British sitcom: Encyclopedia II - British sitcom - British sitcoms overseas

British sitcom - British sitcoms overseas

British sitcom - United States

In the United States, British sitcoms are rarely seen on the commercial networks, but are often seen on the Public Broadcasting Service and increasingly on cable television, including BBC America and Comedy Central. In the U.S. and Canada, the genre is sometimes referred to as Britcoms, a portmanteau of the words British and sitcom.

Absolutely Fabulous enjoyed a significant following when it aired on Comedy Central in the 1990s, and The Office won a Golden Globe award in 2004 for "Best Television Series — Musical or Comedy", beating popular American favourites such as HBO's Sex and the City and NBC's Will & Grace.

A few British sitcoms were successfully reworked for U.S. audiences. Three notable examples are Steptoe and Son which became Sanford and Son, Man About the House, which became Three's Company on ABC, and Till Death Us Do Part, which became All in the Family on CBS. Other series were not as lucky. Beanes of Boston, an Americanised version of Are You Being Served?, was not picked up in 1979, and remakes of Porridge, Red Dwarf, Fawlty Towers and even Dad's Army have all failed to get beyond a pilot episode. In 2003, the U.S. version of Coupling, a series often compared to Friends, was cancelled shortly after premiering on NBC.

Some British series have themselves been based on American examples, including The Upper Hand (a remake of Who's the Boss), and Brighton Belles, an unsuccessful Anglicised version of The Golden Girls. More recently, My Family used a team of writers to mimic American-style sitcoms.

British sitcom - Australia

Although many British comedies were shown on the three commercial TV networks in Australia in the 1970s and early 80s (e.g. On the Buses, Mind Your Language, Doctor in the House, The Upchat Line and Get Some In!) they had fallen out of favour by the late 1980s. One issue was the difficulty of fitting a half-hour BBC Britcom (without adverts) into a 25-minute Australian TV slot with advertising breaks. American sitcoms are now dominant on the three commercial networks.

However, British programs (including sitcoms) have long been standard fare on the other major channel, ABC; the large majority of major BBC sitcoms have been shown on the ABC, from Dad's Army to The Office. The station lacks ad breaks, being funded by the Australian Federal Government. With the national sense of humour often akin to the British one, tending to be dry, deadpan, ironic or sarcastic, British sitcoms are popular in Australia, and the major ones are widely available in public libraries and video and DVD shops. Absolutely Fabulous, Blackadder, Mr. Bean, Fawlty Towers, Yes Minister, One Foot in the Grave, and Red Dwarf, to name just a few, have all been re-aired many times on the ABC. Keeping Up Appearances and As Time Goes By also often appear. Others recently-aired include Black Books, Gimme Gimme Gimme, My Family and Coupling.

British sitcom - Canada

Since the days of Benny Hill and Fawlty Towers, British series have always fared well and have developed cult status with many Canadians. The sense of humour is somewhat similar and transfers well with Canadians. What may be deemed "too much" for US TV goes down a storm in Canada. Similar to Australian TV, Canadian TV's 30 min programming format is actually more like 20 min with 10 min of adverts; thus, many britcoms have to be edited to fit the format.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "British sitcoms overseas", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki