BRITISH ACCENT ON U.S. TV MARKET; EUROPEAN FIRMS MAKING THE MOVE TO WOW NETWORKS.

Byline: Valerie Kuklenski Daily News Staff Writer

One if by land, two if by sea ... and three if by network or cable TV.

The British are coming again, but this time it's not redcoats or four mopheads from Liverpool. Their weapon of choice? Television.

Blimey.

In May, Europe's largest producer of television programming quietly established a beachhead in Santa Monica with Granada Entertainment USA.

The plan is to adapt its English shows or produce new ones for American networks, and Granada is not the only British TV company with this in mind.

Its opening foray is ``Cracker,'' the new shrink-vs.-criminal drama airing 9 p.m. Thursdays on ABC. The series, which has a 13-week deal, is a joint production of Granada and Los Angeles-based Kushner-Locke.

The original British series is familiar to some Americans who caught it on cable's A&E network. For ABC, it has been set in Los Angeles and recast with American actors, with Robert Pastorelli in the lead.

Adaptation of British TV series for the colonies is not new. Among the many already seen here are ``Till Death Do Us Part'' (``All in the Family''), ``Man About the House'' (``Three's Company'') and ``One Foot in the Grave'' (``Cosby''). NBC's ``Men Behaving Badly'' was developed in England by Simon Nye and in its 1996-97 season used a few of Nye's British scripts. Like the others before it, it was imported in a licensing agreement between its original producer, in this case Pearson Television International, and an American production company.

Making the leap

``Cracker'' is the first drama series to jump the pond, and the first fictional show created for the U.S. market in which the British producer has remained involved. And while adapting it for American audiences took more than changing ``lift'' to ``elevator,'' its first two episodes were closely based on a British script.

Scott Siegler, an American who's president of Granada Entertainment USA, says the company's goal is ``to put American series onto American networks, irrespective of their creative origins.''

``Having said that, it would be foolish not to take advantage of the creative reservoir that Granada U.K. has, because it's among the largest in the world.''

Kind of like Disney locking the vault and throwing away the key? ``Exactly,'' he said.

Steve Tao, vice president of drama series for ABC, said a remake of ``Cracker,'' proposed by the William Morris Agency on Granada's behalf, was just what the network needed.

``We were looking at shows that had unique protagonists - the next generation of the flawed hero,'' he explained, a vehicle centered on an Andy Sipowicz type. He liked psychologist Gerry Fitzgerald's human failings and his noble approach to his profession and family.

Tao said ABC is talking with Granada writers about more drama series for 1998.

Not everything translates for the American TV market. Roseanne bought - and then let go - the rights to adapt Britain's ``Absolutely Fabulous.'' While its bawdy, boozy humor was fine for cable, apparently it was too much for the taste arbiters of America's broadcast networks.

A better pitch?

The greatest appeal for U.S. programming executives in considering British series is that they come with a track record.

A typical series pitch begins as a pilot script with sketchy character descriptions and some preconceived casting notions that may or may not pan out.

But Granada and Pearson, which also has set up shop in Los Angeles, can present three or four scripts and videotaped episodes, making it much easier for American programmers to get a feel for a series.

``It certainly gives us a clear blueprint on which to base decisions,'' said Anita Addison, vice president of dramatic series development at CBS, who has discussed programs for 1998 with both Pearson and Granada.

``You can ascertain where the dramatic development is going,'' she said. ``It also provides a certain type of insurance against accidents and mistakes.''

That's not to say that a ratings-topping, award-winning show comes in on a silver platter. Most British series run about six episodes a season and peter out of production after three or four years.

American networks generally make 13-week deals to start and hope for several seasons of 22 episodes apiece.

That's one reason why Pearson is packaging not only its Thames series library, but also highly regarded British writers ready to plunge into the U.S. market.

Mark Zakarin, executive vice president of original programming at Showtime Networks, also has talked with Granada and says he likes the idea of adapting imported shows.

``Anyone who has ever been in development has been shocked or appalled by the way a great idea doesn't work out,'' he said, adding that casting errors or weak scripts can torpedo something that seemed to have ``hit'' written all over it.

``If all there were to being successful in this business were good ideas, we'd all be a lot more successful,'' Zakarin said.

Mixing it up

American viewers are accustomed to seeing attractive, intelligent, sensitive types in lead roles. For every poorly dressed bigot like Dennis Franz's character in ``NYPD Blue'' or cynical alcoholic like Jerry Orbach's in ``Law & Order,'' there is a Jimmy Smits or Benjamin Bratt.

``The history of British TV is replete with flawed roles; American TV is not,'' Zakarin said. But he believes Americans are more sophisticated than they used to be - and therefore more open to characters like Gerry Fitzgerald.

``It wants heroes, yes, but heroes that are nuanced, that are complex, not Mount Rushmore,'' he said.

So what is the downside of bringing in series?

For one thing, it changes how American writers work on an upstart show.

``You're not taking a blueprint and fashioning a building out of it,'' Zakarin said. ``You're picking up a building and moving it over block by block.''

He sees two significant pitfalls in the process.

``The downside is if you simply say, `This thing worked there. Let's simply reproduce it here,' '' he said. ``Or `There's something special that worked there. Now let's pasteurize it and make it safe for America.' ''

CAPTION(S):

Drawing, 3 Photos

Drawing: (Cover--Color) THE BRITISH ARE COMING TO A TELEVISION SET NEAR YOU

Tried-and-true British TV shows are being retooled for the American viewing audience.

Jon Gerung/Daily News

Photo: (1) Adapted from a British show of the same name, ``Cracker,'' starring Lee Ermey, left, Robert Pastorelli, Robert Wisdom and Angela Featherstone, airs Thursdays on ABC.

(2) The original ``Cracker,'' shown stateside on the A&E cable network, stars Geraldine Somerville, Robbie Coltrane, Lorcan Cranitch and Ricky Tomlinson.

(3) NBC's ``Men Behaving Badly'' was developed in England by Simon Nye and produced by Pearson Television International. In its 1996-97 season, it even used a few British scripts.