''Coupling'' is an American

sitcom A sitcom, a Portmanteau, portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troup ...

television series, a remake of the British show of the same title, which aired on

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from September 25 to October 23, 2003.

Production

By 2003, three series, or seasons, of ''Coupling'' had been broadcast on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream ...

, all written by the show's creator,

Steven Moffat Steven William Moffat (; born 18 November 1961) is a Scottish television writer, television producer and screenwriter. He is best known for his work as showrunner, writer and executive producer of the science fiction television series '' Doc ...

. The show was loosely based on the beginnings of Moffat's real-life relationship with Sue Vertue. NBC commissioned a remake of the show for the American market, reportedly as a replacement for '' Friends'', which was nearing the end of its run. Moffat and original producers from

Hartswood Films Hartswood Films is a British television production company founded by Beryl Vertue in 1979. They have also produced dramas such as ''Jekyll'', as well as documentaries, and the 1990s ITV/BBC sitcom ''Men Behaving Badly''. In 2009, Hartswood opened ...

, Sue and

Beryl Vertue Beryl Frances Vertue (''née'' Johnson; 8 April 1931 – 12 February 2022) was an English television producer, media executive, and agent. She was founder and chairman of the independent television production company Hartswood Films. Early li ...

, served as executive producers on the NBC adaptation, alongside

Phoef Sutton Robert Christopher "Phoef" Sutton (born September 11, 1958) is an American writer and producer. His film credits include '' Mrs. Winterbourne'' and '' The Fan'', both released in 1996. Phoef — the first name that he uses both personally and profe ...

and

Ben Silverman Benjamin Noah Silverman (born August 15, 1970) is an American media executive. He is the co-CEO and chairman of the entertainment production company Propagate. From 2007–2009, Silverman served as co-chairman of NBC Entertainment and Univers ...

. Unlike most adaptations, the NBC adaptation would reuse Moffat's original scripts, although these were adapted by Sutton and were shortened to comply with the reduced running time (NBC has multiple advertisement breaks compared to the original broadcaster, BBC Two, which has none). Other writers, such as Danny Zuker and Paul Corrigan worked on episodes later in the series. The original unaired

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

starred

Breckin Meyer Breckin Erin Meyer (born May 7, 1974) is an American actor, musician, writer and producer, known for his roles in films such as '' Clueless'' (1995), ''Road Trip'' (2000), '' Rat Race'' (2001), and '' Garfield: The Movie'' (2004), he's also known ...

as Jeff,

Melissa George Melissa George (born 6 August 1976) is an Australian actress and entrepreneur. A former national artistic rollerskating champion and model, George began her acting career playing Angel Parrish in the Australian soap opera Home and Away (1993– ...

as Susan and

Emily Rutherfurd Emily Kernan Rutherfurd (born September 18, 1974) is an American actress. She played Christine "New Christine" Hunter in the CBS sitcom, ''The New Adventures of Old Christine'' (2006–10). Personal life Rutherfurd was born and raised in New Yo ...

as Sally. NBC then fired the writers and replaced Meyer, George and Rutherfurd with Christopher Moynihan, Rena Sofer and

Sonya Walger Sonya Walger (born 6 June 1974) is a British actress who also holds American citizenship. She had starring roles in the short-lived sitcoms '' The Mind of the Married Man'' (2001–2002) and ''Coupling'' (2003) before landing her role as Penny ...

, respectively. George later commented that she "dodged a bullet" by being replaced before the show aired. Thirteen episodes were commissioned. However, due to poor critical reception, NBC announced the show's cancellation on October 31, after only four episodes had been broadcast. The final three planned episodes were not filmed, with the remaining six episodes unbroadcast.

Reception

The show received a dismal reaction from viewers and failed to perform in the ratings, being canceled before the November

sweeps Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rati ...

, with six episodes remaining unaired despite heavy publicity by the network. It was immediately panned as a poor imitation of the original UK series by viewers and critics.

BBC America BBC America is an American basic cable network that is jointly owned by BBC Studios and AMC Networks. The channel primarily airs sci-fi and action series and films, as well as selected programs from the BBC (such as its nature documentary ...

even ran commercials noting that they would play the original British versions on their station just after the American equivalent episodes on NBC aired, so that viewers could see instantly just how superior the original was. Miscasting and stilted delivery of a nearly identical script were believed to be the reasons for the failure, though creator Moffat blamed the show's failure on NBC's intervention during the creative and production processes. In 2007, he said: "The network f--ked it up because they intervened endlessly." The American adaptation came at a time when NBC was having success with remakes of

BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

shows, such as ''

The Weakest Link ''Weakest Link'' (also known as ''The Weakest Link'') is a television game show which first appeared in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 14 August 2000 and originally ended on 31 March 2012 when its host Anne Robinson completed her contract. ...

'' and '' Dog Eat Dog''. NBC would find success in 2005 with a remake of another BBC series, ''The Office'', which aired for nine seasons. Because of what was deemed to be indecent content, two affiliates of NBC refused to air the program;

KSL-TV KSL-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is the flagship television property of locally based Bonneville International, the for-profit broadcasting arm of the Church of Jesus ...

(Channel 5) in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

, and

WNDU-TV WNDU-TV (channel 16) is a television station in South Bend, Indiana, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Gray Television alongside Elkhart, Indiana, Elkhart-licensed Heroes & Icons affiliate WSJV (channel 28). Both stations share ...

(Channel 16) in

South Bend, Indiana South Bend is a city in and the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, on the St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total of 103,453 residents and is the fourt ...

. Both stations were owned by religious organizations, as KSL is owned by the

Bonneville International Bonneville International Corporation is a media and broadcasting company, wholly owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) through its for-profit arm, Deseret Management Corporation. It began as a radio and TV netwo ...

division of the

LDS Church The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ...

, while WNDU was at the time owned by a subsidiary of the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic university, Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend, Indiana, South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin fo ...

. In those markets, WB affiliate KUWB (channel 30) and a

UPN The United Paramount Network (UPN) was an American broadcast television network that launched on January 16, 1995. It was originally owned by Chris-Craft Industries' United Television. Viacom (through its Paramount Television unit, which pr ...

digital subchannel In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a method of transmitting more than one independent program stream simultaneously from the same digital radio or television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compressi ...

of CBS affiliate

WSBT-TV WSBT-TV (channel 22) is a television station in South Bend, Indiana, United States, affiliated with CBS and Fox. Owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, the station maintains studios on East Douglas Avenue in Mishawaka, and its transmitter is loca ...

(channel 22.2, now affiliated with

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelv ...

), respectively, aired the series after their network's primetime lineups, while nearby affiliates KENV (in

Elko, Nevada Elko (Shoshoni: Natakkoa, "Rocks Piled on One Another") is the largest city in and county seat of Elko County, Nevada, United States. With a 2020 population of 20,564, Elko is currently growing at a rate of 0.31% annually and its population has i ...

, now an affiliate of

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) and

WISE-TV WISE-TV (channel 33) is a television station in Fort Wayne, Indiana, United States, affiliated with The CW Plus. It is owned by Gray Television alongside ABC/NBC/MyNetworkTV affiliate WPTA (channel 21). Both stations share studios on Butler Road ...

(in

Fort Wayne, Indiana Fort Wayne is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Indiana, United States. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 as of the 2020 Censu ...

, now a CW affiliate) aired the series in accordance with the rest of the network.

Jeff Zucker Jeffrey Adam Zucker (born April 9, 1965) is an American former media executive. Between January 2013 and February 2022, Zucker was the president of CNN Worldwide. Zucker oversaw CNN, CNN International, HLN, and CNN Digital. He was previously ...

, former President and CEO of

NBCUniversal NBCUniversal Media, LLC is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate corporation owned by Comcast and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States. NBCUniversal is primaril ...

, later said of ''Coupling'' that it "just sucked".

Cast

* Colin Ferguson as Patrick Maitland *

Jay Harrington James H. Harrington III, professionally known as Jay Harrington, (born November 15, 1971) is an American actor. He is known for his role as the title character in the ABC sitcom ''Better Off Ted'' in 2009-2010 and since 2017 as Sgt. David "Deacon ...

as Steve Taylor * Christopher Moynihan as Jeff Clancy *

Lindsay Price Lindsay Jaylyn Price Stone (born December 6, 1976) is an American television actress and singer. She is best known for her roles as Janet Sosna on ''Beverly Hills, 90210'' and as Victory Ford on '' Lipstick Jungle''. She is also known for her wor ...

as Jane Honda * Rena Sofer as Susan Freeman *

as Sally Harper

Episodes

References

Bibliography

External links

* * {{Epguides, coupling_us 2003 American television series debuts 2003 American television series endings 2000s American romantic comedy television series 2000s American sex comedy television series 2000s American sitcoms American television series based on British television series English-language television shows NBC original programming Television series about couples Television series by Reveille Productions Television series by Universal Television Television shows set in Chicago Latino sitcoms