In a marketplace as big and different as the US undoubtedly there is further reach among the TV comedy genre for the good old UK sitcom. It seems nevertheless that the mainstream networks favour the homegrown type and the classic English sitcoms observe themselves as nothing but a part of to the PBS channel lineup.
How is this so?
Reasonably, as you would anticipate in any western economy such as the US, commercial factors play a role. More correctly, supply and demand. Let's look a bit more in detail at these factors.
To start with, on the market size side there are virtually 1.6M British ex-patriots currently residing in either America or Canada, join this with the local appetite for 'all things British' and it rapidly becomes plain that there is a significant amount of likely watchers that might be partial to tuning into high-quality old fashioned English comedy. Also there are many many Television channels on the North American continent with many tens of thousands of hours of programming to be broadcast each and every week.
The matter then must be on the supply end, correct? Loosely yes, it is not that there is a shortage of English comedy available, rather there is a shortage of English comedy in a way that is suited for North American TV. This is a comparatively unique situation that is created by the non-commercial nature of the British domestic broadcaster, the BBC.
There is no question that independent television stations in Britain such as ITV and Channel 4 are now creating some top quality 'britcoms' of the likes of 'Mr Bean' or 'Black Books' by way of example. The BBC comedy organization however is and forever has been the most fertile producer of classic English comedy, and given its position as the domestic broadcaster of Great Britain, it is paid for through viewers TV license fees, thereby dispensing with the reliance on advertising breaks. This means that a conventional English comedy is recorded for a full half of an hour while the American or Canadian networks require more compact 22 minute sitcoms to allow for ad breaks.
Also yet another 'schedule integration' issue occurs to prevent North American broadcasters from showing English comedies. A usual US TV sitcom will be broadcast in seasons that typically consist of twenty shows, while a normal English comedy is usually recorded for only six episodes at a time.
While the North American stations are not going to alter their programming schedules anytime soon, the English comedy makers are starting to realize the possibilities of the US and Canadian markets, all are now releasing DVD box sets of most classic British sitcoms in Region 1 format (that's US & Canada).
How is this so?
Reasonably, as you would anticipate in any western economy such as the US, commercial factors play a role. More correctly, supply and demand. Let's look a bit more in detail at these factors.
To start with, on the market size side there are virtually 1.6M British ex-patriots currently residing in either America or Canada, join this with the local appetite for 'all things British' and it rapidly becomes plain that there is a significant amount of likely watchers that might be partial to tuning into high-quality old fashioned English comedy. Also there are many many Television channels on the North American continent with many tens of thousands of hours of programming to be broadcast each and every week.
The matter then must be on the supply end, correct? Loosely yes, it is not that there is a shortage of English comedy available, rather there is a shortage of English comedy in a way that is suited for North American TV. This is a comparatively unique situation that is created by the non-commercial nature of the British domestic broadcaster, the BBC.
There is no question that independent television stations in Britain such as ITV and Channel 4 are now creating some top quality 'britcoms' of the likes of 'Mr Bean' or 'Black Books' by way of example. The BBC comedy organization however is and forever has been the most fertile producer of classic English comedy, and given its position as the domestic broadcaster of Great Britain, it is paid for through viewers TV license fees, thereby dispensing with the reliance on advertising breaks. This means that a conventional English comedy is recorded for a full half of an hour while the American or Canadian networks require more compact 22 minute sitcoms to allow for ad breaks.
Also yet another 'schedule integration' issue occurs to prevent North American broadcasters from showing English comedies. A usual US TV sitcom will be broadcast in seasons that typically consist of twenty shows, while a normal English comedy is usually recorded for only six episodes at a time.
While the North American stations are not going to alter their programming schedules anytime soon, the English comedy makers are starting to realize the possibilities of the US and Canadian markets, all are now releasing DVD box sets of most classic British sitcoms in Region 1 format (that's US & Canada).
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