What's on TV, ILX? It's the American Sitcom Tournament Round 1/Group 3

putting the jeffersons v. ad was so mean to the jeffersons - could have had a long run if it wasn't against a semi-finalist (at least.)

family ties v sports night is HARD (had to go keatons)

The Jeffersons is no contest over AD cuz it made me laugh more than twice

uh, where is SGT BILKO in this thing????

also, no Burns and Allen, no cred

I'M SORRY I LEFT OUT BILKO!

just out, btw:

http://www.tvshowsondvd.net/graphics/news3/PhilSilversSgtBilko_S1_f.jpg

LOL Britishes

Sports Night, A Different World, The Jeffersons = never heard of these

Family Ties = never seen this

The Jeffersons never traveled across the ocean? That's a tragedy.

Americans might be surprised just how mnay of their sitcoms have never made it to the UK

tbv a lot of the us sitcoms were based on already existing uk shows - ie no "need" to screen sanford & son when you've already got steptoe, i guess.

Have a bad feeling that Jeffersons and Different World are outclassed in the first round. I mean, MASH and Arrested Development? It's black comedy against black comedy.

I don't know. I might be inclined to give The Jeffersons the nod over AD.

MASH is a battering ram, though.

Yeah, it's huge!

Americans might be surprised just how mnay of their sitcoms have never made it to the UK

I didn't figure smaller ones like NewsRadio or Coach, for example, had made the journey, but The Jeffersons was really super popular and widely acclaimed. Figured UK tv might have picked it up, maybe even after its run. Guess not, though.

I remember Coach- craig t nelson effort, Major Dad kinda thing

"Coach" made it over here!

Oh wow, really? That's surprising.

You guys had Major Dad too?!

Yes, but watched by about 3 people. Think it's fair to say that American sitcoms have rarely had large audiences in the UK

Traditionally series might get shown for a while, probably out of sequence, shunted all over the schedules then disappear as quickly as it appeared

something to fill a half hour after the news, usually shite. mind you if anyone's ever seen an irish sitcom.....

Before the advent of BBC America on cable, all Britcoms were relegated to weeknights and weekend afternoons on public television. Viewership is/was terribly low for all of them, except Flying Circus which every boy between the ages of 11 and 16 would watch as though it were a narcotic.

I could be wrong, but "MASH" was the only long running US sitcom that got shown more or less concurrently, for its entire run, on British TV - and wasn't moved around in the schedules. That was on BBC2 though. Can't think of another one until "Friends".

Roseanne and Cheers both got full runs on Channel 4, didn't they. Might be false-remembering here, but I think Married With Children was fairly static on a weeknight evening on ITV.

Cheers? xp

C4 used to show US sitcoms like Kate & Allie and Blossom, etc, in sequence and in full at a teatime slot in the late 80s/early 90s

also, i reckon Happy Days would have been shown in full in the UK

And Mork & Mindy, probably

When I was in the UK on New Years Eve 1998, BBC2 was showing a Frasier marathon.

probably = not enough of an afficionado to know whether we got the whole thing

xpost, that would more likely have been Channel 4 as they had the rights to it. I did have that entire evening marathon on VHS at one time. Comedy Central still shows Frasier marathons almost every weekend (and I still watch them).

Roseanne and Cheers both got full runs on Channel 4, didn't they.

I don't know if Roseanne did. Cheers probably did.

Frasier almost (at least sometimes) seems like a British show that mistakenly wound up on American tv.

jane leeves' accent screams otherwise

OTM and you certainly would never have gotten away with Daphne's brother's accent in the UK!

The last fews episodes when her other brothers turn up as well (played by a monosyllabic grunty Robbie Coltrane and a trying-to-not-sound-posh-but-failing Richard E Grant) multipy the excruciation by an unimaginable number.

I didn't mean the specifics. Just the basis and many of the plots.

just the fact that they had table manners tbh

Sports Night, MASH, Jeffersons, Futurama. That last one was a tough choice, as I love both those shows dearly, but Futurama seems to have held more re-watch value for me.

lol

I was thinking more along the lines of how situations almost always went from bad to worse by compounding the problems through a series of gags that more often than not relied on visual cues than laugh lines. xp

It's a classic farce.

Sports Night (even though I've never seen it), MASH, George and Weezie, Futurama

I love Soap. Been watching it on Netflix Instant Watch and it totally holds up.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

uh didnt the jeffersons just lose to the monkees in the other poll

This one needs to be locked.