_:nf436eb14d0d3430888d5f625c2ca1950xb78
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"I have to admit now, that reading this post I only got as far as reading the parts about Blackadder, A Bit of Fry and Laurie, and Jeeves &amp; Wooster. The rest of the shows you talked about I&#39;m not that familiar with (if at all). On top of that I&#39;ve got a fair bit of interest in these 3 shows anyway.<br /><br />And there&#39;s a major part of your point that I disagree with about all of these, in a fairly big way, but it all relies on perspective.<br /><br />This is being written from an American&#39;s perspective thus, somewhat stereotypically, it is assumed that the design for these shows hinges on its integration potential in America. The idea that a major factor in the development of any of these shows was how easy Americans could consume them is quite ludicrous, especially given the time they were created.<br />You give the impression that these shows, and their impact on British culture, is definable only by its relevance to America, and that is categorically not the case.<br /><br />Blackadder, a show formed out of a group of people going &quot;hey, let&#39;s try and do a comedy show like this&quot;, and then almost being cancelled (forcing the changes that made the show as successful as it became) is a direct reflection of the cynicism, sarcasm, and self-deprecating nature of british culture that hit right on the nose the feeling of being the only normal person surrounded by idiots (especially those who seem to be inexplicably running the country despite their complete inability to do so).<br />The only real reference to American culture (other than direct, scripted references to Americans) was Flashheart who, frankly, was a not-so-subtle spoof of the the ridiculously ostentatious attitude of most American shows/films at the time (ie: there has to be explosions, a dramatic entrance, some womanizing, and a pointless amount of shouting). If anything, Blackadder was making fun of American TV, not trying to be integrated into it.<br /><br />Then, when it comes to &#39;A Bit of Fry and Laurie&#39;, it is clear that the point in it was more to just be making a sketch show, with Fry &amp; Laurie rejoining forces (being Cambridge Footlights veterans together) and it seems more tailored to fit in to the in-between, afternoon/evening slots of broadcasting which the serials/soaps have left empty. It&#39;s not so much designed for the export factor, but designed to be easily palatable for the sort of audience who would have been watching at the aforementioned times.<br /><br />And Jeeves &amp; Wooster, I genuinely feel like the mark has been well and truly missed by a long shot here.<br />You said it yourself,it was an ITV series. What do we get on ITV? Midsomer Murders, Agatha Christie adaptations, A Touch of Frost, Downton Abbey.<br />In a large way, there are two schools of programming on ITV (of which there are many crossovers); murder mysteries, or period serials.<br />Jeeves &amp; Wooster is a demonstration of the familiar comedy stylings of two very recognizable faces of British Comedy, in a setting suited to the sort of programming that ITV is used to; it is a comedy take on the period serial.<br />This show is far more a tribute to Wodehouse, which lends itself to typical ITV programming, as opposed to its export-value to America.<br /><br />~<br /><br />It&#39;s probably hard to see now, what with Hugh Laurie losing his Brit-ness in House, and Stephen Fry being a world-renowned English person, but back when these shows were created their range of foresight was far, far smaller than you might believe. The idea that they were more interested in just getting coverage at all, without the hope that they might make it across the water, is illuminated particularly well in Stephen Fry&#39;s second autobiography; The Fry Chronicles (in which he talks about his time in University, the formative years of his career, and the development of these shows)."
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