Being Human just started it's third series here in the UK. It's a sort of off-beat drama/fantasy/comedy about three people who share a house in Bristol in England. One is a vampire, one a werewolf and the female protagonist is played by a half cast woman who represents a ghost. It's been really great the past two series, funny and really imaginative! Great performances, especially from Russell Tovey who plays the werewolf. I have always thought of it as the British version of True Blood, it's very similar in the basic premise, but also different. It has it's own unique British character that is just as loveable as the southern american hillbilly nature of True Blood. But now I am hearing that they have made a US version of it ... ??? I think the first episode just aired or something. Be interested in seeing what they make of it. If you dug all the hype about Shameless, then dig this more. It's a vastly more intelligent show, with better stories and performances from the actors.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_vjsGpauMo&feature=related"]YouTube - Interview with the cast of Being Human I think I like these actors better. I'm not really seeing the tru blood similarity.
Will have to watch taht in a couple of days.. Vampires and werewolves living among normal people in society as though it's normal? Came out about the same time.. No, no similarity there at all... :sarcasticface:
There is no way anyone in the entire universe could play Russell Tovey's part better than Russell Tovey..
What do you mean different? It's a parody show, which as everyone now knows is practically the same, but slightly different. Is Tovey's US equivalentr the slightly different bit are you saying? Tell you what I hope they do a US version of Survivors, doubt they will though seeing as it has just failed epically for the second time in 40 years! Fuck them. I LIKED IT! It was a bit shit TBH but they shoulda at least wrapped it up with 1 more series, rather than leaving it hanging the way they did..
Hey I liked the new vamp twinkie. He's kind of like how Phil Daniel's would have turned out if he'd been turned into a vampire during the Quadrophenia years. Shame they killed off Paul Kaye in the first episode, I suppose they didn't have any stories to write him into so it makes sense. Apparently they are bringing in zombies this season, so they hinted in on the facebook page. I was met with mixed enthusiasm, I personally think it is a good idea and wonder if it ties in with the S@ cliffhangerish that saw two of the gypsy vampires pouring blood on Henrick's "grave" with a view to assumedly bringing him back to "life"
The US version is a 13 episode series. I read they will have the same premise to start with but drift into their own world, as it where. A little like they did with Queer as folk and The Office. I think it is a wise move as a direct copy might not work so well. None of the cast has seen much of the original version, so they will inevitably bring their own interpretation to the mix too. I think they are subtly distancing themselves from the original so that a direct comparison can not be made, and it can succeed or fail on it's own merits. The general central premise is the same, obviously. All that might be to disguise bad acting and bad writing, I do not know yet. A parody (pronounced /ˈpærədi/; also called send-up, spoof or lampoon), in contemporary usage, is a work created to mock, comment on, or make fun at an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation. As the literary theorist Linda Hutcheon (2000: 7) puts it, "parody … is imitation, not always at the expense of the parodied text." Another critic, Simon Dentith (2000: 9), defines parody as "any cultural practice which provides a relatively polemical allusive imitation of another cultural production or practice." Often, the most satisfying element of a good parody is seeing others mistake it for the genuine article. That's what I think a parody is, and it isn't supposed to be that. I guess you define parody the same/similar way as Linda Hutcheon .
I think PK - as an actor - works well in short bursts. I don't think he would have liked to have dominated the series, either.
This all sounds very sensible and interesting, and I welcome it. i think the parody I found between being Human UK and True Blood was an isomorphic one. I subtley measured southern hillbillies of America against the kind of southern forgotten coastal city near wales. I tend to think of parodies as defined by Douglas Hofstadter in his book Godel, Escher, Bach, although I am way too much of a drunkard and sexual freak to have ever managed to get past chapter 4... before I lent it to my mate and he used it for toilet paper or something...
He could have been a recurrent character. He is a very talented comedy actor and just actor. I don't know why he doesn't do more stuff. I thought he was great in that Dj film where he played the deaf Ibiza DJ on drugs all the time. He had a show as well following his Celebrity pestering years as Dennis Pennis, which I also thought was incredibly funny and inventive.
Me too. I was talking about the two versions of Being Human, to be honest. I don't think Being Human had that a lofty a goal, to be fair. I have not read that book.
So what you have seen the US version then? It's written in both a scientific and artistic way. I couldn't follow his maths, which I think were designed to confuse you, like a zen koan? I dunno. Give a tickle, see what you think. I prefer to read something more linear and then let it scramble my mind. You can't write an opus without scrambling a few algebraic equations though I guess.
Possibly. He is. I like him. I have a feeling he does what he needs to survive and then goes home to his family. A Pete Tong parody? I know he did that but I can't remember his performance. I know. It was good. It got old. "Dennis Pennis had become too expensive. Taking a film crew out every night with no guarantee of getting even a minute's worth of footage of me harassing celebs was just stupid. And then the programme would take months to compile, and it was just boring, man..... hanging out in the rain, twiddling your thumbs, playing with your hip flask...... he had to go......"
I've seen extended clips on Youtube. I've not seen a whole episode. The way it comes across, it seems like they are taking it seriously. They sound like they are taking it seriously too (from the interviews with the cast). I will. Me too. Good greif, no. I guess the more layers the more it can be read with multiple interpretations. It doesn't get old.
I just watched the first episode. Seems to be sticking pretty much to the original, only differences so far that I have spotted are in the characters names and in this version vampires seem to have the power to "glamour" people like they do in true Blood. You can tell that the main actors have studied their contemporaries parts in detail, although they are not nearly as good.
