UK versus US

There has been a lot of chat this week about the end of Breaking Bad and indeed Dexter and it started me thinking when was the last time that the ending of a UK show garnered the same levels of interest.Yes we have discussed the last series of Sherlock (how did he do it) and Doctor Who always prompts mass debate but these are fairly niche genres and put together by the same creative team.

Most of the TV I really enjoy watching is produced in the US but is the standard of UK telly that bad, why does it not invoke the same level of emotions as our US counterparts manage?

UK TV is not all bad, we are still capable of producing some amazing comedy and through the works of the likes of Attenborough our documentaries are frequently stunning. But for some reason a long running drama of quality seems completely beyond us. Some like Spooks are Ok to a point but when compared to the likes of Breaking Bad, The Sopranos or The Wire they are a country mile behind. Why this is the case is a question for someone brighter than me to answer.

Peaky Blinders is very good, as is our sitcom history, and documentaries. I cannot name one good US sitcom.

Stella wrote: I cannot name one good US sitcom.

Curb Your Enthusiam is absolutely brilliant. Arrested Development is also very good.

Life on Mars is the only British drama I can think of off the top of my head that is fit to be mentioned along with things like The Wire, Breaking Bad et al. That really was top class with a brilliant ending to boot.

Agree Dizzle, that was excellent, but even with that they had to spoil things by making Ashes to Ashes.

Sherlock
Whitechapel
life on mars
house of Cards (and first amongst equals)
Dr Who
ending of Blackadder goes forth was immense

Yeah, I watched Ashes to Ashes. Was reasonably entertaining, mainly for Gene Hunt, but nowhere near LoM. I always hear good things about Luther, but haven't got round to watching it myself.

Stella wrote:Peaky Blinders is very good, as is our sitcom history, and documentaries. I cannot name one good US sitcom.

Cheers
Frasier
Seinfeld
Curb Your Enthusiasm
How I Met Your Mother
Modern Family

The Womble wrote:

Stella wrote:Peaky Blinders is very good, as is our sitcom history, and documentaries. I cannot name one good US sitcom.

Cheers
Frasier
Seinfeld
Curb Your Enthusiasm
How I Met Your Mother
Modern Family

As I was saying.............. 

To be fair, I've only seen Cheers, Frasier, and Seinfeld. I have seen a bit of Modern Family and it was ok.

American TV shows get huge budgets. Game of Thrones costs upwards of $8m every episode - imagine how many series of Life on Mars you could make for $80m

Modern Family is great

Stella wrote:I cannot name one good US sitcom.

It's Garry Shandling's Show
The Larry Sanders Show
MASH
Soap

You have to remember you get the best of US tv in the UK. There are many, many other shows that clutter up the tv channels here that are nowhere near the quality of what you see from the US.

BBC America and the PBS channels are good for showing UK stuff. I recently watched Broadchurch on BBC America although it was an ITV show. Luther, Dr Who, and Law & Order UK are on that channel too. PBS will show things like Sherlock, Downton Abbey, and some of the Morse, Lewis, Foyle's War stuff. Law & Order UK is interesting as the underlying story is taken from the original US version. A number of times my missus has said she recognises the story and I don't but there was one a few weeks ago that I knew what was going to happen.

For every "The Wire" you get "Two Broke Girls" and for every "Sherlock" you get "Geordie Shore" so whilst there's some great stuff being shown there's still far too much pointless sh!t on tv and it's unlikely to get any better any time soon.

I recall "Derek and Clive" discussing shows called "Celebrity Suicide" and "Celebrity Blow Your T!ts Up" and I'm surprised no-one's commisioned them yet

Luther and Sherlock are some of the highest quality shows you could ever wish to see. And like it or not, Doctor Who has a unique charm to it that is really timeless (pun alert). And there are many more besides as have been mentioned. I don't think UK drama has ever been stronger.

The main difference is budget of course. But that often works to the shows favour. Shorter series runs mean the writing can be more concentrated and the pacing faster and more engaging, often leading to neat resolutions. And a medium range budget means the makers have some room to play with, but not the burden of needing to bring back a large return on a large investment, giving some room for experimentation and creativity. On the other hand US shows often drag on too long (anything much more than 12 episodes a season is a bit silly) and the show ends up being bloated and diluted, season after season to satisfy the need to draw in as much money as possible. UK shows aren't as obsessed with making that level of return. Not all are guilty, but just look as Lost as an example. The bigger budget does allow for impressive presentation though. That isn't to detract from masterpieces such as The Wire etc. Then there is also the fact the US shows usually have a much wider audience, so therefore will draw more attention, whereas UK shows tend to be more cult, especially outside of the UK.

Stella wrote:

The Womble wrote:

Stella wrote:Peaky Blinders is very good, as is our sitcom history, and documentaries. I cannot name one good US sitcom.

Cheers
Frasier
Seinfeld
Curb Your Enthusiasm
How I Met Your Mother
Modern Family

As I was saying.............. 

To be fair, I've only seen Cheers, Frasier, and Seinfeld. I have seen a bit of Modern Family and it was ok.

Ooh Stella are you trying to wind me up!  

you also forgot the Office

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is a great US sitcome.

We have more scope to produce quality series for the simple fact to get on British TV you have to be a chef, a failed actor that can dance or be prepared to eat ants or live in a house for months on end............

Much cheaper for SKy to import than produce it's own............

British TV sucks.........

with American tv drama series they tend to drag the stories to death . ie lost , prison break . i lose interest if i dont keep up with the stories or its ridiculously long and drawn out . British drama tend to have six, one hour programme series which is easier to watch without getting bored of it . saying that America does drama better and some Romcoms but do like the British stuff

UK over the US any time.

US shows are so much better then UK ones but in the US they have the tendancy to cancel really good shows too soon.

US produced shows are something the UK could learn from as they produce Breaking Bad, Dexter, Bones, Lost and Sons of Anarchy to name a few we're producing too many shows like Downton Abbey.........

UK shows need to get themselves out of the dark ages to attract a younger demographic viewing audience, in turn revenues from advertising will increase based on the demographic.  But nah let's keep to the audience being of a geriatric mentality reigns supreme in the UK.

I rest my case.

There are some good US TV shows but also a lot of bad ones.  Can't think of too many good UK series, TBH and I stopped watching Peaky Blinders after the disappointment of the first episode.  Strike Back is not bad and the Spartacus series were excellent.

(Scandinavia and France currently produce better drama series for my taste).

not really a big fan of uk tv, end up usually watching a lot of the us shows

the only uk show that i thought was genuinely brilliant was this is engand

BBC used to be the power house of british tv, and i can safety say there are only two shows that i watch on there. motd and top gear and even top gear is waining these days

compelling and rich wrote:BBC used to be the power house of british tv, and i can safety say there are only two shows that i watch on there. motd and top gear and even top gear is waining these days

The Beeb has struggled over the last few years to strike the right balance between quality and populism, too often making shows that would be better suited to commercial TV (The Voice being a case in point). Even the documentary output has suffered because of the need to sensationalise the key points in the hope of attracting a bigger audience.