News

Julie-Louise Dreyfuss’ latest US comedy, The New Adventures of Old Christine, has found itself a home in the UK, according to Broadcast: UK Gold. Presumably, given the show’s less than a few months old, this is some new definition of ‘gold’ that they’re going with, rather than the previous ‘golden oldie’ definition – something along the lines of gold-top milk, I suspect.
I thought the show was pretty pants when I caught its first episode, but you might find it absolutely the best thing ever. So why is it on UK Gold rather than Channel 4 or Five? I suspect those channels’ purchasers have come to roughly the same conclusion as I did…

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.