The Australian Tv series “Kath and Kim” is possibly the most culturally accurate reresntation of the average bogan Australian. And why was it received with such positive responses? Because the humour within the is completely relatable to its predominately Australian audiences and always will be. This is because the content of what they actors are saying and doing is culturally recoginisable and is a parody of the average Australian. So its safe to say that when the US decided to release their own version of the Australian series, it came as quite a shock and was not the hit success that Kath and Kim AUS certainly has been. The characters were simply not conveyed in the same hilarity to that of their Australian versions; the cultural humour and context wasn’t conveyed in the same manor. The cultural references didn’t translate through th American charater’s performance as they weren’t emoting the same humour as the Australian characters are known for.
This “Americanisation” of comedy tv series is becoming ever-increasingly popular, for instance two fo my favourite British comedy/drama tv shows Skins and Shamless both ran in Australia for about 3 seasons each, only to be stumped by American versions of both shows. And the results were cringe-worthy; not only did the US versions copy the plots of each British episode exactly scene for scene, the charaters were poorly portrayed and the cultural references just didn’t translate into American culture; it was almost parody-like and wasn’t enjoyable to watch. I recently saw a trailer for the American version of the British comedy series The Inbetweeners and I have to say tis really through me over the edge. Why does it feel like America is always having to one-up other nations in the television industry?
So its clear that this growing trend is not about to stop anytime soon, but for these American versions to be successful, they must incorporate their own cultural jokes and influences in order to appeal to their local and global audiences,
Aiyana Levin 