Wow. When I heard Are You Being Served had an americanized version that flopped, I just had to go look up the pilot. I never imagined i'd find a show even less subtle than Are You Being Served, but here it is. They don't even insinuate or suggest anything, they're so blatant with everything they just hammer you in the face with it. It's no wonder this never picked up, but how it was even written this way is a shock.

@mydigitallife8311

3 жыл бұрын

they have an Australian version..🤢🤢🤮🤮

@louisskulnik7390

Жыл бұрын

@@mydigitallife8311 at least that version kept to the spirit of the original.

Being a AYBS UK fan, I consider the American version to be a painful rectal itch! Such pain!!! The portrayal of Mr. Humphries is unforgivable!

@nathancoleman8413

Жыл бұрын

your original British version is the best best best of all!

@cityhawk

Жыл бұрын

Even the Australian version was better than this. 🤮

@inezfeytons8896

Жыл бұрын

​@@nathancoleman8413 yes is better dan this

@lovejumanji5

Жыл бұрын

I thought the rumbold character was worse.

@MisterSplendy

10 ай бұрын

WELL SAID!!!!

Interesting note: Tom Poston and Charlotte Rae already had hit shows of their own, as supporting characters, at the time this pilot episode was broadcast. Poston was from Mork & Mindy. Rae from Diff'rent Strokes. In fact, the backdoor pilot for The Facts of Life (where Rae is the top star) was shown the night after this pilot was shown!

As a lifelong Are You Being Served? fan I'm glad to have finally seen this pilot, because it answered my question as to why AYBS's American pilot was never picked up for syndication. Where to start? First of all, as pointed out by others, the choice to base the pilot on German Week was a big mistake. German Week was the 17th episode of AYBS and aired 3 years after the pilot so the characters were already well established and most of the humor in the episode comes from knowing their personalities and their backgrounds. They didn't even bother having any scene involving a customer in this pilot despite the scene in German Week, which in itself is a bit jarring along with the distinct lack of real props since it's the pilot and they had no real budget. The Australian version of AYBS made the mistake of remaking episodes of the original show rather than make their own too, which serves to only draw direct comparison between the remake and the original; and undermines the point of making another version entirely. The choice to make the main character the store owner's nephew who is significantly younger than everyone else, except for maybe Miss Brahms, completely rips apart the hierarchy that made AYBS have meaningful conflict. AYBS was initially a vehicle for Trevor Bannister (Mr. Lucas) and though in real life he was actually older than John Inman (Mr. Humphries) and only months younger than Nicholas Smith (Mr. Rumbold) he still felt as if he were the youngest (and newest) employee; and as the main character he served to have the audience view the everyday work of the common salesman rather than the executive staff. He was the underdog and the everyman that the audience could root for and laugh with. A character who got his managerial job through nepotism is hardly an underdog or an everyman to root for in the same vein as Mr. Lucas. In effect, this pilot completely misses the point of the original show and thus destroyed the formula that made it a successful, cult classic. It was dead on arrival upon completion of the script because of this. The theme song is atrocious and even silence would have been a vast improvement. The decision to seemingly fuse Miss Brahms character with Mr. Rumbold's secretary is especially bizarre to me. In no way does she feel like a common salesperson, but an amalgamation of the attractive female characters on the original show. The actor portraying Mr. Humphries is the worst by far. He lacks the subtlety, finesse and comedic timing of John Inman, which to be fair is hard to live up to and is all the more reason why they should've used all new characters rather than stand-ins for the original cast. John Inman had years of theater experience and was renowned as a "pantomime dame", which David Croft and Jeremy Lloyd wrote into the script. In fact, BBC wanted Inman gone after seeing the original pilot according to David Croft, they said "the poof has to go" and Mr. Croft replied "if 'the poof' goes then I go" so they relented. In stark contrast, in this pilot it really is as if they casted the first effeminate man who walked in off the street and called it a day. The actor playing Mr. Beane is way too over the top and his voice is too noticeably fake. Harold Bennett (Young Mr. Grace) used his real voice while only hamming it up a bit for comedic effect, but it was believable because he actually was very old. This actor is just an older man attempting to play an elderly man and it shows. Even Kenneth Waller (Old Mr. Grace) played a more believable elderly man despite being younger than this actor and Young Mr. Grace in real life. Captain Peacock's stand-in did a serviceable job with the material given, but the choice to take away his Captain title was yet another mistake as it ruins numerous jokes about his military experience (or lack thereof) which once again destroys the core character he's emulating. Mrs. Slocombe's stand-in also did a decent job with the material given, but her portrayal of Mrs. Slocombe is highly uncharacteristic. Instead of being outspoken, bold and aggressive she comes off as meek, submissive and bubbly. Mr. Grainger's stand-in had little to no screentime so it's not as easy to judge his performance fairly, though I think it's safe to say that he would have never lived up to Arthur Brough's portrayal as even Mr. Grainger's replacements on the original show never did either. Mr. Lucas's stand-in wasn't particularly bad either given the low quality script. Again, it's extremely odd that they chose to sideline Mr. Lucas in favor of the younger nephew of the store owner and it undermines the basic formula of the entire show. There is no innuendo. That is a gargantuan problem in and of itself. From beginning to end, innuendo was the lifeblood of AYBS so remaking it without the innuendo is another incredibly bizarre choice. The script was weak and overly relied on reworking the original jokes from German Week in an inferior manner, though I will admit that I did slightly chuckle at the Volkswagen/dog sled joke. While they may all be fine actors and actresses in their own right, none of these actors or actresses had the same chemistry, charisma or enthusiasm for their roles like the main cast of the original show. An American version of AYBS could have very well been successful if they had executed it properly, but this was far from it. I'm surprised that David Croft and Jeremy Lloyd put their names on this.

@OofusTwillip

2 жыл бұрын

They had to be credited since they'd come up with the original AYBS. Though, after seeing this pilot, I'm surprised they didn't disown it. You're dead right on all points. In contrast, "Sanford and Son" did it right. They took the concept of "Steptoe and Son", reworked it with well-defined new characters, and, though some scripts were based on "Steptoe" episodes, they were well-written with character-based comedy, not just spouting single entendres and stupid jokes and stereotypes.

@stratmaster5

2 жыл бұрын

I for one didn't like it either, and I am unanimous in that

@willtheman840

2 жыл бұрын

Wow. I have been watching AYBS for many years, seeing most of the shows multiple times. I love it. I finallyl saw this tonight. As for me, I saw a decent effort. Lloyd and Croft were involved. As with many pilots, adjustments in casting could have been made. I tend to be a little hard to please, but did not find this that bad.

@noahparsons7688

Жыл бұрын

Pilots are rarely excellent. I'm not sure how long you spent on your analysis, but it seems more suited for a blog post than a KZread comment.

@markpusko2480

Жыл бұрын

The Australian version flopped due to terrible casting & bad acting. The only actor in that show (Shane Bourne) has had limited tv success now & then over the years. He's not that great. The rest are all relatively unknown. I don't know why they emphasised a Polish connection with the show, Polish people aren't very common in Australia. And there's truth to what you say about it failing as it was a direct remake - the same way the American remakes of The Office & The Inbetweeners bombed compared to the British originals. Although the American version of 'On The buses' called 'Lotsa Luck' also bombed without being a remake.

Thanks for posting this, I've always been curious! Thanks for also including the original commercials. Along with the CBS Special bumper, they made me feel very nostalgic.

I had never heard of this. I missed it the night it aired. Very funny!

Can't Believe this is finally on youtube. Ive been waiting years to see this.

@MrKenichi22

6 жыл бұрын

Jeffrey Jacobson me too

@scottwebb1978

4 жыл бұрын

@@MrKenichi22 the Australian did there own series of Are You Being Served kzread.info/head/PL-a4SBWVFmYOn1IBnzj8il2jBya2NGQdw

i've edited out that cbs SPECIAL stinger and made it into a ringtone.

@deannamolnar2082

Жыл бұрын

That's a great idea

I think this may have gone over better had they not picked "German Week" for the pilot. They should have stuck with a more straightforward normal store operations episode to adapt instead of a themed one. Miss Brahms' voice was too whiny and annoying. I agree with another comment here that replacing Mr. Rumbold with a younger character was a big issue. He should have at least been older than Captain Peacock. There wasn't enough potty humor either. Of course they couldn't get by with a lot of the jokes from the British version here in the US at the time, but they could have done more than they did though. It's a good thing they aired the original Are You Being Served in the US during the 80's and 90's at least since they couldn't make an adaptation work.

I'm a big AYBS fan from Canada, but didn't know this existed til now. Not until i read John Hillerman's Wiki page.

At least the Australian reboot had John Inman returning as Mr. Humphries...

For anyone who wants to fall further down the rabbit hole there is a Australian version that actually has John inman it aired for longer and had the original are you being served name, John inman even sang the theme song I've found a few here on KZread

@warrathblacktiger5566

Жыл бұрын

It was from English not Australian with John Inman it’s are you being served here in Texas we see it all the times British comedies on weekends

@warrathblacktiger5566

Жыл бұрын

Never seen this but I recognize lot of the cast they did pretty good job matching up actors to original cast

@richardadamson1438

Жыл бұрын

@@warrathblacktiger5566 yes but there was a separate Australian version that was separate from the British version.

@warrathblacktiger5566

Жыл бұрын

@@richardadamson1438 yes I know but as far as John Inman being part of the cast I don’t think so never seen it in any of his credits

@markpusko2480

Жыл бұрын

@@warrathblacktiger5566 John Inman did indeed star in the Australian version & he sung the theme song Both the song & episodes are terrible.

The workmen (Mr. Johnson) was played by Don Bexley, Fred Sanford (Redd Foxx)'s friend Bubba Bexley on the 1970s television sitcom Sanford and Son. Wikipedia

@chicaocrips4830

5 жыл бұрын

smh the original British version didnt have Black janitors...(only in America the BLACK people had to be the maids/slaves)

@lr4165

3 жыл бұрын

​@@chicaocrips4830 Incorrect. African actor Keith Hodiak appeared in five episodes as Mr. Harmon's assistant Seymour in seasons 9-10.

@1locust1

Жыл бұрын

Coincidently, Sanford and Son was a successful adaptation of another british sitcom, Steptoe and Son.

That was a lot funnier than I expected!

When the commercials are more fun to watch then the actual show.

@DoktorRotwang

7 күн бұрын

IKR? Cheryl Ladd was the best thing in this vid.

Right now 01:48 watching this on my phone and the original on the TV. What aaaa

JUST heard about this on “That Does Suit Madame” Podcast!!

That Judy Holliday impression is GRATING.

Amazing! I'm so glad I finally got to see this in my lifetime. Imagine what could have been...but we wouldn't have had The Facts of Life.

@thinkthensend9228

Жыл бұрын

In my life-when else would you have seen it?

Its like an alternate universe. it makes me nervous.

@AdirondackRuby

5 жыл бұрын

Try watching the version from Australia, that'll really do your head in.

@PascagoulaMardigrasParades

5 жыл бұрын

I've seen most of the Australian version's episodes. I think it might have been better if they had gone with all new stories instead of mostly re-filming episodes from the UK series.

@l.salisbury1253

4 жыл бұрын

@@PascagoulaMardigrasParades At least the Aussie version had the UK's Mr. Humphries...

I have a copy of the script for this and in it I remember they replaced the Pussy jokes by having Mr's Slocumbe's cat named fannie. Looks like it never made it into the episode. Bless you for posting this I thought I would never get to see it.

@ChristopherSobieniak

4 жыл бұрын

Well, they tried.

Thank God Beane's of Boston flopped; otherwise, John Hillerman, Charlotte Rae, and Tom Poston wouldn't have done Magnum P.I., The Facts of Life, and Newhart, respectively...

@keonjenkins1852

4 жыл бұрын

Yeah I think they are thankful as well this show didnt get picked up. Its not a bad show but it was not meant for them to be in.

@l.salisbury1253

4 жыл бұрын

Plus, when this came out, "Are You Being Served" had NOT been released Stateside to PBS yet...

@73starrdiva

4 жыл бұрын

Sooo true!! Nice to think of it that way!👍🏾

@cannedmusic

3 жыл бұрын

I don't know, Mrs. G with a green bouffant discussing her lonely pu...cat...would have been hilarious.

@fromthesidelines

3 жыл бұрын

And Tom certainly wouldn't have appeared as "Mr. Bickley" on Garry Marshall's "MORK & MINDY".

This Mr. Humphries makes the British one look downright macho.

Thank you to whomever recorded this!

Watching this is worse than being slowly garroted with piano wire.

Eek, this is horrendous. At least the Australian one had the original Mr. Humphries. As someone else pointed out, it's by the grace of God this didn't get picked up, so that we were able to enjoy Charlotte Rae on 'The Facts of Life', Tom Poston on 'Newhart', and John Hillerman on 'Magnum P.I.'.

The “look at Harry Needleman” joke at 16:38 is directly lifted from The Brady Bunch! Alan Sues was most famous for Laugh-In. I don’t think he ever made any claim to having acting skills or the ability to deliver a joke with subtlety.

I really like this. I like that they kept the names of the characters.

You have to admit it, John Hillerman is an EXCELLENT Captain Peacock, able to hold his own with the "original". I don't know, it's been a while since I have seen AYBS, but I think that it would have been funnier if they had dropped the pretense of Mr Humphrey's sexuality (is he or isn't he?).

Good to finally see this...always wondered what this was like. It might have worked with some tweaking. Replacing Rumbold's role with a young kid doesn't work and really messes up the formula...Poston playing the role of Mr. Grace just doesn't seem to work much either and turning Miss Brahms into a complete airhead I don't like either. The casting choices for Mrs. Slocombe and "Mr." Peacock appear to be well done. Interestingly this was in 1979 so when this aired, AYBS had not yet been ported into the U.S. on the PBS stations and was still very much in the middle of its run.

Are You Being Served was the best. The US version, not so much.

@525Lines

6 жыл бұрын

I was going to say, this looks like a UK import.

@kevinlongman007

5 жыл бұрын

@@525Lines The UK version is far funnier.

@525Lines

5 жыл бұрын

@@kevinlongman007 Most likely.

@enormerschwanz

5 жыл бұрын

@@kevinlongman007 The neilson ratings agreed with you. It was a flop. Beane's didn't last as long as a jug of milk. At least they had Higgins, from Magnum PI. Hahaha

@davanmani556

4 жыл бұрын

Kev L chemistry was better

I really enjoyed this take on are you being served with a wonderful cast of actors. Hillerman is especially good as peacock.

Weird to hear a US version of a UK show mentioning a "Mr. Bean(e)". Miss Brahms is NOT A Chrissy Snow type! Charlotte Rae could have pulled off some of Mollie Sugden's work, IMO.

@turi319

4 жыл бұрын

James Fabiano She’s actually doing a Judy holliday impression

As a huge fan of Are You Being Served? I always wondered how they could Americanize the show. I knew they attempted it but never found the pilot until now. Not a bad try but it didn't have the magic of the British show.

@Merrida100

5 жыл бұрын

It's a lot like when they did the original British show Coupling and tried to make it in America. It flopped. Some things just don't translate well.

@l.salisbury1253

4 жыл бұрын

There have been THREE attempts at a Yank Fawlty Towers- ALL flopped(deservedly)!

@cannedmusic

3 жыл бұрын

Same with The Good Life/Good Neighbors. I saw bits of episodes of the American version in the late 90s, no one, not even IMDb remembers it. The last episode of Good Neighbors that was redone was Silly, But it's Fun. You're right, British humor doesn't translate well.

@cannedmusic

3 жыл бұрын

@@l.salisbury1253 Bea Arthur as Basil...just didn't work.

@kchishol1970

3 жыл бұрын

The producers certainly cast a poor actor to play Mr. Humphries, Alan Sues is pathetic compared to John Inman.

If ANYONE could, at least, attempt to portray Mrs. Slocombe, it was Charlotte Rae. John did an admirable job. Franklin is so wooden. Tom Poston was ill fit. Don Bexley needent have tried. Miss Brahms was screechy. Mr. Grainger had one great line. Lucas was too slimy. Alan really tried and was funny. The theme was less than good. The script was standard Marshall schlock. Overall, a curiosity without a purpose.

I got a kick from all the vintage commercials that were recorded from the show!

It's a shame they started the whole episode in Frank Beane's office. Poston's old man act isn't convincing enough, while O'Hanlon reads his lines so terribly that they might have well recast him with a cardboard box. Once things actually do improve at the 5 minute mark - when John Hillerman brings in some well-done deadpan delivery - O'Hanlon shows up and ruins everything again...

@TheRivrPrncess

6 жыл бұрын

At first the Brahms, Slocombe, Peacock characters were good, but the others were so miscast. After watching 18 minutes of this, the Peacock character is the only good one. Like you said, Poston acting like an old man is not believable nor is Charlotte Rae's Miss Slocombe-the accent she is using is so off and the Miss Brahms character is the typical "dumb blonde" which does not work since the UK's version of this character was not played that way. I'm not wasting time watching the rest of this. It is so hard to believe that the same writers of AYBS did this show. How in the world did they think this would work? The way the U.K. does its comedy shows, the humor I mean, Is much better done that the way comedy is done here. I can't explain how it is different though.

@TARDIS9

6 жыл бұрын

It might have something to do with the fact that most British comedy shows have fewer episodes in their seasons than most US shows. For instance, in the UK, one series of Only Fools And Horses has, on average, six episodes a season, while in the US, one series of Friends has 22 episodes a season, so it could be the writers choosing the best ones (likely because of scheduling conflicts). Also, most of the good UK comedies either only last a couple of years, or have a few years between each season (which gives the cast and crew time to come up with new ideas and work on other projects), while the US comedies, such as The Simpsons, seem to have a new season every year, so long as the audience ratings keep up. I don’t mean any offence to you guys, though. It’s just me, a Media student, from the UK, trying to explain your query. It probably may also be to do with the fact that our humour plays more on character flaws than on stereotypes, as is the case here. In my opinion about this video, though, I agree: this show is bad! Even the Australian remake of Are You Being Served is better than this. At least it kept John Inman reprise his role of Mr Humphries from the original UK version!

@billrtomison4440

5 жыл бұрын

"How in the world did they think this would work?" Lloyd and Croft probably didn't come up with all the changes, and we probably have Garry and Tony Marshall, Bill Idelson, and Sheldon Bull to thank for adding the ulcers to this. The American sitcom culture of the day may be to blame in truth. Building the show around a younger guy - young Mr. Beane - and having a dumb sexy blonde in a prominent role - fits with the formulas of the sitcoms of the late 70's-early 80's, Happy Days, Three's Company, Bosom Buddies - trying to appeal to younger viewers. Diehard AYBS fans will know the show started way, way back at the beginning as built around Mr Lucas learning the ropes. Maybe they had to build up Tom Poston's role to get him to take the part, and maybe they wanted to build the show around the younger Mr. Beane to have him "in control." They may have started in the elder Mr. Beane's office to establish everything and who was "in control." But of course the younger Mr. Beane went on and on for like 10 minutes about his new idea such that I wanted him to just shut up and tell us already. By which point we've figured out that, in fact, Idelson and Bull are CHERRY-PICKING jokes from the entire Croft/Lloyd catalog of scripts -- one episode for this joke about Captain Peacock actually not mopping the floor, one episode for that joke about Mrs. Slocombe's underwear being down for a fortnight, er, uh, I mean, two weeks -- and rejiggering the entire blessed thing.

@Merrida100

5 жыл бұрын

I made it 11 minutes in and had to turn it off. I can't watch it. This is simply dreadful and woefully miscast. The acting, oh God, the acting, it's horrible! This had potential but it's been blown. @@TheRivrPrncess

@vegan4thefreeprizes166

3 жыл бұрын

The opening scene was truly painful.

thank you so much for posting this! thank you!

Wow, Alan Sues turning John Inman's Mr. Humphries into his stupid Laugh-In skit was painful.

i've always wondered how bad or good this pilot was. wonder no longer; it sucks. but thank you for posting.

it's almost like the network said the show is horrible but most of you will all get better gigs on better shows.

Hey, those "Graham Crackos" look pretty good.

@ssjjggjj5561

2 жыл бұрын

I miss those! They were delicious!

Peacock and Ms slocumbe parts were perfect. Too bad it didn't make it. If they were to make it again today for the United States who would be perfect for the parts?

This was an attempt to bring and adapt Are You Being Served in America. This was a tricky situation, but I think this might have lasted as long as Are You Being Served for 13 seasons in the UK did on the BBC. Also I'm not surprised their pilot was based on one of my favorite Are you Being Served episodes German Week.

@AdirondackRuby

5 жыл бұрын

German Week is my favorite too! close second is The Clock...The Apartment was great too.

@billrtomison4440

5 жыл бұрын

Well, anyone noting “13 seasons” on the BBC should note that they were SERIES, and that a typical “series” is just 6 episodes. The most episodes in any year, including a Christmas special, was NINE. They also skipped a year a few times when they made it to the 80’s! The reason it’s called a SEASON in the U.S. is that it runs 13 or 22 weeks. There are a few UK series that match that prolific output, but that’s not the norm.

Thank you for posting! I have wondered about this for years. I especially wondered who Charlotte rae did.

Oh dear God, this is utterly dreadful. I tried the Ozzie version, and even though Humphries was in it, it still was a disaster. This is horrible. There are 3 characters who have some potential but no, no just no, no!

Well that was interesting. I didn't even know this existed. It could've been better. I'll stick w/the original, thank you very much.

I kinda like this unsold Pilot. I seen Are You Being Served and I like that as well. But things just work out for the best, if this had went to series, we would not have have Mrs. Garrett, Higgins, Private Benjamin, and George Utley.

Well i'll be damned. It's practically a carbon copy of the original Britcom "Are You Being Served", despite its flaws. John Hillerman, Charlotte Rae & even Alan Sues were a perfect fit for the American versions of Capt./Mr. Peacock, Mrs. Slocombe & Mr. Humphries. Had they gave this show some fine tuning, it might have been a moderate hit. Thanks for sharing this near-forgotten pilot.

Nothing can ever top the original, that was a Perfect Storm of script & cast. But that being said, I really liked this. There were similar lines and gags that I recognize from the original, and obviously, they used the same names for some characters. But everything else felt very unique to this version (unlike the amateur word-for-word parody disgrace of the Australian version.) The opening song was kind of adorable in its own way. German Week is my absolute favorite episode of the original, so this had a lot to live up to. The only thing I dislike is Peacock. He is supposed to be a stiff-upper-lip sort but just comes off bored & boring. And this Mr. Humphries gives me David Walliams vibes. "You're looking very Bavarian this morning, Miss Brahms." Haha! I love it. My ancestral roots are in Bavaria, and my favorites sports team is too, so I love that. And as an aside, I really loved seeing the commercials!

“Si Senor!” LOL

Are you being served!! 100,000,000 times better!!

Thank you for posting this! I am a huge fan of AYBS and when i found out about this I wanted to see it. It was a good effort but sadly a few missteps, Mr Humphries was trying too hard , Mr Lucas not enough, Ms Brahms voice was like fingernails across several chalkboards and O'Hanlon was dismal. The rest of the casting choices were decent.

This wasnt too bad. Wish they had given it a go, it had potential.

Even the Australian lasted two seasons... This.... Shoulda been pulled mid episode.

Awful. The replacement for Mr. Rumbold I think is the worst.

@indirac.4010

5 жыл бұрын

They ALL were the WORST

The adverts are better than the programme.

At 5 minutes in including commercials it was all I could take. There have been very few American sitcoms that were worth a flip. I Love Lucy, Amos and Andy, HoneyMooners, All In The Family, Sanford And Son, and that's about it.

This reminds me of are you being served but not so good

The chemistry is not there

@mydigitallife8311

3 жыл бұрын

too fast. her voice not good too whiney

To all who despised this, I hope you enjoyed Flatbush, Co-Ed Fever, The Bad News Bears, Billy, In the Beginning, Dorothy, Hanging In, the People magazine show, Miss Winslow and Son, Stockard Channing in Just Friends, (Lorna Patterson in) Working Stiffs, and all those other timeless half-hour hits for the ages that CBS gave you as series instead of this. Me, I would've watched 5 seasons of "Beane's".

@stickman1742

4 жыл бұрын

You're probably right that this is better than all the crap you mentioned that I had thankfully forgotten. But for anyone who has seen the original British version, this one is hard to stomach.

I can't say much for the theme song compared to the original, they should have made an updated version of that instead. Charlotte Rae makes a great Mrs. Slocombe but that's about all I think works in this.

I'm glad they tried, but thank god it wasn't picked up.

You have George O'hanlon [voice of Geo Jetson] as Franklyn Beane ... it's actually Geo O'hanlon Jr who's 1at role was in '72 according to IMDB He was much too young to have been Jetson

English or American, a drunk Mrs. Slocombe is hilarious! 🤣

RIP CHARLOTTE RAE

@l.salisbury1253

4 жыл бұрын

RIP Mollie Sugden!

I can see why this wasn’t picked up the brittle version is far superior

I'm really surprised that this didn't go. The only thing I can think of is that the "double entendres" were too explicit at the time.

@newstarcadefan

7 жыл бұрын

Well, I can think of a simpler reason. CBS thought it wouldn't do well so they passed. I do think it would have lasted 13 seasons...however Tom Poston then never would have done Newheart for its entire run.

@kchishol1970

6 жыл бұрын

I'm not surprised; the actors outside of Hillerman and Charlotte Rae are terrible, the Shirley Brahms character has been mutilated into a vile sexist stereotype and Alan Sues is a pathetic choice to try to emulate John Inman's singular performance as Mr. Humphries. Even redoing the plot and jokes of Are You Being Served?'s best episode, "German Week" is not enough to save this travesty.

@indirac.4010

5 жыл бұрын

@@newstarcadefan everything was horrible in this show...really???? imglad it got cut right here

@stickman1742

4 жыл бұрын

@@kchishol1970 This remake was obviously not very good, but it is absurd that when a male comedian plays a stupid character it is good comedy, but when a female comedian does it, it is sexist. Just another example of the blatantly obvious hypocritical bullshit of Hollywood. Just because a female character doesn't work in a show, it doesn't mean and it would be absolutely ridiculous to believe, that it was some kind of attempt to hurt women.

John Hillerman made an excellent Captain Peacock and I loved Alan Sues as Mr. Humphries. Charlotte Rae was surprisingly flat as Mrs. Slocombe and the rest of the cast was completely unremarkable, except for Tom Poston - and despite his decades of comedy experience, his portrayal was a disaster.

This is the first time I have seen this and heard of it. I will have to say that it doesn't quite have the same air the original but it is still funny. Haha.

I have to disagree with everyone. When you watch "Are You Being Served" you get this outstanding acting and ability to really get you laughing. This show lacked good acting. Poor rendition of Mr. Humphrey and Miss Slocomb to start with. Truthfully it is difficult to say who was the worst actor on this show. On the Brit version each actor compliments one another and the show is non stop laughter. This was a disgraceful portrayal of an outstanding comedy. Rather an insult to real talent. Smart move to drop it. Miss Slocumb is very outspoken and loud while this character is meek and timid. Mr. Humphreys is the same yet had this center of attention aspect about him while being very energetic. This guy lacks all of it. He looks like someone trying but can't quite pull it off. Lucas was cocky to Miss Slocomb which made it great to watch. This guy had none of it. Awful!

@toddcharry

7 жыл бұрын

The worst ones in my opinion were young Mr. Beane (a really terrible actor) and Tom Poston. He too was putrid. Horrible show, this just does not translate well to American TV.

@ReuWil

7 жыл бұрын

I think the worst issue was trying to replace Mr. Rumbold with a young kid green around the gills but still trying to act like an old out of touch bureaucrat like Rumbold. That just doesn't work. I actually thought the casting choice for Mrs. Slocombe was excellent. However, another thing is that this episode was not original and is based on an episode of AYBS - so we are comparing the performance with something we've already seen. I looked it up and the writers for the show were the same as for AYBS - maybe they didn't understand Americans would actually like the same concept and didn't need some young guy playing a central role of Rumbold's. When AYBS later made it our shores it was a huge hit.

@whitesentinix

7 жыл бұрын

Are we not even going to mention this version of Miss Brahms? In the original, she was sharped tongued and highly intelligent and not someone you would want to mess with. Here, she seems simple, ditzy and easy to manipulate. I think the original Miss Brahms would kick her ass LOL

The veteran cast members could have at least pulled this off with some more time; but the young nephew’s poor acting and lackluster character, instead of the officious Mr Rumbolt (or a similar character), really tanked this pilot. But cool that this was preserved and can be looked at as a curiosity

@mydigitallife8311

3 жыл бұрын

Mr Rumble and his manners surely missing. I feel like the timing is off too. Way too fast.

i stand corrected. there IS something worse than the Aussie remake of AYBS... this garbage.

This is the one. Beane's of Boston.

I think this could have been a fantastic adaptation, the casting for Mr Humphries was completely wrong and made it look more of a farce but I love the idea of having a younger family member instead the role of Mr Rumbold, it adds a new dynamic which maybe could have helped the UK version in later series.

Just found this. As a Brit I find this as funny as a fire in an orphanage.

Wasn’t Tom Poston playing on “Mork and Mindy” at the time?

American TV as soon as the I tro finish their straight into an advert ( commercial) unlike on british TV it's 15 min before even a single and advert ( commercial) would air But thanks for the upload ....

@johnkern7075

Жыл бұрын

I thought they did not have commercials on England tv. Seems I remember hearing about a tv tax.

@scottwebb1978

Жыл бұрын

@@johnkern7075 only on BBC Licence fee funded television go Wikipedia television licensing in the United Kingdom.. BBC TV and radio stations don't have any adverts ( commercials) other channels do

It took me about 5 minutes to realize this was “ Are You Being Served “, American Style. It’s well done but just didn’t cut it evidently. I don’t think a lot of Americans even knew what the original show was, to compare it to .

@johnking5174

2 жыл бұрын

Are You Being Served did air in America on the PBS network, so I guess they were familiar, as it had a huge fan base in the states.

@richardadamson1438

Жыл бұрын

@@johnking5174 Yes, but I'm pretty sure this aired before that. I could be wrong though.

@johnking5174

Жыл бұрын

@@richardadamson1438 You might be right, as I have read PBS stations bought Are You Being Served in 1987, which surprised me, I thought they aired it earlier than that.

Judy Benjamin meets Higgins !

Sometimes American remakes of British sitcoms work (e.g. The Office) and sometimes they don't (e.g. Amanda's by the Sea (Fawlty Towers), Coupling, The Brighton Belles (The Golden Girls) and this is a great example. The dry, deadpan hilarious lines have been replaced with over the top Broadway style acting, which does not work on a sitcom studio set. Also, the original was so funny, we try and recreate it. Let the American's watch the original British version....

@jeffwalsh6015

3 жыл бұрын

The Golden Girls didn't work??? It was a top-10 sitcom for 7 years.

@potsdam28

2 жыл бұрын

@@jeffwalsh6015 and it came first

@m.woodsrobinson9244

Жыл бұрын

Amanda's By The Sea had a horrible supporting cast. Bea Arthur's part was great, as was her love interest and the town police chief. The rest? Horrible.

1. Speaking of American remakes of BBC shows, was that Bubba from "Sanford and Son"? 2. This show lacks innuendo. Charlotte Are haven't made a reference to her... um, cat. 3. Mr. Humphreys wasn't camp and Franklin Beane was a poor substitute for Mr. Rumbold.

@dunebasher1971

2 жыл бұрын

It would have been impossible to get away with the "pussy" jokes in an American series at that time. Indeed, even today it would be very difficult.

omygosh that commercial with Johnny Cash ♡♡♡

holy is this ever terrible lol sorry I'm obsessed with aybs...I know every episode word for word and the real aybs was an absolute perfect cast...I've never seen anything where a group of people worked that well together..thanks for the upload tho...loving the old commercials

Better than most crap on today, but probably horrible for 1979.

Honestly I think there could have been a good show lurking in there but they missed the mark

One of the most glaring things to me is that this destroys the whole Hierarchy/ pretense of a hierarchy that drove most of the aybs humor. To start… Making the store owner the department managers uncle was a bad choice. The head of department may be a failure but he’s right in there telling the owner all about it and communicating without fear. A point of aybs is that Mr. Grace is aloof, and not exactly accessible to Mr. Rumbold. When Mr. Rumbold tries to share his ideas with Mr. Grace or get advice Mr. Grace normally gets it all wrong either do to his age, Mr. Rumbold own bad explanation, or more often than not Mr. Grace gets distracted by one of his secretaries sexy situations. Making the Head of Department a young man means that the respect that is supposed to be shown to someone in his position is lost. So it means nothing when Captain er Mr. Peacock sasses off. Having Captain Peacock be just Mr. Peacock also takes away the pomp from him, making him just a regular supervisor rather than the blown up figure that our Captain Peacock. So even though in the world of aybs characters “got up each others noses”and put each other down the comedy came from the tension of knowing that at any time the line could be crossed and someone would be brought in front of Rumbold. Now you could also count on Mr. Rumbold being cross but ultimately misunderstanding the complaint and just cocking things up to the point that nothing actually comes of anything. I hope that makes sense. Anyway this entire thing is a mess. I recently seen a pilot episode that shows that it’s not only British sitcoms that America gets wrong. The networks get American writing wring too. See the pilot for Clerks. They get it all wrong too…and you can’t blame British Humor vs American Humor in that one.

that one flopped, and went out of business.

I had HEARD of this, but never saw it until now. I think the main problem is that none of the actors actually saw the originals overseas. They probably extrapolated from the scripts and some general character descriptions and went with it... thus, the actor playing Mr. Humphries is just doing a crazy gay guy but had no understanding of how John Inman did it.

This is like a bad vaudeville routine.

strange tht 1. i didnt kno "are you being served?" had a us adaptation and 2. the paramount jingle they used is from 1977. o-0

Second time I've seen this. Seeing the elevators it suddenly hit me that this is Are You Being Served American Style. It's funny how most Britcoms just don't land when remade in America. Mercifully, no on has tried remaking The IT Crowd or Peep Show. I think Going Straight could be good source as long as they don't copy storylines

Right outta the box, KFC the only thing missing is U... Unfortunately this ship sank🌑🛥🛟

Maybe the most interesting thing about finding this is, if I was thinking about who would be in the roles from "Are You Being Served" in an American version in the late 70s, they would have basically been the actors that were chosen.

Apart from Beane all the names are from Are you Being Served

Miss Brahms is played too much as a bimbo, but otherwise these are pretty good analogues of the original characters and great they kept the names. Shame they didn’t stick with it.

@m.woodsrobinson9244

Жыл бұрын

They picked the wrong episode of AYBS for a pilot. I liked the Mr. Beane character but Poston's performance seemed too forced. There was no need of the nephew at all. He added nothing. Brahams, Lucas, Humphreys, Grainger all terribly miscast (I adored Alan Sues on Laugh-In but he was all wrong for this). Bexley was okay. Certainly not as great as he was on Sandford & Son. Charlotte Rae did a believable read of Slocombe. Hillerman did okay as Peacock, despite visually being the wrong type. It was interesting but it's no surprise it didn't make the grade.

If I were to fancast for an American, Mr. Humphries would be David Hyde Pierce.

John and Charolette deserved better.

This would have grown on me. Not as good as AYBS

They should have used the theme from the British version.

@booth2710

5 жыл бұрын

They shouldn't have bothered at all...

@chicaocrips4830

5 жыл бұрын

yea they shouldn't have bothered at all....& I'm a young Black African American saying that