Imports:  The British Sitcom Most of us have only been exposed to British comedy through Comedy Central's broadcasts of the acclaimed "Absolutely Fabulous". British humor is, by all means, an acquired taste.  But if you can stomach it, our former Fatherland has produced some of the funniest pieces of TV humor in the past two decades.  If nothing else, these series serve as a good study of the differences between our brand of "Friends"-ish sitcoms and what people watch in different parts of the world.  

	Fawlty Towers John Cleese stars as the rudest hotel manager on earth, Basel Fawlty.  Though it only ran two seasons, it remains a staple on public television pledge drives. Favorite Episode:  "Waldorf Salad" features a pushy American demanding dinner service after hours.  With the cook away, Basil must attempt to accomodate his guest . .
Black Adder Most will recognize Rowan Atkinson from either his popular HBO comedy special or his big-screen flop "Bean".  Either way, he appeared in 4 incarnations as Prince Edmund Blackadder, who fed his own delusions of grandeur with the help of his sidekick Baldrick. Favorite Episode:    Not an episode, truly; but the "Black Adder's Christmas Carol" special contains possibly the funniest line in Britcom history:  "Baldrick, I want you to go out and get a turkey so large you'd think it's mother was rogered by an omnibus".
	Red Dwarf This one's kind of tricky -- okay, so a chicken soup machine repairman gets locked in stasis for three million years for bringing a cat aboard a spaceship.  When he comes back, he finds he's one of the five last organisms on the ship, along with the "Cat", a hologram, an android, and the ship's computer.  Got all that? Favorite Episode:  "Confidence and Paranoia", in which Lister contracts a rare pneumonia in which the patient's hallucinations materialize.

 

Keeping Up Appearances Poor Richard.  His snobbish wife, Hyacinth, is bent on impressing the influential people in town and getting into one of neighbor Emmet's "little theater" productions. Favorite Episode:  "The Commodore", which features Hyacinth picking up an influential speaker for her ladies' club at the train station.  As is par for the course, chaos ensues.
	'Allo 'Allo One of the longest-running Britcoms from the minds of British TV masterminds Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft, 'Allo follows the escapades of visitors of the World War II-era cafe of Rene Artois.  Rene's place is frequented by members of both sides of the resistance, and he artfully plays both sides against each other. Favorite Episode:  "The New Waitress" has Rene with his hands full trying to keep his new employee from killing every German who steps through his door.
Are You Being Served? A PBS Staple, AYBS focuses on the Grace Brothers department store and the complications that arise when Ladies Intimate Apparel is moved along side Gent's Ready-Made.  Another prolific Lloyd and Croft offering. Favorite Episode:  "German Week" has the staff learing German dances and dressing in German costumes to help the store celebrate the themed week it's holding.

Did you know that some popular American shows were based on Britcoms?

	Man About The House Most would consider Robin the luckiest man alive, as circumstances have him sharing an apartment with the beautiful Jo and Chrissy.  The trio's landlords, the Ropers, keep them under careful watch.  Sound familiar?  That's because it was the basis for ABC's Three's Company.
Till Death Do Us Part Opinionated Alf Garnett lives with his wife Else, his daughter Rita and her husband Mike.  Mike is quite the loafter and finds himself at the brunt of much of Alf's rantings.  This series was brought stateside and remade as. . . you guessed it. . .All In The Family
No Photo Available	Keep It In The Family Dudley Rush, artist behind the comic strip "Barney, The Bionic Bulldog", must suffer through the antics of his daughters, Jackie and Susan, and his agent Duncan's advances on his wife Muriel.  This series enjoyed a long life in the US as the Ted Knight sit-com "Too Close For Comfort", which I personally blame for the existance of Jm J. Bullock.  Hey, they're not perfect, just British.

My favorite of all of these is Fawlty Towers. So, the next time you're scanning past the PBS station in your market, stop for a second. Make sure you're not missing an opportunity to culture yourself with a different brand of humor. I've only provided links for purchase for the series that have collections available on Reel.com.  The links take you to one of the videos available; please scan through the Reel.com site and check for the ones you like!