The Inbetweeners USA: First reviews

The initial trailer for an MTV USA remake of sitcom hit The Inbetweeners was met with what can only be described as a significantly negative response from existing (largely British) fans of the series, and to date has picked up nearly 66,000 'dislikes' on YouTube.

However, whilst the show will be seen on E4 a little later this year, we Brits aren't actually the target audience for the new series - which premiered just last night - so we thought we'd take a look at some domestic US reviews.

Popular magazines Life & Style and People each gave the show 3 out of 4 stars, with the former describing The Inbetweeners as a "sharp comedy". Meanwhile, US Weekly described the boys as: "as likeable as the high-caliber Freaks and Geeks cast", awarding 3.5 of 4 stars.

Newsday said "The first three episodes totally nail it. Even if the guys never do" and rated the series as 'Grade A'.

The Boston Globe noted that the first few episodes "lack some of the texture and distinction" of the original, but nevertheless described it as having "a refreshing sincerity".

Website IGN took a similarly mutedly positive view on the previewed 3 episodes, saying that "trailers can be misleading, and so it is with The Inbetweeners, a comedy cover that, while not the equal of the original, nevertheless regularly delivers laughs."

Its reviewer - clearly a fan of our original - went on to note that the opening episode mixes half each of the first two British episodes, with "the old jokes just about hitting their mark second time around, and the new ones laugh-out-loud funny". He concluded that, based on just those first few episodes, the series "delivers just enough laughs to make the Transatlantic journey worthwhile".

Over at the CBS-owned website TV.com, they describe The Inbetweeners as "one of the good [remakes]". Reviewer Price Peterson explained: "Not to sound sacrilegious, but I may even prefer this version to the original (which I found funny but not necessarily must-watch). The characters here are far more likeable, strange, and generally more appealing than their British counterparts".

Notably, he concluded that "their adventures are more relatable to those of us who grew up in American suburbia."

Meanwhile, influentially geeky entertainment website The A.V. Club says: "MTV remakes The Inbetweeners, and you don't have to run away in terror, surprisingly," going on to call the show a "solid little comedy" that "takes a little bit to get going, but once it settles in, it's got plenty of nice moments for anyone who's curious enough to stick it out."

Elsewhere, the LA Times listed the opening episode as its top TV highlight yesterday, whilst Daily Variety said "The Inbetweeners earns a place near the top of its class", and the Orlando Sentinel described both the comedy and performances as "amusing and broad".

However, other reviews have not looked on the initial few episodes quite so warmly. The Cape Cod Times, for example, calls it "almost intolerably bland" and laments MTV's decision to bleep the strongest language and tone down some of the most coarse elements of the show.

So we come to the British Comedy Guide's opinion. Well, naturally this series will always be compared with the E4 original, and for many people a quite natural loyalty to the first incarnation of the show that they saw will lead them to view MTV's remake in a negative light; but we thoroughly enjoyed the first episode.

How does it really compare? Remarkably well actually, and we laughed a lot. The American production team - and cast - have clearly taken a loving look at the original show, getting a real feel for the tone of such a beloved sitcom and what it's really about. In fact, their adaptation is not the horrendous travesty that many fans seemed to fear but appears to be a very faithful sibling to The Inbetweeners, capturing its spirit of youthful naivety and social misfit status, with necessary adjustments to fit the characters into the American society and way of life.

How the season progresses remains to be seen, but a source close to the production reliably informs us that it breaks away from the British scripts fairly soon and really starts taking its own shape. The remake of The Office has done the same, but will The Inbetweeners be able to emulate that formula over an extended period? We await with interest.