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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Great British comedy entrances

No one knows better than the BBC when it comes to comedy so it comes as no surprise to see their assessment of what makes a good comedy entrance. As they spell out, “…comedy shows are where entrances really come into their own: a good comedy entrance can signal character information to viewers and set […]

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Dunder-Mifflen to hire David Brent?

Fresh from his brilliant stint as host of the 2011 Golden Globes, word is that Ricky Gervais, alias, David Brent, has had enough of Michael Scott and is set to show everyone at Dunder-Mifflen just how it’s done at the Wernham Hogg Paper Company in Slough. While Gervais has, for seven seasons, retained the executive producer […]

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10 O'Clock Live – UK's 'Daily Show' begins tonight

Comparison’s will be unfair, but they are also inevitable. This will definitely be the case when 10 O’Clock Live premieres tonight on Channel 4 in the UK. Immediate comparisons will be made with the undeniably brilliant Daily Show with Jon Stewart given that it’s main focus will be to put a comical, satirical bent on […]

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Scattershooting on a Monday….Downton Abbey, Judi Dench and more

More trolling around the Internets bringing you more tidbits of witty banter to amaze your friends with at parties…. Downton Abbey production begins in February We reported last week that Downton Abbey is set to go into production next month in the UK. Now that the second or four episodes has come and gone on […]

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Episodes has a fighting chance

Full disclosure upfront. I wasn’t going to give the new series from Hat Trick Productions and Showtime much of a chance from the beginning, given that it initially read as a documentary and not a comedy. However, after seeing episode one, this has the potential to be the ‘much-anticipated’ hit that the BBC is hanging its hat […]

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Happy Thanksgiving from Tellyspotting

Since I make up the rules here, I’m allowed one a year non-British related post a year. I’m exercising my right today, Thanksgiving. This great 30 minutes in 30 seconds compilation dates back to 1978 and has become an annual Thanksgiving tradition in its own right every year since. It’s too good to pass up […]

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Dateline New Orleans: 2010 BBC Showcase

Working extremely hard on your behalf, it’s Thursday and we find ourselves in New Orleans attending the third annual BBC Syndication Showcase meeting. New Orleans?  BBC? Fair questions. Well, this is THE meeting where public television programmers from around country sit in a room for several days screening BBC programming for possible acquisition and broadcast. As […]

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MI5 – Do we really need an American version?

Spoiler Alert: For those of you that find yourself shying away from really fast rides at carnivals and fairs these days because of a weak stomach, please be advised you shouldn’t read any further. On the heels of the news of an upcoming Top Gear USA and possible American versions of both Doctor Who and Torchwood […]

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British comedy scattershooting….

Lots of bits & bobs or odds & sods coming our way over the last couple of weeks concerning our favorite pastime, British television. Thought I’d go through a quick bit of scattershooting to give everyone updates on current series, answer some mailbag questions that have come in and impart some basic little known or […]

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