Torchwood: Crossing the Pond?

News has been floating around about Torchwood coming to American televisions on a main stream television station. It would not be a direct transition, where the episodes already made and aired on BBC America would be re-aired. Sources say that FOX is developing an American version of the show.

FOX is supposedly working with Russell T. Davies, who revived Doctor Who for the BBC and created Torchwood as a spin-off of the revered British programme, to create the American version. Rumors state that star John Barrowman may be lured back across the pond to continue his portrayal of Captain Jack Harkness. (Note: Barrowman was originally up for the part of “Will” in Will and Grace. He lost out to Erik McCormack). The linked website also suggests that other British stars may be lured to the American version.

I’m honestly not very optimistic about this development. Torchwood wouldn’t lend itself to an American translation as it is too tied with Doctor Who, particularly with Jack. In England, the audience came in to the series with some background on Jack from Doctor Who—his con man days, his journeys with the Doctor, how he first came back from death—that the team didn’t have. It was a bit of dramatic irony and it was fun to watch the team learn something new about their leader. However, it could be interesting for American audiences to learn the new information along with the team. Jack himself would probably have to undergo a transformation for the transition. Jack is well-known to be “omnisexual”—having sex with women, men and aliens. For mainstream American television, this would have to be severely toned down and may cause Jack to lose what makes him…Jack.

Also, it would seem that despite the ending of Torchwood’s third season finale, Children of Earth Day 5, the series is gearing up for a fourth season. Articles quote Davies as saying that he has storylines for the surviving members of Torchwood Three—Gwen, Rhys and Jack. Would Barrowman be able to do both seasons—as the British season generally runs about 13 episodes while a full American season is approximately 22 episodes. Or would it be wiser just to leave Jack across the ocean where he could just be Jack?

Thoughts?