Scattershooting on Wallander III, Dark Shadows and more….

Wallander III in production From the watchful eye of tellyspotting reader, Patty Winter, comes a report of Sir Kenneth being spotted filming scenes for an upcoming episode of Wallander for series III, entitled “Dogs of Riga”, at the Riga Centra Market in Latvia, along with co-star Ingeborga Dapkunaite. Wallander, the BBC mini-series stars the greatness […]

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British sitcoms salute the labor force

Since the beginning of time, well, at least since 1946 when Pinwright’s Progress premiered on the BBC, the British sitcom has always saluted the labor force. After Pinwright’s Progress, the evolution of how the situation comedy dealt with the workforce really took off. Up next in the mid-50’s was Hancock’s Half Hour where Tony Hancock seemed […]

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Czech Republic Olympic team courts unlikely spokesperson

And Now for Something Completely Different Touting his Olympic experience, former Monty Python and Fawlty Towers star, John Cleese, finds himself in the Czech Republic this week where he will become the face of the Czech Republic Olympic Team in all advertising leading up to the London 2012 games. Cleese, who says that the Czech […]

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Germany officially the least funniest country in the world!

With sincere apologies to the supreme German, Dirk Nowitski, I get Germany being crowned the least funniest country in the world in a recent international survey conducted by Badoo.com. But….how in the world can Britain be listed as the #4 least funny? Never mind the fact that Britain finished more boring than America, how about […]

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Monday scattershooting….Paul the alien, Ricky Gervais, Bond23 and more….

Meet Paul, the 21st century E.T., premiering tonight Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, the genius minds behind Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead, star as two sci-fi geeks whose pilgrimage takes them to America’s UFO heartland, where they meet ‘Paul‘, an alien who alters their universe forever. Let’s just say, this isn’t your parents E.T. The film premieres tonight in […]

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The return of the sitcom, old-school style….finally

Before you begin reading, please understand that this isn’t even close to being a knock on the greatness of The Office, Outnumbered or The Thick of It. I also don’t want this to seem like a planting of the flag for the good ‘ole days syndrome. Merely a celebration, as The Independent‘s Tim Walker brilliantly […]

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More on British sitcoms: Class warfare on the horizon?

Working class sitcoms vs. Blue collar comedy. Fawlty Towers vs. Father Ted. The Telegraph vs. The Guardian. No matter what side you’re on in this rather ridiculous issue, what viewers ultimately want is good comedy. While Telegraph readers tend to lean more towards the Conservative Party and a centre-right view, the majority of the Guardian readers […]

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Good British comedy = oil. Good customer service = water.

They just don’t mix. Where would we be if the world of British comedy adhered to the real world high expectations of good customer service? Think about it. No Fawlty Towers, no Black Books and no League of Gentlemen. According to customer service gurus, Michel Roux and Mary Portas, the aforementioned British comedy series come […]

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Take the UK to US TV export challenge

With all of our talk over the last 14 months about the US “difficulty” with respect to exporting brilliant UK product and putting the U.S stamp on it, whether it be comedy or drama (seems like we’ve mastered the art of the game show/reality show remake), the BBC has come up with a quick 7-question […]

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