I've heard of US films being exported with changes to make them palatable to foreign audiences. The story I heard was not specific, but it had to do with American films that ended with the hero getting the girl, had to be changed for our Eastern friends to have the hero get killed. It was called "putting a Russian ending" on the film.

There has been a great deal written and aired about the movies, there are several good series out there and I'll bet there is a lot of hard information available on just what you are interested in.

There have also been some fascinating movies about movies. One of the most 'cutting' is: "Day of the Locust".

As for TV series, it does seem that Americans are very quick to copy something from abroad that appears to be a new idea, but it would not surprise me at all to learn that it has happened in the other direction. In the films, "Seven Samurai" famously led to "Magnificent Seven" but if one goes back to Kurosawa's inspiration, it was in the films of John Ford, so there is arguably a good deal of cross-fertilization involved.

I didn't know the Aussie origin of Kath and Kim but I find the American version un-bleeping-watchable, to the point of putting me off my food, and believe me it takes a lot to do that.