“Patron Kim?” (Turkish version of “Who’s the Boss?”)
Every now and then, I’ll find myself immersed in a wiki/YouTube hunt for parallel-universe international versions of things I’ve taken for granted. And suddenly, I find myself dizzied by the size of the world.
This, for instance.
Though the show had been broadcast in Germany in a dubbed version as ‘Wer ist hier der Boss? since 1992 on RTL Television, a year later the channel produced 15 early episodes with a German cast. The show was called Ein Job fürs Leben (A Life’s Job). Tony was named Vito, an Italian guest-worker from Berlin-Neukölln and former striker of soccer club Hertha BSC. Angela Bower was named Barbara Hoffmann, their home was located in Hamburg’s upscale suburb Othmarschen. Despite these little changes, the original scripts were used for shooting.
And this (The Upper Hand in the UK), and this (¿Quién es el jefe? in Argentina), and this, for Christ’s sake (Unhappily Ever After dubbed in German with the oddest, most other-worldly studio audience track I’ve ever heard).
I’ll be frank. When I spend a little time in the fictive TV houses of other cultures, it frequently scares the shit out of me.
