I pretty much agree with all of the above, but jeez...For a professional writer, you can't spell or punctuate to save your life. Please look into apostrophe, the usage of. (Hint: it's not used to denote a plural word.)

The rumor has been that Series 4 will see Jack relocating to the US. Torchwood ratings in the UK aren't barn burning but it's HUGE for BBC America so it was a way to keep it the same show but appeal more to American audiences.

I'd rather see it stay on BBC America because Fox will air it out of order, on Friday night, and cancel it after two weeks. No matter what station it's on they aren't going to bring in a lot of new audience. It's a sci-fi crowd show and most of them know about even if they haven't seen it. A reboot isn't going to work for a built-in audience.

As someone who's currently watching the UK version of Torchwood (I'm in season 2), I'd rather they just bring the show over instead of trying to "Americanize" it. The only major issue I can see with UK Torchwood is all the Doctor Who references/Martha's whole storyline, but I don't understand why they seem to think American audiences want their own version of something. Didn't they try to air Merlin over the summer? How did that turn out (I didn't watch, having already seen it)?

The first reason I thing that Torchwood U.S. would succeed is because Russell T. Davies will be involved. And if John Barrowman is involved, big plus. It does scare me that it would be on Fox though, as they ruined Firefly and Dollhouse (although I know most people don't like Dollhouse like I do).

And as far as other actors/actresses to be on the U.S. version, how about these people: Katee Sackkhoff, a computer analyst on 24 is a waste of her talent; Wentworth Miller, is not doing much and has strong Fox ties; Chiwetel Ejiofor, I know he is more of a movie guy but the chance to be a big player on a TV drama might appeal to him, and he is incredible.

What is it with Fox airing episodes out of order? And why would anyone take a scifi show to Fox these days? Less Doctor Who connections would be really disappointing. Half the fun of having a spinoff show is the opportunity for crossovers and interconnected storylines/characters. I would hate it if they made the show less gay, because that's a big part of Torchwood. Captain Jack is omnisexual and he'll never make any apologies for that. I wish America could have an action star like Captain Jack, he breaks a lot of stereotypes.

I would be OK with it, I guess, if it was just Captain Jack moving to the States (briefly) for a change of scenery. But a full-on remake? Why? I see no point in it.

Oh, well, yes. But it also knows about secret UNIT projects from America and is creeply underground, so it might work as well -- outside the government and beyond the police, Queen V might as well have set american base "just in case".

I hope this never comes to pass. Or at least that they *don't* hire Barrowman to play the same character (at least in name), but remake the whole story. That would destroy my fond memories of the British series for me.

Remember the disaster called "Red Dwarf U.S."?? Same story. The American producers had even hired two writers of the British show and one of the British actors, but if you watch their interviews about that horrible disappointing experience, then you know why that remake didn't make it past two(!) attempts at a pilot, both of which failed and where never officially aired. And if you've seen the scenes that still exist in the Extras on the British DVDs then you know why that was a good thing.

This could definitely work. I loved Children of Earth, but there are some episodes of the first two seasons that are downright terrible. So it isn't like Fox is trying to remake some untouchable classic show. I don't want to see a watered down Captain Jack though. I could deal with fewer Torchwood hookups, but don't de-gay Captain Jack.

I'm kind of iffy about it being moved to the US. It's such a British focused show, it would loose so much. Spin off, okay, mayble. But remake? No.

And it'll be Fox? We don't need to say why that's beyond a bad idea.

I too am afraid that the U.S. version would be too watered down. The scene in the first season when Capt. Jack goes back to WWII and dances with his namesake is one of the most heartwrenching and tender moments that I have seen. There is NO way that U.S. broadcast TV would allow a scene like that to happen. The US likes the gays to be stereotypical.

CON: Russell T Davies, Fox, "remake."

If this was a spin-off instead of a remake, it might work. Then when Fox cuts out all the gay bits, we won't know because it would be a butchering of entirely new characters instead Jack. :)

I don't know if I want to watch Torchwood UK S4 anyway.

I agree completely with Honeybee. Please, please, please, no reboot/remake of Torchwood original. If Captain Jack opens a Torchwood branch in LA or NYC or even better, Boston, then fine. I can see a 6-7 episode arc at most in the USA with John Barrowman lending his immense talents to getting Torchwood USA spinoff off the ground. Then the remainder of the the season's episodes with Captain Jack should be in the original Torchwood located in Cardiff, Wales.

I also worry that the US FOX network has a reputation for muddling/killing scifi shows. They don't seem to know how to develop the characters or get high quality scripts on an ongoing basis. At least with Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner that won't be such an issue. It's gonna be hard to keep up that quirky, geeky sense of British humor that is a trademark of the original Torchwood, though.

And I'm concerned that the omnisexual content of the show will be diminished to pablum for the American audience. I hope the cheeky-ness isn't removed completely.

Stupid question, but why do a remake or strip out things like the Doctor Who connection?

Just do a straight out spinoff. You're going to have some character in the pilot who acts as a proxy for the audience and needs to have the background explained, so just explain that Queen Victoria was attacked by a werewolf, rescued by an alien traveller, and decided form an organization to keep that sort of thing from happening. Then come up with some plausible reason for there being an American version (in the 1890's Torchwood was involved in a mission in the U.S. which led to an Anglo-American cooperateive effort until Teddy Roosevelt, who didn't want the U.S. to play second fiddle to the British Empire, spun off the U.S. version in the early 1900's (which would explain why it never got mention in the British series)).

With the exception of the Cyberwoman episode, the hand in the jar, and Martha's visit, Torchwood was pretty much isolated from Doctor Who, so you could have a U.S. series with even more oblique references that would make the fans squee but wouldn't bother newbies if they didn't get them. You could also have the events of CoE still haunting Captain Jack (if he's in it); the fans would know and appreciate the enrichment of the character, and the newbies would have a character with a mysterious past, and God knows there are plenty of those on TV.

Leave Torchwood alone!!!
FIX would absolutely ruin it, and without John Barrowman,I would not watch. FOX would take out everything we are fans of Captain Jack for! NO, NO, NO!!!

I understand RTD's desire to make an Americanized Torchwood (he already has a lead actor with an American accent, so no need to even recast), but why would he go to Fox or all places? The network has a long track record of not knowing what to do with sci-fi shows and bailing early on shows that don't get ratings immediately. Bad move.

No! No! No!
The power of the British show is its willingness to break boundaries - whether that be killing stars or homsexual relationships. Also, the brevity of each series means that we don't have weak episodes just to fill the space. Short but good is better than long and mediocre. Also, US audiences have generally rejected unusual concepts that don't fit into a neat weekly mold. Recently, this was affirmed by the Life on Mars adaptation that never lived up to its UK heritage.

I think I might like it if it was openned as a Torchwood branch, some kind of collaboration between Torchwood and the US government. I don't think they'd need Jack in every episode especially since they'd have to rehash his non-dying story line again and again and again and again.
I'm not convinced that Fox is the right home for it though. I think they could go farther, do more, and keep it running longer on a cable channel like syfy, TNT, or USA (and yes, I know what I just said, but TNT and USA have really up-ed their ability to produce good television the past couple of years).

Good article. You're right about Children of Earth being devastating. :( I so wasn't ready for that. Anyway, I'm not sure that more episodes is a pro. Generally, more of a good thing is good, but the short seasons on UK television leads to much tighter story-telling and they're not burdened with all the filler we always get here. So, if executed well, more is good. If not, more is just more. I can't say I'm looking forward to this (although I'm DYING for the BBC version to start up again), but I'm sure I'll watch if they do a US version, just out of curiosity.

Also, where is the rift going to be in all of this? It's in Cardiff, soooo why exactly would they be here? Just chasing aliens down who got out of the rift without passing through Cardiff? I dunno... But I trust RTD to make a quality program and not to be just doing this for the extra money...

I hate this idea. And, I'd like to point out, there are already two shows on SyFy that are essentially American/Canadian rip-offs of Torchwood: Sanctuary and Warehouse 13. I don't know why FOX would think it was a great idea...the fans certainly don't!

I don't think we needed one Torchwood, let alone two, but a little network control over Davies's self-indulgence may be a very good idea. Children of Earth was surprisingly good, but the first two seasons were atrociously written, melodramatic, juvenile and nonsensical. And American TV can be bad, but I've never seen anything, anywhere, to compare with the badness of Davies's last few season finales of Doctor Who.

Americans who enjoy British television and the boundaries they cross get their fix already. On BBC America. Who will tune into this new show other than loyal fans of the original out of sheer curiosity. I don't think there needs to be a 'remake' simply because Torchwood HAS an audience already in America. This is so irritating to me...

Totally agree with docdonna, it got great ratings on BBC America because the US fans of British TV seek it out and watch their favorites there. And trying to remake something that's part of a franchise like this is stupid. The Doctor Who franchise is so significant in British television but in the US it's still basically a cult scifi show. There's a myriad of factors as to why Torchwood did well. The logic of "oh, well it did well when the original aired so let's make an Americanized version that Americans will love" is unsound.

I'm as torn by a prospective US Torchwood as you are. There is an opening in cannon to have Captain Jack just show up in the US (remember there is a Torchwood that has just gone missing somewhere), but do we really want him to. Remember, story goes that JB lost out to Eric McCormack for the role of Wil in "Wil and Grace" because he was not perceived as "gay enough." If the American networks can't handle a gay man playing a gay character, how are they ever going to handle a character like Captain Jack. Can they make Torchwood without the Captain Jack character.....in a word....NO!

I also thought a historical story of Torchwood would probaby work very well. We never get to see how exactally it gets started so it wouldn't contradict canon to just fill that stuff in. A fun steampunk- alien-adventure show would be great to see.

"One of the things that always kind of bugged me about both Doctor Who and Torchwood was that all of the alien encounters seemed to center around the UK and, in the case of the latter, Cardiff (likely for budgetary reasons)."

This struck a nerve for me. God forbid a TV show made in a country other than the US be that country-centric. I know it wasn't meant that way, but sheesh.

Actually there IS a reson for all the aliens n' stuff to be in Cardiff, being the fact that there's a huge rift in space and time through the city, but I digress.

Anyway, didn't Fox try and do their own Doctor Who in the 90's? Wasn't that where Paul McGann came from?
I wouldn't mind an American Torchwood, but I would mind if it becomes like awful fanfiction. On the otherhand I think Gwen gets annoying sometimes and a fresh look at her character can't hurt.

It's probably going to turn out like bad fanfiction, though.

In response to Lovely Assistant, if you note, the author also complained of the same problem with Buffy, set in California. There's no problem with a British show being British, but if the show often deals with alien encounters with the world, it does seem slightly ridiculous that all of the aliens would go to the UK. If for no other reason than a few smart ones might start landing in Brazil or something just so they wouldn't be caught as fast by the Doctor/Torchwood, who are also always in the UK.

BAD IDEA! I am a huge Torchwood fan and there is no way you can dumb it down or make it less risque without ruining it! The fragile little american minds of Americans can't handle this kind of show if they couldn't even handle Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip(NBC). Trying to americanize Torchwood would ruin the British version. In US, they get the "pretty" people to star but they have no talent. British actors & actresses know how to act! Please Mr. Davies, don't do it!

Why can america try to make their own original idea show and not try to copy shows from other countries, I laughed when they said they would make a US version of Kath & Kim, they show uses Aussie humour and the actors style is also the reason it is funny, you cant translate it to another culture when the show is specific to that cutlure.

Torchwood the pros and cons of.. WTF? :)