h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hello all;

I, for one, was deeply influenced by imported TV during my formulative years; probably the reason why I'm such an anglophile today.

I remember vividly growing up in the bible belt; coming home from school one afternoon & checking the TV listings & seeing that a show called "The Avengers" was coming on at 3:00. I was beside myself...a show about my favorite team of super-heroes; Iron Man, Captain America, The Wasp...excellent! I was eight years old and anything vaguely-superheroesque held my attention raptly (for any who don't know, in the U.S. during the 1970's, The Avengers was the title of a popular Marvel comic book).

Tuning in, I quickly found that this was NOT the Avengers I was expecting; there was no Iron Man, nobody could fly, and they all talked funny - like that butler on Family Affair. Then Diana Rigg appeared in black leather, and all thoughts of men in spandex flew from my mind. Emma was enough to keep me watching, but soon I grew enthralled by the characters, the cool gadgets, and the sense of...elsewhere (for lack of a better world) that the show radiated. I was a fan.

Later on, around junior high school, I stumbled onto Dr. Who playing on our local PBS station. This was in the post-Star Wars era of Blade Runner & Tron, but the humble production values & the earnest fun being had by the players endeared me quickly to the doctor, much to the bemusement of my friends, whom to this day cannot sit through an episode even for kistch's sake, yet eat up any poorly-written sci-fi crap that lands on domestic TV.

The real turning point was in the mid 80's, when MTV aired what is still my all-time fav. Britcom - The Young Ones. The show didn't catch on here (big surprise), but it gained a strong cult following & kids playing punk dress-up at the time (like me) loved it. I still have all the episodes on VHS from their original airings, and have since bought the DVD set.

Since those years, I've tried (sometimes in vain) to keep up with all the great Britcoms, but only recently, with the advent of the net & DVD, has this really been possible. Blackadder & Are You Being Served would crop up on PBS once in a blue moon, but DVD has been a godsend for U.S. fans of U.K. comedy (even though for some ungodly reason, we have no U.S. releases of League of Gentlemen series 2 & 3 yet...not to mention the Xmas special).

I'm not going to get into a debate about US vs. UK comedy, but my sense of humor has always been on the dry side, and I guess that's why Britcoms appeal to me(although Mrs. Rigg in a bodysuit didn't hurt). So, keep 'em coming!

Rock on Brother!

Its not fair really is it?
We give you The Young Ones, Red Dwarf, Fawlty Towers, Men Behaving Badly, The Office, The League of Gentlemen, etc.
You give us Friends (arrrgh!), Seinfeld (make it stop!), M*A*S*H (No more! Mo more!), Will and Grace (Noooooo!) and the godawful Ellen (*sob*).

But then again you took Anne Robinson from us and gave us Becker and Frasier, so we're even!



Glad to see someone over your side of the pond appreciates real comedy.

Hey, don't you diss M*A*S*H and Seinfeld.