"Life" in the USA
DVD cover of original version of the programme... I was rather surprised when I came across this trailer, released some years ago in the US to advertise the BBC/Discovery Channel series Life : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_mBj09YEfk DVD cover of USA version of the programme. Despite the current shift occurring in the general format of documentaries, where often we seem to get more about the presenters or theoretical creators of the programmes than the intended subject matter itself, I was surprised just at how much they have needed to portray a documentary series as an action film to get viewings in the USA. (Until I realised, the Americans aren't alone on this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMuUcoDySpU . Although this series isn't one of those "let's film the camera crew filming the animals for an hour", I feel obliged to point out how the public worldwide, Britain and the BBC's audience included, seems to need to get a movie out of a doc...