Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: How do British comedies get picked by PBS?

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Posted by Bruce McGee (Member # 131) on 08-16-2004, 08:03 AM:

PBS, as most of you know, runs alot of old British comedies in their prime time. The most-seen ones around here are:

Are You Being Served? (my favorite)
Keeping Up Appearances (same plots recycled)
My Hero (an oddity)
Waiting For God
and others...

How do these shows fare in Britain these days? I know Served has done well, an spawned a feature version. What about the others?

Posted by Dick Vaughan (Member # 540) on 08-17-2004, 02:24 PM:

Ah Bruce you must be a fan of Mrs Slocum's pussy! [Wink]

Are You Being Served? (my favorite) Spawned a follow up series Grace and Favour about 10 or more years ago. Still shown on satellite but not terrestrial channels

Keeping Up Appearances (same plots recycled) last series probably 7 years ago or so. Still repeated on quiet Sundays

My Hero (an oddity) Nuff said! The lead actor Ardall o'Hanlon was much beter in Father Ted

Waiting For God One of my favourites sadly long gone

For a good list of British comedy look here

Posted by Bruce McGee (Member # 131) on 08-17-2004, 05:56 PM:

I saw Waiting For God less than a week ago on the local PBS affiliate. Would like to give it a chance if I could see it from the beginning of the series.

"Mr Humphreys, have you seen my pussy?"

Thanks so much for the link to BBC comedy.

Posted by Stephen Furley (Member # 1277) on 08-18-2004, 04:16 PM:

I've never heard of 'My Hero'

At one time there was a lot of 'classic' comedy being broadcast, but there's not much of that vintage now. There are diigital channels, such as UK Gold, which specialise in this sort of thing, but they're on cable or satellite, which I don't have.

A great deal of this material is now also beiing releases on DVD.

Posted by Dick Vaughan (Member # 540) on 08-19-2004, 02:43 AM:

Stephen

My Hero is usually first screened at around 8.30 Friday evenings on BBC1. I think it's up to series 3.

Frankly its [bs]

Posted by Jennifer Pan (Member # 2035) on 08-31-2004, 10:09 PM:

I would catch part of the British comedy "Coupling" or I think that's what its called on PBS. NBC tried to get the American version of it going but I guess it didn't do well in the ratings. Or it might be coming back, I have no clue.

Posted by Dick Vaughan (Member # 540) on 09-01-2004, 03:45 AM:

Jennifer Coupling is one of the best of the current bunch of BBC comedies. Series 4 has just finished and I have them all on DVD . The American version was apparently pulled after 2 shows.

I hate to say this but making a US version of successful "Foreign" programmes and films isn't always the best way to go.

Posted by Bruce McGee (Member # 131) on 09-01-2004, 06:59 AM:

Most shows that originate in Britain just dont make it in the US. Whats the deal? Is it because the US broadcasters are saddled with too many regulations?

Back to the original question: Why "Are You Being Served?" I'm sure that there are lots of fantastic comedies from England from this same period. I'm not complaining, except for 'My Hero,' which is goofy. The cast of AYBS? are brilliant, and the writing is excellent.

After reading about AYBS on the BBC-TV site, I discovered that I have almost every episode on tape now.

All these BBC shows on PBS used to be distributed by Lionheart Television, now, BBC/America. They had an office in Atlanta when I lived there... I never saw the place open for business.

Locally, we are seeing a new BBC show, "Eastenders." Not a comedy, I believe.

I contacted PBS this past weekend to find out what it takes to be considered for the public. No answer yet...

Posted by David Buckley (Member # 2600) on 09-01-2004, 03:23 PM:

Here in New Zealand we have the opposite problem - all those American sitcoms that get cancelled - they all end up here. Some are truly awful, but not all, like the utterly brilliant Hidden Hills. We even get to see the episodes that (according to tvtome) that never aired in the US.

But - if Eastenders comes to a TV near you - just shoot the TV, put it out of its misery.

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 09-01-2004, 08:16 PM:

It's been awhile since I saw the Fawlty Towers episodes. I guess I'm going to have to buy the DVD set. Great stuff! [thumbsup]

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 09-06-2004, 10:02 AM:

quote: Bruce McGee
Most shows that originate in Britain just dont make it in the US. Whats the deal? Is it because the US broadcasters are saddled with too many regulations?

I'd guess that US broadcasters think that most British shows wouldn't attract a significant audience, and therefore don't buy them. Lack of marketing initiative by British producers may be another reason.

quote: Bruce McGee
Locally, we are seeing a new BBC show, "Eastenders." Not a comedy, I believe.

All that murder, rape, drug addiction, domestic violence and organised crime - hilarious! I guess any outsider watching that programme must think that you'd be lucky to spend a day in East London and escape with your life.

A colleague tells me that there is a new comedy about Middlesbrough (the city where I work) currently being shown. In the first episode a man went for a job interview there and got his car nicked, and in the second a gang of youths terrorised the city centre with a stolen petrol tanker. Sadly that's not too far from the truth, hence the reason I (and almost all of my colleagues) live 48 miles away...