• Patricia Routledge talks Hyacinth, KUA and comedy 101

    Patricia Routledge talks Hyacinth, KUA and comedy 101

    As the great Patricia Routledge inches closer to her 83rd birthday on Friday, 17 February, I’m reminded of a point in time in the late 1990’s that we had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to interview Ms. Routledge for a salute to British comedy program for broadcast on public television in the States. For weeks before the […]

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  • Saturday Night Live imagines Downton Abbey on Spike TV

    Saturday Night Live imagines Downton Abbey on Spike TV

    ***Update for those trying to access the video clip below. Sadly, the folks at NBC Universal have decided that a little extra added promotion for Saturday Night Live is not of interest. When you click on the video below you will now be greeted with a very nice message that says: “This video contains content […]

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  • New PG Wodehouse stories to star Jennifer Saunders

    New PG Wodehouse stories to star Jennifer Saunders

    The mere thought of this brings back many classic early 90’s memories of watching Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry in Jeeves and Wooster. Adapted from P.G. Wodehouse’s Jeeves stories, the series brilliantly told the story of a young gentleman with a minor aristocratic upbringing (Laurie) and his ‘personal gentleman’ (Fry), whose duty is to separate […]

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  • Only Fools and Horses getting American face-lift….Sigh

    Only Fools and Horses getting American face-lift….Sigh

    What has widely been viewed as one of the most popular situation comedies of all-time in the UK will now become the next American re-make that will not last one season (IMHO). The ABC Television Network has announced that a pilot is in the works from the brains behind the U.S. comedy, Scrubs. For some […]

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  • Pythons to reunite for Absolutely Anything

    Pythons to reunite for Absolutely Anything

    There was a time it seemed like members of Monty Python were getting together for ‘almost anything’. Masters of re-versioning their classic material on albums such as The Album of the Soundtrack of the Trailer of the Film of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, The Hastily Cobbled Together for a Fast Buck Album, Monty […]

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  • Happy 40th to Sanford & Son; Happy 50th to Steptoe & Son

    Happy 40th to Sanford & Son; Happy 50th to Steptoe & Son

    Happy 40th, Sanford and Son A quiet milestone anniversary passed on Saturday involving one of the greats in American sitcom history with roots in British situation comedy. Sanford and Son, which starred Redd Foxx and Demond Wilson, premiered on NBC on January 14, 1972. Based on the brilliant British situation comedy, Steptoe and Son, the […]

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  • Python's Terry Gilliam – DIY Animation 101

    Python's Terry Gilliam – DIY Animation 101

    Ever wonder how that giant foot came down at the beginning of the classic opening to Monty Python’s Flying Circus or how any of the other buffer elements between show segments were created? Normally, this would be the time for the please, everyone, these are professionals, do not try this at home PSA. Not this […]

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  • A little post-Sherlock/Downton Abbey scattershooting

    A little post-Sherlock/Downton Abbey scattershooting

    Now that UK audiences are 2/3rd through series 2 of Sherlock and the long Downton Abbey series 2 wait is over for U.S. audiences time to peruse the Internets for some stories that may have been missed while both sides of the pond had stayed away from any potential spoiler alerts this week…. Voldemort the […]

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  • Mulberry – the ending that never was

    Mulberry – the ending that never was

    As Time Goes By, Keeping Up Appearances, Are You Being Served, Good Neighbors, Last of the Summer Wine. All a part of our lives for a number of years and a number of seasons. The one thing, however, that most of these British comedy classics had in common is that they all ended on their […]

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  • Remembering John Howard Davies, David Croft and Trevor Bannister

    Remembering John Howard Davies, David Croft and Trevor Bannister

    While wishing everyone a Happy New Year and prosperous 2012, I wanted to remember some ‘friends’ the world of comedy lost in 2011. Over the past several years, those of us involved in the production of a number of British comedy retrospective specials for PBS have had the incredible good fortune to spend quality time […]

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