Bombay Dude
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China has been accused of producing knockoff handbags and electronics, but lately fingers have been pointed at a different kind of counterfeit product: TV shows.
According to viewers and local media, American TV series such as Friends, MADtv and How I Met Your Mother are seeing copycats spring up both in China and Hong Kong.
Take Hong Kongs TV Funny, a comedy skit show that aired on TVB, Hong Kongs largest broadcaster, every weekday during the Olympics. Last week, Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily pointed out the similarity of its jokes to defunct Fox series MADtv. Apple Daily even published a video juxtaposing scenes from the two shows, including what seemed to be note-for-note remakes of certain MADtv sketches such as one depicting a fictional John Madden getting angry at his inability to successfully tape a popcorn maker commercial. Another similar sketch portrayed a couples intimate wedding proposal interrupted by a steady rain of bird droppings.
TVB denied that it was copying the American show. Our production team might have used similar shows as reference and inspiration in designing our program, said a spokeswoman in an email.
Its not the first time the Hong Kong broadcaster has been accused of aping TV from elsewhere. Earlier this year, bloggers and newspapers noted the similarities between its series LEscargot, about the struggles of a middle-class family obsessed with home ownership, and mainland Chinas hit drama Dwelling Narrowness, which focuses on the same issues in a fictional Chinese city modeled on Shanghai. In 2010, local writers claimed that its drama Gun Metal Grey, about a wrongfully accused cop who was framed for murder and vows to find the real killer, strayed a bit too close to the U.S. drama Life, a show based on the same premise.
Over in mainland China, TV viewers have gone to Weibo, Chinas Twitter-like microblogging service, to accuse TV show iPartment, also known as Love Apartment, of aping Friends, How I Met Your Mother, and The Big Bang Theory. Similar to Friends, the show is about a group of good-looking young single people who live in neighboring apartments in a Shanghai residential tower. While Friends had a struggling actor, a flaky masseuse and a university lecturer among its cast, iPartment has a computer nerd, a radio DJ and a university lecturer in its lineup you can watch a video clip below:
Of course, television history is littered with examples of idea-borrowing think American classics like All in the Family and Threes Company, both based on British comedies. But savvy Chinese viewers are taking a dim view of perceived similarities between U.S. and Chinese TV shows. One Weibo user named Albee wrote, After Friends, The Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, I have no interest in iPartment. Why cant you just have some original ideas?
Another named Will Tang was more succinct in criticism: iPartment is so disgusting, its an entire copy.
The charges against iPartment escalated earlier this month when popular Internet writer Lai Bao denounced the series on his Weibo account, accusing it of stealing jokes from his books. The producers apologized and offered to pay for the material it used. Mr. Lai accepted the apology, but not before the matter became a national story. Even Chinas large state-owned newspaper, China Daily, lamented the rampant plagiarism of pop culture.
But the fight over authorship doesnt always have to be ugly. Remember Da Peng, the Chinese online comedian? U.S. talk show host Conan OBrien called him out for stealing the opening sequence of Conan for his own show. Mr. OBrien feigned offence and the two traded comedic jabs at each other on their respective shows before eventually making up.
Are China and Hong Kong TV Shows Stealing Their Ideas From the U.S.? - Scene Asia - WSJ
According to viewers and local media, American TV series such as Friends, MADtv and How I Met Your Mother are seeing copycats spring up both in China and Hong Kong.
Take Hong Kongs TV Funny, a comedy skit show that aired on TVB, Hong Kongs largest broadcaster, every weekday during the Olympics. Last week, Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily pointed out the similarity of its jokes to defunct Fox series MADtv. Apple Daily even published a video juxtaposing scenes from the two shows, including what seemed to be note-for-note remakes of certain MADtv sketches such as one depicting a fictional John Madden getting angry at his inability to successfully tape a popcorn maker commercial. Another similar sketch portrayed a couples intimate wedding proposal interrupted by a steady rain of bird droppings.
TVB denied that it was copying the American show. Our production team might have used similar shows as reference and inspiration in designing our program, said a spokeswoman in an email.
Its not the first time the Hong Kong broadcaster has been accused of aping TV from elsewhere. Earlier this year, bloggers and newspapers noted the similarities between its series LEscargot, about the struggles of a middle-class family obsessed with home ownership, and mainland Chinas hit drama Dwelling Narrowness, which focuses on the same issues in a fictional Chinese city modeled on Shanghai. In 2010, local writers claimed that its drama Gun Metal Grey, about a wrongfully accused cop who was framed for murder and vows to find the real killer, strayed a bit too close to the U.S. drama Life, a show based on the same premise.
Over in mainland China, TV viewers have gone to Weibo, Chinas Twitter-like microblogging service, to accuse TV show iPartment, also known as Love Apartment, of aping Friends, How I Met Your Mother, and The Big Bang Theory. Similar to Friends, the show is about a group of good-looking young single people who live in neighboring apartments in a Shanghai residential tower. While Friends had a struggling actor, a flaky masseuse and a university lecturer among its cast, iPartment has a computer nerd, a radio DJ and a university lecturer in its lineup you can watch a video clip below:
Of course, television history is littered with examples of idea-borrowing think American classics like All in the Family and Threes Company, both based on British comedies. But savvy Chinese viewers are taking a dim view of perceived similarities between U.S. and Chinese TV shows. One Weibo user named Albee wrote, After Friends, The Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, I have no interest in iPartment. Why cant you just have some original ideas?
Another named Will Tang was more succinct in criticism: iPartment is so disgusting, its an entire copy.
The charges against iPartment escalated earlier this month when popular Internet writer Lai Bao denounced the series on his Weibo account, accusing it of stealing jokes from his books. The producers apologized and offered to pay for the material it used. Mr. Lai accepted the apology, but not before the matter became a national story. Even Chinas large state-owned newspaper, China Daily, lamented the rampant plagiarism of pop culture.
But the fight over authorship doesnt always have to be ugly. Remember Da Peng, the Chinese online comedian? U.S. talk show host Conan OBrien called him out for stealing the opening sequence of Conan for his own show. Mr. OBrien feigned offence and the two traded comedic jabs at each other on their respective shows before eventually making up.
Are China and Hong Kong TV Shows Stealing Their Ideas From the U.S.? - Scene Asia - WSJ
, from Hongkong, then USA "copy" it!! 
