Tim is at a crossroads. For starters, he’s in the middle of a lengthy custody battle with an ex-wife that you will quickly understand why she’s the ex over their precocious 9-year old who has absolutely no interest in being with Dad. And then there’s his day job. Played by Darren Boyd (Green Wing, Whites, […]
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As day one of the 2011 BBC Syndication Showcase in New Orleans has come and gone, I can honestly say to everyone that, as viewers of your local PBS station, you are in for a treat given what we saw today. This is the third annual showcase whereby BBC Worldwide Americas gathers PBS station programmers […]
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It’s that time of year again, where Tellyspotting, along with 100+ colleagues from PBS stations around the country, descend upon New Orleans to work very, very hard on your behalf. Ordinarily, as television programmer’s, we like to say that our main function in life is to watch bad television so you don’t have to. However, […]
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Goodbye, Free Agents The news this week out of Hollywood of the cancellation of the U.S. remake of the Channel 4 comedy, Free Agents, sadly, was not unexpected. I guess, however, in the grand scheme of American commercial television remakes of British comedies, it should be considered a mild success. After all, it did make […]
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With the new series of the hit comedy drama, Doc Martin, set to return tomorrow (Monday, 12 September) on ITV1 in the UK, it’s time to set up yet another support group in the U.S. Unfortunately, as we have recently reported, series 5 will not premiere in the States until April 2012 on public television […]
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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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The are many that believe comedy, British comedy in particular, began with Tony Hancock and the brilliant, Hancock’s Half Hour. The original BBC Radio series and subsequent BBC television series of the same name from the mid-50’s is thought to be, by many, the beginning of the British sitcom introducing “situation” into the comedy mix […]
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If you’ve every thought, as I’m sure we all have at one time or another, 1) this would make a great sitcom or, 2) I’m living in the middle of a sitcom, the BBC has all the answers in the BBC Writersroom. There are those that will argue that the “Sit”, or situation, needs to […]
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Brace yourselves. Edina and Patsy are back. Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley and the entire cast of Absolutely Fabulous, including Julia Sawalha, Jane Horrocks and June Whitfield, return for a holiday special and two more during 2012 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of its premiere in 1992. Picking up right where they left off in […]
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