Despite certain esteemed colleagues taking time to charmingly toss this show under a pastel colored bus, Black Mirror is a popular show. I’m not going to hold you at knife point and say, “watch this,” but I would recommend it as a proper successor to shows like Tales from the Darkside, Monsters, The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, Night Gallery, and so on. It’s fine stuff.
There could be a problem on the horizon, though. Like most things from the UK that become popular with folks here in America, there’s talk of bringing the show to U.S. television with a new adaptation. From Blastr:
The studio behind the series, Endemol Shine North America, has revealed that development is underway to bring a native version of the super-smart near-future show to a U.S. network. The U.K. original airs on Channel 4, and Netflix has the U.S. rights for the British version. The Twilight Zone-esque series is basically full of freaky near-future tales about how technology affects (and sometimes ruins) our lives.
No word yet on where the adaptation might land, but heck, you’d think it’d be an interesting addition just about anywhere. Netflix already has a relationship established, but Black Mirror could also fit anywhere from FX to Syfy or HBO brand-wise. Considering the buzz, you’d have to think someone would want to jump at this one and at least give it a shot.
I’m not one to turn down more of Black Mirror or any anthology-type program that is of a high quality. I’m easily entertained if the premise is right. But I also don’t want too much of a good thing. There’s so little from Black Mirror now that it is easy to enjoy it and create strong episodes. But there were some silly episodes in the long run of The Twilight Zone and a few too many holly jolly episodes of Tales from the Darkside.
I’m cautiously optimistic. The track record for bad adaptations of UK programming is there, but this is a different type of show. It could work out well and slip right in with the original without notice. Obviously we’ll wait and see, but I’m sure we can aimlessly and irrationally debate it until then.
(Via Blastr)
