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Coupling is an American sitcom television series, a remake of the British show of the same title, which aired on NBC from September 25 to October 23, 2003.
Production
By 2003, three series, or seasons, of Coupling had been broadcast on BBC Two, all written by the show's creator, Steven Moffat. The show was loosely based on the beginnings of Moffat's real-life relationship with Sue Vertue.[1]
NBC commissioned a remake of the show for the American market, reportedly as a replacement for Friends, which was nearing the end of its run.[2] Moffat and original producers from Hartswood Films, Sue and Beryl Vertue, served as executive producers on the NBC adaptation, alongside Phoef Sutton and Ben Silverman.[3]
Unlike most adaptations, the NBC adaptation would reuse Moffat's original scripts, although these were adapted by Sutton and were shortened to comply with the reduced running time (NBC has multiple advertisement breaks compared to the original broadcaster, BBC Two, which has none).[4] Other writers, such as Danny Zuker and Paul Corrigan worked on episodes later in the series.
Thirteen episodes were commissioned. However, due to poor critical reception, NBC announced the show's cancellation on October 31, after only four episodes had been broadcast. The final three planned episodes were not filmed, with the remaining six episodes unbroadcast.[3]
Reception
The show received a dismal reaction from viewers and failed to perform in the ratings, being canceled before the November sweeps, with six episodes remaining unaired despite heavy publicity by the network.[3] It was immediately panned as a poor imitation of the original UK series by viewers and critics. BBC America even ran commercials noting that they would play the original British versions on their station just after the American equivalent episodes on NBC aired, so that viewers could see instantly just how superior the original was. Miscasting and stilted delivery of a nearly identical script were believed to be the reasons for the failure, though creator Moffat blamed the show's failure on NBC's intervention during the creative and production processes. In 2007, he said: "The network f--ked it up because they intervened endlessly."[8]
The American adaptation came at a time when NBC was having success with remakes of BBC shows, such as The Weakest Link and Dog Eat Dog. NBC would find success in 2005 with a remake of another BBC series, The Office, which aired for nine seasons.
Griffin, Jeffrey (2008). "Coupling Crosses the Atlantic: A Case Study in the Format Adaptation of a Fictional Series". Warsaw Journal for the Study of the United States. 24.
