Coupling (U.S. TV series)

Coupling
Format	Comedy / Sitcom
Created by	Steven Moffat
Developed by	Danny Zuker
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	11 (including 7 unaired)
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC
Original run	02011-09-25 September 25 – October 23, 2003 (2003-10-23)
Chronology
Related shows	Coupling (UK series), Joking Apart
External links
Website

Coupling is a 2003 American remake of the British television sitcom of the same title which aired on NBC.

Reception

It failed to perform in the ratings and was canceled before November sweeps, with several 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 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 Steven Moffat claims the level of network interference was the sole reason.^{[citation needed]}

The American adaptation came at a time when NBC was having success with remakes of BBC shows, such as The Weakest Link and Dog Eat Dog. NBC would find success in 2005 with a remake of another BBC series, The Office, which remains on the air in its eighth season as of October 2011.

Because of what was perceived as indecent content, two affiliates of NBC refused to air the program; KSL-TV (Channel 5) in Salt Lake City, and WNDU-TV (Channel 16) in South Bend, Indiana. Both stations were owned by religious organizations, as KSL is owned by the Bonneville International division of the LDS Church, while WNDU was at the time owned by a subsidiary of The University of Notre Dame. In those markets, WB affiliate KUCW (Channel 30) and a UPN digital subchannel of CBS affiliate WSBT-TV (Channel 22), respectively, aired the series after their network's primetime lineups.

Jeff Zucker, former President and CEO of NBCUniversal, later said of Coupling that it "just sucked".^[1]

In the fourth season of the UK series, Steve would warn others that the situations they're in are "not an American sitcom", poking fun at the American adaptation.

Cast

• Jay Harrington as Steve Taylor
• Lindsay Price as Jane Honda
• Rena Sofer as Susan Freeman
• Sonya Walger as Sally Harper
• Colin Ferguson as Patrick Maitland
• Christopher Moynihan as Jeff Clancy

Episodes

Ep#[2]	Production Number[2]	Original Airdate[2]	Episode Title[2]	Based On UK Episode
1	Unknown	Unaired	Pilot	Inferno
2	101	Sep 25, 2003	The Right One	Flushed
3	102	Oct 2, 2003	Size Matters	Size Matters
4	103	Oct 9, 2003	Sex, Death & Nudity	Sex, Death & Nudity
5	104	Unaired	Present Tense
6	105	Unaired	A Foreign Affair	The Girl With Two Breasts
7	106	Oct 23, 2003	Check/Mate
8	107	Unaired	Nipple Effect
9	108	Unaired	Dressed	Dressed
10	109	Unaired	Object Lessons
11	110	Unaired	Holiday

The original unaired pilot starred Breckin Meyer as Jeff, Melissa George as Susan, and Emily Rutherfurd as Sally.

DVD release

It was announced on July 12, 2008 that Carsey Werner Home Entertainment were planning a home DVD release of all 11 episodes of the series, the Home DVD & Game Review website announced on March 29, 2009 that the series will be released on a 3 disc boxset.

References

1. ^ Crupi, Anthony (June 14, 2011). "Mormon Station Refuses NBC's 'The Playboy Club': Second time church-owned affiliate dumps a series". Adweek. Archived from the original on October 15, 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/62RgV36Ak. Retrieved October 15, 2011. 
2. ^ ^{a b c d} Epguides.com

External links

• Coupling at the Internet Movie Database
• Coupling at TV.com