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BOLLOCKS!

Fair warning! I am now officially sick of hearing how the Brits in general and BBC in particular have much better humour than the Americans. I swear to Rod, the next time I hear someone say this, I will put them in restraints, clamp their eyelids open, and subject them to repeat viewings of Keeping Up Appearances, Father Ted, and Gimme Gimme Gimme until they beg for death.

Like the rest of you overeducated privileged nerds, I grew up watching lots of British TV on PBS. Naturally, when I entred my snotty snobbish Europhile teens (which happened when I was about 8), I began voicing a preference for sophistimicated British comedy and drama over lowbrow domestic product. Who knows how long this deluded mindset would've lingered if I hadn't actually gone to Europe and watched UK TV "in the raw"? Know what? They have the same bad shows we do! And this is despite the fact that for the longest time they had the same Big Brotherish media policy as other Europeans, meaning like three channels and a government monopoly.

Don't get me wrong. I love Blackadder. I love Red Dwarf. I think Absolutely Fabulous is a hoot. But Jennifer Saunders is no Joe Keenan and her best work never had me in stitches like the installments of Frasier with Keenan at the helm. Yes, they weren't all gems, but it's hard to keep something consistently hilarious for over 250+ episodes. How many British comedy series come close to matching that? You can watch the entire run of Fawlty Towers in a day; The Young Ones will take you a long weekend. The Simpsons has been running since I was an undergraduate; 270+ episodes and it's still howlingly funny at times.

I've seen The Office. Meh. I mean, I understand what they're doing and it's clever, but I'm not exactly ROTFL at any point during a show. I've watched Yes, Minister! Double meh. I've seen many episodes of both the American remake of Whose Line Is It Anyway? and the British original. Someone tried to tell me the other day how much more "sophisticated" the humour is in the latter, but, apart from the host (Clive Anderson is more understated and droll than Drew Carey), I just don't see it. At the end of the day, it's still all a lot of funny voices and sexual innuendo.

Ah! Good to get this off my chest. Now maybe I can watch BBCAmerica again tonight without wanting to go ballistic everytime I see one of those obnoxious new "I'm a BBC American" commercials in which fatuous young people on the street assure me what naturally funny people the Brits are.

Threaded | Flat

I agree re: Whose Line ....

And you forgot the worst of the bunch: Are You Being Served. The mere thought of it makes me cringe.

I tried to watch MI-5 for a couple of shows, until Kitsune pointed out what was bothering me: "It's Femme Nikita, with bad clothes and teeth."

*grin*

WHEREAS Brits think they're better than everyone else, but locate their virtue in not rubbing peoples' noses in it; and

WHEREAS Americans also think they're better than everyone else, but by contrast, locate virtue in rubbing peoples' noses in it as much as possible;

advertising to Americans loudly and obnoxiously about how much better they are for enjoying British programming is sort of inherently not very British of BBCAmerica, is it? *Quiet* superiority really seems more to order, doesn't it?

(in a british accent) maybe you just don't get it.

What I thought was really sad was when NBC tried to re-create the show Coupling. It was a horrible show even on BBC America and I was delighted when it failed to cross the pond successfully.

I still believe it is the accent... and since I am a sucker for a Swedish accent, I will not point fingers, in the event that I am ever invited to be a Swedish-African-American promo.

Hear, hear!

Yes, they weren't all gems, but it's hard to keep something consistently hilarious for over 250+ episodes. How many British comedy series come close to matching that?

"Classic. Not hard to see why it's England's longest-running series, and today, we're showing all seven episodes."

--PBS Announcer re "Do Shut Up" ("It's about a hard-drinking yet loving family of soccer hooligans. If they're not having a go with a bird, they're having a row with a wanker.") in The Simpsons, "Missionary Impossible".

Given this reputation, deserved or not, for great British comedy, can anyone explain why 80+% of BBCAmerica's offerings are lame home redecorating shows? I was excited to see it in my cable line-up, thinking I'd get some "Upstairs, Downstairs," some quirky comedies, maybe even "Blake's 7," one of my favorite SF shows. But no, it's just "life laundry" marathons.

Yes, but I laugh just thinking about The Young Ones. No Frasier episode ever made me laugh that hard! Maybe it's the accents. (??)

Bennie Hill

I dont find one superior to the other, just different. As an Aussie, I get both but have an overall preference for the British, "The Simpsons', "South Park", Frazier", "That's my Bush", had many inspired episodes but "Seinfeld" leaves me cold, as do all blacksploitation sitcoms.

I think the "Royle Family" , which you dismiss, is inspired (it is VERY British) as is a recent similarly slow-burn britcom called "Bedtime".

I have to confess that nothing I have seen has made me laugh as much as the "Romanian Orphans" episode of "Ab-Fab" or "The Germans"episode of "Fawlty Towers" (Well, maybe the 'Shut Your Fucking Face, Uncle Fucker' song from the South Park movie.)

So maybe you need to be poised between the Yanks and the Poms to appreciate both.

Threaded | Flat