British Telly

[sniffles]

One show that no one seemed to like, but my wife and I loved, was Coupling. The American remake was HORRIBLE (lasted one episode, which I watched and can see why), but the original British run of the two seasons (series?) was hilarious to us. Richard Coyle was great in that series - mostly comic timing.



In format, yes (bunch of friends hang in the neighborhood pub and get into stupd situations), but the material was a heck of a lot better, to us - and there's a lot of humor that wouldn't have made it by american censors.

If you think the American version of Coupling was awful, be glad you never saw the appalling pilot for an American version of Red Dwarf. Thankfully they never inflicted that piece of garbage on the unsuspecting viewers.

 

[WayneLigon]

If you think the American version of Coupling was awful, be glad you never saw the appalling pilot for an American version of Red Dwarf. Thankfully they never inflicted that piece of garbage on the unsuspecting viewers.

I know they once did a pilot called 'White Dwarf', but I don't think it was supposed to be a 'Red Dwarf' remake. If it was... I cannot imagine the filters it passed through. It was the most worthless, appalling peice of garbage I've seen done specifically for TV that I can think of save perhaps episodes of 'Nightman'. We turned it off less than halfway through.

 

[WayneLigon]

Alabama PBS shows a block of comedies on Saturday nights: Keeping Up Appearances; As time Goes By; An hour block of Are You Being Served?; Yes, Minister; Vicar of Dibley; and an hour of Monty Python's Flying Circus. Vicar of Dibley is probably my favorite, followed by Keeping Up Appearances.

Many years ago they used to run Doctor Who, and they would run the complete storyline regardless of how long it took, all edited together. They started out with just the Tom Baker episodes, then expanded to everything they had available to them, I suppose; I'm pretty sure they did up through Doctor #7.

 

[sniffles]

I know they once did a pilot called 'White Dwarf', but I don't think it was supposed to be a 'Red Dwarf' remake. If it was... I cannot imagine the filters it passed through. It was the most worthless, appalling peice of garbage I've seen done specifically for TV that I can think of save perhaps episodes of 'Nightman'. We turned it off less than halfway through.

There was an actual Red Dwarf remake pilot, complete with Lister, Rimmer, and Kryten - Robert Llewellyn even appeared as Kryten. But it was never broadcast, thankfully. They recast Lister as a slightly scruffy good-looking surfer due. And Frazier's Jane Leeves appeared as Holly - the only British touch, since Llewellyn was doing his pseudo-American Kryten accent. He seemed totally lost and had none of Kryten's usually charm, probably because the American writers had no concept of how to do that type of humor.

 

[Steve Jung]

In format, yes (bunch of friends hang in the neighborhood pub and get into stupd situations), but the material was a heck of a lot better, to us - and there's a lot of humor that wouldn't have made it by american censors.

Ah, I got it. Thanks.

 

[glass]

Alabama PBS shows a block of comedies on Saturday nights: Keeping Up Appearances; As time Goes By; An hour block of Are You Being Served?; Yes, Minister; Vicar of Dibley; and an hour of Monty Python's Flying Circus. Vicar of Dibley is probably my favorite, followed by Keeping Up Appearances.

My favourite of those is by far and away 'Yes, Minister'.

Keeping Up Appearances was great at first, but they basically only had one joke and they beat it to death over many many years. Fun fact though: It was shot in and around Coventry, where I live. What a claim to fame!


glass.