Married without Children

As I mentioned yesterday, in 1996 British television did an adaptation of Married with Children, which they called, Married for Life.  It only seems to have lasted seven episodes -- which isn't a very long "life," most especially compared to the original American show which ran for 11 seasons.

The show starred Russ Abbot, who's had a long career in British TV, and also playing Fagin on stage in numerous productions of Oliver!, one of which I posted a video of.

Here his in Married for Life.  It's a fascinating clip, since you can easily see the similarities to the American show, and also blatantly the differences.  The differences are mainly in town, and it just doesn't remotely have the cynical sharpness of the original.  It just tends to be pretty standard and falls flat.  Now, on the one hand, it's fair to say that that's the differences between the tastes of humor, and why it got changed to fit British sensibilities, so that it would play better in the U.K.  On the other hand, it only lasted seven episodes, so maybe those changes weren't for the better.  And perhaps British audiences didn't find it all that funny either.

The only actor who appears to have gotten the tone reasonably right is Russ Abbot.  It's still not bleak and satirical enough to carry things, but you can see the foundation there.

One other note.  There's actually a familiar face in the cast -- the actor playing the wimpy husband next door.  It's Hugh Bonneville.  His name is probably familiar to many, though I'm sure his appearance will be more so.  He's best known for being in Downton Abbey, as Robert Crawley, the Earl of Grantham, as well as the film Notting Hill.