Did you know Blackadder had a pilot episode? Me neither, but it's just surfaced on YouTube and now you, too, can see it. You might notice one or two casting changes, including a different Baldrick (Philip Fox), a different Harry (Robert Bathurst), a different King (John Savident) and the fact it seems a whole lot more like Blackadder II than The Black Adder. Interesting, no?

[via @feelinglistless]

Not quite where it all began, but pretty darn close. Hancock’s Half Hour is another historic series that continues to be mentioned by all the giants of British comedy today as being a huge influence. Originally a BBC Radio series, the Hancock’s Half Hour television series, which gave rise to many of todays British comedy icons, was a late-50’s fixture on the BBC.

Often referred to as British television’s version of Sid Caesar, Milton Berle and Jackie Gleason combined, Tony Hancock played somewhat of a modified version of himself in the sitcom, much like Jack Benny in The Jack Benny Show. The series was written by the great Ray Galton and Alan Simpson who, after putting their genius to work on the 58 episodes of the HHH series, went on to another iconic series, Steptoe and Son (later remade as Sanford and Son in the United States). The way Galton and Simpson created “Anthony Aloysius St. John Hancock” whose name remained the same each week, but with a different profession, gave them unlimited scenarios in which to place Hancock. Different scenarios, but always the same portrayal of Hancock in the role of a basic loser.

If you aren’t familiar with Hancock’s Half Hour, check it out. It’s kind of cool to see how it all began.

It’s hard to imagine a headline that actually starts out with “Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie make TV comeback“, especially, if you step back a moment and think how these two long-time comedy partners have continued to excel separately in the medium of television since their brilliant days together in Jeeves and Wooster, A Bit of Fry and Laurie and Blackadder.

With two Golden Globes and two Screen Actors Guild awards for his role as the crankiest of all cranky doctors in the series, House, Hugh Laurie certainly is nowhere near in need of being in “comback mode”. Neither is Stephen Fry, given his program host duties for the great QI (Quite Interesting), recurring role of Dr. Gordon Wyatt on Bones, his recent series, Stephen Fry in America and his world-wide mega following on Twitter.

In this particular instance, “comeback” refers to the upcoming Fry and Laurie – Reunited which will mark the 30-year  anniversary of their partnership. The special, airing this Fall on the UK television channel, GOLD, will include a very candid look back at the duo’s friendship, careers, sketches and fondest moments.

Here’s a classic sketch from A Bit of Fry and Laurie to jumpstart your enthusiasm for this reunion special. I can’t wait as this will be comedy gold.

Just another short rant about why there is no need to create American versions of British comedies that were close to perfection the first time around. This holds true virtually 100% of the time, whether it be for the big or small screen. All I need to do is utter the words of Death at a Funeral, Fawlty Towers, Red Dwarf, Spaced, Coupling, etc. Ok, The Office worked, but the list of those series that have successfully made the leap across the pond is very, very short. I know you need to give producers the benefit of the doubt, but I see no need for anyone to follow through on the rumor from several years back about an American version of The Vicar of Dibley.

Well, this just in from Hollywood. I know I need to withhold judgment but, somehow, I just find it difficult to embrace the news of a re-make of the 1981 classic film, Arthur, that starred Dudley Moore and Liza Minnelli. It is a star-studded cast, with Russell Brand in the lead role of the rich, happy drunk who must marry the wealthy girl or lose his inheritance, Dame Helen Mirren in the John Gielgud role and, now, Jennifer Garner as the heiress and Nick Nolte as her father. All great talents with Dame Helen Mirren leading the way, but I just don’t see the reasoning behind or the need create this new version.

Ok, I’m done now. Am I missing something here?

Now, more than ever, former Monty Python great, John Cleese, would love to utter the words, “And Now For Something Completely Different” and have it relate to television in the 21st century.

Still recuperating in his Santa Barbara home from recent knee surgery and planning his upcoming Alimony Tour across the UK, John Cleese, has had a lot of time on his hands these days to think about “things”. With respect to the BBC, ITV  and British television, in general, he doesn’t like what he sees. Gone are the “glory days” of television where the word quality was mentioned, and mentioned frequently, during program planning meetings, Cleese says.

The star of Monty Python’s Flying Circus, Fawlty Towers and The Frost Report, amongst others, Cleese obviously misses television output from the fifties through the eighties. As I have said repeatedly, there is quality television there, unfortunately, you just have to search a lot harder for it. From Cleese’s perspective, the good ‘ole days consisted of far less bad television with Britain leading the way. He doesn’t see it getting any better as planners grab for the elusive dollar, laying blame at the feet of “hard-headed businessmen” that now control the likes of ITV and the BBC.

The word quality may not appear in planning meetings anymore, but it still exists and it’s up to viewers to demand it no matter what side of the pond you’re on.

Echoing sentiments that he expressed to us several years ago during our interview for PBS’ Funny Blokes of British Comedy, Ardal O’Hanlon (Father Dougal) told a BBC Radio interview audience recently that writers, Arthur Mathews and Graham Linehan, had already determined there would be no more Father Ted programs even before the sudden untimely death of the brilliant Dermot Morgan (Father Ted).

According to O’Hanlon, actors queued up shortly after Morgan’s death and there were numerous calls to the production company from agents and casting directors suggesting either replacements or story ideas for spin-off’s without the title character. Thankfully, Linehan and Mathews said absolutely not. There would be no more Craggy Island antics.

A cocker spaniel?

During our interview in 2003 with O’Hanlon regarding both Father Ted and My Hero, he did express a bit of frustration with the possibility of becoming typecast with his somewhat simpleton character of Father Dougal McGuire. He also said both then and now that he patterned him after the character traits of a cocker spaniel. Somewhere in that comparison is the obvious “this is very unfair to the cocker spaniel” line, but I’ll leave you to that thought.

There are only a few shows that ended when they should have ended – Fawlty Towers, The Office and Father Ted immediately come to mind. To all of them, I offer a very sincere thank you from this side of the pond for the sheer genius of each short-lived series and knowing when to end on top.

Combining their unique ability to create “best-of” lists for just about anything with their definite love for the small screen, the British have done it again. This time, it’s Britain’s favorite television shopkeeper. According to a recent poll conducted by consumer watchdog, Which, and reported on in WalesOnline, Ronnie Barker’s portrayal of Arkwright in Open All Hours topped the list with respondents citing his “old-fashioned values” and customer knowledge as the reasoning behind their vote.

Top-10 television shopkeepers

The list of the nation’s favorite television shopkeepers are:

• Arkwright – Open All Hours
• Hardware shopkeeper – Ronnie Corbett, The Two Ronnies
• Apu Nahasapeemapetilon – The Simpsons
• Norris Cole – Coronation Street
• Mrs. Slocombe & Mr. Humphries – Are You Being Served?
• Bernard Black – Black Books
• Roy – Little Britain
• Tubbs and Edward Tattysyrup – League of Gentleman
• Pet store shopkeeper – Michael Palin, Monty Python (Dead Parrot sketch)
• Pete Beale – EastEnders

Personally, while I like most of these (not familiar with some), I would have to add the following:

• Renee Artois – ‘Allo, ‘Allo (I know, it’s not a shop, it’s a pub, but it’s my blog )
• Reginald Perrin – Fall & Rise of Reginald Perrin (how can you leave off the owner of Grot, the shop that sells useless goods at outrageous prices?)
• Yev Kasem (The Soup Nazi) – Seinfeld (hey, they picked an American sitcom character from The Simpsons in their poll)

Anyone else?

More than three decades on, the suburban self-sufficiency sitcom remains funny and daring, helped by a fantastic cast and a still-pertinent theme

Thirty-five years after it was first broadcast on BBC1, The Good Life is as pertinent as it was when Tom Good decided to jack in his job designing plastic toys for cereal packets and lead a life of self-sufficiency with his wife Barbara in their Surbiton home. Modern audiences will still recognise those same temptations to leave the rat race and live off the land. But the harsh realities of doing so are beautifully sent up by the scripts of John Esmonde and Bob Larbey in this exquisite comedy with a cast – Richard Briers, Felicity Kendal, Penelope Keith and Paul Eddington – that most TV producers would still mulch their right arms for.

Tom and Barbara are the happy-go-lucky dreamers next door to the smug yet warm Jerry and Margo, who remain both bemused and supportive of their haphazard yet sporadically fruitful efforts. As Tom struggles to tame his growing backyard menagerie (Pinky and Perky the pigs, and a cockerel called Lenin), Jerry offers wisecracks and encouragement over the fence.

The interplay between the principals is masterful: the characters are both flirty and irritable as the two polarised worlds they represent repel and attract each other. The dialogue is rarely safe, though, even now – the first words spoken to Barbara by Tom (albeit jokingly) are: "You bitch!" And the racy double entendres, shared between the ever-frisky Tom and Barbara, are as integral as the gags about methane gas and overly potent homebrew.

Today, such a comedy would riff on carbon footprints and fair trade, but you would be wrong to assume The Good Life is all about 1970s cliches of earnest environmentalism. Tom makes it clear from the start that he is raging against "it", by which he mean mindless materialism and convention. "It's quality of life I'm after," he says.

It remains a very modern comedy. Just as Tom does on the first day of his new life, I suspect we've all had fantasies of running a rotivator across the neat lawns of our own conformist lives.