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Obscure- ish American Comedy Shows What Were Shown In the UK

Started by Lisa Jesusandmarychain, August 14, 2022, 10:53:10 AM

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Lisa Jesusandmarychain

Inspired by that other thread going on about Fantasy Island , and that. Are the boys and girls of CaB familiar with any of these?

Duckman ( cartoon with Jason Alexander's voice, creator died this year)
Platypus Man ( can remember much about the show beyond the title, adventures of a single bloke, not much more)
Becker ( Sam from "Cheers" being a grumpy cunt)
 From further back in the past:
Sledgehammer ( well weird seeing the actor from that cropping up in the " In The Loop" film)
Throb ( set in a record company)

Not shown in the UK as far as I know, I saw them while living abroad, but might have also been shown in the UK, I don't fucking know:

'Til Death ( American Sit- Com with the tall one out of " Everybody Loves Raymond", bafflingly unfunny, went weird and self- referential in the last series)
Bad Teacher ( based on the film, had exactly the same plot every episode)


There's probably more.

dontpaintyourteeth


Lisa Jesusandmarychain

At least one series of " Norm" got shown on British telly too, didn't it?

dontpaintyourteeth

yer man from Sledgehammer is in Succession now as well of course

Lisa Jesusandmarychain

Quote from: dontpaintyourteeth on August 14, 2022, 10:57:03 AMyer man from Sledgehammer is in Succession now as well of course

He'll always be Sledgehammer to me.

Jockice

Big John Little John. Which I watched the first episode of last week.

Gulftastic

Quote from: Jockice on August 14, 2022, 11:28:02 AMBig John Little John. Which I watched the first episode of last week.

What a way to grow.

Got an airing in the late 70s or very early 80s. I think in the school holiday's block that the Beeb aired instead of educational stuff. I remember making fun of it at the time.

JesusAndYourBush

Sledgehammer was on The Paramount Channel around 1996-ish, and I think also on ITV late at night (or maybe just the Yorkshire TV region?) around that time also.

Jockice

Quote from: Gulftastic on August 14, 2022, 11:36:48 AMWhat a way to grow.

Got an airing in the late 70s or very early 80s. I think in the school holiday's block that the Beeb aired instead of educational stuff. I remember making fun of it at the time.

Hadn't thought about it for years until I read that Big Brother and The Big Breakfast were coming back. It was ok for a kids show with a very catchy theme tune.

elliszeroed

I remember the obscure stuff being on MTV. The State, Tom Green, The Head, The Maxx, Aeon Flux (not a comedy but whatever), something animated that might have been called Downtown.


Brundle-Fly


Bad Ambassador

Duckman aired on BBC2, and Sledge Hammer and Throb were mainstays of ITV's overnight schedule.

surreal

"Dream On" immediately springs to mind.  Late night HBO comedy, never quite lived up to it's promise. Created by the people who did Coffee Friends next, and somehow apparently got 6 seasons!

EDIT:
Oh, and Danger Theater - with Diedrich Bader as "The Searcher"

JesusAndYourBush

I saw WKRP in Cincinnati on ITV in their late night (1am-ish?) slot in the late 80's, but I've a feeling it'd been shown before as I was aware of the name, perhaps having seen the in the schedules and it being unusual enough for me to remember the name (I also discovered that The Kit Curran Radio Show was based on it and had copied some of the storylines.)

Shaky

Quote from: surreal on August 14, 2022, 10:11:57 PM"Dream On" immediately springs to mind.  Late night HBO comedy, never quite lived up to it's promise. Created by the people who did Coffee Friends next, and somehow apparently got 6 seasons!

EDIT:
Oh, and Danger Theater - with Diedrich Bader as "The Searcher"

Dream On had breasts, which was extremely important.

Used to love Danger Theater even if it basically had one joke. Bader is fantastic. Weirdly Tropical Punch (the Adam West-starring Hawaii Five-0 spoof it was packaged with) seemed almost totally laugh-free.

Famous Mortimer

Quote from: JesusAndYourBush on August 14, 2022, 11:19:28 PMI saw WKRP in Cincinnati on ITV in their late night (1am-ish?) slot in the late 80's, but I've a feeling it'd been shown before as I was aware of the name, perhaps having seen the in the schedules and it being unusual enough for me to remember the name (I also discovered that The Kit Curran Radio Show was based on it and had copied some of the storylines.)
WKRP In Cincinnati was pretty interesting. It has a Thanksgiving episode so beloved it'll be showed on every Thanksgiving til the end of TV, and it had some fun episodes (the one where the documentary crew followed the advertising guy around was good). It did start the era of unlikely heartthrob Howard Hesseman, too.

Did not know that about Kit Curran, which I watched at the time but not since.

JesusAndYourBush

Was the thsnksgiving episode the one where they were giving away turkeys as prizes but with an unsusual distribution method?  That's one of the plots Kit Curran copied.

Lisa Jesusandmarychain

Quote from: JesusAndYourBush on August 15, 2022, 02:38:22 PMWas the thsnksgiving episode the one where they were giving away turkeys as prizes but with an unsusual distribution method?  That's one of the plots Kit Curran copied.

Involved the mistaken belief that turkeys could fly, involving the plunging of the unfortunate gobbling creaturesthat reminds me, how *is* your mum? to their deaths. An odd choice of episode to be remembered fondly, I thought. WKRP *was* quite left of centre, though.

JesusAndYourBush

Yeah I remember it well, my odd choice of words was to avoid spoilering a show that aired over 40 years ago!!

Dropping them from a helicopter. I think prompting newscaster Les Nessman to say "Oh the humanity!"

Famous Mortimer

Quote from: JesusAndYourBush on August 15, 2022, 02:38:22 PMWas the thsnksgiving episode the one where they were giving away turkeys as prizes but with an unsusual distribution method?  That's one of the plots Kit Curran copied.
Blimey! I clearly remember almost nothing (apart from a very vague idea of the theme tune).


Famous Mortimer


up_the_hampipe

I first saw The Shivering Truth on E4 when I was drunk. Quite an experience. Of course it was the work of PFFR.

dissolute ocelot

Quote from: willbo on August 15, 2022, 06:17:51 PMjust shoot me, Cybil
Cybill was I think shown on Channel 4 around 9pm Friday night. It's also notable for featuring Alicia Witt star of 50% of Hallmark Xmas movies. And Dedee Pfeiffer whose career didn't go so well.

I still have a living, breathing friend who enjoyed Cybill, Herman's Head, Flying Blind (brief Tea Leoni-com), and Coach (no fucking idea). He didn't watch Empty Nest though.

willbo

Quote from: dissolute ocelot on August 16, 2022, 12:38:16 AMCybill was I think shown on Channel 4 around 9pm Friday night. It's also notable for featuring Alicia Witt star of 50% of Hallmark Xmas movies. And Dedee Pfeiffer whose career didn't go so well.

I still have a living, breathing friend who enjoyed Cybill, Herman's Head, Flying Blind (brief Tea Leoni-com), and Coach (no fucking idea). He didn't watch Empty Nest though.

yeah, I used to watch it then. I really liked it. I think she claims now it was cancelled due to her rejecting some exec's advances. I thought it could have gone on for longer. It was almost an early Extras/Curb in its look at showbiz IMO.

Shaxberd

I seem to remember Dharma and Greg constantly being daytime filler in the TV schedules of one of the commercial channels (maybe Channel 4?) during the late 90s yet I have never seen it, don't know anyone else who's seen it, and it never gets referenced or brought up.

Maybe not obscure in the way other things in this thread are, just forgettable, but impressive how little impact it made for something that was screened so frequently.

dontpaintyourteeth

Quote from: Shaxberd on August 16, 2022, 09:23:28 AMI seem to remember Dharma and Greg constantly being daytime filler I'm the TV schedules of one of the commercial channels (maybe Channel 4?) during the late 90s yet I have never seen it, don't know anyone else who's seen it, and it never gets referenced or brought up.

Maybe not obscure in the way other things in this thread are, just forgettable, but impressive how little impact it made for something that was screened so frequently.


On a similar note, Nikki, starring Nikki Cox. I think also shown on Channel 4? Google only ever seems to throw up articles about how different the lead actress looks now, which is kind of sad.

Joe Qunt

Did some research on the "King of Shite Sitcoms" Chuck Lorre, turns out the cunt wrote "French Kissin' In The USA" and the Ninja Turtles theme song. Quare.

Gulftastic

Quote from: dissolute ocelot on August 16, 2022, 12:38:16 AMCybill was I think shown on Channel 4 around 9pm Friday night. It's also notable for featuring Alicia Witt....

Pretty much my reason for watching.

Although Christine Baranski is always worth watching too. I'm sure I read that Shepherd was annoyed at Baranski stealing scenes by just being any good.