PBS Bullish on the British (Ulgy American)

The Atlantic ^ | July 23, 2012 | Richard Lawson

[C19fan]

Much like us, PBS is pretty obsessed with all things British right now. At the Television Critics Association summer press tour yesterday, the public broadcaster held a well-received panel, during which the network excitedly praised all the UK-created programming that is giving them its best numbers in years. Masterpiece is up 107 percent from three years ago! Downton Abbey — the ITV-produced smash that will return for a third season early next year — is of course leading the charge on that, but it is not the only popular import.

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This isn't BBC America, this is our public television! We need our own stories. They can still be stuffy and period-y and meaningful glances-y, but they should at least be our own.

[C19fan]

The only things worth watching on PBS are the British produced period pieces. Note to Mr. Lawson. Americans suck at period dramas. The only one I have ever enjoyed was Scorsese's "The Age of Innocence." I think it is Americans, especially the Hollyweird elite, do not have the cultural memory to do a good one.

[Revolting cat!]

[C19fan]

Of course I screwed up the spelling of ugly.

[Revolting cat!]

[ozzymandus]

There’s almost nothing else on PBS to watch except british reruns. This is news?

[dfwgator]

Does this mean they’re bringing back reruns of Benny Hill and Dave Allen at Large?

[Daveinyork]

The only thing I ever watch on PBS is Sherlock Holmes, Poirot, and the Midsommer Murders. They used to be on the Bio channel, but I think they’ve discontinued them.

[heylady]

And Sherlock Holmes, Inspector Lewis, Ashes to Ashes, George Gently, MI5, Doc Martin, New Tricks. Other good British shows: Life on Mars, Primeval, Foyle’s War, Miss Marple, Poirot, Wire in the Blood, Whitechapel, Wild at Heart and Midsomers Murders. I am watching Robin Hood now and while it isn’t great it sure beats Honey Boo Boo.

[ozzymandus]

I could watch Fawlty Towers again.

[Sans-Culotte]

Ulgy?

[yadent]

Loved ‘Are You Being Served’....

[x]

The only things worth watching on PBS are the British produced period pieces.

Remake those often enough and you reach a point of diminishing returns. You can't do Jane Austen over and over and over again and have it be as good or better than it was before, and you don't want to be the clown who makes a movie of "Brideshead Revisited" after the television series or a TV series out of "A Room With a View" after the film. They've reached that point with Dickens, and when they remake him again it won't be very good.

Note to Mr. Lawson. Americans suck at period dramas.

I guess I know what you mean -- parlor room costume dramas? -- but most Westerns and gangster movies are also "period pieces," as is "Mad Men" or "Boardwalk Empire." I'd say we come out on top there.

British television does do some okay stuff, but the worst thing about it is the widespread expectation that somehow they have more "class" or "style" than us. They don't. You can get just as tired of British cop shows just as quickly as you can of "CSI" or "Law and Order."

The really worst thing is that announcer on BBC America, who is so convinced that he's posh when any Brit would tell you that he's not. He has to know. He just thinks we won't find out.

[Oratam]

"It's honor to give 10 thousand dollars, especially now, when the rich mosaic of cable programming has made public television so very, very unnecessary."

- Homer Simpson

[Mmogamer]

Britcoms! It’s all I watch on pbs maybe antiques roadshow sometimes.