Comment on Mayim Bialik Declines to Host ‘Celebrity Jeopardy!’ Amid Strikes, Replaced by Ken Jennings
sab@kbin.social 1 year agoThat's something I never really appreciated before. In Europe of course we mostly consume media produced in our own language or in English, but it's completely normal to watch (and for broadcasters to air) shows from all over Europe, either dubbed or with subtitles depending on the country. Subtitles being the only tolerable way of course.
If a show started airing in French or German with subtitled on US television this would be a huge deal?
Outside of dubbed anime, I can’t think of cases where that would ever happen in the USA. Hell, it is somewhat rare to even get non-American English shows in the USA.
The USA can produce so much television profitably because it is the largest English language television market.
Your market at home is also much greater than what any European country could ever dream of. Spain has some occasional hits in Latin America (La Casa de Papel was huge everywhere), but they don't have anything comparable to the American industry.
But for sure, the international market is huge - how terrified Hollywood is of offending China is solid evidence of that. :)
I would expect the Spanish market to be a lot more international since there isn’t one country that could dominate the way the US dominates the English market.
Mexico has 2.5 times more people than Spain, but the two countries have a similar GDP. There are also other close countries like Colombia and Argentina. In contrast, the USA has over five times the population of the UK with the USA having a higher GDP per capita than the UK. Other English speaking countries either have local languages to compete with, have far smaller populations, and/or have lower GDP per capita.
Hollywood needs the foreign market, now more than ever. However, it is really hard to compete with the giant that Hollywood is in its local market in English, let alone a foreign language.
It’s common on streaming platforms for foreign language shows to be huge hits. Squid Game was the most notable one, but Dark was another. Both Netflix.
On network TV? Never.
True, I remember Squid Game was huge in the US. Did people watch it with subtitles?
I don’t know about most people, but the default was dubbed so I guess they probably watched it dubbed. I never been able to stand dubs, but that’s just me.
I'm fine with some dubs, like if they're real well done, or dubs of some shows I grew up with for the nostalgia. Otherwise yeah subs or bust.
If a show started airing in French or German with subtitled on US television this would be a huge deal?
During the strike? Absolutely. It’d be nothing but a way for them to undermine the strike. Normal day without a stike? I’d absolutely love some new content.
It likely wouldn’t be watched at all.
On TV, it would probably gain no traction. I’m sure a lot of old conservative folks would be turned off by being forced to listen to a language they don’t understand, and that’s exactly the type of people who would phone up their local TV station to complain about it. Younger people might not care so much, and would sit through, but if there’s something else on in English they would probably switch.
On streaming platforms, they would just never see it in the first place.
MargotRobbie@lemm.ee 1 year ago
I want to watch some crazy Japanese game shows with subtitles on American TV.
Whatever happened to Takeshi’s Castle?
soupspoon@lemmy.world 1 year ago
It’s back, but on Prime
MargotRobbie@lemm.ee 1 year ago
Oh sweet. I remember really liking the old version of that show, so I’ll go check it out for nostalgia.