I was listening to the producer of a new Canadian TV series on the radio this morning. It's set at a lake resort in Manitoba, and has apparently gotten good overseas sales. For all markets except the US, the show will be shown just as it is here in Canada - Canadian place names, flags, money, etc. However, for the American market, they have to go down to the States and shoot some extra footage, so that it will appear to be set in the US. Characters going to Toronto will now go to Philadephia, the lake is in New Hampshire, rather than Manitoba, etc. This will be done at the insistence of the American distributor. They feel that American audiences will not watch the show unless they think it's set in the US. Apparently this is common practice.
Now, I don't know all that many Americans face to face, but I've met a lot online, and I think that that distributor is underestimating the sophistication of American audiences. I think they are perfectly capable of watching TV characters spending loonies, drinking Blue, and going to Toronto for a few days of shopping and seeing some shows. In fact, I think if I were an American, I'd be insulted by this. So, what do you think, Yanks? DO TV shows have to be Americanized in order to get an audience?

Yes, absolutely, I am insulted by the premise that TV shows must be Americanized in order for those of us who live in America to enjoy them, For those of us who live near the Canadian border, there's a certain sense of unity with Canadians anyway. God knows I have swallowed my share of "Blue" and I believe there's a loonie upstairs in my change box right now, But the narrow-mindedness of the "suits" behind artistic endeavors is legendary. One would think that they'd have learned something from the success of BBC America. But, no. It's just too bad that the American public's viewing options are limited by such dense thinking.

I am not American, and I will only speak for myself here.
I absolutely love watching TV shows that were filmed in other countries, because of all the little tidbits you can pick up about that particular country, such as what kinds of trees do they have, what do houses or road signs looks like, what kind of beer do they drink etc.
Those differences might be minimal between the US and Canada, but I'm sure it would still be interesting to pick them up and learn about the neighbouring country.

I watch BBC America quite a bit. I really enjoy Cash in the Attic, but I hate the American version. For this American, shows don't have to be set here. I don't care if they're set in Canada, England, Venus or Outer Mongolia, if I enjoy the show, I'll watch. It seems more than a little silly to me that the American distributor would insist on such a thing. Absolutely ridiculous is a more apt phrase.

That sounds so stupid. Well, why don't tv shows change names of places in California to places in NY so the East Coasters will understand? Or what about the midwest? Heck, we could have specific tv shows for your own hometown!

What TV show is this?

This particular show is called "Falcon Beach" - I assume that will also be the American name. This is a widespread practice, though - this is not the first time I've heard of it.
There is also the slightly different practice of shooting American shows on Canadian locations, and then just 'disguising' them as American. Most modern Westerns are shot in southern Alberta, for instance, and the "X Files", for one, was shot for the first several years in Vancouver. That at least makes some sense to me - it's an American show, with American actors, writers, etc. Only the location and most of the technical crew are Canadian, so if they want to use American holidays, names of cities, etc, it seems reasonable.

XFiles was shot in Vancouver because it was cheaper to shoot there. The only reason they moved it back to the States is because Chris Carter (the producer) had problems coming into the US from Customs once with the film canisters. He got so mad that that became 'the straw that broke the camel's back'.

A lot of shows are also shot in Toronto... Canada's just plain cheaper to shoot in and they're glad to have the film business, unlike a lot of American places where it's really hard. For instance, ANY film that includes a subway scene that's supposed to take place in DC will not have been filmed on the DC subway. Why? DC's metro doesn't allow filming on the metro because it would 'commercialize' it, make it dirtier and they'd have to divert trains when the don't have enough tracks to begin with (they only have one track to go each way unlike NYC's subway system). So they usually film those scenes in NYC or some other city and say it's in DC.

I get irritated by the World War II movies and TV series, such as 'Band of Brothers', etc which show U.S. troops fighting their way across Europe with never another Allied soldier in sight, except for the occasional, usually pompous British officer. It is even more irritating when actual historical events are shown with U.S. forces participating actively before the U.S. even got involved in the war.
British film makers distort history in just the same way as do their Hollywood colleagues, and I've been reliably informed that this is to make the movie(s) more acceptable to American audiences, and hence to massively increase profits. I don't blame them really, as profit is the 'bottom line' for movies anyway.

I think it's a self-perpetuating problem, actually. The more Americans are sheltered from other cultures (even ones not very different from their own) the less they will be likely to relate to them, and the more they'll have to do it. But really, to start with it's a problem of selling the American viewing public short. Personally, I quite like shows set elsewhere, and I even quite like the flavor of different humors it lends to the shows if they're from another part of the world. After all, the stuff that Americans are coming up with these days are either generally bad or spun off from some other (usually British) country's stuff. So, maybe if the show is good enough they want Americans to think it's an American show.

The U.S. film makers and TV series producers IMHO do a great disservice to the American people. All too often Americans are depicted as arrogant, ignorant, inconsiderate, priveleged and spoilt, whereas the Americans we meet in the States are usually easy going, polite and pleasant. I presume this latter image doesn't make such good TV though.
If we believed the movies, then action packed car chases and shoot-outs must be a normal and daily part of U.S. life, but in travelling fairly extensively in the U.S. I've never seen any crime other than minor motoring offences being committed!
The Simpsons often do excellent parodies of how both history and Americans generally are misleadingly depicted on movies and TV.

Stupidest thing I have ever heard. Americans won't watch it because it’s not set in America. Please. If the show is good, people will watch it. Or maybe not. I've noticed a trend where the most sophisticated shows are the ones no one watches. Maybe Americans are stupid. Not enough of us have watched 'Arrested Development' to keep it going.

I personally love Brit shows, and I was raised in California! Just because a show is forign (sp?) doesn't mean it's bad. In fact, most of them are better!

But then again, I have met some urban rednecks that A) Would immedately not like it 'cause it "'Aint 'Merican" or B) Wouldn't get it ("What the ---- is a 'loonie', indn' that a crazy person?")

Oh, Well... :sigh:

My son was playing with a Bob the Builder toy the other day and allthe characters had American accents. My friend and I wondered why they would they bother? It's not as though there can be too much to get confused about in that

OMG how can they give Bob the Builder a US accent, that's crazy... poor Bob, the icon of the Brit builder.

Think it works in reverse too though - struggled to understand what the heck they were saying for the first hour of Brokeback Mountain - needed subtitles.

However, know that if the original of The Office were shown in the US, it would not really be understood (hard enough if you are a Brit). Changing it to an American scenario was weird, but possibly necessary for US audiences... not sure if it bombed over there or is it popular?

I do think that sometimes show producers underestimate the intelligence of viewers on either sides of the pond... if Simon Cowell is understood over there, anyone should be!!! lol

Bob der Baumeister (as seen in Germany) is even stranger believe me...lol
Suppose each country has to cater for its own audience and as such has to be respected for doing so.

"The Office" is a bona fide hit over here ! Even made its way to the 'Must See' TV lineup on Thursday nights (prime real estate for a sitcom). It DOES have a distinctive British air to it - the humor is much more deadpan and intelligent than the American basic joke/laugh track fests are. I think the show is hysterical, albeit cast with Americans. Talented ones at that! [Personally, I think the bulk of U.S. sitcoms is tragically bad...]

I just don't watch net work television and haven't in more years than I can count. There are many shows I love, and sit down to watch whenever possible. Oddly enough, they are produced by several creative teams in two or more countries. Some favorites include
Meet the Ancestors -which is about excavating mostly celtic, nordic or Roman gravesites, and trying to reconstruct the lives of those who are buried there. Never miss it, and even mark it on the calendar, sometimes.

The rest of what I watch is generally produced by either Discovery or BBC...Canadians try to save their tiny fishing village from being destroyed by industry...Aussie city dwellers try and make it in the outback 1860's style...documentary cameras take us through the Tower of London...wow. I can't resist that stuff. You can pretty much have the rest of what American television has to offer,as far as I'm concerned.

By and large, Leau, you're right- at least regarding this side of the of the pond. Too many Americans are unaware of the rest of the world and have little interaction with it. This makes them unable to relate to it on a personal level.

Brits see many US and Oz shows which are "as made" and to be honest have not had many problems understanding even the most diverse of accents. I work with worldwide colleagues and on the whole we understand each other well: strange telecon meetings between Ireland, Atlanta, Belgium and the UK do tend to struggle a little sometimes though. Have rarely had a problem when visiting the US either.

Perhaps it was Heath Ledger trying to speak with a US accent which confused: who knows. Think I just didnt like the film and lost concentration.

I also had trouble understanding what he was saying, I thought it was because I am hard of hearing! The Montana and Wyoming accent is quite close to ours here, so it couldn't have been that.

I never noticed there WAS a Montana or Wyoming accent... Weird.

Well, as compared to an East Coast, or Southern accent. Or, even compared to the standard "TV" accent you hear coming at you from the media.

I know that I always thought that I had no accent, that I sounded like everybody on TV, until I heard myself on a national radio program. Most of the other callers had been from Ontario, and you could definitely tell that I was from somewhere else!