So I just discovered my cable compoany (Comcast) has a channel called BBC America. I’ve watched a few shows over the past couple of days and I have to say some of these shows are downright funny.
Some curious questions to my fellow Brit-Dopers…
1.) Just curious as to how my humor parallels with British folks. Is Coupling considered a good show across the pound? How about Brilliant?
2.) How old are these shows?
3.) Whats up with the 40min sitcoms? what do you guys do with the extra 20mins?
4.) Maybe it was just a coinsidence but I noticed from the shows I watched that Americans werre refered to quite often. So are you guys always poking fun at us? or was that just a fluke? (Not that I’m offended or anything.)
Brilliant!, known as The Fast Show here, was a huge success - it ran for maybe six years, had a few spin-offs and a grand finale, all that. It also introduced a quite incredible number of catchphrases into everyday British parlance - “suit you, sir”, “I’ll get me coat”, “n-ii-ce”… almost any Brit between the ages of 15 and 50 would get the Fast Show reference immediately.
I’m not sure about what people think of Coupling. I’ve only seen it once. I thought it was… OK. Good script, no so great acting. It gets decent ratings, though.
The 40-minute sitcom thing is because most of the shows on BBC America were originally made for the BBC’s British networks, naturally, and the Beeb don’t show any commercials here (there are commercial networks too). Obviously, a show made for a 30-minute slot on the BBC will need more time when shown on a commercial network, unless they edit it.
They’re showing the Fast Show?!?! Brilliant!!!
The contrasting perspective on the 40-minute programmes…two back-to-back Simpsons episodes on the BBC takes 45 minutes. That’s two half-hour episodes. :wally
Coupling seems to have been surprise hit in America - it was never at all popular here. I didn’t like it. It seemed tedious, too script-driven, and (ok, cliche) formulaic.
What other shows do you get on BBC America?
Oh, excellent! I understand she is on all the time, but I don’t have a TV, let alone cable, let alone the fancy sort of cable that you need to have to get BBC America.
I knew BBC America was bad…but I never realised just how bad it could get.
I don’t know where to start. You’re getting the worst generic elements of mediocre formats, and are being offered absolutely nothing interesting. Let alone challenging, or artistically adventurous.
I suspect it all comes down to our old friends, the lawyers. Getting full clearance for the typical BBC America programmes won’t be a problem. Dealing with anything controversial, and you’ve a whole new set of lawyers to talk to.
For some reason I love Ground Force. It is especially strange when you consider that I live in a Brooklyn apartment and have no yard. In fact, when I moved to NYC, the idea of never having to mow a lawn again was quite appealing.
I love Coupling. I laugh out loud even when watching it alone and depressed. Of course Changing Rooms, Desing Rules, and Faking It are really cool.
Now Bravo is now showing Queer Eye for the Straight Guy UK edition. The format is exactly like the US show. The really strange thing is that they sometimes have subtitles. They are speaking english but for some reason the producers don’t think we’ll get it. Sometimes they do translate a bit of slang and that makes sense but overall it almost exactly like the US show.
BBC America shows an amazing number of home improvement shows: House Invaders, Changing Rooms, House Doctor, Life Laundry, Ground Force, etc.
My theory is that these shows translate better than some of the dramas or comedies. I’m a reasonably sophisticated American but still have problems with some of the cultural references in the jokes.
It’s simpler than that - just that an astonishing number of ‘makeover’ shows are being made (because they’re cheap). Our channels are stuffed full of them, too.
)