November 9, 2010

Fire Up the Quattro

When Mike and I got DVR I discovered that opened up BBC America to us. Holy crap was I excited. BBC had a great little Friday night comedy line-up with Coupling, Little Britain, Hardware, and Spaced. Each show was really enjoyable and awesome. But once the shows' series were run through BBC America decided to stop showing comedy shows- like the UK runs out of comedy shows, I mean REALLY- and showing total crap. The channel now pretty much only shows Gordon Ramsay programs, reality shows and Top Gear. The news programs are great and all but otherwise it really kind of stinks.

Those shows aren't bad. They are quality reality shows. It's just that reality television isn't really our bag. My problem is that British television is solid. The Brits now when to put a good thing down. And knowing when to quit makes for strong shows with pointed storytelling. The shows that we're lucky to catch- like Spaced, Ashes to Ashes, being human, and Little Britain- are just amazing. But since we don't watch the channel outright the only way to know when these programs are on again is to stalk the BBC America website. That's fine and all but come on! Why does the station make it that difficult to watch them?

It's such a waste that the station is now showing marathons of Star Trek: The Next Generation when it could be showing the third season of Ashes to Ashes or the first seasons of The Trip or Psychoville. I get the feeling that the station assumes it's not worth showing other stuff since no one watches. But I know lots of people who would/do! ME! So, yes, I enjoy the occasional Doctor Who episode- Emily and I watched it instead of this year's Super Bowl. But there's more to the BBC than that. So show me what you can really offer BBC. I'm waiting.

3 comments:

Tina Winston said...

Hulu.com has episodes of Spaced and Little Britain. If you don't mind watching them on the computer, you could subscribe to them and never miss an episode.

belleshpgrl said...

I bought Spaced as soon as it came out in our region. And we ended up catching all the Little Britains by recording any episode that ever came on. It's just I know there's good stuff that we can't get over here. And I'm pouty about it.

EmilyAlexandra said...

It really is sad that we can hardly get anything over here. At least you have BBC America I'm restricted to whatever Masterpiece feels like playing! BLERG. I have only watched snipits of Spaced and Little Britain I am inviting myself over to watch these with you when you do - so let me know :)