Depends, before the watershed they do bleep stuff if it isn’t live, Jonathan Ross had to apologise several times during the Live Earth concert because of people swearing.

Hugh Laurie is British... we still win... Can't wait for fourth season.


We invented the TV, so we definately win

Oh, I forgot about that, Jonathan Woss had censors pretty regularly when I last happened to see any of that stuff a few years ago. Now I'm wondering if it's not just my memory being selective, hmm.

British made Spaced and Americans made Heroes... 'nuff said


And from now on I will picture Shiri as a badger dressed as Sherlock Holmes with a monocle, holding a tea cup and saying "chip chip cheerio" over and over like a mindless robot

...why?

Seems british enough for you

What does that mean, "the watershed"?

The watershed is a concept that means broadcasting companies don't show anything that could be damaging to younger viewers, like sex, nudity real violence, adult themes, or profanity, before 9pm. The phrases "Before/After the watershed" mean "Before/After the 9-o-clock Offensiveness barrier".

Ah, okay, we kinda have the same concept over here--or networks/cable stations try to, but I never heard the term watershed. Looking it up in the dictionary I can see where the term came from.

Well, the "FOX US" version of Kitchen Nightmares premiered Wednesday Night in the US.

Doesn't really hold a candle to the British version. Everything was over-dramatized. Gordon goes to do an Italian place in Long Island NY--It was literally like watching like Gordon Ramsey meets the Sopranos. They had "confessionals" which seemed out of place, Gordon didn't do the narration, and they had a lot of dramatic music like in Amercia's "Hell's Kitchen". Lots of quick edits--spent too much time showing an argument between the store owner and what appeared to be a bookie ("dubbed a bill collector"). Not a lot of focus on food details. Gordon behaved like I expected him to, but this was a little too crazy. It wasn't as charming, IMO.

Figured I'd show the Brits what this show is like. Watch some video clips here.

http://www.fox.com/kitchennightmares/

I've watched the British version of Kitchen Nightmares for a bit now and have to agree that it is better. I felt that the shows were similar but the British version is just a step up.

Jonathan Ross said the f-word last night. In the past, it's been beeped - last night, it wasn't. It's the first time I'd seen it in a few months, and I definitely remember plenty of other shows using it without beeps.

Also, you lot seem to be equating British TV with the BBC. ITV do some good shows too

As a Brit, the appeal of American TV is that it's big. Big budget, big sets. Compare the special effects in something like Heroes with the special effects in the newest Dr Who.

The appeal of British shows is that they're small. I was watching Torn on ITV the other night and it had no steadicams, no real set pieces (a shopping centre, a high street, a small townhouse), only a few of actors on the screen at once. And it was excellent.

Kitchen Nightmares is a good example - the American version goes bang, the British version shows what's going on.

British comedy is really interesting. You have shows like HIGNFY and QI (and Buzzcocks back when it was good) that're slightly silly and punny, and shows like Coupling, Red Dwarf and Blackadder that're much simpler. And they're all better than American comedy.

And, like has been previously noted, the British know when to stop. Why, oh why, oh why, did they make another series of Prison Break? It was an excellent show until they started all that crap that led into the third series. The new one is going to be a pile of wank. They really shouldn't have made a fourth series of Coupling, either, but found a nice way to end the story and leave it at that.

I have a fair mixture of British and American favourites. I love Farscape and Stargate, but I also love Coupling and watching Ant and Dec skip around on a Saturday evening. I think everything has its place.