My father loved *The Two Ronnies * and The Dave Allen Show both shown Sunday nights on WTTW in Chicago.
Well I got hooked on ‘Eastenders’ beginning in late '89 or so.
I remember watching those on the same channel back in the 1980s. Good times. There was another show called Good Neighbors (?) that popped up occasionally too that I liked.
My theory is that the BBC prefers to put their shows on specialized streaming services like Britbox or Acorn than to put them on BBC America.
And when I say “prefers”, I mean “thinks they can make more money with”
…while patting the short old bald man on the head.
Does “reality TV” count? Great British Bake Off/Baking Show is the flagship, naturally.
The Prisoner was broadcast on CBS I’m pretty sure. In any case it was one of the three main US networks at the time.
Jodie Whittaker was in that too, right?
Yes, she was, and it was probably a lot of Americans’ first real exposure to her, as well. I remember that, when it was announced that she would be taking over the lead role in Doctor Who, her role in Broadchurch was often referred to, as a point of reference.
Most definitely. I watch the Roku channel dedicated to this somewhat often.
It was slightly less good than the original but still very good. They added an extra twist to the ending that would’ve made for an interesting second season. But no one watched.
Was Only Fools and Horses ever shown in the US? Massively popular here in the UK in the 80s and 90s, and critically acclaimed as well (at least, until they flogged the dead horse and brought it back in the early 00s).
Don’t forget Sherlock. You know, the one featuring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman.
Not widely, I don’t believe. It wouldn’t surprise me if, like a lot of British shows, it was shown by some local public television stations (as was the case with other British shows back then), but I confess, I barely know anything about the show, so I don’t think it ever had much exposure here.
As I suspected really. It never seems to get mentioned on the Dope when discussing the best British shows but at its best it was peerless. Perhaps it was felt the humour wouldn’t ‘translate’.
I remember this show was on a TON but I don’t remember anyone being in to it or even watching it. Maybe it was the absolute cheapest show for PBS to get.
I do remember Mr. Bean being pretty popular. My step-grandpa absolutely loved it!
Speaking of Rowan Atkinson vehicles – Blackadder has a dedicated following in the U.S. I don’t know if it was ever shown on U.S. UHF or cable stations when it was new in the 1980s, but by the mid-1990s I remember many people in my social orbit renting the Blackadder series on VHS, making copies, sharing them with friends, etc.
Much of this same cohort also enjoyed A Bit of Fry and Laurie, and later shows such as Spaced and Black Books. Not sure if it’s more accurate to say these latter three programs are “popular in the U.S.” or that they “have a significant cult following in the U.S.”
I first watched it on WTTW (the Chicago PBS station) in '89 and '90. As with a lot of British shows back then, I think that it was a matter of being carried locally by certain PBS stations, rather than being a “network” PBS show, like Masterpiece Theater, which virtually all PBS stations carried.
Yeah I fall into that category of Anglophile TV consumer, and those shows (along with The Young Ones) were my gateway. But I don’t think any of them were very popular in the US. The only people I know who have heard of Spaced are people I’ve lent my Spaced boxed set to.
The IT Crowd got popular in the US, well after it had first aired, because it got on Netflix, like Bake Off. I think QI and Taskmaster are very popular now because of YouTube, especially since Taskmaster just chucks their stuff up there for free!
Danger Man was broadcast in the US under the title Secret Agent.
Jason King
U.F.O.
Space: 1999