John Leguizamo cast as American 'Del Boy'

Over the last several years, American audiences have suffered endlessly through remakes of Coupling, Life on Mars and Prime Suspect while being subjected to continued rumors of remakes of British greatness such as MI-5, IT Crowd and Doctor Who. As we reported with sadness recently, the most popular British situation comedy of all-time, Only Fools […]

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R.I.P. – Mr. O'Reilly

David Kelly. He was Grandpa Joe Bucket in Tim Burton’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, rode a motorbike naked in Waking Ned Devine, starred alongside Peter O’Toole and Peter Ustinov in the Irish mini-series, Strumpet City, and played a vicar in The Italian Job. The Dublin-born actor possessed a “wicked sense of humor”, according to […]

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Valentine's Day – British comedy style

Nothing screams Valentine’s Day like a bit of British comedy. SInce Hallmark tells us it’s a day for couples what better way to celebrate than to take a look back at those couples that have been a part of our collective telly families for a number of years. Unlike Hyacinth, I hope you’re ok with […]

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Monty Python's 1974 pre-'wardrobe malfunction' bit of lunacy

If you’re a broadcaster or producer, you just thought your clashes with the FCC began back in 2004 and Janet Jackson’s infamous “wardrobe malfunction” incident. A full 30+ years prior to that special Sunday, one of the producers of the brilliant Python film, Monty Python and the Holy Grail was approached by a member of […]

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Patricia Routledge talks Hyacinth, KUA and comedy 101

As the great Patricia Routledge inches closer to her 83rd birthday on Friday, 17 February, I’m reminded of a point in time in the late 1990’s that we had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to interview Ms. Routledge for a salute to British comedy program for broadcast on public television in the States. For weeks before the […]

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New PG Wodehouse stories to star Jennifer Saunders

The mere thought of this brings back many classic early 90’s memories of watching Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry in Jeeves and Wooster. Adapted from P.G. Wodehouse’s Jeeves stories, the series brilliantly told the story of a young gentleman with a minor aristocratic upbringing (Laurie) and his ‘personal gentleman’ (Fry), whose duty is to separate […]

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Only Fools and Horses getting American face-lift….Sigh

What has widely been viewed as one of the most popular situation comedies of all-time in the UK will now become the next American re-make that will not last one season (IMHO). The ABC Television Network has announced that a pilot is in the works from the brains behind the U.S. comedy, Scrubs. For some […]

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Pythons to reunite for Absolutely Anything

There was a time it seemed like members of Monty Python were getting together for ‘almost anything’. Masters of re-versioning their classic material on albums such as The Album of the Soundtrack of the Trailer of the Film of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, The Hastily Cobbled Together for a Fast Buck Album, Monty […]

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Happy 40th to Sanford & Son; Happy 50th to Steptoe & Son

Happy 40th, Sanford and Son A quiet milestone anniversary passed on Saturday involving one of the greats in American sitcom history with roots in British situation comedy. Sanford and Son, which starred Redd Foxx and Demond Wilson, premiered on NBC on January 14, 1972. Based on the brilliant British situation comedy, Steptoe and Son, the […]

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Mulberry – the ending that never was

As Time Goes By, Keeping Up Appearances, Are You Being Served, Good Neighbors, Last of the Summer Wine. All a part of our lives for a number of years and a number of seasons. The one thing, however, that most of these British comedy classics had in common is that they all ended on their […]

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