What shows do the UK and other Europeans watch?

[trollnystan]

In Sweden, people watch... um...

I don't know, actually. I watch very little TV. In Sweden, we pretty much only watch American shows.

^^^^ What he said. Swedish television does very little original programming nowadays except for talk shows and reality shows. That's the majority of what's on too. Äkta Människor (Real Humans) is the only Swedish show I can think of that's Swedish and a fiction show - and SCIENCE fiction at that! I don't even have my TV antenna plugged in.

I watch Netflix basically. I'm currently watching Murders In Midsomer (for nostalgia), Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries (Australian show that's pretty entertaining), Stargate SG-1, and Farscape. So... nothing actually new.

 

[Atrocious Joystick]

Depending on the channel swedish TV essentially shows reruns of Family Guy, Simpsons, Seinfeld, 2 and a half men, scrubs, etc or House and a bunch of british cop shows. Also Gray´s Anatomy and that spinoff. Another channel has stuff like Fear Factor, Amazing Race, Gordon Ramsay´s kitchen nightmare and a whole bunch of british cooking shows.

Very little media gets produced here now in comparison to previously and what is produced is americanized crap in my opinion. Not that all american media is crap mind you it´s just that you can´t blindly translate the american "production and story style" to the swedish language because then it just comes out sounding stupid and weirdly depressing.

 

[Zack Alklazaris]

Peep Show, IT Crowd, The Inbetweeners and Not Going Out all all popular shows which have not made it to America, or at least as far as I know.

There's also a lot of popular panel shows like QI, Would I Lie to You? and Mock the Week which are very popular but probably won't ever make it to the US (think QI is an exception) because you need to be familiar with British (celeb) culture and politics to get them.

Have I got News for you is also brilliant, but again you really need to know British politics to appreciate it.

I'll actually check it out even "I Got News for You" seriously, politics are politics. I was also curious because many UK shows that make it to the US seem to be comedic or whimsical shows that are not to be taken too seriously. Being Human and House of Cards being exceptions. Are the tv shows you said above like that? Is serious, dramatic overactive life scenarios an American theme?

We just don't hear about much in the USA, which is said considering the worlds connected with lightspeed communication networks.

 

[Artina89]

I'd mention Garth Marenghi's Dark Place, but I think I'm the only person to have actually watched the series.

No I watched Garth Marenghi's darkplace as well, I thought it was absolutely brilliant and I even have the series on DVD. It is only a shame that there was only one series.

Here is one of my favourite clips:


To this day I still refer to a punch as a "knuckle supper"

 

[omega 616]

Glad to see nobody bringing up that dross that Dr. Who.

I think UK tv productions are utter crap, just total crap. The only thing I can think of that breaks that is "misfits".

You guys might like it, bunch of teens on community service (been naughty boys and girls) get caught in "the storm" and wake up with powers. It is a very crude show but it is what life is like in the rough areas of London (well, barring the power thing).

Very, VERY NSFW!

 

[Wakey87]

I dont even have a TV license anymore, British TV has been on a downward spiral for along time. The last great TV show we made was peep show. Some great shows have been mentioned and if you havn't seen them I would recomend these classics aswell

One Foot In The Grave
Bottom
Father Ted

 

[Elementary - Dear Watson]

Peep Show, IT Crowd, The Inbetweeners and Not Going Out all all popular shows which have not made it to America, or at least as far as I know.

IT Crowd and The Inbetweeners actually had American versions that were rubbish... The IT crowd one even had Richard Ayoade playing Moss again, as there was no suitable alternative!

OT: Err.... Most have been mentioned, but I will throw in Jonathan Creek, Skins and 100% Misfits! Misfits is my favourite British programme recently!

 

[squeebles12]

I'm quite into a series called Utopia which you can probably see on Netflix at the moment. Its sort of a dystopian thriller where a bunch of young adults get dragged into a massive conspiracy. I really enjoyed the first series and same with the recent second series, its quite interesting because it has a really dark story and fantastic acting but also elements of dark humour which the British really seem to enjoy but not many other countries seem to have.
Maybe its something to do with our ability to dislike and take the piss out of everything including the things we love. You'd never really see Americans having a conversation where X is rubbish "coz America is shite..." with general agreement.

 

[shootthebandit]

Still Game.

I love still game. The banter between jack, victor and Boaby is hilarious. Navid is by far the funniest though

 

[Insideout Ink Demon]

The American version is just a dreadful rip off of the British version as demonstrated by the following clip


on topic: 8 out of 10 cats is pretty popular

that was painful to watch. why a shot for shot remake??? oh i hope i never have to see that again. oh god why

 

[suitepee7]

Ah, Peep Show and IT Crowd are brilliant

Besides what Nickolai has mentioned, we also have a lot of single-series (think 6-13 episodes for the length of our series) dramas that come out on ITV and BBC. They can actually be pretty good but they're almost uniformly depressing as fuck. They tend to draw a lot of viewers, but you aren't looking at a single franchise here. Normally when a series it's done, it's done and they just make a new one.

A disproportionate amount of them seem to be period dramas, too.

Whatever happened to Black Mirror? Is that still on? Or was that a two-season deal?

I'm not certain. well, I am in some respects. It's definitely coming back, but at first a third season was announced, and then Charlie Brooker mentioned that it would come back for a christmas special, so either
a) series three starts at christmas with episode 1 being the christmas special
b) series three will be next year, and there will be an unrelated christmas special
c) there will just be a christmas special

 

[shootthebandit]

The American version is just a dreadful rip off of the British version as demonstrated by the following clip


on topic: 8 out of 10 cats is pretty popular

that was painful to watch. why a shot for shot remake??? oh i hope i never have to see that again. oh god why

Not only is it shot for shot but its censored beyond belief

The whole point of the inbetweeners was that it was a realistic (albeit slightly exaggerated) UK version of American high school shows. Making it American goes against everything the show stands for

 

[Frezzato]

I'm not certain. well, I am in some respects. It's definitely coming back, but at first a third season was announced, and then Charlie Brooker mentioned that it would come back for a christmas special, so either
a) series three starts at christmas with episode 1 being the christmas special
b) series three will be next year, and there will be an unrelated christmas special
c) there will just be a christmas special

A Black Mirror Christmas special. The horror!

I can't wait. Thanks!

 

[Plinglebob]

I watch very little on the TV at the moment, only Top Gear and Doctor Who. My only suggestions other then what people have already said are Inspector Morse and its prequel show Endeavour (not seen much of the Spin-off Lewis). A detective show that by US comparisons probably seems slow to the point of glacial, but the acting is top notch and the characters are very entertaining.

 

[Fodder Aplenty]

The fact that nobody has mentioned of touch of cloth yet is incredibly disappointing. You should all be ashamed of yourselves.

 

[Battenberg]

I'd mention Garth Marenghi's Dark Place, but I think I'm the only person to have actually watched the series.

Don't worry, you're not, I'd definitely recommend that too. Only thing I would say is that show is pretty much a love it or hate it deal, if you don't like it after 1 or 2 episodes you're probably not going to like it at all.

Also Black Books, Johnathan Creek, Fawlty Towers, Peep Show, Outnumbered, Outcasts, Survivors (new and old versions), Cracker, Father Ted, Misfits (but only up to Season 2, maybe as far as 3), The IT Crowd, Life on Mars, Sherlock, Mighty Boosh, Luther, and Red Dwarf are ALL well worth watching.

And Robot Wars. You should also definitely watch Robot Wars.

 

[PoolCleaningRobot]

Oh, I don't know if America has gotten The Mighty Boosh, but it's pretty much the best show ever, as demonstrated by this clip:

Spoiler

At first I thought it was a sea anemone, but on closer inspection I realised it was a funky ball of tits from outer space.

Oh god. Yes we Americans did get Mighty Boosh. I've only seen bits and pieces of it years ago but its one of those things that sticks with someone. Needless to say, I don't look at the English the same way I used to

More on topic, I watched the American version of Life on Mars and its one of the few prime time tv shows I have fond memories of. I haven't seen the original version, but I imagine its pretty good

Captcha: describe this brand in any words. I think I'll call this one "Old Greg"

 

[mc_dapper]

Utopia is a fairly under the radar TV series on channel 4 that is absolutely outstanding. Also, black mirror is another TV show that's pretty good. But you can't go wrong with QI and Mock the week. Also the thick of it is amazing.

 

[FPLOON]

Peep Show, IT Crowd, The Inbetweeners and Not Going Out all all popular shows which have not made it to America, or at least as far as I know.

IT Crowd and The Inbetweeners actually had American versions that were rubbish... The IT crowd one even had Richard Ayoade playing Moss again, as there was no suitable alternative!

Wait a minute! I know about the American version of The Inbetweeners... but an American version of IT CROWD?!
*googles it*
*sees the first five minutes of unaired US pilot*
Joel McHale?! The fuck am I looking at? It kinda looks like the original version that was shown on IFC a long while ago... but all it does is remind me of how many seasons the US version of The Office got...

Spoiler: Although, is it wrong to wonder how the American version of IT Crowd would have handled this scene in particular?

I'd mention Garth Marenghi's Dark Place, but I think I'm the only person to have actually watched the series.

Oh my glob, did I love seeing this show... on Adult Swim, which also showed The Mighty Boosh and the UK version of The Office whenever they felt like it, I guess... (I didn't care at the time how they got a hold of those shows in particular...)

OT: Well, I'm not from the UK or the like, but I do remember G4 showing Peep Show, PBS "somewhat" showing Father Ted, and IFC showing Modern Toss before they started placing commercials inbetween the shows and movies they featured...

 

[Breakdown]

I totally forgot about Modern Toss. The books were better than the series though.