Top 10 Awful American Remakes of Inbetweeners Scenes/Moments

#10: Bike Scene

Jay is a goldmine for laughs in the original series. One classic moment is when he borrows Neil’s motorbike and crashes it straight into a shop. They added this scene to the American version as well, but it’s far less funny. Instead, they use it as the final moment for an episode, and Jay is trying to impress his father. In the original, the humour comes from Jay’s overconfidence, but here, there’s none of that; he simply pouts and then accelerates into a bush. Everyone in the school starts laughing and starts to vote him as the class clown. It retains none of the original’s humor and makes you feel uncomfortable for all the wrong reasons.

#9: Red Bull

In the UK series, one of the most iconic moments happens when Will has been chugging energy drinks to maximise his studying. This results in him having one of the worst exam experiences imaginable. For some reason, the American showrunners saw this and decided it could be an excuse for a Red Bull sponsorship. In their version, the episode instead centers around Will’s crush drinking too much Red Bull. It doesn’t make sense, and it’s not relatable. It’s fairly wacky and exaggerated, but not to the point where it’s funny; it just feels weird and forced.

#8: Toilet Scene

One of the first Will blunders happens in the pilot, when he is found doing a number 2 in the school toilet. The American version didn’t hesitate to recreate this scene, except they hesitated to make it funny. Instead of it being a group of lads who climb on top of the stalls to take photos, Will uses his blazer as a door. It falls, revealing him to a group of lads. One of them snaps a picture, and that’s it. There’s no secondhand embarrassment from the torture Will is being put through. Instead, you’re left thinking Will is not smart, and that’s the joke.

#7: Under 18s Disco

The original series’ under 18s disco episode was as funny as it was painful. The characters put themselves in an especially awkward situation, but they’ve got ulterior motives, like Will wanting to see Charlotte. This makes the entire ordeal comically frustrating to watch. Instead in the American version, it’s a house party at Will’s place. This makes all the older characters feel nothing but creepy for attending a party full of 12 year olds. The whole time, you’re just scratching your head thinking “why are they here?” In the original, you instead understand why they’re there, and are just hoping they don’t make the situation worse, which they always do.

#6: Underwear on the Bus

Who can forget the trip to Swanage from “The Inbetweeners” series 2? It ends with an almost Shakespearean series of events, with Simon almost getting hypothermia while Neil punches a fish to death. Across the pond, they decided to remove this entirely. Instead, the field trip episode ends with Will throwing up on a coach after a woman takes his bracelet for car sickness. Will then takes all his clothes off in the bathroom, and struts down the bus in his underwear. Whoever wrote this should be seriously embarrassed for this shambles of a climax.

#5: Civil War Battle

The adaptation of “The Field Trip” episode was so dire, it deserves to appear on this list twice. Instead of the lads going to a seaside town, then looking for a mythical MILF, they instead go to watch a Civil War reenactment. Maybe we’re just not American enough to relate, but it doesn’t feel funny at all compared to the original. So many golden moments were removed, being replaced by things like Neil dressing up as a Confederate soldier. Maybe they thought it would be more popular if they traded all the jokes for a low-budget action sequence.

#4: Car Door

Simon’s car gets ruined quicker than it took him to pass his driving test. Soon as the lads pull up to Thorpe Park, Jay swings the door out and it gets ripped off by a lamppost. This also happens in the American version, but it’s entirely humourless. This is strange as the jokes are more or less copied and pasted. There are so many reasons why it’s lost all humour. The characters’ delivery isn’t realistic, the editing entirely misses the mark, and there’s a total lack of swearing. In fairness, US television is far stricter about language, but it doesn’t feel accurate to how teenage boys actually talk, making them feel far less realistic.

#3: Vomit

They decided to merge the first two episodes for the American pilot. The group decide to bunk off and get drunk, leading to Simon vomiting all over Carli’s younger brother. The Americans removed the build up, eliminating the tension and therefore losing the humour in the scene’s climax. The misunderstanding between Will and Carli’s brother also doesn’t make sense. Nothing in this scenario feels at all realistic. The reason the original was so hilarious, was because it was teenagers making the worst decision in every scenario. But, those decisions felt realistic and relatable, as if they were acting on the intrusive thoughts we all choose to ignore. The American lads instead feel like cartoon characters.

#2: The Frisbee

It’s tough to forget the pain of watching the frisbee scene for the first time. The way the frisbee’s journey is drawn is edited perfectly, building up tension and anticipation. Then when it lands, you feel second hand embarrassment for the characters. In the US version, the frisbee is replaced with a football. Will throws it, it hits someone with crutches, and that’s it over. The editing is diabolical, there’s no build up and you don’t feel as if there were any consequences to their actions. As soon as it’s done, it cuts to the intro sequence and that’s it over. It only took them about 2 minutes to butcher an iconic moment.

#1: Bus Turds

Taking our top spot is the American version of “bus wankers”. The phrase became a staple of British culture, with teenagers all over the country shouting it out their first cars’ window. Americans struggled to adapt this, as they don’t use the word wanker often. Instead of finding a word that has the same meaning, they came up with “turd”. They had to choose something less scathing, or else it wouldn’t be broadcast on MTV. This means the joke gets thrown out the window more aggressively than Jay’s insult. When Simon gets shouted at, there’s basically no tension; it's done so poorly. This is one of many examples of the show forgetting the consequences of the lads' antics are where the humour arises.

Do you think they should try remaking “The Inbetweeners” again, or is the original good enough to stand alone? Let us know in the comments below!