Book of Minutiae – Chapter 1

From the Tellyspotting book of little known facts….. Next time you feel the need to amaze your friends with some British comedy trivia, here are some great starters that will have them, well, amazed. Guaranteed. Or, if you find yourself at a pub quiz and one of these questions pops up…you can thank me later. […]

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Just say NO to March Madness

One last March Madness indulgence in the name of comedy gems for your power-watching pleasure during this difficult time for anyone whose brackets have cratered already or those that aren’t in to college basketball. Like the others, these series enjoyed only a short lifespan but that’s much better than over-staying your welcome and jumping the […]

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More March Madness – British style

As is usually the case, when you either create, discover or star in a hit comedy, generally it’s not either first or only thing you’ve created, discovered or starred in. Here are a few early efforts from some of the great contributors of today’s British comedy world that never quite took off for one reason […]

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March Madness – British comedy version

March Madness Time! Time to stock up for some British comedy series power-watching over the next several weeks. Besides the ever-present classics that are worth watching over and over such as Yes Minister, Reginald Perrin and Vicar of Dibley, there are a couple of other series you may or may not be aware of that […]

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The Great American Re-make Debate

Ok, I’ve spent enough time and effort recently ranting about the sad state of American re-makes of classic British comedy over the years that, to be fair, I should highlight the two series in modern history that have been considerably better than their British counterparts in my opinion. Admittedly, we’re talking 40+ years ago so […]

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Craggy Island anyone?

You can wear green all you want, have a pint of Guinness, maybe some Irish Stew or go to a parade, but no St. Patrick’s Day salute would be complete without a trip to Craggy Island and a look back at one of the Irish comedy greats, Father Ted. Ok, I know it was done […]

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Definitely not your father's Mrs. Brown

What do you get when you put an innocent clip on YouTube that has generated over 1 million hits and then increases by over 100K at day? A BBC/RTE pilot, obviously. Dublin comedian Brendan O’Carroll created the short piece based on his Mrs. Brown character for the BBC as a “test”. While the pilot was […]

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QI – what say you? Polls are open!

QI, the BBC television panel show which humbly stands for Quite Interesting, has renewed its quest to cross the pond. A petition of signatures, including Stephen Fry’s, has made the rounds for some time, but seems to be picking up steam for a possible American outlet with the great John Hodgman leading the way. The […]

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From the genius vault — Spaced

Originally pitched as a cross between The Simpsons, The X-Files and Northern Exposure, Spaced only ran for a couple of seasons on Channel 4 in the UK, but this has to be one of the most clever British comedies series of all time. Writers and co-creators Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) and Jessica […]

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IT Crowd headed for 4th season plus more for 2010…

As a follow-up to a recent post on the in’s and out’s of getting a comedy series commissioned from the BBC, I thought it would be of interest to everyone to see just what’s on the slate for the coming year from an output standpoint. Thanks to our good friends over the The British Comedy […]

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