Why Remake the BBC Version of Spaced?

Fans of the films Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz who live in the US might know who Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are. They may even be familiar with the name Edgar Wright., the director of both. These films are not widely watched stateside, which is a shame. They are both very observant satires of their respective genres. What many of these fans are not aware of is that this Trio had their start on a BBC television drama called Spaced.

Spaced told the story (in typical sitcom high-concept fashion) of a couple of people who are without a home and decide to pose as a couple to rent an cheap flat. The series ran 14 Episodes, and avoided many of the usual failings of sit-coms that Americans have grown accustomed. The series was full of laughs and twists and even a few well earned dramatic bits. The point of all this is not to promote Spaced, but rather to bring up an interesting subject.

McG, the vowel-challenged producer and sometimes filmmaker of the Charlie's Angels videogamemovies and (more recently) TV's Chuck fame, has announced plans to remake it .

The response across the blogosphere has been uniformly negative to the idea. People are clearly peeved that this sort of Americanization of what many see as a classic is going to take place. I fail to see any particular reason why we would need a remake. That doesn't usually stop me form trying to understand. Or if all else fails just make something up that will answer my questions. The solution that I see fitting quite nicely would be to just go ahead and air the bloody show over here. Of course there are a few obstacles to that.

Obstacle one: it has bad language in it. Britishers seem to have less hypocrisy about their foul mouthes than the average American. They allow TV programs broadcast over the air to have cuss-bad-words in them. Just like the ones real people use every day. I suppose that's a vicious circle, since kids love to speak what they hear. I suppose it wouldn't be the end of the world to a) bleep them like Arrested Development or b) just cut out the bits of dialog. (I favor bleeps, 'cuz I think they're funny).