Watch: Similarities Between FARGO Movie and TV Show

The FX series Fargo is one of my favorite shows on TV, and I love the way creator/showrunner Noah Hawley has captured the essence of the Coen Brothers' movie and ported it to the small screen. But even though Joel and Ethan are executive producers on the show, that doesn't mean they're big fans of it. In a new interview with Radio Times (via The Playlist), Joel said:

"We're just not very interested. I mean, we're perfectly happy with it. We have no problem with it. It just feels divorced from our film somehow."

Seemingly a big part of the disconnect comes from the fact that it's a TV show that explores characters over a much longer period of time than a two-hour film. 

"Here's the thing," Joel said. "We work short. Our longest movie (2008's Oscar winner No Country for Old Men) is two hours two minutes. It's just not how we think about stories. I mean, after two hours with a character we feel we're pretty much done with them."

Ethan added, "Would it be interesting to do something like that at some point? I don't even know where you'd start frankly."

I'm sure it's a little weird for them to watch the show and see their style aped on the small screen, but it still strikes me as slightly odd that they'd throw a bit of shade at a show that they're executive producing (though that credit is likely just in name only).

In any case, check out this great video that highlights the similarities between the show and the movie — though beware of spoilers if you aren't caught up with both seasons of the show yet. (There's also some NSFW language, in case you're blasting this video at work or something.)

Although telling a new story with different caracthers in each season, the title is not the only thing in common between the 1996 movie and the series: the snowy Minnesota location, a lot of blood, dark humor, some characters (and even their surnames), some events and even one that sets the series in the same universe as the film. In this video I wanted to connect some of the events, characters and scenes of the movie and both seasons, to see how similar they are. Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.