Growing up in front of the television is a lifestyle that afflicts most of the American population.  We are fed a pile of lukewarm entertainment which probably does more to harm our brains then it ever could do to help them.  The formulaic rubbish which we willingly digest from birth to death ranges from the banal sitcom to the utterly idiotic reality television.  Now that I’m a little older, and perhaps a little wiser, I turn my sites overseas, to British television and a slightly more intelligent level of programming.

I’ve always been a fan of Monty Python as are most of the people I know.  It’s a classic that made its way to the U.S. and influenced the way comedy is conceived.  This tradition of surreal and thoughtful comedy still exists today in British television, though in different forms to suit a different era.  I’ve been perusing my Netflix (since I don’t get the BBC on my own T.V.) and absorbing what British shows I can find.

I’ve not been disappointed.

Newer shows, such as Peepshow, The Office and Black Books, have drawn me in, given me a laugh, but not left me feeling devoid of intelligence the way most American sitcoms do.  Those that put these shows together think a bit outside the box, avoiding a lot of the clichés and letting me laugh instead of causing me to grind my teeth.

Of course, it could just be that I’m out of touch and don’t realize that I’m actually being bombarded with a horde of British clichés, but that’s a risk I’m willing to take.  If media outlets in the U.S. could learn to emulate (not just recast and remake) some of these British shows, we might still be able to break the cycle of redundancy and bring some intelligent writing back to American shows.  But until that happens, I guess I’ll be sticking with the Brits.