alt.tv.off-topic

Yes, it's Tice again.

Anyway, I was wondering if any of the UK posters, or US fans of British comedy have seen "Waiting For God". It's a show I avoided for the longest time because I thought it was some sort of televangelist deal thrown for some mysterious reason into the middle of the PBS Britcom line-up, but it's actually a comedy about the scheming residents of a dismal, cheaply-run old folks' home, particularly Don Quixote-like Tom and cynical, subversive Diana (who most Daria fans should especially like). I doubt the show would ever make it in the US, being that it's about old people (the horror!), but the show apparently did well enough in the UK to come to a conclusion of its own will. If anybody on this board has access to this show, I'd recommend it. And does anyone in the UK remember what was being said about the show while it was on the air?

In article , [email] wrote:

I caught a few episodes of the show a while back (one of the british imports they show late at night on PBS). I really liked the show and I kept an eye out for it, but it was never shown on a regular basis on the local PBS stations, and half the time when it was listed something else would be put on instead (sound familiar?). My parents never paid for cable, so I don't know if any of the cable stations picked it up.

Ann

[email] writes:

I've heard of it but I only watched a few snatches of it. I think it got good reviews.

Better though is something I bought yesterday at the same time as the Daria video: the first volume of the "The Day Today" videos. I don't know if this ever aired in the US, but it's a spoof news programme that aired in 1994, and was described by The Independent as "the freshest and funniest comedy since Monty Python".

The Day Today is probably what Sick Sad World would have been like if someone had actually produced it as a real show. It has a similar format to the BBC's genuine offering, "Newsnight", but all the news stories are surreal and the graphics are over the top but incredibly slick. I think the show is still considered required viewing for anyone studying journalism or television, and I guess it says something for it that you can still buy all the instalments on video five years after it originally aired. This was the show that brought the world Alan Partridge; it was also the forerunner of Friday Night Armistice and Brass Eye (neither of which were quite as good IMHO).

-Shez.

[email] wrote in message ...

Well i think it was reasonably popular, but in my opinion they took some cheap shortcuts with the characters. Everybody, apart from the two heros, was a completly unbelievable imbecile, which made their victories a little hollow. The two main characters were good though, but they could have done with some opposition IMHO "One foot in the grave" is worth watching, if you get a chance A British comedy to avoid at all costs is "Keeping up appearances" ughhhh

"Paul gate" wrote:

Oh, God, not "Keeping up appearances!" I'm not a violent or destructive person, but I got the urge to pitch my TV out the window when I caught it on a local PBS affiliate. *shudder*

What I really want is an opportunity to tape all of the Blackadder eps, but no one's running it around here. *sigh*

rich.

Quinn: I can't be a brain! My friends will hate me!

paperpusher wrote in message ...

hudder*

I think all who have actualy had to endure a viewing would entirely understand that reaction. I think the fact that it's very popular in the UK, says a lot about the mindset of the average brit (i`m British btw. )

Thats a pity, Blackadder is superb, but my sympathy for your plight is mitigated by the fact, that for various reasons (i only just got cable) i still have only seen about five or six Daria eps! <sigh>