Broadcast (normally subscription only, but free for everyone while the Edinburgh Festival is running) has an interview with Simon Fuller about various things, including his bust up with Simon Cowell and the proposed 'Little America' or 'Little Britain US' (or whatever it is they're doing).
“We are on the brink of confirming something rather special,” he confirms. “Comedy of that quality always crosses the Atlantic. Think back to Monty Python. Who would have thought that would have been such a big hit in America?”
The Times has more info. Maybe. It might be reading too much into the Broadcast interview, though.
For those with an appreciation of classic comedy, there's more good news from Fuller. He's cajoled Ian La Frenais and Dick Clement, who wrote The Likely Lads, Porridge and Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, into creating a new series, too:
“It's a music drama with a bit of comedy in it. It has the flavour of a very contemporary version of The Commitments for TV.”
Sounds a bit like one of their few flops, Over the Rainbow, doesn't it? But only a bit. Let us wait and see.
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August 26, 2006 | Reply
Honestly; what IS it with Americans constantly stealing our ideas? First it's Red Dwarf, then Coupling, then The Office, and now Little Britain? Can't they just sit back and acknowledge that this is OUR acheivement, rather than trying to copy it?
OK, rant over. For now...
August 26, 2006 | Reply
Nah. It's a lot easier for a TV executive in the US to say, "Let's make this - it's popular in Britain," than to green light a completely original idea. If it all goes wrong, they have an excuse as well.
But it's not like our schedules are completely free of US programming or US formats: the Price is Right is coming back, as is Family Fortunes. Plus we've tried our best to remake US comedies like Golden Girls, That 70s Show and others but it's always backfired. And then there were things like Friday/Saturday Night Live which lasted for ages but are no longer with us.
We seem to be better at nicking other countries' ideas instead: Pop Idol (Australian), Deal or No Deal (Australian), Big Brother (Dutch), Countdown (French), etc.
Still, at least we're not as bad as the Germans, who'll fill their schedules with just about any country's format except their own: Big Train, Monty Python, Saturday Night Live (again), to name but a few - all shunted over to Germany.