Days Like These

As I recall, this was basically a knock-off of the excellent American sitcom "That 70's Show". It was the same idea, but done in England. Different actors, a few slang terms and place-names changed to fit an English audience, but other than that the episodes (at least what I saw of them) were a total knock off. But whatever it was that made "That 70's Show" (a first-rate show, by the way) so much fun, the "chemistry", whatever, wasn't present in this version and naturally it comes off contrived. Like the American version of The Office, it just doesn't work because its not the real deal. Lightning doesn't strike twice as it were...

I like this series. Not every detail is exactly the same as That 70s show. I like the episode where Prince Charles comes to visit. I also how Red (Ron) and Kitty are even more quirky and Red is not as rude. Grandma is even likable in this version. I wish that they made a Christmas episode. I found these by accident and became hooked. Make up your mind for yourself and don't rely on other opinions. I will admit that some of the character actors are difficult to get used to, but after awhile I got used to them and started to like their portrayal. This is really a cute show. Give it a chance. You might be surprised.

It's incredible how some of these things get made. A few sad, decent comedy actors taking on some awful scripts, unrealistic 70's clothes, and making it look like 70's USA for gods sake. I'm aware of its provenance, but I really would advise against making copies of shows which were already 10th rate before they sold the rights to some unsuspecting Brit tv company.

Dubious stereotypes and sloppy sets make up 30 minutes of the incredibly dumb show. Ironically, it's ACTUALLY entertaining for completely the wrong reasons. It's a classic case of "traffic accident syndrome" - you just can't HELP watching.... you think it's going to get better... but it doesn't!

Oh, by the way, message to the previous reviewer: don't go making personal remarks about actors' looks, mate, it's just plain rude. The idea is to crit the show, not the biology.

Like the previous comments, i thought i had tuned in to a spoof of 'That 70's show', one of the funniest teen sitcoms and a pretty cool show. The over-exaggerated character clones and crummy dialog kept me thinking this was a spoof, and i kept thinking it was a damn long sketch, until the credits rolled and the horror hit me. then i watched the following episode and things only got worse.

The whole show is almost an exact transplant of 'That 70's show' with the same characters, similar sets and the same plot lines for episodes, simply rewritten and reworked to be set in england. Even the opening credits are the same, only so much worse. If you've never seen the original show, you will simply think this is bad. If you have seen the original show, the word 'butchered' comes to mind.

The characters have the same personalities and traits, and even names in some cases (i think the others were changed to be more english), but each one is a bad clone of their american counterparts. The sets could almost be the same ones from the original show (they may even be the same ones) but this is meant to be an english show, so why use sets of wooden houses with basements!?

The only thing that isn't copied across is the script, and this makes the least sense as the new writing is abismal. The jokes are tragic when they come, and that is not very often. Instead the story tends to lean more towards a moral outline than the humour aspect, and with the bad costumes, stupid hair and stiff acting, theres just no way you can take the show seriously.

Overall they've taken a fantastic show, performed a less than half assed cultural conversion, added a makeshift cast who bear a strikingly bad resemblance to the characters, and finally fleshed out borrowed plot lines with some tragic writing. It's surely a travesty when good shows get cancelled and something like 'days like these' can get air time.

Could somebody please tell me the point of taking a reasonably good American sitcom and Anglicising it? The scripts have been taken word for word from that '70s show, erasing all Americanisms and making dollars become pounds etc, except the budget for the British version is considerably less, the sets look like primary school children painted them, and they're not quite finished! That '70s show has a great cast, and sharp writing, and this pointless (why else would they run it at 2am?) rip-off has ruined that. The cast in this have no spark or vitality, most of them seem embarrassed to be there, and rightly so, this is television at it's worst, plain ripping off of a decent show, it should never have been made. Thank god they only made 10 episodes.