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Monday, March 24, 2008

Annals of Russian Hypocrisy

It's always amusing to hear Russians haughtily condemning American culture even as they shamelessly copy it. The Hollywood Reporter has details (click through to watch a translated excerpt of the show):

Most of you may think you don't know big-haired Dasha Bukina or her harassed shoe salesman husband Gena Bukin. You probably won't fare much better with the names of their two high-octane teenage kids, Sveta and Roma. But if you're a Russian TV viewer, you've most likely already met them: They are Russia's reincarnations of the Bundy family from "Married ... With Children." It's actually a bit scary to watch the Bukins gathered on the family couch working out yet another crisis -- it's Peg and Al and Bud and Kelly down to the tiniest detail. Except for the language, of course.

But if you were to watch all 200-plus episodes that have been adapted from the original scripts by Sony Pictures Television International so far, you'd begin to see many subtle changes made to fit Russian cultural nuances and viewer tastes. Jeff Lerner, senior vp development and current programs, international production, at SPTI, says it would be impossible simply to cut and paste the scripts for Russian consumption. Adapting existing formats is nothing new for SPTI, which also has produced local versions of "The Nanny" and "Who's the Boss?" in Russia. In fact, SPTI makes local versions of U.S. shows all over the world. And the one big lesson learned is that many small and almost invisible changes must be made along the way in order to slot the shows seamlessly into the cultural mix.

1 comment:

Artfldgr said...

Most people dont know the origins of shows. An awful lot goes from the UK to amerika too. and its an old practice. in the US we had "three's company", but the origal show in england was "robin's nest' which was quite a bit bawdier, and didnt have the political message of normalizing gay culture through having a heterosexual immitate a gay man, and have no repercussions than loads of laughs and fun as everything works out.

the bundies, as with other shows are to show how horrible being married is. the marraige strike is not caused by evil men that wont commit.