Can Sophie run? Another French show adaptation comes to CBC
Dan Say
Well, the Rumours adaptation was a hit, n'est-ce pas?
Or not? I've not seen ratings.
Back in October 2006 "Meanwhile, Rumours, a peppy
half-hour comedy about the staff at a Toronto
tabloid, likewise stumbled out of the gate with 168,000
viewers on Oct. 9, but that grew to 225,000 the following
week."
So now: " CBC's new sitcom is a French-to-English
adaptation. Will it cross cultures easily? "
Any minute, Les Plouffes which was the same actors doing
live English version and live French version (kinescope to
rest of Canada)
Sophie shakes up her life
CBC's new sitcom is a French-to-English adaptation. Will it cross cultures
easily?
BRENDAN KELLY
The Gazette (Montreal, Que)
http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/arts/story.
html?id=2d89dc3f-0622-4366-ae61-e76bb7dc42e0
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Is Sophie going to be the next big Canadian TV comedy hit? Producer Jocelyn
Deschênes certainly hopes so, but even he has to admit it's a high-risk
venture.
CBC is set to announce today that Sophie will premiere Wednesday, Jan. 9 on
our national public broadcaster. The show is the network's bid to deliver
another hit to join the suddenly crowded ranks of successful English-Canadian
comedies. After years of failure, comedy is now king on the tube in the rest
of Canada, thanks to shows like Corner Gas, Little Mosque on the Prairie and
Trailer Park Boys.
But does Sophie have what it takes to pull in boffo ratings? The show is an
adaptation of the popular French-language Radio-Canada dramedy Les hauts et
les bas de Sophie Paquin. The English take starts with the same basic premise
- a 30-year-old single mother is having a tough time running a talent agency
and managing her complicated personal life. But this is not a dub of the
French show. Deschênes's Montreal production company, Sphere Media Plus, is in
the midst of filming 13 half-hour episodes here with a cast of
English-Canadian actors, using scripts that are significantly different from
those of the French original.
Deschênes, who is an executive producer for both the English and French
versions, points to The Office as a prime example of a show that successfully
made the transition from one culture to another. The Office started life as a
British comedy, and the American adaptation starring Steve Carell has turned
into a hit for NBC.
But Deschênes knows better than anyone that adapting Québécois shows into
English is far from an exact science. He is also the producer of another
top-rated Radio-Canada dramedy, Rumeurs; the English version - titled Rumours
and, again, featuring a different cast - didn't do very well on CBC last
season, to put it politely.
"We call that a failure," Deschênes said in a recent phone interview.
CBC yanked it off the air last fall after a handful of episodes, eventually
dumping the remaining episodes onto the schedule earlier this year. Rumours
stuck much closer to the French original than Sophie does, but Deschênes isn't
sure if that's the reason it tanked in English.
"We can't say that," Deschênes said. "No one came to see the show. We kept
200,000 viewers all the way. For me, it's a failure, but I don't know why."
On the other hand, if the first episode of Sophie is any indication, Deschênes
and CBC just might have a hot item on their hands. It's sassy, very funny,
occasionally moving and - most importantly - Timmins-born, Toronto-based
actress Natalie Brown is totally endearing as Sophie Parker, who is having one
terrible time. In the first scene, Sophie visits a fortune teller, who neatly
ruins her day by telling her: "You are about to have the most horrible year of
your life, and the worst part is when you hit rock bottom, your troubles will
be just starting." Turns out he's right on the money.
Sophie's boyfriend, Rick (Sebastian Spence-Cooke), walks out on her when she's
eight months pregnant to continue his steamy affair with Melissa (Amy
Lalonde), a blond bombshell who is the top actress at Sophie's agency and
Sophie's best friend (or rather, former best friend). Rick adds insult to
injury by setting up a rival agency that soon steals away many of Sophie's
leading actors. As Sophie memorably puts it while snuggling with that sitcom
staple, the gay friend (Jeff Geddis): "I feel like a 30-year-old failure with
a 90-year-old bladder."
"She's smart and slightly scattered," Brown said. "She can be hot-tempered and
capable of honey charm. A lot of things happen to her and it's all about how
she rolls with it."
Brown, a former model, has starred in a couple of straight-to-DVD movies and
guest-starred in a slew of TV series. But nabbing the lead role in a major new
sitcom is far and away the highest-profile gig yet for the actress.
Deschênes looked long and hard for an English Sophie, auditioning actresses in
Los Angeles, Vancouver and Toronto, before discovering Brown on an audition
tape. As soon as he saw the tape, he called CBC comedy boss Anton Leo and told
him they had their Sophie.
"On TV, you have to relate to people very fast," said Deschênes. "(Natalie) is
beautiful, she has this star quality and she's very grounded."
The first episode sticks closest to the French-language original, because the
producers wanted to set the story up. But after that, it strays far from Les
hauts et les bas de Sophie Paquin. It is a half-hour show - half the length of
Sophie Paquin - and is closer to straight comedy than the more dramatic
original.
Deschênes turned to Montrealer Howard Busgang, creator of the mockumentary
series The Tournament, to help finesse these changes, to make what Deschênes
calls "the version we thought would be good for the English market."
Now it's up to the viewers across Canada to decide if they like this
adaptation better than Rumours. But Deschênes refuses to be put off by the
failure of his last French-to-English project.
"I don't see Sophie as a French show. It's a show, and I think it'll work. You
have to trust your shows."
Sophie premieres on CBC on Jan. 9. The network is set to announce its winter
schedule at a news conference in Toronto today.