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Comment by averageRoyalty | Hacker News Reader

Americans appear to habitually do this. They'll label the original "UK" but won't relabel their remake. They've done the same with Wilfred and other shows. Just an insular viewpoint.

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I would say you are generally correct re: the insular viewpoint, except when it comes to The Office the US version was immensely more popular - it was a worldwide phenomenon. So when people say The Office they are way more often talking about the US version. It’s a reasonable assumption imo. Kind of like how people used to talk about House of Cards.

TIL https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Cards_%28British_TV_s...

the british one was only on for two series with 14 total episodes whereas the american one was on for 9 seasons with 201 episodes... it's safe to assume the worldwide insanely popular one is the one being talked about. I loved the british one and wish it were longer too.

FYI you happen to be on an American-based forum.

Fair warning, you might see a disproportionate number of American-centric references.

The majority of users of HN are not American, you may be living in a bubble. It's "American based" only in the sense of ownership.

https://nate.org/hacker-news-location-poll

Disproportionate, but still a minority in the absolute sense.

I'd be curious to ask someone from outside the UK and the US which version of the show they thought of first

Canadian here. I think UK office because my family has lots of UK ties and grew up with that humour.

Eventually saw the US office and hated it.

Canadians are culturally stuck between US and Europe, so it can go either way

From the Netherlands: US Office, as growing up, that's the version we had on the Comedy Central TV channel.

From the Netherlands, UK Office, as that one was broadcast on Dutch television already before the American version existed. So I guess the answer depends on your age :)

Based on wikipedia original viewership numbers, the office UK saw about 63 million views during its original run, and the US show saw about 1,463 million, so it definitely was the more popular show by orders of magnitude.

It also seems to be on-again-off-again the most streamed TV show in a given year, competing with the likes of Friends, Suits, and Grey's anatomy. I can't find UK stream numbers to compare, but it doesn't seem like it's ever made one of the top 10/25/etc lists that netflix or neilson publishes.

I don't disagree with any of that. However the convention with remakes and adaptions [of which The Office (US) is both] is the append the region or country in the non-original. As such when someone says "The Office", I - and I presume many others - think of the original.

I think the American version is great in its own right (post the dreadful first season remake), but's The Office (US).

Sorry we won the war and overshadowed the Empire. But congratulations on your July 4 2024 Independence Day win against the Tories. Perhaps after November you'll come to dominate the Anglosphere again.

I have no idea what you're talking about. I assume from the references you think I'm British and are making political references? I guess the intent is to be snippy without addressing the actual content of my comment. Sorry, I think you messed up.

Do Brits ever remake American shows? And if so, do they label their own as (UK)?

Not often. Sometime they append “uk” for reality or game shows, but it seems more common to give an entirely new name e.g.

“Married… With Children” was remade as “Married for Life”

“The Golden Girls” was remade as “The Brighton Belles”

“Catch Phrase” was remade as “Catchphrase”, which seems on point.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_British_television_ser...

Days Like These is a UK remake of That 70s Show. It did not go well.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Days_Like_These_(TV_series)

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