British TV - A New Trend?

[Stripes]

I noticed that more and more people in North America (mostly around the ages of 18 - 35) watch British TV. The British Section in my cities biggest (well one of the biggest) HMV stores is growing each time I drop by. I also noticed that there is more of crowd around it too. I go online and many youth put British shows on their favourite tv show list.

I know the internet has help introduce British TV to north Americans (Well I am not so sure about Canada, we had a fair amount of British TV BEFORE the internet, seeing that I grew up watching it. PBS isn't the only station that had British TV)

Yet I noticed the type of shows people watch are only newer shows, and even then, it a very small list.

The most shows I see are
Doctor Who
Torchwood
The It Crowd
The Mighty Boosh
Life on Mars

Yet shows like Gavin and Stacey are not as popular... possibly because it has many jokes about British and Welsh culture, which I am surprised, i get half of.

I also never see these people talk about older shows, i don't mean 70 shows, but shows from the 90's.

Do you think watching British TV is becoming a trend in North America.

I am starting to get this vibe off of people.

[librarylover]

I think it is a growing trend, and I have a theory about why it is growing. It is getting harder to find anything produced in the US that is worth watching. Even when a new show gets introduced it is often based on a show originally made in the UK. This isn't new, but there have been many examples recently; e.g. Life on Mars, Eleventh Hour. This was a big trend with 1970's sitcoms, so I guess it's time for it to cycle back around. (All in the Family, Sanford and Son, Three's Company and Too Close for Comfort were all based on British shows. Ironically Beryl Vertue, aka Steven Moffat's mother-in-law, was the producer who worked with Norman Lear on AITF and SAS.)

There is also a growing trend of British actors coming to the US to do TV shows. Hugh Laurie started a trend there. Now we have Joseph Fiennes doing Flash Forward, several in the cast of Trueblood, and other examples.

I tried to like Gavin and Stacy, but I just couldn't manage to care enough to keep track of when it is on. I think the cast is very good, and it has funny moments, but from a US perspective I don't think the fact that he is from London and she is from Wales adds up to a lot of reasons why their relationship is unusual. In our book that would be like saying that someone from Ohio and someone from Indiana couldn't make a marriage work.

[Stripes]

Feb 3, 2010 0:18:06 GMT librarylover said:

I think it is a growing trend, and I have a theory about why it is growing. It is getting harder to find anything produced in the US that is worth watching. Even when a new show gets introduced it is often based on a show originally made in the UK. This isn't new, but there have been many examples recently; e.g. Life on Mars, Eleventh Hour. This was a big trend with 1970's sitcoms, so I guess it's time for it to cycle back around. (All in the Family, Sanford and Son, Three's Company and Too Close for Comfort were all based on British shows. Ironically Beryl Vertue, aka Steven Moffat's mother-in-law, was the producer who worked with Norman Lear on AITF and SAS.)

There is also a growing trend of British actors coming to the US to do TV shows. Hugh Laurie started a trend there. Now we have Joseph Fiennes doing Flash Forward, several in the cast of Trueblood, and other examples.

I tried to like Gavin and Stacy, but I just couldn't manage to care enough to keep track of when it is on. I think the cast is very good, and it has funny moments, but from a US perspective I don't think the fact that he is from London and she is from Wales adds up to a lot of reasons why their relationship is unusual. In our book that would be like saying that someone from Ohio and someone from Indiana couldn't make a marriage work.

There making an American version of Gavin and Stacey, and well, One is from New Jersey and the other from North Carolina.

What you said just proved my theory that I don't think it appeals to north Americans because it references to British Culture. Things that I even don't understand.

I see where you are going, with British actors coming to North America. I don't think the USA is lacking good shows, the have made some really good things, but the networks have been canceling them. Canada funny enough, is slowly producing good shows. Some of my facebook friends enjoy the new kids in the hall show.

Still. I think this 'trend' will end, meanwhile,north americans will only watch shows close to north american humor.

[merrythemad]

Actually, I myself have ALWAYS favoured what is known over here as British humor, you that acerbic wit, the dry intonation and ...(wait for it)...ABSURDITY, done correctly. I haven't found much humor in an american production since That Seventies Show (for television) or The Princess Bride (film), I also realise, I am, as ever, in the minority so meh.

[jjpor]

I think the thing about comedy is that humour can sometimes be a very cultural thing and not translate well to other countries. On the other hand, there are some things that just seem to strike some universal nerve and conquer the world, like Monty Python.

I think comedy (and obviously Doctor Who!) are areas that the UK does do well in. When it comes to things like drama, though, things are not as clear cut. It is a cause of much navel-gazing on this side of the pond that British drama is in decline in the face of rampant reality TV and talent shows, and there is certainly a lot of truth in that. For every show that makes it over to the States and gains a following, there are half-a-dozen that not even British people will watch. I think the most popular non-"reality", non-Doctor-Who-related (;D) shows on UK TV at the moment are things like CSI, House, Law and Order etc etc, and those British shows like Waking the Dead that take their lead from that particular type of programme (Waking the Dead is sort of the British version of CSI, but better, and with Trevor Eve truly awe-inspiring as the world's angriest, most-obnoxious policeman). And Law and Order UK, of course, but the only reason to watch that is because Freema's in it! ;D

And then we have the HBO-type shows like The Wire and True Blood or, a few years ago, The Sopranos and Six Feet Under, which are routinely held up by critics over here as examples of what British TV _should_ be doing instead of churning out all the rubbish it shows, etc etc.

So, I guess what I'm saying is that I think it's in part a matter of perception (and I think I've said this before, but I'm getting to that age where I repeat myself a lot...). You know, the old adage that 99% of everything is rubbish. So, we tend to deride our homegrown product as trash (as indeed most of it is), and see the stuff from the other side of the Atlantic as a cut above, but of course only the cream of the crop makes it across the Atlantic, so it would seem to be that, wouldn't it?

So, that's my theory - it's a perception thing that happens on both sides of the pond, and that common language that divides us plays a big part in it, because of course we feel we "know" each other culturally, even if it's only to shake our heads at each other's peculiarities, when we probably don't really, at all.

Apart from Doctor Who, of course - that really is the greatest thing in the history of the world! ;D