American Format Flurry

TV Formats Weekly checks in on the titles making headlines in the world’s biggest television market.

Scripted formats appear to have come of age in the U.S. TV market, with three high-profile adaptations of British shows having launched within days of each other last month.

In the premium cable landscape, Showtime in January debuted its own version of Company Pictures’ acclaimed Channel 4 show Shameless. The American adaptation, executive produced by Paul Abbott, creator of the British version, and John Wells, was Showtime’s biggest debut for a drama series in seven years.

Also making headlines of late has been MTV’s version of Skins. The original version is now in season five in the U.K. on E4, and had been airing without much fanfare in the U.S. for the last few years on BBC America. The MTV version, however, has become a hot-button issue, with the Parents Television Council up in arms because of its depiction of teenage sex. A host of advertisers have pulled their support for the series. Meanwhile, while a healthy 3.3 million tuned in for the premiere episode, ratings for episode two were down to 1.6 million.

Nonetheless, MTV is standing by the production. “Skins has earned the loyalty of fans across the globe for its thoughtful and honest portrayal of teen life today," the channel said in a statement. "An internationally acclaimed scripted drama, the show has been honored with a long list of prestigious awards. MTV stands by the U.S. adaptation of Skins and the vision of its creator, Bryan Elsley."

Elsley has been forced to defend his show against accusations of child pornography by the Parents Television Council and other critics. He told the Los Angeles Times last week: "The show is the opposite of pornography. It isn’t us who are being provocative. I think that some of the people who object to the show are being provocative in the use of that word."

MTV is expected to air the entire ten-episode run of the show.

Also airing Monday nights is another British import re-made for American audiences: Being Human. Adapted from the BBC Three drama of the same name, the show has proven to be a hit for Syfy, with viewership growing from week one to week two by 9 percent to 2.14 million viewers. It is Syfy’s most successful scripted winter series launch since January 2005 with Battlestar Galactica. In addition, the North American adaptation has already notched up a number of international deals courtesy of Zodiak Rights, including a U.S. home-video and digital agreement with Entertainment One; a pre-sale to Tele MĂźnchen for all German-speaking territories; and deals with SPE Networks â�� Asia; AXN in Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia; DBS in Israel; Media Vera in Turkey; and AXN Sci-Fi in Italy.

There’s also been plenty of activity outside the scripted space. Notably, last week OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network picked up the Home Delivery format from Strix Television. Home Takeover with Simon & Tomas is being produced by Angel City Factory, part of the Banijay Group, for a March debut. For Strix, this is its first U.S. deal.

SevenOne International also had a good week when it comes to its U.S. business; the game-show format You Deserve It, from Dick de Rijk, has been picked up by ABC. "This is the first show developed under our partnership with Dick de Rijk,” said Jens Richter, managing director of SevenOne International, in announcing the deal. “We are thrilled that we were able to sell it straight off to the United States, the world’s most important television market."