Today I rewatched the first episode of
The Day Today and I thought of making this topic. Because as far as I know The Day Today has never been shown in America, and isn't out on DVD here. Here's some shows I've seen that I can think of that are hard to come by in the US:
The Day Today
This is a non-topical news parody, and it's one of the funnier shows I've seen in a long time. There is a follow-up series called
Brass Eye, which I have yet to see, but I bought the DVD for myself before I came home from school. Unfortunately my region-free DVD player is back at school. I can remember Dole talking much about theses shows like, years ago. Yeah this show is funny but as you might have noticed I don't have much to say about it
Coogan's Run
I saw three episodes of this, it's not bad but it's not FANTASTIC. It's a comedy anthology series by Steve Coogan, who is on The Day Today.
The Comic Strip Presents
I really love this series, but there are a few bad episodes. This is another comedy anthology series, and it comes from people like Rik Mayall, Adrian Edmondson, Nigel Planer (all from
The Young Ones, which is on DVD in the states, but still considered somewhat obscure in America), Dawn French, and Jennifer Saunders, and a bunch of other people who I don't really know. There are TWO episodes available on VHS, "Bad News" and "Bad News Tour," which were released by Rhino to capitalize off of the Success of Spinal Tap, which I'm sure came out on Video around the same time. Every episode of The Comic Strip Presents is unique, usually parodying some kind of film genre. I've seen (or will see) the first four series, but as I understand it kind of went downhill from there.
KYTV
I wanted so badly to like this show. It's very well made, I just wish it were funnier
Every joke on the show was way too predictable or just not funny or surprising at all. I saw two episodes, and I was insanely disappointed by it. It's like a British SCTV, but not as funny.
Glam Metal Detectives
Pretty much the same deal, saw three episodes of this, wanted to like it, but didn't like it very much. This is a show by Peter Richardson, who is one of the main creative forces behind The Comic Strip Presents (he was also originally meant to play Mike TheCoolPerson on The Young Ones). When I first saw it, I thought the production values were pretty amazing for a sketch show, but then when I watched the second episode I realized why: They repeat EVERY sketch, and EVERY sketch is pretty much the same. Oh well.
There were a few funny bits, but the bad seriously outweighed the good.
Filthy Rich and Catflap
This is the missing link between The Young Ones and Bottom (as dole described it once on this board), I've only seen one episode that was released on the Young Ones DVD, but I picked up the DVD of the whole series and I'll watch it soon. I'm hoping for a little more Young Ones than Bottom, which I like but can be teduis. I am honestly shocked when I hear people who say they like Bottom better than The Young Ones.
Dr. Terrible's House of Horrible
I only watched one episode! It was okay! It's another show by Steve Coogan, it's a anthology/parody of British horror films from the 70s. One thing I’ve noticed that’s pretty unique to Brittan is the comedy anthology show. I can’t think of one comedy anthology show made in America, and I can think of a bunch in the UK, like Ripping Yarns, The Comic Strip Presents, Coogan’s Run, etc. and those are just ones I’ve seen. I guess America is scared of doing a comedy show that doesn’t have the same characters (families) and settings (living rooms) every week. It kind of makes me wanna move
The Office
haha just kidding haha
uh i guess lets talk about some british shows that aren't around in america and how they are better than american shows