Well, we can start with the understanding that faux-documentaries are now fairly common, and that the olympics as a huge public event is very attractive to satire. So two different shows being produced along these lines isn't completely unlikely, and once you have those two shows then there are always going to be similarities.

I don't know much about the idea that The Games was being pitched to the BBC and who from those meetings went on to produce Twenty Twelve. There is a suggestion that the makers of The Games had gone so far as to lend the writer of Twenty Twelve DVDs of their show before he went off and wrote his, which is pretty hilarious.

Regardless I think it's fair to say Twenty Twelve isn't a direct copy of The Games; it had its own tone and told its own jokes. (Whether you think those jokes are funny or not.) Stealing the general idea 'satirical mockumentary about the olympics organisers' would actually be totally legit - that happens all the time and is pretty much how art advances, by building on earlier ideas; stealing lines and situations wouldn't be, but I don't see that happening. If I were plagiarising The Games the genetically-engineered horse and 94m 100m track would have gone straight into my script, for starters.

In reply to this comment by kymbos:
Ok, I've only watched one episode, but the similarities were overwhelming to me. How is it different?

Ok, I've only watched one episode, but the similarities were overwhelming to me. How is it different?
In reply to this comment by gorillaman:
Hey thanks for reminding me I've been meaning to check out The Games. Just watched a couple of episodes and it's really pretty fantastic. I'm not sure Twenty Twelve can be accused of ripping them off any more than, say, The Thick of It could be said to have ripped off Yes, Minister; but there are a lot of similarities. Now I just wish there was a Beijing version.
In reply to this comment by kymbos:
Two things about Twenty Twelve:

1. It's a rip off of an Australian comedy set before the Sydney Olympics. The creators pitched it to the BBC, who passed then made one exactly the same.

2. It's not very funny. It's like a who's who of b-grade British comedic actors.

Will have a look at Him & Her if it's any good.

Hey thanks for reminding me I've been meaning to check out The Games. Just watched a couple of episodes and it's really pretty fantastic. I'm not sure Twenty Twelve can be accused of ripping them off any more than, say, The Thick of It could be said to have ripped off Yes, Minister; but there are a lot of similarities. Now I just wish there was a Beijing version.
In reply to this comment by kymbos:
Two things about Twenty Twelve:

1. It's a rip off of an Australian comedy set before the Sydney Olympics. The creators pitched it to the BBC, who passed then made one exactly the same.

2. It's not very funny. It's like a who's who of b-grade British comedic actors.

Will have a look at Him & Her if it's any good.

Two things about Twenty Twelve:

1. It's a rip off of an Australian comedy set before the Sydney Olympics. The creators pitched it to the BBC, who passed then made one exactly the same.

2. It's not very funny. It's like a who's who of b-grade British comedic actors.

Will have a look at Him & Her if it's any good.

Him & Her and Twenty Twelve are recent examples of excellence.

But there is an issue at the BBC that they seem to have forgotten, probably because so many of the executives have become corporate nothingmen, that the whole point of their funding model is they don't have to spend 90% of their budget and air-time on pandering low-brow shit. For every Attenborough documentary there's a Strictly Come Dancing, and for every QI there's, sorry Frankie Boyle fans, a Mock the Week. I could forgive them everything if the most important thing the BBC produces, their world-beating news coverage, weren't in the same spiralling decline.

And of course don't forget: £12 billion. TWELVE fucking BILLION fucking POUNDS. To stage a 3 week sporting event, with no evidence of any economic or health benefits in return. Shameful.
>> ^thumpa28:

Good for this guy, Hate the olympics, not usually but im a londoner. Not allowed to wear pepsi t-shirts, eat non-mcdonald fries, use a mastercard in the olympic village, zil lanes, not allowed to link to the locog website with 'derogatory' comments, locog refusing to release ticket details because all the prestige events sold to sponsors... All organised by that smug git Lord Coe. The sport comes a distant second.

This reminds me of the difference between an optimist and pessimist.

Lock a pessimist in a room full of "manure" and they will cry, cry, cry.

Lock an optimist in a room full of "manure", come back later, and you will find them happily digging through the crap with their bare hands. "With all this shit, there must be a pony in here somewhere!"

What's really funny about this is I hadn't realized you had come out of the sock puppet closet, chingalingachogchog. I was just honestly and pessimistically responded to the pile!

I need to unleash my inner optimist!


>> ^chingalera:

Damn, see?! Here I am thinkin' alla time that my less-than-clever observations have a kernel of truth embedded in the of manure.

Congratulations! Your comment has just received enough votes from the community to earn you 1 Power Point. Thank you for your quality contribution to VideoSift.

Ah. I misunderstood. I thought I was being taken to task for daring to "censor" someone on the Sift.

Thanks for clarifying!

And I probably shouldn't have posted my comment. That is true, too.

>> ^alien_concept:

>>
What, no. Why would you try be something you're not? Opinions and stating them keep this place alive! And actually I'm pretty certain me and my hate for the sarcasm button puts me in the minority

>> ^bareboards2:

@alien_concept -- I knew me saying that would be frowned upon. I chose to say it anyway.
And here I was just saying to a sweet member of the community how I could learn from their example about always being nice and keeping my opinions to myself. I didn't last one day after having that private exchange.
Ah well. I guess I'll never learn.


What, no. Why would you try be something you're not? Opinions and stating them keep this place alive! And actually I'm pretty certain me and my hate for the sarcasm button puts me in the minority

>> ^bareboards2:

Needs the sarcasm button to take the edge of this, dear ching. A bit harsh, given you don't even know the woman. I'm assuming.

>> ^chingalera:
>> ^TheSluiceGate:
My girlfriend wrote to herself in the future when she was a teenager. When the date came to read the letter, she took a precursory glance and then tore it up saying that she was a "stupid teenage asshole".

....and she had the guts and the brains and years of experience honing the fine art of asshole for all those years to recognize that teenaged asshole-Otherwise she wouldn't be with you SluiceGate and she wouldn't be able to spot that young asshole unless you guessed it, she's still an asshole a bit smoother around the edges!



Nothing needs the sarcasm button!

Needs the sarcasm button to take the edge of this, dear ching. A bit harsh, given you don't even know the woman. I'm assuming.


>> ^chingalera:

>> ^TheSluiceGate:
My girlfriend wrote to herself in the future when she was a teenager. When the date came to read the letter, she took a precursory glance and then tore it up saying that she was a "stupid teenage asshole".

....and she had the guts and the brains and years of experience honing the fine art of asshole for all those years to recognize that teenaged asshole-Otherwise she wouldn't be with you SluiceGate and she wouldn't be able to spot that young asshole unless you guessed it, she's still an asshole a bit smoother around the edges!

>> ^TheSluiceGate:

My girlfriend wrote to herself in the future when she was a teenager. When the date came to read the letter, she took a precursory glance and then tore it up saying that she was a "stupid teenage asshole".


....and she had the guts and the brains and years of experience honing the fine art of asshole for all those years to recognize that teenaged asshole-Otherwise she wouldn't be with you SluiceGate and she wouldn't be able to spot that young asshole unless you guessed it, she's still an asshole a bit smoother around the edges!

Congratulations! Your video, Guy Talks To His 12 Year Old Self 20 Years Later, has reached the #1 spot in the current Top 15 New Videos listing. This is a very difficult thing to accomplish but you managed to pull it off. For your contribution you have been awarded 2 Power Points.

This achievement has earned you your "Golden One" Level 29 Badge!

In reply to this comment by alien_concept:
In reply to this comment by pumkinandstorm:
Brilliant! *promote

Cheeeeeeeeeeers! So brilliant, so charming... what a great idea, and so cute the way he executes it :

I very much agree! It won't take long to see this one in the top 15!!!