Blogger Narin Bahar has unearthed what a SyFy US boss has to say about transposing Being Human to the States
When news first broke that Being Human – a show arguably as English as a nice cup of tea and a jammy dodger (albeit one made by a ghost in a grey cardie) – was to be given an American makeover courtesy of Syfy, even the reassurances of Lord Toby of Whithouse himself didn’t quell the pangs of fear amongst some of fandom worried that our favourite ghost/vampire/werewolf triumvirate was going to be stripped of all the things that made them brilliant (the smut, the swearing, the humour, the horror) in the move.
Well, now Syfy president David Howe has given a hint as to how things are going with the remake (being helmed by Supernatural alumni Jeremy Carver and his wife Anna Fricke, who created non-genre show Privileged ) and - as you’d expect – swapping tea for coffee hasn’t been the most difficult part of pulling the show across the Atlantic.
In an interview with ifmagazine.com which may as well have been headlined “stating the bleeding obvious” Howe said: “I think it’s very difficult to adapt. It seems easy, but so much of that show depends on the chemistry and execution and otherwise it could really easily go off the rails. We hired some great writers and they are in the midst of adapting it and we’re hoping to have it on the air in the summer.”
He added: “I think the biggest challenge is how much do you take from it that’s there. Where are you getting repetitive and derivative and how do you not retread? We talked a lot about the UK Office and the American Office . So we’re about making it our own and yet holding on to what’s great about the original.”
Will you be watching Being Human US when it airs later this year? Are you excited about it, or fearful it'll be more like the ill-fated Spaced and IT Crowd remakes than the award-winning reimaging of The Office ? Have your say in the comments below.
