jcjeff@ihlpg.UUCP (Richard Jeffreys) (05/18/85)
> Yesterday was the first time I watched "Three's a crowd" on ABC. > > Within 30 seconds, I realized that it has the same plot as one epsoide > of "Robin's Nest", a BBC comedy I saw some six months ago on a local NY > station. > > As the show went on, every detail turned out to be identical -- word for > word ! (of course, the names have been changed to protect the guilty) > > What do the bloody director of "Three's a crowd" take the US viewer for? > Isn't there any copy-right law for television programmes? You can't have been watching the closing credits closely. On both "Three's Company" and "Three's A Crowd" the credits mention the original British tv programs and their creaters, as the program/s that the US versions were based on. I would imagine that they would not have given credit to the original program if the "idea" had been "stolen". By "Americanizing" the original concept, the viewers could "identify" with the program a lot better than if the original British programs had been shown. They call it the rating game. If you were in the television industry, and after a large audience, what would you have done?? By the way, neither "Man About The House" ( ~ "Three's Company" ) nor "Robin's Nest" ( ~ "Three's A Crowd" ) were BBC programs. They were made by one of the companies that make up the Independent Television Network. "'till Death Do Us Part" was a BBC program, the one which "Archie Bunker's Place" was based on. -- [ There's a lady who's sure all that glitters is gold, and she's buying a staiway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin ] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ || From the keys of Richard Jeffreys ( British Citizen Overseas ) || || employed by North American Philips Corporation || || @ AT&T Bell Laboratories, Naperville, Illinois || ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ || General disclaimer about anything and everything that I may have typed || ------------------------------------------------------------------------------