dgsyd1

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/article/ds31579.html

I have to say that I strongly disagree with his opinion, and my first thought on reading it was to wonder if he'd actually ever seen any US television apart from the shows he mentions. I was actually surprised, especially as a show like The Office wouldn't have had a hope in hell of ever being made as an original show over here by any of the networks. And I haven't seen a US drama over the last 3-4 years that is nearly as good as Life On Mars, Hustle, Doctor Who, or Auf Weidersehen, Pet and a comedy as good as Spaced, I'm Alan Partridge, or (ironically) The Office .
But that probably has a lot to do with my own taste in television

Duncan Roberts

I agree with him to a certain degree but with the amount of total carp you get here you are bound to have a few high quality shows. If you throw enough......

elfman

Personally I think he's right about some individual shows - US TV does produce some shows which are better than anything UK TV turns out, but I think the overall baseline quality of UK TV is better.

BigDavyG

I'm surprised he said that - what a tw*t.
There are so many bad US sitcoms its untrue - all very formulaic.
Right now I don't watch any, and the last one I got into was Scrubs, but even that can be needlessly schmaltzy and sentimental at times.
In terms of dramas I would only watch 24 but think that the likes of Spooks, Hussle and some british detective shows could easily hold their own.

Sally

Very surprised by his comments. The US version of the Office is so obvious compared to the British one. I have yet to discover any quirky comedy like Spaced. Sit coms are unwatchable apart from Seinfeld, which is hardly new.

Kate2112

Everybody is entitled to one mistake and this is his.

Funny US comedy? hmmmm I'd be hard pressed to think of anything that stands out. Apart from the UK version of the Office, I can't remember anything particularly funny coming out of the UK or US for a longtime. Bearing in mind too that"My Family* is huge in the UK I can understand when he talks about hack writers over 40 never being ditched.
I look forward to watching Dr Who and Hustle over here in, as an oasis in a sea of fairly shite programming ...200 cable channels and total crud on most.

anotherlimey

There's something about US television that I really despise but I'm not sure what exactly it is.

The Daily Show is my favourite, I watch the Dog occasionally and 24 (which has been getting on my nerves lately).

I've tried watching Alias, Lost, Desperate Housewives and the new "The Unit" but I can't get into any of them. They are all over polished, tedious, ridiculous or plain stupid.

Then again, there's so many advert breaks there's barely time to get into anything.

woodsey

Having just spent just over two weeks back in the UK I was really looking forward to some good old British telly and how disappointed I was, an utter load of crap. Maybe my tastes are changing but I even thought the news was a bit crap. I had a heated discussion with my mum about it, she hates everything American allegedly as she feels its stolen her child and grandchildren from her but as I pointed out to her, along with the utter dross that is Corrie and Emmerdale all she watches is Lost, CSI, Prison Break, House, Greys Anatomy, Desperate Housewives etc etc..although to be fair she said she didn't realise they were shown in America..doh!
However I did become addicted to Noel Edmunds new show, Deal or No Deal. shit but addictive.

Sally

Naive question, but why do we have to pay for cable and then have so many ads as well? It's impossible to get involved in the programme.

"Over polished" is a good reason why US shows are less appealing to me.

My memories of British TV are becoming dim, though. Things like "2 pints of lager" and "My Family" were pretty dire, and they might as well have introduced aliens on Corrie and Emmerdale.

elfman

The Colbert Report is rapidly becoming my favourite - I think it's verging on genius a lot of the time.

anotherlimey

Oh yes... that too.

Bob

you seen the US version of Teachers? Utter phish, very dire unfunny stuff, only saving grace is that brit blonde bint *lol*

But what really gets my goat, an endless series that has random breaks for weeks at a time, like Invasion, Lost, Commander jobby, all those breaks, it's hard to keep up with what's happening with all the repeats and random shite they throw on.

TouristTrap

They all bore me.

Who the hell needs tv with the internet anyway?

News freak? Get it online.

Anything worth watching makes it to dvd anyway.

Most tv is crap. 200 channels and nothing to watch half the time.

BigDavyG

I've often wondered that myself, especially with ads every 3 minutes

BigDavyG

But that's basically based on things like Brasseye and the Day Today, right ??