Norway’s Skam gets US remake
An American version of the wildly popular series Skam (Shame) will go into production in 2017, broadcaster NRK reported
Photo: NRK
Norway’s teen hit is coming to America.
The Local
The program, which follows the lives of teenagers in Oslo, is Norway’s biggest online hit ever with around 200,000 viewers for each episode.
It has been such a massive hit in the other Nordic countries that it was recently given the Norden Association’s annual language prize for popularizing Norwegian in neighboring countries.
There has also been a global clamoring for the program to air with English subtitles, a gap that’s been filled by Norwegian fans taking it upon themselves to provide translations on unofficial YouTube rips of the series.
The show has received praise for its modern delivery method. Skam clips are published online every day and then put together into a full episode that airs every Friday both online and on the youth-oriented channel NRK3.
The U.S. rights for the show were purchased by producer Simon Fuller’s XIX Entertainment production company. Fuller is behind international successes like the Idol franchise, So You Think You Can Dance, and the pop group Spice Girls.
“Skam has the potential to be a very influential series in North America where we don’t have anything like it. It shows that Norway and Scandinavia are at the forefront of innovation and creativity and I am proud to be part of making Skam available to a much bigger audience than it is today,” Fuller told NRK.
Haakon Moslet, NRK’s head of youth programming, told The Guardian that Fuller’s version would be a full remake meant to appeal to the American market.
Norwegians who may feel queasy about what an Americanized version of Skam might look like could take solace in another bit of news announced on Friday.
A fourth season of Skam will be coming in the spring, NRK said.
You can catch up on the series at skam.p3.no (if you understand Norwegian).
This article was originally published on The Local.
It also appeared in the Dec. 16, 2016, issue of The Norwegian American. To subscribe, visit SUBSCRIBE or call us at (206) 784-4617.
