NBC Opens Doors to Immigration

NBC is hoping the success they found with The Office can allow lightning to strike twice.

It's developing a BBC Three show called I'm With Stupid with the Farrelly Brothers, which should be interesting. It's also looking to snatch a Channel 4 show called The IT Crowd and an Australian show called Kath & Kim.

I don't know what I'm With Stupid is about, but I'm sure it'll be over-the-top with the Farrellys on board. The IT Crowd is about three IT-support workers who are exiled to the basement of their company's otherwise posh office building and is being adapted by Just Shoot Me veterans. I've actually seen Kath & Kim since The Sundance Channel airs it, and it'll be interesting to see how they translate it since I found the original slow (it's faux-documentary/reality show where cameras follow around a woman and her adult daughter).

Now, NBC scored with The Office, but let's not forget the disasters that were Coupling and Men Behaving Badly; two other BBC shows it tried to adapt. BTW: I watched the original, BBC version of Coupling over the summer and found it absolutely hilarious; truly one of the best comedies I've ever seen. Check it out if you have a chance. It's not currently on the BBC America rotation, but I'm sure they'll air it again soon.

I got on a BBC America search today, looking for other shows to record, and I see it's airing the first three eps of Rocketman again this week . I have all six eps in my DVR as I haven't gotten to them yet-- but I did see the first episode, and it was very good. It brought tears to my eyes a couple times (it's a very rare show that can get that reaction from me). It's about a man's quest to send his wife's ashes into space-- just as they always wished-- but he doesn't have the funds or the proper equipment to make it happen. But that doesn't stop him from trying, again and again. But it is taking a toll on him emotionally, as well as on his children, who he has practically abandoned while he pursued his quixotic quest.

December 1 has the premieres of two promising-looking BBC America shows.

First is Hardware starring The (original) Office's Martin Freeman (who played the "Jim" inspiration "Tim"), which airs at 10pm on December 1. It's about four hardware store employees who help their customers and annoy each other.

Second is the second season of Worst Week of My Life. I didn't see the first season (the first three eps of which re-air Monday morning from 2-4 am). Each seven episode "season" follows a week in a new couple's life (the couple are played by Ben Miller and Sarah Alexander; Alexander is all over the BBC, having starred in Coupling and Green Wing as well as NBC's Teachers from last year-- but don't blame her for that NBC garbage). Week (Season) One was about their wedding, and this new season follows the week leading up to the birth of their baby. The second season begins at 8:40m on December 1, and runs the next seven weeks.

I'm trying both shows out, for sure.

I highly recommend trying out various shows on BBC America. It's not the Monty Python or Benny Hill- only network it once was. I've seen tremendous shows on it the past year and a half. Not every show is for everybody, but there are very "American-feeling" shows on it that aren't as foreign as past shows were (even The Office took me a while to "get", but "get it" I did after I understood the language differences).

Just a short list of shows I'd recommend: The Office (the first, and the harshest), Conviction (a morality tale about a guy who had a terrible secret-- has NOTHING to do with the piece-of-crap show of the same name NBC aired last spring), Coupling (seriously, one of the best comedies I've ever seen), Bodies (an extremely dark show about cover-ups, lying, and how far can one person let it go before taking action-- one of my Top Ten shows of the past year), Green Wing (Think Scrubs mixed with the attitude of M.A.S.H. and take away the FCC-- and make some of the characters bat-sh** insane), Ed vs. Spencer (two guys compete to see who is better-- or worse in various contests; a real life "Goofus and Gallant" strip), and Bromwell High (England's answer to South Park and The Simpsons; off-the-wall animation; bad-ass Keisha is one of my favorite characters of the year).