• Brighton…Craggy Island.  Tedfest V…Brighton. What to do?

    Brighton…Craggy Island. Tedfest V…Brighton. What to do?

    Let’s see. It’s February with a forecast of cold, wind and rain. It’s not Boston. Took too long to get there. Must be Brighton. Must be time again for BBC Showcase, the annual gathering in Brighton, UK where we get a chance to screen the entire BBC catalog both past and present to make potential […]

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  • British comedy films that time, and Oscar, forgot

    British comedy films that time, and Oscar, forgot

    It may be Oscar time, but if you’re really interested in a few classic British comedy films, head over to the local video store (Premiere Video on Mockingbird Lane in Dallas immediately comes to mind as being the place to get these) and spend some quality screen time before Oscar Sunday. Bedazzled (1979) with Dudley […]

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  • Behind the Britcom – Penelope Keith on the actor/writer relationship

    Behind the Britcom – Penelope Keith on the actor/writer relationship

    From Behind the Britcom: From Script to Screen, coming to PBS stations nationwide in March 2011, we continue our look at the making of British comedy while celebrating those that pen the programs that make up one of the most intelligent television genre’s on the planet. Over the course of producing the program, we talked […]

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  • Behind the Britcom – Dawn French on Richard Curtis

    Behind the Britcom – Dawn French on Richard Curtis

    Over the next couple of weeks, leading up to the March 2011 PBS premiere of Behind the Britcom: From Script to Screen, our show on paying tribute to the writers of British situation comedy, will, hopefully, give you insight into those writers who’s work has created friends and situations that have come in to your home […]

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  • Move over Dame Edna, here comes Mrs. Brown

    Move over Dame Edna, here comes Mrs. Brown

    Move over Dame Edna, Mrs. Brown invades Great Britain might be a better way to describe the newest situation comedy, Mrs. Brown’s Boys, when it premieres on BBC One beginning this Monday, 21 February. The writer, creator and ‘face behind’ Mrs. Brown is Irish actor, Brendan O’Carroll. Even with the 1,000’s of stand-up appearances, the five […]

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  • Behind the Britcom – Casting 101

    Behind the Britcom – Casting 101

    As we rapidly approach the PBS national premiere of Behind the Britcom: From Script to Screen , which features a look into the minds of the creators of some of the best situation comedy on television anywhere, one thing struck all of us involved in the production of the program besides the known commodity of […]

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  • You're a mean one, Dr. House

    You're a mean one, Dr. House

    With a quick apology to the Grinch, you are probably asking, at this point, why are we talking Super Bowl and commercials on tellyspotting? Easy. Two words. Hugh Laurie. Doing a better Mean Joe Greene than Mean Joe, himself, this is the one time in recent memory that the re-make of anything between :30 seconds […]

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  • 42 – need I say more?

    42 – need I say more?

    We have all known for some time that the answer to the ultimate question of “…what’s the meaning of life, the universe and everything” is 42. Ever since Douglas Adams wrote The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy in 1979, researchers have frantically tried to determine the meaning of the meaning of life. Legend has it […]

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

    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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