Channel 4 Building in London
From time to time, Emily and I will be looking at television from Britain. Before we kick it off, some general notes:
American readers will undoubtedly know some of the approximately 4500 British television shows that have been translated for these shores. This season we have 4 programs on major networks on Thursday nights alone: Life on Mars (ABC Thursdays 10:00 EST), The Office (NBC Thursdays 9:00pm EST), Eleventh Hour (CBS Thursdays 10:00 EST), and Kitchen Nightmares (Fox Thursdays 9:00pm EST).
Not to be lost in all this Limey-lovin’, England digs shows from America as well. Friends was an enormous hit when it first premiered in England, spawning Coupling, which of course, was then remade unsuccessfully in America. A more recent example is Skins (BBC), which is said to have been inspired by Gossip Girl (Ed. note: This is totally wrong. Thanks ChrisJ for showing me the light). Of course, beyond the direct transfers, there are rafts of American television on all the frickin’ time in the UK. Ironside and Diagnosis: Murder, long dead in the US, for example, live on in the BBC daytime schedule. Viva Scott Baio!
The cultural affinities aside, what interests me is some good television, so to start this sucker off, I’ll be watching the first season (or “the first series” in UK lingo) of Gavin and Stacey. Next I’ll make my way through the first season of the UK Life on Mars and compare it to the US version.
Photo by Flickr user .Martin. used under a Creative Commons license
Original post incorrectly stated Gossip GIrl preceded Skins. My bad.
2 Comments
“Skins (BBC), which is said to have been inspired by Gossip Girl.”
That would have been a good trick, since Skins premiered 25 January 2007 in the UK and Gossip Girl premiered 19 September 2007 in the US.
How embarrassing. I feel like a right git. Post has been corrected accordingly to reflect, you know, the facts. I standy by the point.
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