Is the BBC better than U.S. Networks?

[woundwort]

I don't watch a lot of TV and up until recently I wasn't watching any at all. Then I discovered Doctor Who and it's better than just about anything I've seen since the original V. Granted, I haven't seen Battlestar Galactica but nothing else really interests me. Shows like Warehouse 13 and Eureka don't have that pull that the BBC shows have.

I wasn't crazy about Primeval but the promos drew me in enough to give it a shot. Torchwood is great, though, and Being Human, albeit only 6 episodes, was amazing.

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[Jaqhama]

No one makes fictional TV shows better than the British.
In truth Aussie fictional TV shows are simply awful.

American fictional TV shows...every now and again there's a real gem, but it's rare.

The Unit is great, but copied from the Brit show Ultimate Force.

[erazmus]

I saw an Aussie show I liked once . . . the name will come to me, a kids show.
Round the Twist? That may not be it.
Most American shows are awful, usually on a conceptual level. The occasional gem is usually produced by accident and killed off as quickly as possible (Firefly).

Mike

[tchernabyelo]

The BBC is nowhere near what it used to be, and it particularly annoys me that BBC America seems determined to show almost entirely the worst aspects of the BBC (presumably it thinks it has to compete with American networks, but does it really have to show interminable reruns of "Kitchen Nightmares" and "Top Gear" (particularly Top Gear from three or four years ago - presumably to help people choose which supercar to buy second-hand?) rather than "QI" or anything half-intelligent?

But the increased BBC budgets have made it able to compete on production values in a way it couldn't before. Just a shame the commissioning editors and writers get it wrong so often.

[bdurham]

Journeyman and Jericho are two more shining examples of series that were never given a proper chance. The problem with American TV comes down to the Nielsen Ratings system. They select 'average families' who prefer pablum like reality TV to gauge what the country wants to watch.

[Steve Coate]

Looking for more good British TV? Try Coupling or MI-5.

In general, the Brits tend to produce shows with less creative constraints. They're not afraid to broach adult subjects and don't hinder intelligent shows as often as we do here in the U.S. (some good examples of this already listed by erazmus and bdurham).

[erazmus]

The current network production philosophies are dictated by raw numbers--usually production dollars per advertisement revenue when first aired. The networks often get little of the returns from popular properties when exploited after broadcast--they don't share much on DVD sales, syndication earnings, book adaptations or the like. So they have little incentive to fund shows that take time to build an audience or even a following, because that benefits only the production company and the shows creators.
Thus "Who wants to Marry a Millionaire" which can garner short term ratings and ad dollars with very little production costs is seen as a much better bet than . . .I'll stick with "Firefly".
Quality entertainment is pretty much the last thing considered.

Mike

[Jaqhama]

If you only watch one British drama series watch Spooks.
The first two seasons were superb.
The show is still ok, but the those first two seasons were like, wow!

People watch Top Gear for the humour less than what car they are testing.
But make no mistake...a show that extracts the michael from car manufacturers...a show that actually has the bottle to say a car is complete shite...without fear of the manufacturer suing the show...that took some nerve.

Old time classic Brit TV shows would be: Callan. A dark and gritty spy series with Edward Woodward.
The Sweeney with John Thaw and Dennis waterman.
Minder with Dennis Waterman.
Dr Who: The John Pertwee and Tom Baker years. (The best Master of them all was John Pertwee's friend who starred opposite him. That chap was killed when his sports car crashed.)
The Persuaders. Roger Moore and Tony Curtis.
The Protectors. Robert Vaughn.
The Saint. Roger Moore. Later a new series with Ian Oglivy that was as good, if not better than the original.
The Bill...Britain's longest running police drama...the US short lived series High Incident was based on the Bill. And probably Hill Street Blues as well.
Most people agree the best years of the Bill were the mid 90's until about the mid 2000's...when the producers decided we needed more touchy feeley stories and less hardcore drama. A mistake, as long time fans of the show turned away in droves. I stopped watching it myself, as did many Aussies and Brits.

[woundwort]

It's funny, I saw the first episode of Coupling (the British version) and thought it was hysterical. Then it was remade in the U.S., word for word, and it was terrible. I didn't understand it at the time but the truth is that the English have different sayings and inflections that don't work when spoken with an American accent. I always cringe when John Barrowman says cheeky or refers to "this lot".

I thought American TV was turning a corner when Lost and Heroes hit big but the copycast shows didn't measure up (Invasion, which looked like it was going to be great, turned out to be Dawson's Creek with a Sci Fi backdrop).

And (sorry for backing up on so many posts) while it's true that BBC America shows way too much Top Gear and Kitchen Nightmares, they do use Saturday night for their sci-fi. There's a show coming on (Survivors?) that looks pretty good.

Oh, and I really like Graham Norton.

Ivan Turner
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[Jaqhama]

Survivors?
Hmmm...back in the late 60's early 70's? There was a drama series about a group of people in the English countryside who gathered together after some...nuclear strike? bio-plague? I don't think it was ever made claer what had happened.
I was quite young at the time, so don't really remember much about the show.
I'm guessing the new Survivors show your talking about is a remake of the older Brit series.

Have you ever seen Red Dwarf or the Goodies?
Man, I loved the Goodies when I was a kid. Especially the episode where all the kiddy cartoon creatures came alive.

You can't beat Stingray, Captain Scarlet, Joe 90, Thunderbirds and UFO and Space 1999 for British SF action.
Which is really saying something as four of those shows feature puppets.

On threat of pain and death don't mention the affront to Thunderbird fans of that terrible live action teen movie. I have never watched it. I was about to say, never will, but as it's a dollar a week at my local video shop, maybe I'll force mysel?

[PaulMc]

Survivors?
Hmmm...back in the late 60's early 70's? There was a drama series about a group of people in the English countryside who gathered together after some...nuclear strike? bio-plague? I don't think it was ever made clear what had happened.
I was quite young at the time, so don't really remember much about the show.
I'm guessing the new Survivors show your talking about is a remake of the older Brit series.

Have you ever seen Red Dwarf or the Goodies?

Survivors was a Terry Nation (Daleks) concept, I've never seen it. I have seen a fair amount of Blake's 7.

I saw a few episodes of The Goodies when I was young, don't remember much. The one that sticks out is when they got cemented into their building.

Red Dwarf - smegging classic! I have all the DVDs. (so glad the American pilot never aired ... boy was it awful.) Some wonderfully original and funny stuff in that show.

Someone reported that they might consider an "American" version of Torchwood and Doctor Who. ??!! Why? They are perfectly popular over here without a reinvention, as far as I know. I hope that 'idea' never comes to fruition. I like my Doctors British.

[Jaqhama]

Re-post: In case some people who read my orginal note on the subject below think I'm nuts:

On threat of pain and death don't mention the affront to Thunderbird fans of that terrible live action teen movie.

The orginal post now changed to:

I have never watched it. I was about to say...never will...but as it's a dollar a week at my local video shop, maybe I'll force myself?
I'm secretly curious to see just how bad, bad can be.

[woundwort]

I have seen Red Dwarf. Very funny. I've never heard of the Goodies, though.

As far as the others you mentioned, I've only seen Space 1999 and Thunderbirds. Unfortunately, I saw Thunderbirds as an adult and wasn't too impressed. I loved Space 1999 as a kid, but it didn't hold up when I watched it as an adult. That's the trouble with a lot of TV. As a kid, you're mesmerized by it but as an adult, you see through all of the holes.

There are a few U.S. shows from years ago that do make the cut. Unfortunately, they were all short lived. Planet of the Apes was good. Space Above and Beyond was great, although it took the actors a few shows to get comfortable with their roles. And the first couple of seasons of Sliders (the Tracy Torme episodes) were as good as anything I've seen since (well, except Doctor Who; I've become obsessed with the new Doctor Who).

[bdurham]

Survivors?
Hmmm...back in the late 60's early 70's? There was a drama series about a group of people in the English countryside who gathered together after some...nuclear strike? bio-plague? I don't think it was ever made claer what had happened.
I was quite young at the time, so don't really remember much about the show.

I believe the show you are thinking about is Threads. It was a pretty bleak look at a post-apocalyptic world, told through the eyes of a two people and spanning several years.

A few years back the three major US networks ran competing SF shows: Invasion, Surface and Threshold. None of them survived past a season. Of the three, I found Threshold the most intriguing and the most intelligently written. Surface was fun, but was more like eye candy with Lake Bell.

Space Above & Beyond was a lot of fun. It's too bad it ended just as the story arc was ramping up. That series could have used a two hour movie to wrap things up.

As for Torchwood and Dr. Who being rei-maged for US audiences... DON'T!

[SJHigbee]

...and the altime VERY best David Tennant Dr Who episode - in my humble opinion - is called "Midnight", where the good Doctor goes on a tour across a deserted, inhospitable planet with a bunch of other people - they break down and 'stuff happens'. It took an awesome amount of acting ability to do the double-speaking over and behind each other - and actually gave me goosebumps. If you haven't seen it, and can dial it up on iplayer, so so. You're in for a rare treat...

[woundwort]

Midnight = Awesome

It was the first episode of Dr. Who I watched since I was a kid (4th doctor) and I was hooked instantly. I don't agree that it was the best one, though (although there are so many good ones...). I think Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead was so ludicrously amazing that it sets itself apart.

The fact that Stephen Moffat, who wrote that episode (among some other really good ones) is taking over the show instills in me some hope that the Matt Smith era will be as good as the David Tennant era.

[Jaqhama]

I just watched Thuderbirds 2004.
Go to my 30 second DVD guide to see what I thought of it.
Or save yourself some time and trust me when I say it was pure, unadulterated (pun) 100% crap.

I bloody knew it would be. I knew I shouldn't have wasted my dollar.

http://forums.sfreader.com/showthrea...410#post199410

[tchernabyelo]

The original survivors was from the 70s and made it very clear that it was a biological incident (there was a shot of a scientist dropping a flask in the credits, IIRC). It was seminal at the time for its use of strong female lead characters.

Th remake is, as far as I am aware, only a remake in the sense of the basic idea and name - none of the same characters or plots.

[Richard H. Fay]

If I'm not watching old movies, documentaries, or "real life" TV like Ghost Hunters or Destination Truth I'm more than likely watching British TV. My all-time favourite TV show is Doctor Who. I've been a Doctor Who fan since I watched the Tom Baker series back in the 1980s. I also really liked Primeaval (until they killed off Cutter, anyway), Torchwood, and the short-lived Strange. The writing of many of these British shows just seems smarter somehow than the writing in US shows. They don't talk down to their audience, they don't dumb down their material. Plus, I love the occasional nods to legend and lore in many of these shows (for example, the fairy episode in Torchwood, and just about every episode of Strange).

[Jaqhama]

Linda and I just watched David Tennant as Dr Who in School Reunion (not great) and The Girl in the Fireplace.
TGITF was bloody superb. Sophia Myles was the girl who played Madame Pompadour. I've seen Sophia Myles in three different movies this week and she's been excellent in all of them. She almost saved Thunderbirds, playing Lady Penelope, but not quite.
Starring opposite the Dr in TGITF she played her role tp perfection.
I bet she'd be great in a well made historical romance drama.

[woundwort]

The Girl In the Fireplace was a great episode. Of course, I'd probably say that about most of them since I shamelessly gush about the show right and left. I did like School Reunion a lot but I can say that I was never a Sarah Jane Smith fan, even back when I was a kid. I always felt that Elizabeth Sladen overplayed the part (again, even when I was a kid). But nothing beats K-9.

[woundwort]

Survivors was on this week and I finally got around to watching it last night. It was pretty good but I have a soft spot for post-apocalyptic stuff. The quality of the show, in my opinion, depends on how they develop the different plot threads that were opened up in the 2 hour premiere. There were 2 actors that I recognized from Doctor Who but neither of them was a "Survivor" which was kind of disappointing.

[Ropespor]

The answer is yes.

The BBC is better than U.S. networks--UNLESS you also consider cable networks. If you include the incredible cable programming of recent years, it's more of a contest.