Have just been re-living my childhood memories by watching blackadder clips on Youtube. Forgotten how good it is, so much so, I've just ordered the entire series on Dvd.
Was just wondering if anyone know if it was popular in other countries, especially America? Am always curious how British comedy series do in the states as we have different tastes when it comes to comedy I think.
I can only speak for myself, but I love Blackadder. I don't think it was even shown here in the states (on any major networks at least).
I actually prefer British comedy for the most part. American TV has gems like Arrested Development, Seinfeld, and Curb Your Enthusiasm, but it seems the British comedy list is much longer.
"The Black Adder" was shown on HBO in the mid-to-late 80s (that's where I saw it first) and runs on various PBS (public broadcasting, meaning supposely no commercials) stations here in the states. I don't know about it's popularity, but my son is in a local area theater group and for amusement during down times the adults involved beg him to sing the ending songs from "Blackadder II," which he knows by heart.
So it definitely has a following with the artsy types.
* ...my very own riot...that's just about the nicest thing I ever heard. *
I live in South Carolina on the SC/GA State line, so we are able to get both SC and GA PBS. The first time I saw "Blackadder" was on one of the PBS Stations, just not sure which one. A few years later it was on A & E, and I was shocked to learn that on PBS, they reversed the order of the first two episodes of the 2nd season, and didn't even broadcast the episode called "Beer." I can imagine, because of the fact that Blackadder and his buddies were wearing what they called comedy breasts, and the bit when his uncle said, that the turnip looked like a thingie.
It still remains one of my favorite comedies. The first season is fine, but my favorite is the 2nd. The 3rd and 4th are funny, but no where as funny as the 2nd, in my opinion.
Here in Dallas, Texas, our PBS station is KERA-TV, Ch. 13. KERA was the very first station in the USA to buy and broadcast "Monty Python". This opened the door to other British sitcoms (or "Britcoms" as we call them here). In fact, KERA shows more britcoms than the BBC does. Here is a typical weekend schedule for British TV here in Dallas:
Saturday
10:00pm Last of the Summer Wine
10:30pm Supernova
11:00pm The Industry
11:30pm Red Dwarf
12:00am Doctor Who
Sunday
10:30pm Keeping Up Appearances
11:00pm My Hero
11:30pm Are You Being Served
12:00am Coupling
12:30am Open All Hours
01:00am Black Adder (all series plus specials)
01:30am Thin Blue Line
These shows rotate with others including:
Fawlty Towers
Only Fools and Horses
'Allo 'Allo
The Brittas Empire
Chef!
Dad's Army
The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin
The Good Life (called Good Neighbors here)
Goodnight Sweetheart
Grace & Favour (called Are You Being Served Again here)
Porridge
The Royle Family
Til Death Us Do Part
Up Pompeii!
The Vicar of Dibley
Waiting for God
Yes Minister
Yes Prime Minister
The Young Ones
As Time Goes By
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Two Ronnies
Benny Hill
and probably more I can't think of right now. We Texan's love our Britcoms!
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"and probably more I can't think of right now. We Texan's love our Britcoms! "
My respect for Texas (that had hit an all time low because of GWB) has grown immensely just by reading this. :)
They barely got a chance to see it.
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Originally, Arts and Entertainment Network showed each series about two years or so after they aired in Britain. They also had other popular comedies such as, "Yes, Minister/Yes Prime Minister," "Two's Company," "Roger Doesn't Live Here Anymore" and "Kelly Monteith." The problem was, A&E limited the air time for each episode to 30 minutes, including commercial breaks. That means that certain scenes were chopped up or left out completely. I also believe, but cannot verify, that they chose to leave out certain episodes of series II-IV altogether. The "missing" episides were "Beer" "Nob and Nobility" and "Corporal Punishment."
Fortunately, when PBS picked up the series some years later, they showed all of the episides and scenes the way they were supposed to be shown. A few years earlier than that, the Chicago PBS station ran a few episodes of "Not the Nine O'Clock News," but it was pulled off the air without explanation after the episode that had a women's international soccer match, and showed them exchanging jerseys after it was over. The assumption is that it was too risque for the times. In the 70's, it probably would have been no problem. But when Reagan was elected, censorship increased dramatically.
To answer the original post, the "Black Adder" series did what "Not the Nine O'Clock News" would have done had it remained on the air; it gave Rowan Atkinson a following in the USA. So when "Mr. Bean" was aired in the USA, its success was at least partially due to knowing who the star was. Finally, people who believe they're smarter than others getting frustrated by idiots, and seeing their own plans fall apart, is funny in any historical context, especially the way they did it in these series.
I don't know anything about when it's been shown in the U.S., but an friend introduced me to BA II in the mid-90s and I've loved it ever since - it helped that I love Tudor history so the satire struck me as especially funny. It was easy to collect on VHS as our local video seller carried it as well as Faulty Towers. Last year my husband bought the entire Black Adder collection on DVD for me for Christmas - having gotten hooked on it himself when I showed it to him!
The same friend who introduced me to Black Adder also showed me Dr. Who. And I was already a fan of Monty Python (I once made 5 friends at once by answering the question "What's the air speed velocity of a coconut-laden swallow?" with "European or African?" LOL).
Now we're so hooked on British TV that when we moved we chose an area of town that had the only cable-option with BBC America on it. And yes, they do cut the shows horribly for commericals. We used to catch the missed portions on YouTube but the BBC brought down the hammer on that. We also like the fact that British TV has looser censor rules than the U.S. About the only U.S. network comedy that gets away with as much stuff as British TV is "Two & a Half Men," a totally juvenile but hilarious show.
So, the answer is, yes, we love Black Adder and everybody we show it to loves it too.
I loved watching this show when it aired on the local Boston PBS stations back in the mid-late 80's/early 90's. I own the series on DVD but the BBC station still runs it via our cable provider in the states.
Brilliant show.
Interesting. In Australia, most British comedies (and sometimes dramas) used to air first on the noncommercial ABC, and so were not affected by the need to cut scenes to fit in the commercials. Then the good ones that attracted a cult following would later get picked up and repeated by the commercial Channel Seven. Channel Seven would usually either cut scenes to fit in commercials, or would pad out the length with presenters and excess commercials to fit a 1 hour time slot if shown in prime time.
The original Black Adder was a coproduction between the BBC and Channel Seven in Australia, and so went straight to commercial TV. When first shown, each half hour episode was cut in half and shown over 2 weeks. Each half was then padded to 30 minutes with doubled up opening and closing credits and excessive commercials. I don't think the original series got repeated until a number of years later, and when it was repeated it showed late at night when rigid 30/60 minute timeslots didn't matter, so they showed the full episode over 40 minutes or so. Later series I think went to the ABC first, and shown unedited.
To answer the original question, British comedy was always very popular in Australia, perhaps even more so than in England. However in the last decade or two we have not seen as much British comedy on free to air TV as we used to, so some of the more recent household names in the UK comedy scene are not so well known in Australia. That may start to change now that digital free to air has expanded the number of channels and timeslots to fill. They started repeating the first Black Adder for the first time in years on Channel 9's second channel, and made me realise how vastly superior it was to most other comedy before or since, including Blackadder series 2 to 4.
It's a cult favorite here.
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I was friends with an English family in the 80's, and they introduced me to 'Black Adder.' I can't remember if it was airing on U.S. TV or if they had video tapes of the shows, but we were completely obsessed with it at the time. I started watching it again recently and it's even funnier now that I'm a bit older and have more knowledge of history, etc.
I think most Americans have seen Monty Python, of course, it's been shown repeatedly over the years on the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) along with a host of other British TV shows, but I find that knowledge of Black Adder is, sadly, really hit-or-miss with Americans. I think Rowan Atkinson is much better known for 'Mr. Bean' here.
MTV used to rebroadcast 'The Young Ones' here in the 80's which was more popular with the counterculture than the mainstream TV audiences, (I still love it!) and 'Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy' and 'Dr. Who' were also popular here, (although 'Dr. Who' was not strictly a comedy.)
'Absolutely Fabulous' was also a huge hit in the U.S. when it was rerun on Comedy Central and BBC America in the 90's, and more recently, Ricky Gervais' 'The Office' and 'Extras' both have a ton of fans (and obviously a U.S. spin-off of 'The Office.')
As a kid, these were the British shows my friends and I watched the most, I know I've seen some episodes of 'Fawlty Towers' and some other shows but these are the ones that made a big impression on us.
I've looked into a few more recent series, like 'Little Britain,' 'The League of Gentlemen' and 'The IT Crowd,' but I actually got really turned off by the laugh-tracks, they're so loud and obtrusive! They seemed like good shows, though, so I'll probably check them out again.
I would not say that The Black Adder series are a roaring success, though I know that other Americans and myself enjoy it.
shareI first started watching it on PBS in Oregon, which used to show BBC America episodes on Saturday nights. I was hooked, and managed to come across most of the eps on VHS at the public library. Of course i'm an anglophile anyway, but this show was just so funny! Especially after Mr. Bean, which was okay but didn't show Atkinson's real range of talent or spiteful wit. I loved Season 2 the best, because it did something I never would have believed possible - it made Rowan Atkinson sexy! I usually hate men in beards, but his helped to hide a weak jaw and make his nose look smaller. And the doublet and hose didn't hurt either. He really looked good. That, along with the talented cast and hysterical lines, made this one of my favorite shows of all time. And for the Americans who watch House, Hugh Laurie is in almost every ep starting at the end of season 2, along with his best friend Stephen Fry who was on Bones for several eps as Gordon Gordon the psychiatrist. I love those two together, their Jeeves and Wooster is wonderful.
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I first encountered it in college, on A&E (around 1985/86). There was just the two series, but the second one was the more popular of the two amongst my friends. It was fairly popular on PBS stations and shown on Comedy Central in the 90's, mostly due to the success of Mr. Bean.
shareMy dad and I found it on PBS (public broadcasting, as some others here have mentioned) in the mid-90s, and I've loved it ever since. However, one odd point I've noticed: the Brits seem to absolutely love the 4th series during WWI, but frankly, those I've spoken to here in the US who've seen it don't like it. We find the jokes a bit tired by that point. I think I've decided it's something to do with cultural memory related to WWI that affected the Brits more than the Americans.
I mean, really. Does it get any better than the Archbishop of Canterbury episode for sheer hilarity? The combo of history and comedy is absolutely perfect! :)
It was pretty popular in the US, along with Mr. Bean, obviously. I remember watching it when I was young with my family, and I know a lot of people here in the States that have watched it. Even if they haven't seen it, most have at least heard of it.
I think it translates very well since there aren't that many references/jokes that require regional knowledge. There are a few, but not that many. In addition, I think it's still fun to watch because the jokes aren't dated by making 80's specific references.
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