I think that for most people, the one you watched first will be the one you prefer.
So most people saw the British version first, so that's why they like that one better.
I watched Gracepoint and now I'm watching Broadchurch.
Here are what I see are the differences and pluses and minuses of both.
I think Americans, particular FOX viewers, like fast-paced, action-oriented shows, and so Gracepoint was too slow-moving for them. It might have done better on cable, where other slow-moving shows like "The Killing" and "The Bridge" and "Longmire" did better, at least for a while.
I think a certain percentage of the audience had already watched Broadchurch, especially critics, so they couldn't enjoy Gracepoint because it was both too much the same and too different. It wasn't EXACTLY the same but it was enough the same that it's hard to watch. I'm finding the same problem with having watched Broadchurch so soon after Gracepoint.
I think that in trying to Americanize it, they focused more on the emotions and the way people reacted, and so it was more over-wrought. I think that in particular Danny's mom was too unemotional in BC, whereas in GP she was just right. I thought the priest was much more likable and normal in BC. I think GP characters were creepier, almost like Twin Peaks, and more normal in BC. The actor who played Paul was good in GP but he was very unlikable. I thought the actor who played Danny's dad in GP was awful and not a very good actor. I thought all of the other actors in both shows were great. I thought Nick Nolte was much more convincing as a possible child molester.
I loved seeing David Tennant in both, and I thought his American accent was fine. I think that his character was far more obnoxious in GP than in BC.
There were a few changes in GP, like the prior romantic relationship between Paul and Beth seemed non-existent in BC but was a big plot point in GP. Beth's mom was not around in GP at all from what I recall.
I'm still watching BC, but I read that the ending is very similar. It's too bad they canceled GP. I really enjoyed it.
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tsegal-1
10 years ago
Nice analysis, Suzanne. I agree: the first version you see is the one you prefer. It's hard not to watch the second without constantly comparing.
One thing that didn't work as well in GP: Susan thinking her son was the murderer, mistaking Joe for him. The two men didn't really look alike at all. In BC, the counterpart characters were both baldies, so her mistake made more sense (while underscoring how much of a stranger her son is to her).
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jalola298
10 years ago
I decided fairly early in watching Gracepoint that I'd look at it as a course in the difference between UK and American TV writing, acting and production.
I managed to find some sources for Broadchurch online so I could go and watch it against Gracepoint. Generally, the Gracepoint scenes cut a line here or there that didn't matter to the plot, but took away some of the richness of the original scene. Establishing shots were also pared down, like the pan shot through the Latimers' house as Beth awoke and went downstairs. That was missing from Gracepoint. Again, not huge for the plot, but the imagery enriched the story.
One of the big differences I noticed was eye contact between the characters. When Hardy and Ellie visited the Latimers to confirm Danny's death, Ellie and the Latimers were giving lots of eye contact with each other. The Solanos and Ellie, in the parallel scene in Gracepoint, avoided each other's eyes. The difference was I felt the Latimers' grief more than the Solanos'. We don't know whether the American writers scripted the lack of eye contact or whether the director chose it (though it was the same director, James Strong).
Through the entire series, there was only one scene I preferred in Gracepoint and that was the exchange between Carver (Hardy) and Ellie over the CSI (SOCO) asking her out. Where Olivia Colman's Ellie commented "they've had their hands everywhere", Tennant as Carver in GP delivered the line as "could be useful, they put their hands everywhere".
All in all, it was little changes here and there that made the difference for me.
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