# Tell me about the BEST of UK, Aussie, Kiwi, Canadian Tv over the past 30 years **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 20, 2003, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-the-best-of-uk-aussie-kiwi-canadian-tv-over-the-past-30-years/220090 "2003-12-20T01:28:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-the-best-of-uk-aussie-kiwi-canadian-tv-over-the-past-30-years/220090/21 "2003-12-24T00:24:04Z")
Thanks for the responses and for reminding me of some shows I forgot. A related question: does anyone know how a foriegn TV show actually makes it to the USA? Canadian TV would be easiest to do of course. Just slip it under the door, Myron. The BBC stuff that’sall over PBS, tho, and the Aussie/Kiwi I’ve never seen in this market, what decides whether one gets imported and the other doesn’t? Also, how much American TV is seen in the non-USA places? ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-the-best-of-uk-aussie-kiwi-canadian-tv-over-the-past-30-years/220090/22 "2003-12-24T01:49:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by NoClueBoy \* > Thanks for the responses and for reminding me of some shows I forgot. > > A related question: does anyone know how a foriegn TV show actually makes it to the USA? Canadian TV would be easiest to do of course. Just slip it under the door, Myron. The BBC stuff that’sall over PBS, tho, and the Aussie/Kiwi I’ve never seen in this market, what decides whether one gets imported and the other doesn’t? Also, how much American TV is seen in the non-USA places? A lot of deals seem to get done at [trade fairs like this one](http://www.miptv.com/App/homepage.cfm?moduleid=75&appname=100340). As for how much American TV is seen here, these sites give the current schedules for the main terestrial networks in the UK: [BBC](http://www.bbc.co.uk/tv/); [ITV](http://www.itv.com/); [Channel 4](http://www.channel4.com/), and [Five](http://www.five.tv/). I’m sure you’ll recognise plenty of titles there, but there are plenty more American shows on the cable/satellite channels, which include Discovery, National Geographic, Paramount, Disney and Hallmark for instance (and I notice that _Seinfeld_ is being reshown on Paramount). [This site](http://www.radiotimes.beeb.com/) is for our equivalent of the TV Guide, which gives even more info. I don’t know why there haven’t been more responses to this thread from UK Dopers (perhaps 30 years was a bit intimidating?), but [this list](http://www.bfi.org.uk/features/tv/100/index.html) was drawn up by the British Film Institute to identify the all time top 100 UK television programmes. The top 10 were listed as: 1 _Fawlty Towers_ 2 _Cathy Come Home (The Wednesday Play)_ 3 _Doctor Who_ 4 _The Naked Civil Servant_ 5 _Monty Python’s Flying Circus_ 6 _Blue Peter_ 7 _Boys From The Blackstuff_ 8 _Parkinson_ 9 _Yes Minister/Yes Prime Minister_ 10 _Brideshead Revisited_ I expect that 1, 3, 5, 9 and 10 will already be familiar to you. 2 was a drama about homelessness shown in the 1960s. 4 was a biography of Quentin Crisp. 6 is a long-running kids’ magazine show. 7 was a tough drama about unemployment in the 1980s. 8 is a long-running talk show. That list seems to reflect critical acclaim more than big audiences. The biggest audiences naturally go to stuff like sports events and soap operas, but popular comedies and dramas are also included in the BFI list. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-the-best-of-uk-aussie-kiwi-canadian-tv-over-the-past-30-years/220090/23 "2003-12-24T02:08:31Z")
Very nice, **Everton**! 🙂 I’ve got some sites to read now. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-the-best-of-uk-aussie-kiwi-canadian-tv-over-the-past-30-years/220090/24 "2003-12-24T02:29:21Z")
Two good current Canadian shows: [Trailer Park Boys](http://www.showcase.ca/trailerparkboys/) and [Kevin Spencer](http://www.kevinspencer.com/). Note: They have completely screwed up that Kevin Spencer website since the last time I looked at it. It now just sits there and does nothing if you don’t have JavaScript enabled, it has one of those annoying flash interfaces, and it doesn’t work at all in Opera. Complain! :mad: ---
**Author:** ![MoodIndigo1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e8c25b/32.png) [@MoodIndigo1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MoodIndigo1)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-the-best-of-uk-aussie-kiwi-canadian-tv-over-the-past-30-years/220090/25 "2003-12-24T02:30:45Z")
Most of the Canadian TV shows that I can think of have already been mentioned, one exception being \*Trailer Park Boys \*. The two first seasons are available on DVD. It’s hard to describe, it’s outrageous, funny, coarse, maddening, touching (unintentionally). Here is a link to the imdb entry. Check a few of the user comments, not just the first one. ---
**Author:** ![MoodIndigo1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e8c25b/32.png) [@MoodIndigo1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MoodIndigo1)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-the-best-of-uk-aussie-kiwi-canadian-tv-over-the-past-30-years/220090/26 "2003-12-24T02:32:15Z")
Manduck, GMTA. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-the-best-of-uk-aussie-kiwi-canadian-tv-over-the-past-30-years/220090/27 "2003-12-24T03:22:06Z")
_Blackadder, Red Dwarf, the Goodies_ I caught _The Games_ marathon on WGBH as well and was fascinated by it. I assumed they’d start showing in rotation at some point, but they never did. ---
**Author:** ![Torgo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@Torgo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Torgo)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-the-best-of-uk-aussie-kiwi-canadian-tv-over-the-past-30-years/220090/28 "2003-12-24T04:24:16Z")
Any of you Aussies remember **The Paul Hogan Show**? It was syndicated here in the states briefly in the late 70s (I think it may have been riding on **Benny Hill’s** coattails); I watched it growing up in So. California on KCOP-13. I remember one of his characters was this beer-swilling superhero who propelled himself across the skies with his intestinal gas. It was actually pretty funny. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-the-best-of-uk-aussie-kiwi-canadian-tv-over-the-past-30-years/220090/29 "2003-12-24T05:19:41Z")
I can’t believe that nobody is going to mention _The Beachcombers_. What? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-the-best-of-uk-aussie-kiwi-canadian-tv-over-the-past-30-years/220090.md?page=1)