The spiteful anti-American narrative that pervades much of the BBC’s political output (excepting when it comes to coverage of the Chosen One, naturally) was evident in the item on the horrendous Jihadist bombing that has taken place in Islamabad on Today this morning at 7.09am. Dr Farzana Shaikh, from the “foreign affairs think tank” Chatham House (No hint of any bias there, right?) was quick to lay the blame for the Marriot Hotel bombing where it truly belonged – namely the United States. The bottom line, she pointed out, is that the US needs to back off putting pressure on Pakistan and in directly ugoing after the Taliban/Al Queda. Criticism of the Islamist bombers was perfunctory as the time given was used to bash the real evil out there – the United States.
ALWAYS TO BLAME.
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I can’t imagine watching Coronation Street, or even knowing it by its nickname
There are lots of things you can’t imagine. Tell us summat we don’t know.
Does anyone else remember the atrocious attempt to remake the (actually quite funny) US sitcom “The Golden Girls” in the UK? If I remember rightly it was called “Brighton Belles”, starred Wendy Craig and was a bigger flop than “Eldorado”.
I think American and British sitcoms are completely different in nature, like chalk and cheese. They both have their treasures. I believe Cheers was one of the funniest sitcoms of all times, I just bought the first season on DVD and it’s a gem. Likewise Seinfeld is a classic. I was not much of a fan of Freinds though. Too smarmy for my liking.
The Phil Silvers Show ranks as possibly one of the funniest sitcoms of all time.
Was never a big fan of “The Upper Hand”, the remake of the US show “Who’s The Boss” (which was pretty crap too).
British comedy is seen in a great light here. I think the main difference is that most US shows have huge teams of writers while UK shows tend to have just one or two writers, who often star in the show themselves, a la Ricky Gervais and The Office (which I thought was great – the US version sucks)
Jason | 23.09.08 – 1:34 am |
Also, writers in Britain get to spend their whole season writing six episodes, as opposed to the US scheme of 22 per year. Production schedules force US writers to crank stuff out, which inevitably affects quality. That’s a big reason why they have a team in the first place.
Sid Ceasar had a team in the ’50s to do his weekly variety comedy show, which was performed live. Nowadays shows might have twice the amount of writers (“producers”), and they still have to tape a new episode every Friday or Saturday. Hour-long shows generally get two weeks.
Sometimes I wish the US would do more shorter series, but everyone’s always afraid that the audience will forget about it if the show isn’t crammed down their throats all year round. Perhaps they’re right.
Having said that, I always feel I’m getting better value for money when I buy a season of an American sitcom on DVD. 22 episodes for $29.99 as opposed to 6…
What was that programme with Niles – the two brothers who lived together? It was very witty and both stars were outstanding. I think it was an extension, if you will, of Cheers, with a lot of the same characters. One of them used to be married to Lilith. I think I’ll buy it if anyone can remember the name.
Jason on “The Golden Girls” ” If I remember rightly it was called “Brighton Belles”,”. Well, there you are. Even the name was completely inept. Awful.
Verity:
“What was that programme with Niles – the two brothers who lived together?”
Frasier.