In the US the execs trust the show runner to realise his vision; in the UK the execs interfere, so we mostly get shows 'aimed at a demographic' or intended to 'recreate a success'.
There are exceptions, such as the wonderful, Shadowline, but these seem to happen less and less often.
It is symptomatic of our country as a whole; independence of thought is mistrusted in our institutions and any challenge to the prevailing orthodoxy is dismissed as not being of the real world.
I hope you are not going to use the word hegemony! 
Quote: Marc P @ 30th December 2013, 12:05 PM GMTI hope you are not going to use the word hegemony!
Quote: Tursiops @ 30th December 2013, 11:54 AM GMTIn the US the execs trust the show runner to realise his vision;
Well, some show runners and some channel execs. Network TV gets a lot of fingers in the pie, I dare say somewhere like HBO is a bit more trusting (which of course is exactly the sort of place you get the standout shows appearing).
Subjective-is the word. But for what it's worth. Nothing I've seen beats Tinker Taylor, Life on Mars for drama. Blackadder, Monty Python, Fawlty Towers all unique. However this is nostalgia. Currently US have the budget when you consider the success of Friends, Scrubs, Big Bang. We have no current comparison. Not even close. Breaking Bad also kills any current attempt at drama. However Dr Who and Sherlock are of good if varying quality.
Quality of comedy is currently shocking. Citizen Khan, Miranda, Mrs Brown's Boys. Low brow stuff I'm afraid. Bluestone 42 a shining difference however.
So I would say standard of drama fairly comparable with US. Standard of comedy not even close. Poor use of tax payers money I'm afraid and shambolic judgement of quality of talent.
I think British TV is fairly big around the globe. Not necessarily in the US though which seems to have been set as the benchmark for success. Doc Martin for example is sold all over the world and, I believe, has even been remade in several countries. It's not groundbreaking TV, but big audiences like it. I suspect the commercial aspect holds a lot of clout here. Particularly with the BBC.
What do people think about the effect of glamorous locations available to US shows? Can you imagine Nip/Tuck being set in Harley Street? It wouldn't deliver the same glamour, would it?
Quote: Ben @ 30th December 2013, 8:02 PM GMTI think British TV is fairly big around the globe. Not necessarily in the US though which seems to have been set as the benchmark for success.
Doctor Who just broke records over there again for the channel it's on, seems to be growing bigger and bigger over there.
ITV2 have shown all six Star Wars movies everyday for about the last five days
Does someone at ITV towers just grab a box set and bung it in a machine ? And leave it running ?
Lazy twats
If you like Star Wars you've already seen them all countless times
And you certainly don't want to watch them another seven times in one week
There's should be some rules against repeating stuff like this
It's sodding ridiculous
Steven Moffat (Sherlock and Doctor Who) must be one of the worst Showrunners on British TV. Doctor Who in particular fails because it is all flash and no substance. Huge ratings, yes, but that doesn't really mean quality.
Earth shattering contribution there, Charlie.
Quote: Ben @ 31st December 2013, 6:40 PM GMTEarth shattering contribution.
Good egg. I call this really ingenious.
Quote: Charlie Boy @ 31st December 2013, 5:53 PM GMTSteven Moffat (Sherlock and Doctor Who) must be one of the worst Showrunners on British TV. Doctor Who in particular fails because it is all flash and no substance. Huge ratings, yes, but that doesn't really mean quality.
Yes, everyone agrees that he's rubbish; Sherlock only gets an IMDB Rating of 9.3/10.
I couldn't agree with T.W. more. Death Comes To Pemberley is the kind of pathetic costumed shite that the BBC excels at producing.
Like a broke Third World country selling off it's treasured artefacts, we flog this crap abroad to dumb foreigns, insuring our complicity in perpetuating the charade that 'England' is full of corsets, butlers and stately homes. It's not drama, it's a fecking theme park.
Our television drama is a cultural ghetto, a never ending Jane Austen bukkake, where imaginations, not budgets, are limited. And as much as I enjoy Sherlock, it too is yet another throwback to times gone by, trading on the same nostalgic bullshit as the rest of them.
Hello RCP, but what about EastEnders that's not very Pemberley.
It's entirely shit on it's own pseudo chavvy terms.
Quote: sootyj @ 1st January 2014, 3:27 PM GMTHello RCP, but what about EastEnders that's not very Pemberley.
Hello sooty! True, Pemberley is almost a documentary when compared to the 300 hours a week of non-stop adultery, incest, rape, murder and public house arson of Eastenders.