and horses show had black actors and other ethnic charactors in the show. in my opinion they represented the times they lived in quite accurately.
I meant segregation in America not England. It felt more natural to have ethnic minorities in OFAH. In Britain council estates are made for everyone of working class back rounds while in America public housing is used mainly by minorities@@MrLeighman
@@4oclocktimefortea794 it's the little things like smoking in pubs, the local take aways, odd characters around the place. Now the pub is a wetherspoons or Gastro pub charging 15 quid for a pizza with a small backroom for smoking if you're lucky, the local takeaways run by locals even if they were born elsewhere now compete with chains run by middle managers and the local odd balls like Trigger or sunglasses run are gone because retail parks are easier than dodgy dealers
He also played the Smithy equivalent in an equally terrible failed attempt to make a US adaptation of Gavin and Stacey. Is he trying to make a career in terrible US adaptations of much loved British sitcoms or something?
American Sitcoms always have a too-clean-for-reality vibe to them. You can tell it's on a sound stage. You can almost smell the fresh paint. It is lit too well. You should also use the environment to tell a story; they should look like they belong in that environment. I'm not saying that that was the only thing wrong here. Clearly, more was at fault. It was just my first thought from the opening scene.
American sitcoms are more like comedy stage shows. They don't even try to be realistic. They should have done what Coppola did on The Godfather when he saw a kitchen set. He got in and made spaghetti and made it look lived in.
That was really interesting. I had no idea that the US did a remake of this classic British sit-com, even though they only filmed a pilot episode. Thanks for uploading this with the commentary, much appreciated
Glad you enjoyed it! I started a Patreon as I hope to be able to make more of this kind of thing long term. Have a new video coming up next week about another pilot for a different show.
The difference between US shows and British shows is the British ones represent real life like it could actually happen. People can connect to the characters as some of those things happen to them. US shows are a caricature of the British ones so its doesn't work.
They probably based it off the later seasons which had many surreal elements like Rodney's dream about the future with a cyborg Albert, Del's son being the devil, the plane about to hit Nelson Mandela House, Batman and Robin, Uncle Albert populating an entire village etc.
@@spongebobsquaretits Holy shit, I had a look... they did indeed make homebrew versions and not just dub the original! I stand corrected, and dismayed!
When something is so British like this and Absolutely Fabulous, Red Dwarf, Keeping up Appearances, Blackadder etc it won’t work in the US because of the stereotypical British idioms. The office worked coz there is people like those characters all around the world in offices
Also Gavin and Stacey - rests very much on the English (especially London Commuter belt Essex) vs Welsh culture shock and the Americans tried to rip it off and place it in NYC vs Appalachian Pennsylvania - WTF?! That's not even remotely comparable. They're not even very far apart by US standards - I guess they wanted people driving between them regularly. Went about as well as you'd expect anyway.
The way to do an American take on Only Fools & Horses is to simply catch the level of chemistry Bob Hoskins and John Luguizamo had in Super Mario Bros. Literally their scenes in Manhattan could've been from an episode of what would've been an American take on Only Fools.
Yeah, that's a good observation. Mario is significantly older than Luigi and brought him up as a stand-in father. Luigi's a bit goofy, and getting himself into things that Mario has to drag him out of. Mario giving Luigi advice on talking to women. The brothers run a business together, but are always short of money. As the movie had British writers and directors, I wonder if this aspect was inspired by Only Fools. But it does show how you can do an American version, because the movie Mario and Luigi are similar characters to Del and Rodney, just from Brooklyn rather than Peckham. The fact Leguizamo was cast in the Only Fools remake is some bizarre coincidence, just wish he could have said, hey guys just watch the Mario Bros movie I did for how to do this.
@@Climinator-op6kh Lol Two of the writers were British sitcom legends Clement and Le Frenais. After doing The Likely Lads, Porridge, and Auf Wiedersehen, Pet they knew a thing or two about underdog chancers fighting for some success and working class humour.
Thanks for uploading this. Something about it felt wrong. It's not just the characterisation but also the script. The US version feels as though it's attempting to make you laugh, but in the UK version the laughter is more natural as it gives viewers the chance to make their own jokes. Some things just don't translate well, even when using a common language.
Without the British pub banter/working class community spirit/class snobbery thing it really is souless. American bars have been covered with shows like Cheers! That's the closet you're going to get to Only Fools with American culture. Sam was a struggling barman wanting to own his own bar! Similar ideals explored as the viewer is rooting for him and he's a bit of an underdog!
Have you seen the American version of Absolutely Fabulous? If you haven't, no need to go searching for it. Plain and simple, it should have been renamed Absolutely Awful.
Weirdly it hasn't worked in reverse, where British TV has attempted remakes of US sitcoms: Married With Children as Married For Life, That 70's Show as Days Like These. They just came across as British actors acting like Americans and as such had a weirdly artificial feel.
@@mark314158 Still an American product. And it wasn't remade as Top Cat in any case. I believe the voice of TC was loosely based on how Phil Silvers spoke as Bilko.
@@skylined5534 That's why I put "remade" in inverted commas. The premise of Bilko was made into Top Cat. Similarly The Honeymooners became The Flintstones.
You can't replace the immaculately talented writings of John Sullivan! In order for an American version to work they probably should've carefully back engineered each episode and just Americanized it, much like how the office was kind of similar to the English version. But Americans should just love the original, which I'm sure many do and left a remake well alone, it is timeless comedy afterall.
My favourite sitcom of all time doesn't need a make over it's a staple show which should stay ours no disrespect to American TV but our sense of humour is totally different David Jason Nicolas Lyndhurst Leonard Peirce brought joy and tragedy to such an iconic series 😂😂😂 I did prefer uncle Albert's character more tbh but rip to all fallen cast members
Hypothetically if they got Robert Downey jr as Del that would be pretty cool. He's the only person I can think of that could do an American version. But he'd still never be David Jason.
IMO, RDJ is a better actor than John Leguizamo. And Robert Pattinson makes a pretty good Rodders. He's a good actor and his build is very close to Nicholas Lyndhurst.
@skylined5534 I don't like or dislike Pattison. He has good acting skills, physical appearance is similar to Nicholas Lyndhurst when he was in OFAH and can't think of anyone else.
Thanks for uploading this! Did you ever see the Matt Lucas/David Walliams pre-Little Britain sketch 'Only Jerks and Horses'? It pre-dates this and makes fun of how the Americans would have butchered OFAH.
That's a great sketch. It's on YT. Some of the things in it came true. The Trotters live in a big quite nice apartment, Del drives not a shitty van but a sports coupe. TBH a US remake could have worked if they'd made it authentic to the setting, but hearing John Leguizamo here call himself "Del Trotter" just makes it feel like a parody of US remakes of UK shows.
I'm gonna have to find that. Lucas and Walliams did Rock Profile before Little Britain, totally recommend it, absolutely hilarious and they also did some sketches on the Ralf Little show which were great craic.
For me, this one was a good thing it was not picked up, though Christopher Lloyd was brilliant and I loved the Back to the Future references, but the sheer badness of the rest of it reminds me of the attempt to make a US version of Red Dwarf.
I thought the US remake of Dwarf wasn't that bad but I don't know if it could've played out in the long run. I still love that joke where US Lister asks Kryten what he's been doing for 3 million years and he replies "reading that 'EXIT' sign"
There was 2 good actors in this christopher lloyd and the guy playing del boy but their talent was wasted by the writers but even so you are right, it just doesn't cross over to the States and the original was so blindingly brilliant and gut hurtingly funny you just couldn't even come close. Thanks for the video.
Part of the fun between Rodney and Dell boy is although it's so obvious to everyone that Rodney and Dell are brothers and have different fathers except to the brothers themselves
This is very interesting, it falls short in many ways but I feel it has some potential. John Leguiziamo is a good choice for the character, perhaps it would have made more sense to set it in the 80s? In the pile it goes with US Red Dwarf and The Inbetweeners.
@@cinewhirl I know there was a US adaptation of his lesser known sitcom, Dear John, that did relatively well. The setting was less integral to that show
I never clicked on a video so fast! I tried to find the pilot a few months ago, but couldn't find it, so I'm guessing this must have been uploaded pretty recently. Yeah the fact that John Leguizamo looks so young doesn't help! It's hard to believe that he's in his 50s there. That Trigger knock off probably would have been a better fit for Mickey Pearce, as he seems to be the one who's trying to look cool. Those BTTF jokes! FFS! Can't they just let actors be actors instead of using prop culture references to prop up shitty writing. You'd have thought they'd at least try to spice it up with some Taxi references or something! And why can't US sitcoms make places look genuinely dingy and depressing! Their country is full of poverty! Fantastic first video! I can't to see more from you! Subbed!
Interesting video. Also, don't know if you know that John Sullivan wrote an Only Fools and Horses script for the American market. Rodney was called Marlon (Del and Grandad had the same names), and their surname was the Flannagans. The show was called 'This Time Next Year', and the episode was based on the 'No Greater Love', episode of OFAH. The pilot was never recorded.
@cinewhirl The script I have is in a book called the 'The Complete A-Z of Only Fools and Horses'. Reading through it, the script is mostly identical to the UK version, though the differences are that it's set in Philadelphia and the changes that are included in the dialogue relate to cultural differences, like mentioning baseball and US films and TV series. Hope that helps. 👍👍
The Office is the only British export that worked. But even the first season was a complete line for line rip off, it was only after they dropped the British script that it became its own show and was brilliant.
Wow! That is so different from the first episode of Only Fools and Horses I remember. Funnily enough, I do think an American version of Only Fools and Horses could work. I can picture a couple of brothers from Brooklyn. Del is a hustler. Rod is a high school drop out. And they take care of Grandpa in their tenement block home. But an American version OFAH might have worked better as comedy drama rather than a sitcom. But that was just my humble opinion which makes absolutely no difference. But the Americans really did squander an opportunity
Yes, it completely could, I like that locale and potential locations. OFAH became more of "dramedy" with the hour long shows and introduction Raquel and Casandra. I think a US version would work better that way rather than a studio set based 30 mins show.
@@Messy6610 Oh, agreed! Something tells me that no one involved in this show took it seriously and weren't bothered about making anymore episodes. This episode is so bad that it's almost like a spoof of an American version of a British sitcom
It’s worked before with Steptoe and Son, Till Death Do Us Part, Man About The House, George and Mildred and Robins Nest. The American knock offs worked well and were even long running series. Even though I couldn’t warm to the American Office.. that worked too. I guess some of our British sitcoms are just too unique and shouldn’t be touched.
Well said, this seems to have been written by somebody trying to stress the point that having decent recognizable actors doing 'how famous are we' jokes and basically playing themselves, can carry a show, the writer, maybe one of those excitable substance sniffing LA types, has no understanding of the wonderful chemistry of the original, their sitcoms remind me more of 'farce' which is very 'stagey' and loud, no hint of pathos which is present in most UK sitcoms, just bubble gum!
If this were done 30 years ago: Danny Devito and er…. Woody Harrelson? Walter Matthau as Grandad? Or Ed Asner…? In other news, I’ve just seen a photo of Nicholas Lyndhurst in the sequel to Fraiser, which was a little jarring!😂
@@Tomurow It is quite alien to see Rodney climb over from one 90's sitcom to another, except one's very British and one's very American. Like seeing Joey from Friends in Only Fools. How it happened was Nicholas did a play with Kelsey Grammar in London, and they became good friends. Kelsey rates Nicholas so much as a comedic actor that he personally told Paramount to give him a role in the new Frasier. To think that's all it took. Similarly Ronnie Barker was offered the role of the Butler in Trading Places after John Landis became a fan of The Two Ronnies Porridge and Open All Hours after living in London for work reasons. Ron had to say no as he didn't want to be away from Britain for so long, and Landis couldn't make the film here.
Nearly downloaded this, but your great breakdown has saved me some data thank you. They took a unique program and feed it into the American cliché sitcom machine, if this has made it to air, it would has made American Shameless look like a masterpiece.
There were many different Only Fools and Horses copy cat shows from around the world over the years. However, I reckon why this one is so bad compared to the original is that the original for the most part had 1 writer (John O Sullivan) but the American one had several. When you have too many writers trying to pull the story into different directions the result you get...is well, this.
The American Method of a Writers Room where they're all gag writers basically told to improv lines one after the other (a literal joke factory) shows why the scenes here don't follow a story, it's one desperate joke after another thought up on the spot by a guy or girl who doesn't want to get fired. Writing shouldn't be done in a conference room, from 9.00 to 17.00 It's done at home or wherever you're most comfortablest, in your own time. Networks needs to give writers deadlines, but not be here Monday to Friday to do it.
This was a really fun video to watch thanks! I had no idea there was an American attempt at Only Fools and Horses! I don't think an American version of Only Fools and Horses could ever work. Not only is OFaH so aggressively English in its writing, but everything about its writing, its characters, and their jobs are so interwoven with the setting of 1980s Peckham. They're selling stolen goods because they're poverty-struck in the middle of a recession, the character of Dell Boy was based on real life market salesmen that the writer John Sulliven had seen and met in real life, granddad was an out-of-work lamp lighter waiting for gas to make a comeback, he had fought in the Second World War and many stories and plot points came directly from that, it was built on a family business selling stuff at the market before online shopping or supermarkets existed, and they could get away with the gay jokes in 1980s London. I don't think any of that can translate to 2010s California. Also, I don't think there's an American network gutsy enough to air a sitcom based around some grimy businessmen selling stolen goods! I strongly think Only Fools and Horses is on level with of Mice and Men with the intelligence of its writing, the social commentary and serving as a time capsule of the era. It's not just some sitcom where you can replace the Royal Family with the Kennedy's and expect the same level of cultural love.
Glad you enjoyed it. I agree, the show is just so tied up with British cultural norms that any remake would have to be so radically different that it wouldn't really be a remake but a whole new show.
There are ways of doing it now, but it depends if an American Broadcaster would want to tackle poverty and class issues in a sitcom. They should, because often the medicine goes down easier if your audience is laughing, rather than watching a hard hitting documentary.
The Americans did do a version of *"Shameless"* with William H Macy in the lead role. But what made it work was they made it a comedy drama, just like our original and it ran for several years. I've seen it and it is actually very good. One of the rare cross - Atlantic adaptations along with *"The Office"* that worked.
@skylined5534 curb your enthusiasm, everybody loves Raymond and Frasier are about the only American sitcoms worth watching. Young Sheldon isn't bad either
@@fishyattacksAVFCyes, Sanford and Son in the 70s. It was the 70s though and one of the few comedies with black actors during this time. It felt like seeing the same story week after week.
In all fairness John Leguizamo and Christopher Lloyd are legendary, so could they not have just made an original sitcom based on them alone? They really didn't need to transport an incredibly south london specific comedy to the US. Shit, just get Leguizamo to write a sitcom, he's pretty good at writing. I've seen his stand-up. He's good at it!
The Americans remade Steptoe and Son, as Sanford and Son (with Redd Foxx) given how popular that was, and the success of the translation, it surprises me the americans didnt try a bash at OFAH in the 80s.
Writers: We want to do a remake of the British sitcom Only fools and Horses. Network: Have you ever seen Only Fools and Horses? Writers: Nope, never watched a single episode and know nothing about it. Network: Meh, go ahead!
It 'doesn't work' for us Brits because we are a different type of comedy consumer. Neither is superior/inferior - just different. It is really hard making comparisons because of this. I'm not sure the US consumer would ride along with the allotment mineral water hustle, but then the Batman & Robin sketch would do really well. Well done for trying, why wouldn't you take a successful recipe and try it elsewhere?
Yeah exactly - when UK to US conversions work well (like the office) it's because they've made a lot of cultural changes to accommodate. It's not an easy task
There is an American "Only Fools": the Ferengi episodes of Deep Space Nine; Quark is Del Boy, Rom is Rodney, Moogie and Grand Negus Zek are Granddad / Uncle Albert, even Brunt (FCA) takes on the roll of Boysie.
very interesting. Never heard of this and I'm a big fan of British comedy, thanks. The American version of The Office is equally crap/bizzare, IMHO. Sanford and Son is nothing like Steptoe , A comedy played by straight actors, because the writers wanted their writing skills to be funny enough to carry the show without actual comedians. It was a dark comedy. Red Foxx changed all that, made it into happy days.
I really enjoyed Sanford and son. In no way was it as dark as Steptoe but they had enough of the dynamic of the two main characters and took it in a direction that made the series stand on its own right. Was it better or worse? If say it was different
Hi, I really like the concept of the videos you've made so far. It is striking just how many American shows got their genesis in the UK. The first one I was aware of being a transplant was All in the Family, if I recall correctly, and they did manage to make a good go of that one. I will say that I think the saving grace of this particular attempt was having John Leguiziamo (bad spelling!) and Christopher Lloyd, two brilliant comedic actors able to squeeze the most out of a humourous line. I've come to realize after all these many years that a huge percentage of a joke's success is in the telling; a truly great comedian can take the world's oldest and most-often told joke and bowl the audience over with it. I will say though, that there are some good lines heard in this that don't sound like they were thow-away attempts by lazy writers. I really look forward to seeing more of your analyses (is that a real word? lol). All the best to you!
07:15 don't exaggerate... the goal of humor is not to be "politically correct" but to make people laugh, regardless of whether that room was referring to GEY people or those who are not...
I wonder what America would make of The Royle Family. My own in depth research of asking one American friend is, they just won’t get it. “There are no jokes”, he said.
This is so different from OFAH that it is basically its own entity..Christopher Lloyd was probably supposed to be the big selling point..I mean, I would have just watched it for him alone😂😂
I vaguely feel like Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia is more spiritually aligned with Only Fools. Not that the situations are similar, but that weird combination of feelings you kind of have for the characters.
Yeah, that's a really good point. If it weren't for the age difference, Danny DeVito and Charlie Day would have been a fantastic casting for Del and Rodney. Danny would be a very convincing dodgy market stall holder and Charlie could have played the naive younger sibling quite well.
I believe they could make there own version work, Dont have to be identical charactors. But by what i can see, There grandad is the only good choice in my view. The othe two are just wrong tor it.
Only fools and horses is huge on the balkan. The humor is although specific to UK universal in essence so it resonates with every audience over any border.
Despite speaking the 'same' language, the humour is entirely different. Imagine a UK version of Friends - it would never work! Both countries have their own classic sit-coms. Let's keep it that way!
I always wondered why Only Fools and Horses was not popular in the US, it's hilarious my favourite comedy of all time. I thought maybe it doesn't translate, but it was really popular in Yugoslavia and a couple of other nations in europe and they don't even speak the lingo.
07:07- It might not be politically correct, to compare Lloyd to a 'gay astronaut', but his clothing in this scene is pretty camp. I fail to see how the gag is 'homophobic' when gay bars and clubs are full of men dressed in a manner that makes his attire look conservative.
In fairness though, we've made some bad remakes of Americans programmes, like Coupling and that UK version of Golden Girls. I think the US Del Boy with a little tweaking and the house/apartment aren't bad, but all the other elements could've been ditched. The actor who played the Del character played someone similar in Summer of Sam, and I think he was a decent age by this point. I don't know why the Americans want to make versions of British sitcoms when they've got some legendary shows of their own. Take Frasier, for example, which unintentionally has parallels with OFAH in that the main character lives in an apartment with an elder relative and bickers with his younger brother. The similarities pretty much end there, but I would argue that Frasier is British in premise (someone at the top who ends up with egg on his face) whereas OFAH is more American (underdog who normally wins the day). Though of course we also love an underdog. I can't wait to see Nicholas Lyndhurst's character in the Frasier reboot. Kelsey Grammer is a huge fan and a friend of his, and recognises his talent as a comedic actor.
Yeah you're right, it definitely goes both ways and I'll probably do reviews of those too in the future. I do think this show could have theoretically worked but it's obvious to see why this was ditched at pilot stage as nothing came together well. I think you're right about Frasier
Oh and also, Nicholas Lyndhurst doing a Frasier reboot will be nothing but a failure. The role of Frasier is not suited to Nicholas. From Goodnight Sweetheart to OFAH I don't see how he could possibly be Frasier
@@stevenandrews3891 yeah i believe it was the other way around lol. Coupling is an American sitcom television series, a remake of the British show of the same title, which aired on NBC from September 25 to October 23, 2003.
So we had Young Hagrid as “Rodney” , we had fake Luis from AntMan as “ Delboy” plus obviously the Doc as “Grandad” Who they should have cast “Les from Hardore Pawn” lol wonder who they would have cast as Uncle Albert.
I don't understand why they remade Only Fools in California of all places? It has to be the least fitting State in America to recapture the aesthetic. I mean, if they HAVE to remake Only Fools, I feel like New York is the obvious choice, with some low rent, wannabe mafiosa street hustler type playing Del. The London patter would be easily switched out for New York pseudo-Italian lingo (I think New York Italians are the only ones who really come close to an American version of London Cockney geezers) and it may just have worked. I guess they felt that they had too many sit-coms set in NY already with Friends and King of Queens and so on, but nothing that compares to Only Fools. Setting it in California just ruins it. If anything, California could've been the place American Del & Rodney dream of retiring to after they finally make it big in NY
@@cinewhirl it's not that I like that kind of joke, so please don't lefty pigeon hole me. It's just a joke, nothing insulting about it, if it didn't make sense, how can you even define it as offensive
Well, the joke doesn't make sense. What is a 'gay astronaut' lmao. The reason I said it was homophobic is that I inferred they was using gay as an insult. If you thought different, that's fine. After all, it's only a pilot!
@@cinewhirl oh...... There we have it..... You.... Inferred. How about next time, less of the inferring, less of the lefty labelling and try and be a better youtuber, instead of throwing around words like that, they do so much damage to the western world
If you think this is bizzare ! Checkout the New Frasier Reboot where Niles crane ( David Hyde Pierce ) has been replaced by Rodney trotter ( Nicholas Lyndhurst ) although he has a different role to Niles he's obviously his replacement as none of the other characters from Frasier are in the Reboot other than the child who played Frasiers son now grown up ! .
I feel like I have just watched ,an awful dream sequence from 'Bill and Ted' . OFAH the show is respected because it simply fitted the times. The characters were likeable. It was a hilarious to watch, everyone looked forward ,to watching the Trotters next chapter. OFAH was prime time TV at the time. I still laugh now when I watch these episodes. Classic TV at its finest.
British and American humour are totally different which probably why when Americans try and copy British sitcoms they go tits up. The Office, which I never liked any way, is as far as I'm aware, the only one that worked.
Fellow Brit here. This is the first time I've seen your channel, I had no idea they had tried to do this. The wheeling and dealing setup for the show could have worked but the detail and cultural elements would need to have been changed for the American audience. More 'inspired by' rather than 'American remake' Trying to swap between American-style humour and remaking a handful of British jokes just doesn't tonally work. A 30-year age gap between shows is also pretty significant. The Christopher Lloyd jokes were lazy, a nod and a wink to Back to the Future is fun, but being smashed in the face by a joke is not so fun. It reminds me of how they changed the American Red Dwarf, with Lister being buff and ruggedly handsome instead of slob. This was really interesting.
If anyone is interested, you can watch me take a look at the American version of the IT Crowd over on my Patreon! (Free trial available) www.patreon.com/posts/89997689?
Oh god, they didn’t did they?
Only Fools and Horses was such a quintessentially British program with very British language, phrases, references, locations, characters and sense of humour that making an American version of it would never work. Its very different to The Office because work life, interpersonal relationships, love etc are all universal themes, whereas Only Fools was specific to England, therefore an American adaption was doomed from the get go.
Yeah I agree
I'd say the same for Shameless.
“It’s very different because work, life, interpersonal, relationships, love etc are universal” 😂😂😂
You do realize that Only fools has work life, interpersonal relationships and love etc. which are universal.
The reason it “didn’t work” for any only fools fan is “it’s American”
So it’s going to have shit tons of money spent on it, it’s going to have a lot more laugh track, the situations will be unrealistic, 90’per cent of the cast will be waaaay sexy and far too good looking which makes it again totally unrealistic, unlike British soaps, British dramas and British sitcoms. It will be paced much much faster, so will always seem like a series of sketches or set ups.
It will have “celebrity guest stars” and will reference “celebrities” because American audiences have a much greater knowledge of celebrities rather than cultural references.
The jokes weren’t that bad in this show, the Christopher Lloyd is dead joke was typical American “friends” “everyone loves Raymond” “king of queens” “Seinfeld” “Frazier” material. The Shatner reference was typical American humor. The Gay joke wasn’t offended especially when given how many “queer” jokes or “paki shop” references were used in Only Fools.
Gay Astronaut was mildly amusing. It wasn’t offensive. “Are they a couple of goers” “they’re a couple of geezers”
Adaptation
The reason The Office worked around the world is because nothing was essentially changed from the original.
The characters are all basically the same with the same story line.
However, even though some jokes were repeated the script writers could be creative within the framework of the original show which is why it worked.
A US version of Fools and Horses could have worked if they stuck with the original framework of why people liked those characters and could have tailored the jokes to suit the home audience.
Nearly every american remake of a British sitcom, tv series, or film have been terrible, they never get it right.
Actually, most critics say the exact opposite. All in the Family, Sanford & Son, Three's Company and The Office were all much better than the British version.
Let me guess, first person is British and second of you American?
@@kevinbrown-ge6szthe American office was bbbaaaaddddd.
@@kevinbrown-ge6szjudging by this remake, I beg to differ. Many remakes of our comedies have failed and for good reason. I doubt you’ve seen the British originals.
@@samwallace7313 I didn't say if it was good or bad, I just stated it was better than the British version.
I'm only 28 and Irish but one thing that I loved about the original was that OFAH and the Trotters are from the post war Era of England a mix between the changing demographics of London and families who lived there through the change. It's a snapshot of an Era gone by. Their slang, their family history, the small shops and sense of community.
Meanwhile America would have to struggle to replicate this due to the lack of Ariel bombings, government policy around housing and the segregation between groups.
It's quite a culturally specific show for sure
I kind of agree accept for the "segregation between groups" bit. The show was set in the Eighties. If you really knew that working class part of London as I did because I also grew up in south London in the eighties then you would know that the segregation was not a big thing. Their were acknowledged differences between cultures, yes, but on the whole people got along. There was no hard segregation between cultures. Of course, the original Only fools and horses show had black actors and other ethnic charactors in the show. in my opinion they represented the times they lived in quite accurately.
I meant segregation in America not England. It felt more natural to have ethnic minorities in OFAH. In Britain council estates are made for everyone of working class back rounds while in America public housing is used mainly by minorities@@MrLeighman
I think you summed that up perfectly - I love watching Minder for that feeling of how life was in the 1980s.
@@4oclocktimefortea794 it's the little things like smoking in pubs, the local take aways, odd characters around the place.
Now the pub is a wetherspoons or Gastro pub charging 15 quid for a pizza with a small backroom for smoking if you're lucky, the local takeaways run by locals even if they were born elsewhere now compete with chains run by middle managers and the local odd balls like Trigger or sunglasses run are gone because retail parks are easier than dodgy dealers
The guy that played Rodney looked more like Gaz from Supergrass than he did Rodney Trotter 😂
….if he had Andre the giant’s love child,!
Gambit from X-Men. He even has the trenchcoat.
He also played the Smithy equivalent in an equally terrible failed attempt to make a US adaptation of Gavin and Stacey. Is he trying to make a career in terrible US adaptations of much loved British sitcoms or something?
I think he looks like Sebastian Chabal, the ex French rugby Union player
American Sitcoms always have a too-clean-for-reality vibe to them. You can tell it's on a sound stage. You can almost smell the fresh paint. It is lit too well. You should also use the environment to tell a story; they should look like they belong in that environment. I'm not saying that that was the only thing wrong here. Clearly, more was at fault. It was just my first thought from the opening scene.
American sitcoms are more like comedy stage shows. They don't even try to be realistic. They should have done what Coppola did on The Godfather when he saw a kitchen set. He got in and made spaghetti and made it look lived in.
There is no way anyone can recreate only fools and horses.
According to Wiki lots of countries have done remakes.
@@kevinbrown-ge6sz One can never beat the original.
@@kevinbrown-ge6szshame wiki is so often written by fantasists; it’s totally unreliable these days
@@kevinbrown-ge6sz version not remake it's a series not a film
Many countries have done so.
That was really interesting. I had no idea that the US did a remake of this classic British sit-com, even though they only filmed a pilot episode. Thanks for uploading this with the commentary, much appreciated
Glad you enjoyed it! I started a Patreon as I hope to be able to make more of this kind of thing long term. Have a new video coming up next week about another pilot for a different show.
The difference between US shows and British shows is the British ones represent real life like it could actually happen. People can connect to the characters as some of those things happen to them. US shows are a caricature of the British ones so its doesn't work.
They probably based it off the later seasons which had many surreal elements like Rodney's dream about the future with a cyborg Albert, Del's son being the devil, the plane about to hit Nelson Mandela House, Batman and Robin, Uncle Albert populating an entire village etc.
Seeing Rodney in his Groovy Gang safety gear just makes me want to watch Only Fools again 😂
Grooovy
"sorry about the bad language Cassandra"
@What bad language ?@@petrolhead0387
I can't imagine Only Fools set in a different city to London, let alone in another country.
i think theres been a few foreign versions
@@spongebobsquaretits
I think you'll find a dubbed over programme doesn't count as a remake.
@@skylined5534 I agree it doesnt but other countries have made their own versions as i originally said.
@@skylined5534there’s definitely other versions, have a quick google
@@spongebobsquaretits
Holy shit, I had a look... they did indeed make homebrew versions and not just dub the original! I stand corrected, and dismayed!
When something is so British like this and Absolutely Fabulous, Red Dwarf, Keeping up Appearances, Blackadder etc it won’t work in the US because of the stereotypical British idioms. The office worked coz there is people like those characters all around the world in offices
Also Gavin and Stacey - rests very much on the English (especially London Commuter belt Essex) vs Welsh culture shock and the Americans tried to rip it off and place it in NYC vs Appalachian Pennsylvania - WTF?! That's not even remotely comparable. They're not even very far apart by US standards - I guess they wanted people driving between them regularly. Went about as well as you'd expect anyway.
The closest we may gave gotten to an American Red Dwarf was The Orville.
Us office only worked when they made their own
My particular memory of OF&H is the chandalier moment mainly because I was fitting chandaliers that day, I almost died laughing, eating my dinner.
It actually happened to the writer's Dad. He was fired over it.
That was filmed in my dad’s old school!
The way to do an American take on Only Fools & Horses is to simply catch the level of chemistry Bob Hoskins and John Luguizamo had in Super Mario Bros. Literally their scenes in Manhattan could've been from an episode of what would've been an American take on Only Fools.
Yeah, that's a good observation. Mario is significantly older than Luigi and brought him up as a stand-in father. Luigi's a bit goofy, and getting himself into things that Mario has to drag him out of. Mario giving Luigi advice on talking to women. The brothers run a business together, but are always short of money. As the movie had British writers and directors, I wonder if this aspect was inspired by Only Fools. But it does show how you can do an American version, because the movie Mario and Luigi are similar characters to Del and Rodney, just from Brooklyn rather than Peckham. The fact Leguizamo was cast in the Only Fools remake is some bizarre coincidence, just wish he could have said, hey guys just watch the Mario Bros movie I did for how to do this.
@@davidjames579 you know it makes sense!
@@Climinator-op6kh Lol Two of the writers were British sitcom legends Clement and Le Frenais. After doing The Likely Lads, Porridge, and Auf Wiedersehen, Pet they knew a thing or two about underdog chancers fighting for some success and working class humour.
Yeah, I always thought that too.
@@Climinator-op6kh😂 I see what u did there
Thanks for uploading this. Something about it felt wrong. It's not just the characterisation but also the script. The US version feels as though it's attempting to make you laugh, but in the UK version the laughter is more natural as it gives viewers the chance to make their own jokes. Some things just don't translate well, even when using a common language.
Without the British pub banter/working class community spirit/class snobbery thing it really is souless. American bars have been covered with shows like Cheers! That's the closet you're going to get to Only Fools with American culture. Sam was a struggling barman wanting to own his own bar! Similar ideals explored as the viewer is rooting for him and he's a bit of an underdog!
OFAH didn't feel like a sitcom at all
Yes, everything about it is wrong, like the US remake of The Inbetweeners.
@@andrewq159
Holy shit... 'Bus turds'?!
The joke about Christopher loyd being dead was literally the only one I laughed at 😂
His comic delivery was really solid.
That has to be one of the worse things ive seen no wonder it wasn't shown.
Yep, they made the right decision.
Have you seen the American version of Absolutely Fabulous? If you haven't, no need to go searching for it. Plain and simple, it should have been renamed Absolutely Awful.
America have never ever managed to remake a British comedy
I think The Office did quite well, don't watch it though.
Yeah the office was pretty good once it managed to evolve into its own thing
I have never seen it, but I was given to understand that Sanford and Sons was quite successful.
Look up all of the very successful remakes by Norman Lear.
They did Till Death Us Do Part. As All In The Family. Alf Garnett became Archie Bunker. Think it was quite successful.
Never understood why they have to remake everything. I grew up watching Bilko and can't imagine anyone wanting to make a British version.
It was "remade" as Top Cat though...
Weirdly it hasn't worked in reverse, where British TV has attempted remakes of US sitcoms: Married With Children as Married For Life, That 70's Show as Days Like These. They just came across as British actors acting like Americans and as such had a weirdly artificial feel.
@@mark314158
Still an American product. And it wasn't remade as Top Cat in any case. I believe the voice of TC was loosely based on how Phil Silvers spoke as Bilko.
@@skylined5534
That's why I put "remade" in inverted commas.
The premise of Bilko was made into Top Cat.
Similarly The Honeymooners became The Flintstones.
@@skylined5534
Wasn't Benny based on Doberman? Sounded like him.😅
You can't replace the immaculately talented writings of John Sullivan! In order for an American version to work they probably should've carefully back engineered each episode and just Americanized it, much like how the office was kind of similar to the English version. But Americans should just love the original, which I'm sure many do and left a remake well alone, it is timeless comedy afterall.
My favourite sitcom of all time doesn't need a make over it's a staple show which should stay ours no disrespect to American TV but our sense of humour is totally different David Jason Nicolas Lyndhurst Leonard Peirce brought joy and tragedy to such an iconic series 😂😂😂 I did prefer uncle Albert's character more tbh but rip to all fallen cast members
Hypothetically if they got Robert Downey jr as Del that would be pretty cool. He's the only person I can think of that could do an American version. But he'd still never be David Jason.
Would be a very different performance that's for sure
IMO, RDJ is a better actor than John Leguizamo. And Robert Pattinson makes a pretty good Rodders. He's a good actor and his build is very close to Nicholas Lyndhurst.
@@flukeman022
Pattinson? Whyyyyy?!
@skylined5534 I don't like or dislike Pattison. He has good acting skills, physical appearance is similar to Nicholas Lyndhurst when he was in OFAH and can't think of anyone else.
Thanks for uploading this! Did you ever see the Matt Lucas/David Walliams pre-Little Britain sketch 'Only Jerks and Horses'? It pre-dates this and makes fun of how the Americans would have butchered OFAH.
That's a great sketch. It's on YT. Some of the things in it came true. The Trotters live in a big quite nice apartment, Del drives not a shitty van but a sports coupe. TBH a US remake could have worked if they'd made it authentic to the setting, but hearing John Leguizamo here call himself "Del Trotter" just makes it feel like a parody of US remakes of UK shows.
I'm gonna have to find that. Lucas and Walliams did Rock Profile before Little Britain, totally recommend it, absolutely hilarious and they also did some sketches on the Ralf Little show which were great craic.
Possibly the greatest show ever fools an horses can't be remade.
I rewatched it recently and it's still so great 👌🏼
For me, this one was a good thing it was not picked up, though Christopher Lloyd was brilliant and I loved the Back to the Future references, but the sheer badness of the rest of it reminds me of the attempt to make a US version of Red Dwarf.
I thought the US remake of Dwarf wasn't that bad but I don't know if it could've played out in the long run. I still love that joke where US Lister asks Kryten what he's been doing for 3 million years and he replies "reading that 'EXIT' sign"
There was 2 good actors in this christopher lloyd and the guy playing del boy but their talent was wasted by the writers but even so you are right, it just doesn't cross over to the States and the original was so blindingly brilliant and gut hurtingly funny you just couldn't even come close. Thanks for the video.
John Leguizamo and Christopher Lloyd are two legendary actors, and leagues beyond this junk.
One of the best sitcoms ever. The jokes still work which is a rarity after so many years on TV.
The jokes are now dated and simply don't work anymore
@@jaymiah8595 Joke police are here, Everyone get down
@@jaymiah8595 yeah and the sky is green no one asked bud
Part of the fun between Rodney and Dell boy is although it's so obvious to everyone that Rodney and Dell are brothers and have different fathers except to the brothers themselves
This is very interesting, it falls short in many ways but I feel it has some potential. John Leguiziamo is a good choice for the character, perhaps it would have made more sense to set it in the 80s? In the pile it goes with US Red Dwarf and The Inbetweeners.
Who knew the American equivalent of Peckham was full of sunshine and palm tree studded boulevards?
John Sullivan would be turning in his grave!
Yeah! Luckily it was only a pilot!
@@cinewhirl I know there was a US adaptation of his lesser known sitcom, Dear John, that did relatively well. The setting was less integral to that show
Interesting
@@cinewhirl Dear John was actually good.
I never clicked on a video so fast! I tried to find the pilot a few months ago, but couldn't find it, so I'm guessing this must have been uploaded pretty recently.
Yeah the fact that John Leguizamo looks so young doesn't help! It's hard to believe that he's in his 50s there. That Trigger knock off probably would have been a better fit for Mickey Pearce, as he seems to be the one who's trying to look cool. Those BTTF jokes! FFS! Can't they just let actors be actors instead of using prop culture references to prop up shitty writing. You'd have thought they'd at least try to spice it up with some Taxi references or something! And why can't US sitcoms make places look genuinely dingy and depressing! Their country is full of poverty!
Fantastic first video! I can't to see more from you! Subbed!
Thank you! And agree with your comments
Interesting video. Also, don't know if you know that John Sullivan wrote an Only Fools and Horses script for the American market. Rodney was called Marlon (Del and Grandad had the same names), and their surname was the Flannagans.
The show was called 'This Time Next Year', and the episode was based on the 'No Greater Love', episode of OFAH.
The pilot was never recorded.
That's interesting to know, wonder what it was like. Does that script exist anywhere?
@cinewhirl The script I have is in a book called the 'The Complete A-Z of Only Fools and Horses'.
Reading through it, the script is mostly identical to the UK version, though the differences are that it's set in Philadelphia and the changes that are included in the dialogue relate to cultural differences, like mentioning baseball and US films and TV series.
Hope that helps. 👍👍
Interesting, I'll look it up!
The problem with iconic British tv shows is they are stuck in our brains even if we don't want them to be .
The Office is the only British export that worked. But even the first season was a complete line for line rip off, it was only after they dropped the British script that it became its own show and was brilliant.
Wow! That is so different from the first episode of Only Fools and Horses I remember. Funnily enough, I do think an American version of Only Fools and Horses could work. I can picture a couple of brothers from Brooklyn. Del is a hustler. Rod is a high school drop out. And they take care of Grandpa in their tenement block home. But an American version OFAH might have worked better as comedy drama rather than a sitcom. But that was just my humble opinion which makes absolutely no difference. But the Americans really did squander an opportunity
Yes, it completely could, I like that locale and potential locations. OFAH became more of "dramedy" with the hour long shows and introduction Raquel and Casandra. I think a US version would work better that way rather than a studio set based 30 mins show.
It could work, but the cast and writing here aren’t a good fit imo.
@@Messy6610
Oh, agreed! Something tells me that no one involved in this show took it seriously and weren't bothered about making anymore episodes. This episode is so bad that it's almost like a spoof of an American version of a British sitcom
That was basically the start of Super Mario Bros 1993
It’s worked before with Steptoe and Son, Till Death Do Us Part, Man About The House, George and Mildred and Robins Nest. The American knock offs worked well and were even long running series. Even though I couldn’t warm to the American Office.. that worked too. I guess some of our British sitcoms are just too unique and shouldn’t be touched.
Mmmm, saying they worked well is a stretch at best.
Well said, this seems to have been written by somebody trying to stress the point that having decent recognizable actors doing 'how famous are we' jokes and basically playing themselves, can carry a show, the writer, maybe one of those excitable substance sniffing LA types, has no understanding of the wonderful chemistry of the original, their sitcoms remind me more of 'farce' which is very 'stagey' and loud, no hint of pathos which is present in most UK sitcoms, just bubble gum!
Cnts
"Loud."... Precisely!
I very much doubt they watched the original. It's playing to the room style, rather than acting.
Haha! This is like a sketch sending up a transatlantic adaptation!😂😂 Reminds me of the Matt Lucas spoof called Only Jerks and Horses.
Haha yeah it is a bit like that
If this were done 30 years ago: Danny Devito and er…. Woody Harrelson? Walter Matthau as Grandad? Or Ed Asner…?
In other news, I’ve just seen a photo of Nicholas Lyndhurst in the sequel to Fraiser, which was a little jarring!😂
"Heil Honey, I'm Home!"?
"Niiiice Jubbly!"
@@Tomurow It is quite alien to see Rodney climb over from one 90's sitcom to another, except one's very British and one's very American. Like seeing Joey from Friends in Only Fools. How it happened was Nicholas did a play with Kelsey Grammar in London, and they became good friends. Kelsey rates Nicholas so much as a comedic actor that he personally told Paramount to give him a role in the new Frasier. To think that's all it took. Similarly Ronnie Barker was offered the role of the Butler in Trading Places after John Landis became a fan of The Two Ronnies Porridge and Open All Hours after living in London for work reasons. Ron had to say no as he didn't want to be away from Britain for so long, and Landis couldn't make the film here.
This and the remake of Porridge(the american producers said "does it have to be in a prison?")..............................good grief.
Will have to look at that one next
Nearly downloaded this, but your great breakdown has saved me some data thank you. They took a unique program and feed it into the American cliché sitcom machine, if this has made it to air, it would has made American Shameless look like a masterpiece.
Also remember that Lloyd starred with Shatner in Star Trek 3.
There were many different Only Fools and Horses copy cat shows from around the world over the years. However, I reckon why this one is so bad compared to the original is that the original for the most part had 1 writer (John O Sullivan) but the American one had several. When you have too many writers trying to pull the story into different directions the result you get...is well, this.
The American Method of a Writers Room where they're all gag writers basically told to improv lines one after the other (a literal joke factory) shows why the scenes here don't follow a story, it's one desperate joke after another thought up on the spot by a guy or girl who doesn't want to get fired. Writing shouldn't be done in a conference room, from 9.00 to 17.00 It's done at home or wherever you're most comfortablest, in your own time. Networks needs to give writers deadlines, but not be here Monday to Friday to do it.
You can’t replicate only fools! You just can’t
Correct!
Some things in life are beautiful as it is without any need of a remake...only fools is a timeless classic that you can binged on today ❤
This was a really fun video to watch thanks! I had no idea there was an American attempt at Only Fools and Horses!
I don't think an American version of Only Fools and Horses could ever work. Not only is OFaH so aggressively English in its writing, but everything about its writing, its characters, and their jobs are so interwoven with the setting of 1980s Peckham. They're selling stolen goods because they're poverty-struck in the middle of a recession, the character of Dell Boy was based on real life market salesmen that the writer John Sulliven had seen and met in real life, granddad was an out-of-work lamp lighter waiting for gas to make a comeback, he had fought in the Second World War and many stories and plot points came directly from that, it was built on a family business selling stuff at the market before online shopping or supermarkets existed, and they could get away with the gay jokes in 1980s London. I don't think any of that can translate to 2010s California.
Also, I don't think there's an American network gutsy enough to air a sitcom based around some grimy businessmen selling stolen goods! I strongly think Only Fools and Horses is on level with of Mice and Men with the intelligence of its writing, the social commentary and serving as a time capsule of the era. It's not just some sitcom where you can replace the Royal Family with the Kennedy's and expect the same level of cultural love.
Glad you enjoyed it. I agree, the show is just so tied up with British cultural norms that any remake would have to be so radically different that it wouldn't really be a remake but a whole new show.
There are ways of doing it now, but it depends if an American Broadcaster would want to tackle poverty and class issues in a sitcom. They should, because often the medicine goes down easier if your audience is laughing, rather than watching a hard hitting documentary.
I'm Australian (from British and Aus families). Loved this show as a kid in the 90's/00's.
Could you imagine OFAH set in Oz? Or would it just end up being a Housos spin off?
The Americans did do a version of *"Shameless"* with William H Macy in the lead role. But what made it work was they made it a comedy drama, just like our original and it ran for several years. I've seen it and it is actually very good. One of the rare cross - Atlantic adaptations along with *"The Office"* that worked.
And they tried it with The Office too. The problem is that the Americans don't understand our comedy
I wasn't a fan of the US version of Shameless. It was pretty bad. Impressive it got such a long run though... but then again, so did Friends 😏
@skylined5534 curb your enthusiasm, everybody loves Raymond and Frasier are about the only American sitcoms worth watching. Young Sheldon isn't bad either
The Yanks also did a remake of Steptoe and son I seem to remember. Sanford and son I think. That was rubbish too.
@@fishyattacksAVFCyes, Sanford and Son in the 70s. It was the 70s though and one of the few comedies with black actors during this time. It felt like seeing the same story week after week.
In all fairness John Leguizamo and Christopher Lloyd are legendary, so could they not have just made an original sitcom based on them alone? They really didn't need to transport an incredibly south london specific comedy to the US. Shit, just get Leguizamo to write a sitcom, he's pretty good at writing. I've seen his stand-up. He's good at it!
The Americans remade Steptoe and Son, as Sanford and Son (with Redd Foxx) given how popular that was, and the success of the translation, it surprises me the americans didnt try a bash at OFAH in the 80s.
Genuinely fascinating....seeing Fred Dryer in this show (Hunter series)..is weird aswell..I actually found it embarrassing...👍
John Leguizamo as Del is something I thought I'd never see
Writers: We want to do a remake of the British sitcom Only fools and Horses.
Network: Have you ever seen Only Fools and Horses?
Writers: Nope, never watched a single episode and know nothing about it.
Network: Meh, go ahead!
Can we sell the brand based on Americans knowing it?
No, it's unknown here.
Make it, anyway rather than create something original. IP's always win.
Got to remember the first season of only fools was on the verge of being cancelled, Christopher lloyd seems quite funny in this.
John Leguizamo plays the American Del Boy. Very funny guy and started in a lot of American movies such as the voice of Sid the sloth from ice age.
It 'doesn't work' for us Brits because we are a different type of comedy consumer. Neither is superior/inferior - just different. It is really hard making comparisons because of this. I'm not sure the US consumer would ride along with the allotment mineral water hustle, but then the Batman & Robin sketch would do really well. Well done for trying, why wouldn't you take a successful recipe and try it elsewhere?
Yeah exactly - when UK to US conversions work well (like the office) it's because they've made a lot of cultural changes to accommodate. It's not an easy task
American comedy is awful
@@ppo9200 Married with children was ok
Funnily, these two actors have a bigger age gap than the originals, 30 years compared to 28 with lyndhurst and Jason.
Yeah that is interesting
That spacesuit joke wasn’t homophobic at all tbh.
First time hearing this OFAH Is a show that should never be touched
Correct
There is an American "Only Fools": the Ferengi episodes of Deep Space Nine; Quark is Del Boy, Rom is Rodney, Moogie and Grand Negus Zek are Granddad / Uncle Albert, even Brunt (FCA) takes on the roll of Boysie.
If only Del l had known about the rules of acquisition. He could have been a gold pressed latinumaire ages ago!
Great video mate. And thanks for what it possibly the most random unexpected BTTF reference 😆
Cheers!
No wonder it didn't make it to air, that makes the Red Dwarf pilot look good.
very interesting. Never heard of this and I'm a big fan of British comedy, thanks. The American version of The Office is equally crap/bizzare, IMHO. Sanford and Son is nothing like Steptoe , A comedy played by straight actors, because the writers wanted their writing skills to be funny enough to carry the show without actual comedians. It was a dark comedy. Red Foxx changed all that, made it into happy days.
I really enjoyed Sanford and son.
In no way was it as dark as Steptoe but they had enough of the dynamic of the two main characters and took it in a direction that made the series stand on its own right.
Was it better or worse? If say it was different
Hi, I really like the concept of the videos you've made so far. It is striking just how many American shows got their genesis in the UK. The first one I was aware of being a transplant was All in the Family, if I recall correctly, and they did manage to make a good go of that one.
I will say that I think the saving grace of this particular attempt was having John Leguiziamo (bad spelling!) and Christopher Lloyd, two brilliant comedic actors able to squeeze the most out of a humourous line. I've come to realize after all these many years that a huge percentage of a joke's success is in the telling; a truly great comedian can take the world's oldest and most-often told joke and bowl the audience over with it. I will say though, that there are some good lines heard in this that don't sound like they were thow-away attempts by lazy writers.
I really look forward to seeing more of your analyses (is that a real word? lol). All the best to you!
Thank you! I'm definitely going to make more of these videos. I'll have some exclusive stuff on my Patreon too
Always thought Joe Pesci would be a good American Del Boy
Actually Harry to Daniel Stern's Marv in Home Alone is a bit Del and Rodney.
Christopher Lloyd is looking more like Revolver Ocelot than Grandad 🤣
Ha great shout
The only American who could play Del Boy is Nathan Lane
07:15 don't exaggerate... the goal of humor is not to be "politically correct" but to make people laugh, regardless of whether that room was referring to GEY people or those who are not...
I wonder what America would make of The Royle Family. My own in depth research of asking one American friend is, they just won’t get it. “There are no jokes”, he said.
I quite liked the "I think Christopher Lloyd is dead." line.
It did have the right tongue in cheek feel of Only Fools.
This is so different from OFAH that it is basically its own entity..Christopher Lloyd was probably supposed to be the big selling point..I mean, I would have just watched it for him alone😂😂
It seems like the writers of this were given the characters without having seen the original show.
The Christopher Lloyd joke was good.
Watching that, all I could think of was ‘Marty! We’ve got to get back to the future.’
The casting of Rodney & Trigger is shocking.
It's all a bit shocking & bizarre.
YOU KNOW IT MAKES CENTS😅
Lmao
Go on my son
That would've been a FAR better title.
I kinda like the Back to the Future jokes. Especially the “Christopher Lloyd is dead” bit.
I vaguely feel like Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia is more spiritually aligned with Only Fools. Not that the situations are similar, but that weird combination of feelings you kind of have for the characters.
Fuck no, that show is awful!
Yeah, that's a really good point.
If it weren't for the age difference, Danny DeVito and Charlie Day would have been a fantastic casting for Del and Rodney.
Danny would be a very convincing dodgy market stall holder and Charlie could have played the naive younger sibling quite well.
This is terrible..What were the yanks thinking! Right decision was made by not putting it out.
I believe they could make there own version work, Dont have to be identical charactors. But by what i can see, There grandad is the only good choice in my view. The othe two are just wrong tor it.
Only fools and horses is huge on the balkan. The humor is although specific to UK universal in essence so it resonates with every audience over any border.
Despite speaking the 'same' language, the humour is entirely different. Imagine a UK version of Friends - it would never work!
Both countries have their own classic sit-coms. Let's keep it that way!
Agreed I think British friends would be something like cold feet maybe. It was good but it wouldn’t have been friends.
While not a comedy, the nineties series This life was similar in concept
@@alacarte8635 agreed, it was a good show too.
I always wondered why Only Fools and Horses was not popular in the US, it's hilarious my favourite comedy of all time. I thought maybe it doesn't translate, but it was really popular in Yugoslavia and a couple of other nations in europe and they don't even speak the lingo.
The worst part of this is that they somehow managed to drag John Leguizamo into the middle of it.
its ess aitch eye tee
Lol
It’s like us trying to make our version of “friends” some things are just meant to be original
Great video.
A masterpiece tampered with and trashed...like cover versions of many music tracks. 🔥
They had some real talent here and they shortchanged them with the writing.
07:07- It might not be politically correct, to compare Lloyd to a 'gay astronaut', but his clothing in this scene is pretty camp. I fail to see how the gag is 'homophobic' when gay bars and clubs are full of men dressed in a manner that makes his attire look conservative.
It's just an observational joke, he didn't say it in a hateful way. To be honest it looked like he was scraping the barrel of things to moan about
I've watched a couple of your other videos, yet I still thought to myself "Oh no" immediately upon clicking on this one
In fairness though, we've made some bad remakes of Americans programmes, like Coupling and that UK version of Golden Girls. I think the US Del Boy with a little tweaking and the house/apartment aren't bad, but all the other elements could've been ditched. The actor who played the Del character played someone similar in Summer of Sam, and I think he was a decent age by this point. I don't know why the Americans want to make versions of British sitcoms when they've got some legendary shows of their own. Take Frasier, for example, which unintentionally has parallels with OFAH in that the main character lives in an apartment with an elder relative and bickers with his younger brother. The similarities pretty much end there, but I would argue that Frasier is British in premise (someone at the top who ends up with egg on his face) whereas OFAH is more American (underdog who normally wins the day). Though of course we also love an underdog. I can't wait to see Nicholas Lyndhurst's character in the Frasier reboot. Kelsey Grammer is a huge fan and a friend of his, and recognises his talent as a comedic actor.
Yeah you're right, it definitely goes both ways and I'll probably do reviews of those too in the future. I do think this show could have theoretically worked but it's obvious to see why this was ditched at pilot stage as nothing came together well. I think you're right about Frasier
That's a lot of waffle. Any remake of this classic is going to be nothing but an embarassment and this lived up to that.
Coupling wasn't a remake of an American show..
Oh and also, Nicholas Lyndhurst doing a Frasier reboot will be nothing but a failure.
The role of Frasier is not suited to Nicholas. From Goodnight Sweetheart to OFAH I don't see how he could possibly be Frasier
@@stevenandrews3891 yeah i believe it was the other way around lol.
Coupling is an American sitcom television series, a remake of the British show of the same title, which aired on NBC from September 25 to October 23, 2003.
So we had Young Hagrid as “Rodney” , we had fake Luis from AntMan as “ Delboy” plus obviously the Doc as “Grandad” Who they should have cast “Les from Hardore Pawn” lol wonder who they would have cast as Uncle Albert.
The space suit joke was not homophobic. Dont be so damn soft.
Please explain the joke.
Absolutely! Everything is homophobic to some people 🙄
I don't understand why they remade Only Fools in California of all places? It has to be the least fitting State in America to recapture the aesthetic. I mean, if they HAVE to remake Only Fools, I feel like New York is the obvious choice, with some low rent, wannabe mafiosa street hustler type playing Del. The London patter would be easily switched out for New York pseudo-Italian lingo (I think New York Italians are the only ones who really come close to an American version of London Cockney geezers) and it may just have worked. I guess they felt that they had too many sit-coms set in NY already with Friends and King of Queens and so on, but nothing that compares to Only Fools. Setting it in California just ruins it. If anything, California could've been the place American Del & Rodney dream of retiring to after they finally make it big in NY
Ooooh homophobic joke, lighten up dude
Even if you like that kind of joke, it still didn't make any sense lol
@@cinewhirl it's not that I like that kind of joke, so please don't lefty pigeon hole me. It's just a joke, nothing insulting about it, if it didn't make sense, how can you even define it as offensive
Well, the joke doesn't make sense. What is a 'gay astronaut' lmao. The reason I said it was homophobic is that I inferred they was using gay as an insult. If you thought different, that's fine. After all, it's only a pilot!
@@cinewhirl oh...... There we have it..... You.... Inferred. How about next time, less of the inferring, less of the lefty labelling and try and be a better youtuber, instead of throwing around words like that, they do so much damage to the western world
Reviews are all about inferring, that's what opinions are
If you think this is bizzare ! Checkout the New Frasier Reboot where Niles crane ( David Hyde Pierce ) has been replaced by Rodney trotter ( Nicholas Lyndhurst ) although he has a different role to Niles he's obviously his replacement as none of the other characters from Frasier are in the Reboot other than the child who played Frasiers son now grown up ! .
I feel like I have just watched ,an awful dream sequence from 'Bill and Ted' .
OFAH the show is respected because it simply fitted the times. The characters were likeable. It was a hilarious to watch, everyone looked forward ,to watching the Trotters next chapter. OFAH was prime time TV at the time. I still laugh now when I watch these episodes. Classic TV at its finest.
British and American humour are totally different which probably why when Americans try and copy British sitcoms they go tits up. The Office, which I never liked any way, is as far as I'm aware, the only one that worked.
All of the ones remade by Norrman Lear were very successful in the US.
I wouldn't call the American Office a remake tbh - it has a totally different style. As you said, the humour between the countries is too different.
@@jwb52z9 Which ones?
Fellow Brit here. This is the first time I've seen your channel, I had no idea they had tried to do this. The wheeling and dealing setup for the show could have worked but the detail and cultural elements would need to have been changed for the American audience. More 'inspired by' rather than 'American remake' Trying to swap between American-style humour and remaking a handful of British jokes just doesn't tonally work. A 30-year age gap between shows is also pretty significant. The Christopher Lloyd jokes were lazy, a nod and a wink to Back to the Future is fun, but being smashed in the face by a joke is not so fun. It reminds me of how they changed the American Red Dwarf, with Lister being buff and ruggedly handsome instead of slob. This was really interesting.
The US version of Red Dwarf was dire also!
Some comedies just don’t translate across the pond.. The Inbetweeners is another example