Why do TV Producers think Americans are stupid?

[Gordon_4_v1legacy]

Top Gear-US

Three hillbilly morons try to set the record for how many times they can use the word 'awesome' in one hour.

Those three wankers have no right to wear or use the Top Gear label. In defence of my brethren across the pond however, Australia pretty much screwed the pooch with our localisation of Top Gear also.

Some times you get it right, some times you don't. Top Gear is most certainly an example of not getting it.

 

[V8 Ninja]

Because 1 out of 5 Americans generally ARE stupid.

 

[Brawndo]

Why do these same TV producers think...

That Arabs are terrorists?
That Russians are evil badguys?
That Italians are gangsters?
That Japanese are weird conformists consumed by fetishes?
That British people all have the same high-class accents and bad teeth?


Stereotypes are common on TV and in movies. Deal with it.

 

[Lono Shrugged]

You think those are bad you should see any documentary show from Mythbusters to WW2 docs. I can't stand the American versions.

Part of it is that the Big British Castle (BBC) is the best broadcasting company in the world. It's very much creator driven and rarely panders to any audience. If you looked at a station from the UK like ITV you would find a lot of dreck (especially on a Friday or Saturday night)

For me it's mostly the American voiceover. I cannot stand the general sarcastic/pun-tastic cockitude of them.

Also it's a laziness that seems prevalent in American shows. The production values are great in the edit but not on the shoot. interviews are cobbled together and PTCs go out the window in favour of flashy v.t. clips with v.o.s

it's odd that American drama is really bouncing back and producing amazing shows while "t.v." stuff is just....it's just really rough.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

Because a large chunk of them are... And guess what! There's stupid people everywhere else in the world that can't get enough reality show remakes! So at least the producers are smart... they're making money off this sub-par material, so why stop?

That sounds about right to me. There are other shows that have been taken from other nations and Americanized. Ninja Warrior and, Unbeatable Banzuke were Frankensteined together to make Wipeout. Hole in the Wall also started out as a Japanese game show. Though it seems to me that Hole in the wall was completely unchanged.

As to why they do it, Jackpot got it I think. Lot of stupid people. Even if we American's aren't, the stereotype has spread a bit. If you hear something enough you start to believe it especially if you're a CEO or, Network head. Those guys wouldn't know an average person if one set their homes on fire.

 

[Arcane Azmadi]

It's called Viewers Are Morons. [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ViewersAreMorons] It's a widely recognized trope.

 

[Something Amyss]

Spoiler: for length

Firstly, I am an American.
Secondly, I absolutely love BBC America. If you're unfamiliar with it, you definitely should rectify that very soon. Many of the shows are witty, entertaining, and informative. The problem is that American TV producers are importing these shows and dumbing them down. WAY down. What we are left with is bastardized mutants that only resemble their British origins in name alone.


For instance:

Top Gear-BBC

The hosts are charming and very entertaining. In between their humorous reviews of super cars, the host complete challenges, like, driving to the North Pole

Top Gear-US

Three hillbilly morons try to set the record for how many times they can use the word 'awesome' in one hour.

Life-BBC

Informative and beautiful nature program


Life-US

Apparently we're too stupid to understand English and want to be talked to like we're five years old.



Gordon Ramsay-BBC

Stern, yet helpful chef turns around failing restaurants.


Gordon Ramsay-US

British chef yells at people, makes them cry



Is there anyone who can tell me why US producers take good quality television and turn it into crap? They speak English, we speak English. The only difference is the Metric system and currency. Is anybody else bothered by this?

Since you're American, and can see the American versions of these shows, I'm assuming you have watched American television at some point. In which case, your question should have an obvious answer.

Because the American public watch TV for stupid people. Since ratings are high, they tailor their shows to that demographic.

 

[UberNoodle]

Because there are more stupid people than smart ones in any population, and in the USA the stations generally go for the largest earning potential.

 

[Magic Cheese]

Or perhaps the only people who still pay for cable are morons. I canceled mine when I saw MORE THAN THREE different shows on three different channels about baking elaborate cakes and at least two reality programs on two different, unrelated channels about midge-er, little people doing random shit. Yeah, no.

 

[Logic 0]

The TV producers just go where the money is, if their were fewer idiots then more intelligent shows would be made that's all.

 

[Kevlar Eater]

To answer the question: American viewers seriously are morons [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ViewersAreMorons], and this is coming from an American.

 

[punkrocker27]

What, you think we like importing your crappy reject shows? Skins, for one thing, doesn't really sound quite like a genuinely original or even interesting premise to begin with. Teenagers having sex? Wow.

And then there's Hell's Kitchen. What minuscule liquid ounce of entertainment that can be redeemed from a train wreck like this is found solely in the contestants' failure. That's right, for all our rhetoric about the American Dream, boy do we just love to see people fail. It's why American Idol is so popular. That's true entertainment. The Germans probably have a word for it.

As for the other two programs, if I wanted educational I'd turn on PBS. Yeah, public schooling, arguably our nation's greatest failure of all. Ain't it grand?

 

[Enigmatic Master]

the portrayal of Chef Ramsey in both shows are different becauase the meaning of the shows are different. Kitchen nightmares Chef Ramsey is trying to save someones livelyhood but in hell's kitchen he trying to find the best Chef by pushing them to there breaking points. And plus If you never Worked in a kitchen you just wouldn't understand what's really going on.

 

[Wolfenbarg]

A large portion must be stupid or Firefly would have gotten better ratings never been caned and we would have more seasons of it...

Don't fling your bitterness of that show being canceled on the American public. The show actually had good ratings considering the circumstances. First of all, Fox didn't give them a standard time slot. It changed more than once. They also aired them out of order. Instead of getting a proper pilot, they air The Train Job first, then they didn't air the the show at all for the next three weeks. Following that, they aired episodes wildly out of order, and showed the pilot near the end of its run. Instead of giving them a more consistent viewing on the second run, Fox decided to cancel it. This is partially because the team that finds talent and the one that distributes it are completely different groups. Fox's team to find talent is actually really good, but the distributors are completely out of their minds.

Honestly, while it can't account for everyone or even a majority of the audience, many people watch those idiotic reality shows for this reason:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ss-59fi4nM

And yes, before you say anything, I realize the irony of posting something from a British sketch comedy show. It's true though, most people I know personally that invest in complete drivel pretty much say they're doing it ironically.

 

[Nickolai77]

It's because we British have style, it's a European thing that you colonists won't understand

Obviously joking there...Being serious, i think it has something to do with the BBC being publicly owned, so it doesn't simply chase profits and instead it focuses on producing programs which "inform, educate and entertain". When a TV station is profit-driven, it simply goes where the money is and this becomes a race to lowest retard.

I think QI is one of the shows which best embodies the BBC's purpose: E.g: