On 21 March, Sweden's channel TV4 premiered its first ever English-language television sitcom, Welcome to Sweden, with 1.7 million viewers tuning in. Welcome to Sweden tells the story of a New York accountant, Bruce Evans, who falls in love with a Swedish banker named Emma, and decides to follow her back to Sweden. Comedy ensues with Bruce's culture shock and his interactions with Emma's parents.
Welcome to Sweden
is the brainchild of Greg Poehler, the brother of Amy Poehler, who has turned
his real life experiences into a new series. Poehler worked as a lawyer in New
York City, but chose to follow his then girlfriend back to her native Sweden,
providing him with a great idea for Swedish and English-speaking audiences. Teaming
up with his sister, Greg created, executive produced, and is now starring in
the show as Bruce. Welcome to Sweden
stars famous American and Swedish actors: Amy Poehler, Patrick Duffy, Illeana
Douglas, Lena Olin, and Claes Månsson. Will Ferrell is also set to guest star
in the second episode of the season.
While the show has already premiered in Sweden, NBC is set
to air the show starting on 10 July. This is the first show of its kind to
premiere in and involve two countries simultaneously. Welcome to Sweden is filmed in New York, Los Angeles, and Sweden
and features both English and Swedish dialogue. Greg Poehler has
said that "having the show broadcast in the US could only be a positive
sign for Sweden and Swedes in general," implying that Welcome to Sweden can only boost Sweden's image in the US and can
make the American public more receptive to Sweden's people and culture. The show
can be further appreciated by the Swedish and Swedish-speaking population in
the US, as well as the expat community in Sweden, giving each group a taste of
home. Poehler also stated that the growing attention for the show is"…further
validation that we made a show that people like and are responding to - both in
Sweden and the US," which illustrates the power the media holds in
intercultural exchange and cultural diplomacy.
I think this TV program is great idea for spreading positive image of Sweden and for getting good attention from the United States.
ReplyDeleteAs you mentioned, many actors has been used as main characters in this TV program, I would say this program is going to be successful to get attention from both the United States and Sweden.
However, my concern is that, this program can show Swedish cultural aspects such as daily lives, family, business and so on; but on the other hand, whether the American cultural aspects can be shown enough in it seems problem, because this story is about American guy's moving to Sweden.
Therefore, it can be happened that American people can be attracted by this program, while Sweden audience cannot really get what is the American culture.
However, through this TV program, I think at least American people can get attracted by Sweden and tourism from the United States and Sweden can be boosted as an outcome of this program.
So it can still be effective for successful public diplomacy between the United States and Sweden.