IMDb user comments for
"Days Like These" (1999)

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9 comments in total

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2 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
You mean it wasn't a spoof?, 3 January 2002
Author: deadpool182 from Yeovil, U.K

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.

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3 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
why oh why????, 23 December 2001
Author: toaster-8 from Bristol, England

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.

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i never saw it, 29 May 2008
Author: nick_trigg1989 from Canada

I love That '70s Show and found out about the UK remake and now I want to see it, even though no matter where I look, it apparently sucks. There are no videos on the internet AT ALL!!! If you "accidentally" have some please let me know and email them to me, or put them on a site or something. thanks loads.

Apparently I have to write ten lines in order to submit this so I think that UK shows in general are similar to each other... I've never been able to get into a British sitcom. Not that I've tried much.

In Canada we get the show "Frasier" and he has an English accent and I don't even like that show so I really want to see this "That '70s Show" remake and judge for myself how awful it is.

Thanks

-NN

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Bizarre, 13 November 2007

Author: juella90 from Beyond the realms of death!

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...

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4 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
Dreadful contrived sitcom, 29 November 2001
Author: Hardylane from Manchester UK

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.

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0 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
I thought it was a joke, 6 November 2001
Author: xerxes-6 from Waterford, Ireland

I saw about 10 minutes of this rubbish a few days ago, and I must admit I thought it was some comedy sketch show doing a parody of "That 70s Show". Unfortunately for me, and for the makers of this "thing", I was wrong, it's actually a real programme. Its the british version of "That 70s Show", all the characters are the same only way worse, the most pathetic thing being that they've tried to make them all look the same as the American versions, why on earth they've done this I don't know, its very, very sad.

The real "That 70s Show" can be quite funny at times, but this thing is more of a drama even though its supposed to be a comedy. Don't get me wrong - its about as dramatic as an episode of "Working" with Fred Savage, what I mean is a kick in the groin would be funnier. One of the main reasons I thought it was a parody was because I thought the character Donna was a man in a wig, I can't begin to explain how ugly the actress who plays this part is, Peter Griffin said it best - "aaaggghhhhh - did somebody open the Ark of the Covenant?????"

As far as I know this show has been cancelled and all the actors sold into slavery as a punishment. It still isn't enough though, I'm pushing for all prints of every episode to be force-fed to the writers of this bilge until no trace of them ever existing remains. Harsh but fair I think you'll agree.

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1 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
American version first dude, 29 April 2006
Author: dvdbib from United Kingdom

Madcaddie the American version came first IN AUGUST 1998 THE British VERSION WASN'T SHOWN TILL 1999 this was an attempt by the American producers to cash in overseas (much in the way the Americans have done with British sitcoms for example Alf Garnett and the office etc) I must admit i

have never seen the British version but would like to just to see what it is like. Don't suppose any one has taped it? or knows when it'll be re-run? Well now i have ran out of comments and i need to fill 10 lines and the use of junk words will see me banned since when i have posted shorter comments than this before.

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0 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
original show came first, 5 December 2002
Author: sophie from devon

days like these came before that 70's show. I saw it in 1998. when that 70's show came on to tv in 2000, it was identical. although i do prefer that 70's show actors as they are more watchable. days like these was set in luton.

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0 out of 11 people found the following comment useful :-
It was here first, 19 February 2005
Author: madcaddie1 from United Kingdom

To every person who claimed Days Like These was an inferior remake: While it was not quite as snappy and clever as That 70's Show (Though it was saved from Ashton Kutcher) It was certainly the original version, the original script being heavily copied by the American writers a year or two later. For instance in the episode where Nixon comes to visit, its the Queen in the original, and instead of the crappy car in the US version, Eric owns a Lada in Days Like These. It's true the writing is not quite up to scratch, but the plot and most gags from the first series of that 70's show are all here. But, as an American myself, I would just like to remind everyone that not everything comes from America.

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