BEING HUMAN IN AMERICA

'Being Human' is a great show about three people sharing a flat together in Bristol, England. Only those three people are a vampire, a werewolf, and a ghost.

Of course, U.S. TV network suits took notice and have decided to adapt it for the audience over here. This is a common enough practice in Toobworld, with some of the strongest examples being 'All In The Family', 'Sanford & Son', 'Three's Company' and now 'The Office' which keeps making new copies in other lands. From south of the border came the many clones of 'Betty la fea", including ABC's 'Ugly Betty'. ABC is currently running a summer series called 'Scoundrels' which is based on a New Zealand show, 'Outrageous Fortunes'.

And the trend works in reverse with foreign adaptations of 'Married With Children', 'Charlie's Angels', and all three of the major 'Law & Order' franchises.

What makes these adaptations easier to accept in Toobworld is in the revisions of the major characters. The situation can remain the same, but it helps if the characters' names were at least different. This is what was so hard about trying to find a way in which both the American and the original British versions of 'Life On Mars' in the same TV dimension - just about everybody had the same name in the remake. We had to wait until the American series played out to its conclusion before we could come up with the proper splainin. Even then we pulled a muscle trying to twist our way through the pretzel logic of it all. At least with the new Spanish version, the names have been changed... if not to protect the innocent, at least to protect what's little left of my sanity.

So here we are with news of a remake of 'Being Human'. Remember 'Being Human'? That's what this post started out with as a topic. According to a report posted by Michael Ausiello of Entertainment Weekly, the three main characters in the American adaptation will be named Aidan (the vampire), Josh (the werewolf) and the ghost will be Molly. In the original series, they are Mitchell, George, and Annie, respectively. And the show will take place in the Boston area.

The one thing that may be hard to reconcile is placing the show in a shared Toobworld timeline with 'True Blood', in which vampires are now able to live openly among humans. With the original series, the splainin is that the Tru-Blood drink hasn't been approved for consumption in Great Britain. With 'Moonlight' from a few years ago, series has been placed on the timeline before Tru-Blood was introduced on the market. (I haven't given much thought to 'The Vampire Diaries'.)

The producers of this new version of 'Being Human' could have mixed up the character revisions a little more, though. It seems like vampires as leading characters are always males. Why couldn't the girl be the vampire, or even the werewolf? And if the ghost was the male, then they could have retained the name of George. Why? First off, as a tip of the hat to 'Topper'. But also they could have then hired T.R. Knight to play the role as his character from 'Grey's Anatomy', the late Dr. George O'Malley......

Alas, he's a character from an ABC show and the new 'Being Human' will be on Syfy. Only in the Toobworld dream-state is such an idea possible....

BCnU!

PS:
I never noticed it before but in that 'Being Human' picture, George the werewolf is standing in front of that globe-shaped light. It gives it the impression of a full moon. Nice touch.....