Welcome to Sweden (NBC) (1 Viewer)

[Adam Lenhardt]

This is a Swedish sitcom executive produced by Amy Poehler and starring her brother, Greg. It aired on TV4 in Sweden back in March, and now NBC's running it as a summer series. It's a fictionalized version of his own move to Sweden back in 2006.I knew it was a Swedish production, but I was still surprised by just how much Swedish there was in the pilot; I never figured NBC would air a show with so many subtitles. I'd say it was about 50 percent English/50 percent Swedish. That was a point of intrigue that increased my investment in the show; even though most of the character are pretty well-worn personality types, I'm not used to seeing them in Swedish so I give it more of a pass than I would with yet another North American coating.

 

[David Weicker]

I thought is was pretty awful. Not only wasn't it funny (IMO), but the commercial breaks were oddly placed.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I thought is was pretty awful. Not only wasn't it funny (IMO), but the commercial breaks were oddly placed.

I think the issue with the commercial breaks is an artifact of it being a Swedish import. Sweden limits shows broadcast from inside Sweden to 10 percent advertising, which means very short commercial breaks during the episode and longer commercial breaks between shows. As a result, NBC probably had to insert a couple commercial breaks where there weren't any originally to fit the US broadcast format.

 

[TonyD]

It was okay. ONly 10 eps right?Might as well watch them all.

 

[Malcolm R]

I watched a few minutes of it, but didn't find any comedy in this comedy, so I moved on.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

It was okay. ONly 10 eps right?Might as well watch them all.

Yup, ten episodes.I didn't find it laugh-out-loud funny, but I enjoyed the fish out of water element.

 

[Hanson]

I kept missing the subtitles because my eyes were glazing over so much.

Hey, the woman's description of how the couple met is completely opposite of the guy's! Hilarious, right? That was the only actual joke in the show. Well, the only one I witnessed since I jumped ship before the third act.

You know what's funnier than this? Any random 30 seconds of Lilyhammer.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

This show is just barely clinging onto me as an audience member, but I would love a spin-off focused on Patrick Duffy's ignorant American character and Illeana Douglas's pill-popping wife character as they travel across Europe.

 

[doug zdanivsky]

I liked this show..

Pretty funny, and I drew many parallels with my own fish out of water experiences.

Lilyhammer

Thanks, I'll check this out..

 

[Hanson]

Lilyhammer (yes, it's a corrupted spelling of the Norwegian city) is on Netflix. Two ridiculously entertaining seasons.