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Rise of international TV

post #1 of 47
12/24/08 at 3:49pm
Thread Starter 
Ok, I have to admit, I find myself really drawn to quite a few programs which air in foreign markets. Thanks to the internet, Hulu, options to buy foreign channels on DirectV, BBC US, and even networks airing second foreign shows a season behind.. it's all good.

I've found I'm a big fan of these:

Top Gear (BBC)
IT Crowd (Channel Four)
Satisfaction (Australian SHO)
Life on Mars (UK Version)
Blue Murder (UK)
Secret Diary of a Call Girl (UK)
Kitchen Nightmares (UK - which is WAY better then the US version)

Am I alone? It's always good to see what the others around the globe are watching, and surprising how much I lvoe some of it.. IT Crowd, Top Gear, Secret Diary.. some of the better shows anywhere on TV.. thank god the first two have not seen their US version (yet) and the third has stuck with the british production re-aired on Showtime...
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post #2 of 47
12/24/08 at 7:19pm

Re: Rise of international TV

Don't forget Doctor Who.
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post #3 of 47
12/24/08 at 7:56pm

Re: Rise of international TV

IT crowd is a riot - we get a few UK shows in Mexico thru syndication. Is there a way to watch it in the US other than buying the season dvds?
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post #4 of 47
12/24/08 at 10:13pm

Re: Rise of international TV

Top Gear, IT Crowd and Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares are all must watch TV for me. Top Gear might be my favorite show of all-time.

Oh, and don't forget about the original "Office". I love the U.S. version, but the original might be the best comedic television ever made.
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post #5 of 47
12/25/08 at 8:11am

Re: Rise of international TV

Quote:
Originally Posted by Matt Stryker
IT crowd is a riot - we get a few UK shows in Mexico thru syndication. Is there a way to watch it in the US other than buying the season dvds?
Only if you can find lots of friends that recorded it and have each of them send you little bits of the file that you reassemble at your end, over the internet. (is there a whistling, tongue-in-cheek, eyes to the sky, winking smiley?)

Or even have real friends over there to record it and send you copies: a DVD pen pal. I have a buddy that does just that. He sends them US shows and they send him UK TV: unfortunately they are using BetaMax tapes to do it. His UK buddy is too cheap to buy a DVD recorder and he's too cheap to by a DVD player that can play PAL. (it doesn't even have to be hacked for multi-region since self recordings are not region coded.)
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post #6 of 47
12/25/08 at 8:24am

Re: Rise of international TV

Another fan of The IT Crowd (my wife loves the show as well). I also got hooked on the AUS version of So You Think You Can Dance (the CAN version flopped for me, but that might have been SYTYCD fatigue after finishing the US version).

I watched both seasons of Extras before they hit HBO.

IFC is airing the IT Crowd. I think it's season one.
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post #7 of 47
12/25/08 at 9:30am
Thread Starter 

Re: Rise of international TV

You can catch IT Crowd on IFC here in the US (it's on Season 2 now) and Season 3 you can catch on Channel4 direct via Satellite (yes, the tradition BUDs) ..

But you can watch eps here:

The IT Crowd | Watch Online | Free Catch-Up on Channel 4 Shows

For some reason, if I try at work, it automatically says "Not in the UK or Ireland" but at home, where I have two connections, it lets me pass right through and watch full eps. Sweet!
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post #8 of 47
12/25/08 at 2:24pm

Re: Rise of international TV

I like Hustle from the BBC. A lot of folks seem to like Spooks/MI-5 as well.
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post #9 of 47
12/25/08 at 9:35pm

Re: Rise of international TV

It was a bit on the cheesy side but I really enjoyed Primeval.
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post #10 of 47
12/26/08 at 8:51am
Thread Starter 

Re: Rise of international TV

Promos (Legit to post) of some of these shows:

Satisfaction:



It Crowd:



Top Gear:



Secret Diary of a Call Girl:



I'll add another.. if "Heroes" was as good as BBC's "Merlin" has been...
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post #11 of 47
12/26/08 at 8:57am

Re: Rise of international TV

Merlin is supposed to make it to NBC in the USA but no time has been set.
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post #12 of 47
12/26/08 at 11:40am
Thread Starter 

Re: Rise of international TV

I hope so. Michelle Ryan (Bionic Woman) is damn fine in this show. Merlin has just been awesome from the get go.
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post #13 of 47
12/27/08 at 6:41am

Re: Rise of international TV

Here's the one I want to see: Pluton BRB Nero. Sadly, I think the odds of a Spanish-language series coming to the US are pretty slim, even if writer/director Alex de la Iglesia has a cult following and has done some English-language work.

(Speaking of de la Iglesia, his entry in Spain's Films to Keep You Awake series of TV movies was really good - that series also fits, being a sort of Spanish Masters of Horror with better production values)
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post #14 of 47
12/27/08 at 11:17am

Re: Rise of international TV

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jason Seaver
Here's the one I want to see: Pluton BRB Nero. Sadly, I think the odds of a Spanish-language series coming to the US are pretty slim, even if writer/director Alex de la Iglesia has a cult following and has done some English-language work.

No chance of it coming to Telemundo or Univision?
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post #15 of 47
12/27/08 at 12:48pm

Re: Rise of international TV

I suppose there maybe. This would not help me much, as I don't speak Spanish (do those networks routinely subtitle in English?).
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post #16 of 47
12/27/08 at 7:08pm

Re: Rise of international TV

I grew up watching a lot of uh... international TV, from Brazilian soap operas to German cop shows (the lead of the venerable Derrick just died.)

I wonder how a cable channel dedicated to foreign shows like that would do stateside.

--
H
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post #17 of 47
12/27/08 at 8:15pm

Re: Rise of international TV

I once.. uh.. got a hand on the French and German version of the Office, but without subtitles they weren't comprehensible.
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post #18 of 47
12/12/09 at 1:11pm
Thread Starter 
Season 3 of Australia's "Satisfaction" is underway; what a great drama that is.
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post #19 of 47
12/12/09 at 1:33pm
One very good program "Derrick" (see post 16)- There wre cirka 280 one hour programs and was exported to many other counries with local audio. I think it has been shown in Canada (but not US) and in England. This show is coming out onto DVDs but with german audio. As the ZDF program had german subtitles. the later subtitles may come on the later DVDs.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derrick_(TV_series)

I have seen via google that this series has been shown in Australia - can anyone there comment? Were there DVDs made there?????

Edited by Sumnernor - 12/12/09 at 1:55pm
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post #20 of 47
12/19/09 at 11:27am
Thread Starter 
Just started "Shameless" picked up the DVDs.. laughing my ass off.
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post #21 of 47
12/5/11 at 3:11pm

Highly recommend Waking the Dead, which was sadly dropped by the BBC after nine series. It's spin-off series The Body Farm aired earlier this autumn, and was good, but if renewed it needs some work done to it to improve the quality.

 

Later...with Jools Holland is well worth watching. A late night music programme with something like six or seven artists on each week, sharing the studio.

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post #22 of 47
12/5/11 at 3:21pm
Thread Starter 

It's funny looking back on this list three years ago; Life on Mars made an attempted US switch; Secret Diary had a good run on Showtime; and the Showtime rendition of Shameless comes back this spring, and I'm grateful for the differences.

 

The strongest version of Law & Order anywhere in the world right now is L&O:UK, it's a good way to look at old L&O cases in a whole different light.   I have thoroughly enjoyed it.   Downton Abbey has been one of the best shows on TV anywhere in the world.


International TV is definitely stronger now then it has ever been.

 

 

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post #23 of 47
12/5/11 at 3:38pm

Forbrydelsen II (aka The Killing II) has more of a political feel to it than in the first series. But six episodes into this second series (two more double bills to go), it's getting very interesting. Sofie Grabol fully deserves the praise she gets. Aside from being attractive (but looking usually miserable in the series), she can act (very well) and is refreshing in a well trodden genre.

 

Case Sensitive, a detective drama which starred Olivia Williams, started off as a two-part pilot earlier this year. The last I read, a further episode or two has been ordered by ITV.

 

DCI Banks, started off as a two-part pilot on ITV in September 2010. A further three two-parters aired this autumn. Hopefully more adaptations of the Peter Robinson books will follow, as this is worth watching. Stephen Tompkinson in this is a world away from that of Wild at Heart (in which he plays animal vet Danny Travanion), which is returning for a seventh series in the New Year.

 

Above Suspicion usually has a new story air at the start of the New Year, so there may be a fourth story in January. This detective series stars Ciaran Hinds.

 

EDIT: A fourth Above Suspicion story, "Silent Scream" is currently airing on ITV1.


Edited by WaveCrest - 1/18/12 at 3:11pm
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post #24 of 47
12/8/11 at 2:49pm

The original Austrailian Wilfred TV series is being released in the UK by Fabulous Films. The BBFC passed both two series this week (each consisting of eight episodes).

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post #25 of 47
12/8/11 at 5:15pm

Misfits, about a bunch of work release 20-somethings with super powers in the UK is doing some good stuff in season three.  Not as strong as the first two seasons (they're still trying to make their way back from having lost their most dynamic cast member), it's still wickedly funny even if it's 10%-15% incomprehensible to my American ears.

 

Waiting patiently for the new season of The IT Crowd and the InBetweeners movie.

 

I used to watch the Australian version of SYTYCD, but that got axed after three seasons.

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post #26 of 47
12/9/11 at 2:59pm

Top of the Pops, a long running UK music programme, is currently being repeated on BBC Four on Thursday evenings. The next edition (some editions were wiped by the BBC, so when an edition no longer exists in the BBC archives, The Sky at Night is shown instead) will be from December 1976.

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post #27 of 47
12/9/11 at 4:42pm
Thread Starter 

Yeah, IT Crowd is a must.  I have to say, I wondered if it would come about.   The rumors about a Black Adder reunion series are too tempting for me, I'm just hoping it comes off.  

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post #28 of 47
12/15/11 at 1:29pm

Mongrels - shown in the UK on BBC Three, a puppet comedy about a group of dogs.

 

Also, the Austrailian TV film series BlackJack, starring Colin Friels and Maria Dusseldorp. About an ex-detective who works on cold cases in the basement of a police building. Available on Region 4 DVD (two boxsets).

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post #29 of 47
12/15/11 at 3:06pm
Thread Starter 

Downton Abbey Christmas Special should air soon.. VERY much looking forward to it; that is an absolutely incredible ensemble cast.   It's fantastic casting, great scripts and the production quality on it is fantastic.

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post #30 of 47
12/16/11 at 1:36pm

Downton Abbey did very well in the ratings for it's second series. A third series is in the works. It will likely be one of the very few ITV shows which will finish in the Christmas Day Top 10 TV ratings (the last few years the BBC have had the majority of shows in the Top 10).

 

A comedy news quiz which I highly recommend is Have I Got News for You, which has been running now for around 20 years on the BBC. Also worth recommending is Mock the Week, a comedy panel news quiz.

 

Don't know if this has been shown in the US, but Republic of Doyle is worth watching. The third series is due to start in Canada on CBC next month (the show airs in the UK on Alibi). It's about a father and son private detective agency in St. John's, Newfoundland. It reminds me a bit of The Rockford Files.

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