Coupling Information

Coupling is a 2003 American remake of the British television sitcom of the same title, which aired on NBC.

Reception

It failed to perform in the ratings and was canceled before the November sweeps, with several episodes remaining unaired despite heavy publicity by the network. It was immediately panned as a poor imitation of the original UK series by viewers and critics. BBC America even ran commercials noting that they would play the original British versions on their station just after the American equivalent episodes on NBC aired, so that viewers could see instantly just how superior the original was. Miscasting and stilted delivery of a nearly identical script were believed to be the reasons for the failure, though creator Steven Moffat claims the level of network interference was the sole reason.

The American adaptation came at a time when NBC was having success with remakes of BBC shows, such as The Weakest Link and Dog Eat Dog. NBC would find success in 2005 with a remake of another BBC series, The Office, which began its ninth and final season in September 2012.

Because of what was deemed as indecent content, two affiliates of NBC refused to air the program; KSL-TV (Channel 5) in Salt Lake City, and WNDU-TV (Channel 16) in South Bend, Indiana. Both stations were owned by religious organizations, as KSL is owned by the Bonneville International division of the LDS Church, while WNDU was at the time owned by a subsidiary of The University of Notre Dame. In those markets, WB affiliate KUWB (Channel 30) and a UPN digital subchannel of CBS affiliate WSBT-TV (Channel 22), respectively, aired the series after their network's primetime lineups.

Jeff Zucker, former President and CEO of NBCUniversal, later said of Coupling that it "just sucked".

Cast

• Colin Ferguson as Patrick Maitland
• Jay Harrington as Steve Taylor
• Christopher Moynihan as Jeff Clancy
• Lindsay Price as Jane Honda
• Rena Sofer as Susan Freeman
• Sonya Walger as Sally Harper

Episodes

Ep#	Production number	Original airdate	Episode title	Written by	Based on UK episode
0	Unknown	Unaired	"Pilot"	Steven Moffat	"Inferno"
1	101	September 25, 2003	"The Right One"	Steven Moffat	"Flushed"
2	102	October 2, 2003	"Size Matters"	Steven Moffat	"Size Matters"
3	103	October 9, 2003	"Sex, Death & Nudity"	Steven Moffat	"Sex, Death & Nudity"
4	106	October 23, 2003	"Check/Mate"	Danny Zuker
5	104	Unaired	"Present Tense"	Paul Corrigan & Brad Walsh
6	105	Unaired	"A Foreign Affair"	Phoef Sutton & Steven Moffat	"The Girl with Two Breasts"
7	107	Unaired	"Nipple Effect"	J.J. Philbin
8	108	Unaired	"Dressed"	Steven Moffat & Phoef Sutton	"Dressed"
9	109	Unaired	"Object Lessons"	Liz Astrof
10	110	Unaired	"Holiday"	Paul Corrigan & Brad Walsh

The original unaired pilot starred Breckin Meyer as Jeff, Melissa George as Susan, and Emily Rutherfurd as Sally.

DVD release

It was announced on July 12, 2008, that Carsey Werner Home Entertainment were planning a home DVD release of all 11 episodes of the series. The Home DVD & Game Review website announced on March 29, 2009, that the series will be released on a 3-disc boxset.