Syfy fails again with their remake of UK’s hit ‘Being Human’
Seeing Being Human (UK) was great. It made me giggle, it had deep character development, strong feelings about how to face one’s mortality, or immortality as the case may be. The show created thrills and giggles, but still had a strong plot for social interaction and intricate characters.
My expectations of the US remake were not high. The states often attempt British television and fail miserably. However, I hoped that SyFy would bring out some bigger guns to make it flow correctly. They didn’t succeed. The only person on the credits with experience from the British version was Toby Whithouse, but he wasn’t part of production or direction, only writing.
The show just seemed to be a group of Americans that are spewing direct copies of the UK script. It sounds British and forced coming out of their mouth. Having a bunch of Americans speaking British English just points out how traditionally American the sound. The filming felt really English, and not American. When something’s remade it needs to be remade, not just a copy in a different country. Everything needs to be fixed: colloquialisms, mannerisms, attitudes, styling, fashion, everything! It just seemed like a weird mess of cultures.
Character wise it was far below expectations. Our resident werewolf was nowhere near nerdy enough. He didn’t whine enough and he can’t pull off the loser feelings. Vampy didn’t have enough allure or self confidence. The ghost is just nowhere near as endearing as her UK counterpart.
