Gunbot wrote:SusieP wrote:Gunbot wrote:SusieP wrote:Behshad wrote:Its a good show, but I like the following brittish shows more:
Monty Python
Fawlty Towers
Benny Hill
'Alo 'Alo
Black Adder
I am amazed that these shows have been aired over there.

Susie,
Most of these are on PBS which is Public television. The stations are funded by grants, the government and donations. Sesame Street is the big show that started up with PBS. You the viewer have pretty much a vote of what shows they will keep on the air. Since there are no commercials the stations really rely on pledge drives to help them keep up their funding. A lot of older retired people provide most of the public donations. I believe cheaper license agreements on the British shows were a reason they started airing them and also they were something fresh to us yanks who had never scene British programing. Dr. Who (with Tom Baker as the Doctor) was one of the great shows they would air in the 7O's. A great staple of PBS is MasterPiece Theatre, which shows literary works translated to film, All the Jane Austin Novels, Sherlock Holmes (with Jeremey Brett), Bleak House, etc. Eastenders and Prime Suspect ( with Helen Mirran ) also get aired guite a bit.
A good mix of stuff, then. The BBC always does the classic novels really well.
If they show Cranford - I can recommend that. Judi Dench is in it, and it's adapted from a period novel, of course - and the BBC excelled themselves with that.
Thanks for the info. TV with no commercials is great. We do get that on our BBC here but of course every adult who owns a tv has to pay the BBC a yearly fee for that privilege.
Ha ha what did you all make of Dr Who? Tom Baker is just as eccentric in real life! And those shows were made on a VERY limited budget!

DrWho has just returned with a bit more money spent on it. Not a lot more, but a bit. But maybe you have been getting that too?
I think Tom Baker is the best one out of all the doctors. He has a little of the free american spirit in him, not so much stiff upper lip

The new shows are a big hit on our Sci Fi channel.
I am a big fan of the mysteries and to me Jeremey Brett IS Sherlock Holmes and David Suchet IS Hercule Poirot, I have all the DVD's. If Judi Dench is in a new show It will make it to PBS. Her and John Cleese and many other British actors have come over and really helped out on the pledge drives over the years. Cable T.V. has eroded a lot of the viewership but their are diehards like myself who will always support the stations.
You are in agreement with most DrWho fans, then. He seems to be everyone's favourite. I adore English eccentrics, and he scores twelve out of ten on the eccentric scale for me!
I assume the new shows are still being aired, then? The current series just ended last Saturday.
I agree about Holmes and Poirrot, too.
You are bound to get Cranford then. I try to watch all the BBC's dramatisations of the classics if I can. Bleak House was a good one, but Cranford just beats all! I'm sure you will love it. It is so good it makes you feel you really are living in that English village all those years ago.
The lead actresses wear no make-up - they don't need to. they show what good acting is about. They become the characters.
And good on ya for supporting the stations!
xxx