其實這些不是美國原創的電視節目(下)

e's company

5.《三人行》

Beginning in 1977, the American public was introduced to Jack Tripper, a guy who passes out in the bathtub of two young women and, rather than calling the cops, they invite him to live with them while he pretends to be gay so as not to arouse the suspicions of their landlord. Yeah, it's a pretty dumb concept, but it was a tremendously successful show and introduced the world to the great John Ritter, so we're okay with that.

1977年，電視劇《三人行》首播，主人公傑克·特里柏（Jack Tripper）隨即成爲美國人民茶餘飯後的談資。劇中，主人公傑克昏倒在一間兩個年輕姑娘合租公寓的浴室裏，但是兩個姑娘發現他後，不但沒有報警，反而留傑克與她們同住。不過，爲了不引起房東的懷疑，傑克不得不假裝自己是同性戀。確實，劇情聽着是有些老套，但卻獲得了巨大成功，關鍵是它讓我們認識了帥哥約翰·瑞特（John Ritter，男主角飾演者），這麼說來，劇情無聊點也可以原諒了。

The show was actually not an original concept, instead having been based on a British sitcom called Man About the House, which aired from 1973 to 1976 and also led to a film version in 1974. The names are even extremely similar, with one of the female roommates being named Chrissy and the landlord being named Mr. Roper, which are obviously names that Three's Company borrowed for its own characters.

事實上，這部電視劇也並非美國原創，而是依據1973年至1976年播出的英國情景喜劇《合租的他》（ Man About the House）改編而來，1974年還被翻拍成了同名電影。英美兩個版本中，甚至連女主角名字都很相似，其中一名女室友都被命名爲克莉絲Chrissy，而房東則都被稱呼爲羅賓先生（Mr. Roper），單從這點我們也能看出這部劇是美國由英國引進的。

4.《副總統》

If you've never seen Veep, it's a hilarious, obscene, biting satire of the political landscape in Washington DC as seen through the eyes of the Vice President and her staff. It's gotten universal acclaim and has steadily grown into arguably the funniest show on TV, which shouldn't come as a surprise considering that it was actually based on a popular British sitcom called The Thick of It. Both shows were created by the same guy, Armando Iannucci, so it's kind of like how Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant brought The Office to America and made it similar enough to draw comparisons, but unique enough to stand on its own. It's not a direct copy of The Thick of It, obviously, considering it's tailored to American politics, but the same social and political satire and viciously funny dialogue is present in both shows.

通過一名女性副總統及其職員的視角，電視劇《副總統》尖銳地諷刺了美國政壇的滑稽和醜陋，一經播出便受到廣泛好評，收視率也穩步上升，無可爭辯地成爲最有趣的電視節目。當然，這些成績都不驚訝，因爲其原版劇集是英國出品的《幕後危機》（The Thick of It），也是一部很受歡迎的情景喜劇。《副總統》和《幕後危機》均出自編劇阿爾曼多·伊安努奇（ Armando Iannucci）之手，這就有點像瑞奇·熱維斯 （Ricky Gervais）和斯戴芬·莫昌特 （Stephen Merchant）一樣，他倆創作出英國版情景喜劇《辦公室》（The Office），並將其改編引入美國，兩個版本雖然情節相似，但又各具特色，足以抓住當地人的眼球。很顯然，這裏提到的《副總統》並不是照搬《幕後危機》的臺本，因爲畢竟英美兩國的政體不一樣，所以改編成美國版時還要結合美國的政治體系，不過兩個版本中對某些社會和政治現象的諷刺都如出一轍，臺詞犀利又不乏逗趣。

ord and Son

3.《桑福德和兒子》

Sanford and Son is one of the all-time classic 1970's sitcoms, and like another show that's going to pop up in a minute, it was developed for American television by Norman Lear. And when we say "developed for American television" we mean that, believe it or not, the show about Redd Foxx selling junk – literally, that was his job – was actually based on a British show called Steptoe and Son.

《桑福德和兒子》是20世紀70年代最經典的一檔情景喜劇，就像我們將要講到的最後一部劇一樣，這部美國改編版的劇集也出自諾曼·李爾（Norman Lear）之手。什麼？美國改編版？沒錯，不管你相信與否，小編敢跟你打包票說這部劇是由英國喜劇《斯特普託和兒子》（Steptoe and Son）改編而來，瑞德·福克斯（Redd Foxx）在劇中飾演主角桑福德，是個收售廢舊品的商人。

Steptoe and Son ran from 1962-1974 on BBC1, and actually inspired a movie adaptation in 1972 and a sequel in 1973. Just like Sanford, it deals with the relationship between an old man and his son. While in Sanford, the father is a cantankerous old coot, Steptoe's father character falls more into the category of "dirty old man." Apparently American audiences were willing to watch Redd Foxx say wildly inappropriate, borderline racist things every week, but they couldn't stand to watch him act like a lech.

英國版《斯特普託和兒子》於1962年至1974年在BBC第一頻道播出，並於1972年上映電影改編版，1973年還拍攝了續集。跟美版《桑福德和兒子》一樣，這部劇講述的也是一位中年男子和他兒子的故事。不過不同的是，在美版中，父親桑福德是個呆頭呆腦、沒事愛找茬愛吐槽的中年男子，而英版中的父親斯特普託則更有些偏向 "邋遢的老男人"的形象。美國觀衆似乎每週都很樂意看着瑞德·福克斯滿嘴粗話的吐槽和暗諷種族主義，不過他們可受不了他那好色的小眼神。

ivor

2.《倖存者》

It's been nearly 14 years since Survivor debuted in the United States, and we've been stuck with Jeff Probst and his smug, tanned face ever since. Survivor was the show that really opened the door for reality competition in America, which can be viewed as either a good thing or a bad thing, depending on whether you're making a ton of money producing them, or if you're just plain sick of fabricated "real" drama.

自美國版《倖存者》開播已有大約十四年光景，十四年來，我們的目光期期都追隨着那位皮膚黝黑、好沾沾自喜的主持人傑夫·普羅斯特（Jeff Probst）。《倖存者》真正開創了美國真人競技類節目的先河，不過人們對其評價也褒貶不一，有人覺得它收視率高，是棵搖錢樹；但也有觀衆表示他們對這種假惺惺的"真人秀"已經感到視覺疲勞了。

Amazingly, this show that changed the face of television in America, for better or worse, is actually an import. The show Expedition Robinson debuted in Sweden in 1997, and the concept had actually been in the works since 1994. The Robinson in the title could mean either Swiss Family Robinson or Robinson Crusoe, as there was never really any distinction made. To put into perspective how wildly successful the show was in Sweden, consider that at the time of its finale, the country had about 8.8 million residents, and more than four million of them tuned in to watch. For those who are not particularly quick with math, that's just under half of the entire population watching the final "island council".

你絕對想不到，這檔在美國電視節目史上具有里程碑意義的節目其實也是個"舶來品"。它借鑑的是瑞典真人秀節目《魯濱遜探險記》（Expedition Robinson）。節目於1997年首播，不過其構想早於1994年就已成型。該節目以"魯濱遜"爲名，其靈感可能源自迪斯尼電影《海角樂園》（Swiss Family Robinson ），也可能源自小說《魯濱遜漂流記》（Robinson Crusoe），不過倒也沒人細追過緣由。試想一下在居住人口880萬的瑞典，有超過400萬的人都守在電視機前守候其收官之作的場景，你就能感受到這檔節目在瑞典有多火了。友情提示下數學不好的親們，瑞典全國上下可是有幾近一半的人口都觀看了最後一期節目"島嶼議會"，夠震撼吧。

in the Family

1.《全家福》

All in the Family is arguably the most influential sitcom in the history of television, period. It was brash, it was bold, and believe it or not, it was also imported. The show was based on a British sitcom called Till Death Do Us Part, which aired from 1965-1975 on BBC1. Originally, CBS was trying to acquire the rights to Till Death … and turn it into a showcase for Jackie Gleason, but ABC won the bidding war and thus, All in the Family was born.

《全家福》可以說是電視史上最具影響力的一檔情景喜劇，它取材醒目而大膽，但小編想告訴大家，這部劇其實也是從國外引進的，信不信由你。該劇是根據英國於1965年至1975年在BBC第一頻道播出的情景喜劇《最愛》（Till Death Do Us Part）改編而來。最初是美國CBS電視臺竭力獲取《最愛》的版權，想將其爲傑克·格里森（Jackie Gleason）量身改造，但意外的是，ABC電視臺最後贏得了這場競標，也隨之成就了後來的《全家福》。

Now you're probably wondering where you can actually see the show that inspired America's most influential comedy, and the answer is basically nowhere. At least, not if you want to see any of the early episodes, which were wiped out thanks to a peculiar BBC policy that dictated old shows regularly get deleted so the company could reuse the tapes. And this was before reruns became a thing. By all accounts, the show was even more offensive than All in the Family, so maybe it's for the best.

你現在可能很想知道在哪裏可以看到這部啓示了美國最具影響力的喜劇吧？很遺憾，這部劇的資源幾乎已經無處可尋了，至少最初的一些劇集是看不到了。因爲當年BBC有一項奇怪的政策，規定要洗掉老節目的錄像以便公司可以重新使用那些錄像帶來錄製新節目。當然了，那個年代還沒有"重播"這回事。據說這部劇比《全家福》的"尺度"還大，涉及敏感話題多，或許當年洗掉錄像帶還真是個正確的選擇。

翻譯:毛志遙 來源：前十網