Will Arnett

First shown as a pilot in Channel 4's Comedy Showcase last year, this fitfully amusing series opener stars Arrested Development's David Cross as the titular Todd, a schmuck who goes from temping in an American office to heading up the sales team launching an energy drink to the UK. In truth the sales team is him and a callow youth called Dave, stuck in a deserted office space. It has a decent cast - including Sharon Horgan as a kindly café owner and Will Arnett, who is gloriously unhinged as Todd's boss - but they have to struggle with an uncertain tone that pitches awkwardly between embarrassment and the broad comedy of pratfalls.

Re-cut and largely refilmed from the Comedy Lab pilot, David Cross (best known as Tobias Fünke from Arrested Development and the legendary early HBO sketch show Mr Show) stars again as the clueless US temp mistakenly sent to head his company's UK division. The biggest change from the pilot is the recasting of Todd's sole employee Dave - out goes Russell Tovey, in comes a much more charming Blake Harrison, aka Neil from The Inbetweeners. Everything else, including cameos from Will Arnett and Spike Jonze, remains more or less in place and it's a funny and promising start.

Peter Serafinowicz Joins Running Wilde

As if Fox's new Will Arnett series Running Wilde didn't already look good, Peter Serafinowicz has now joined the cast as a regular following his guest appearance as Fa'ad Shaoulin, the neighbor and frenemy of Wilde.

This latest pilot has enough comic pedigree to split the funny atom. David Cross (Arrested Development) and Monkey Dust's Shaun Pye write - the cast includes Sharon Horgan, Will Arnett, Russell Tovey and even a blink-and-you'll-miss-it shot of Kristen Schaal. Cross is Todd, a desk monkey who's sent to London by Arnett to promote a hideous energy drink. It doesn't quite hold together, and is short a laugh or five, but the talent suggests it could still be worth a series.

David Cross is great. Let's get that out of the way. He's great. This sitcom, where he plays a klutz accidentally sent to the UK to sell energy drinks was never going to be terrible. It was obviously going to be the best of C4's miserable Comedy Showcase run. But no matter who your big name Arrested Development stars are (Cross and Will Arnett - apparently Spike Jonze is in it too but we missed him in the cut we watched), you really shouldn't waste Sharon Horgan in a role as a waitress. Come on. Sharon Horgan is really very, very good. Also, this is supposed to be a chance for new comedies to make their mark. What are the chances of everyone involved in this making an a series for C4? Grow up. Just give them the money to make a one-off.

Another gem of a pilot from C4's Comedy Showcase testing ground. Todd (David Cross) is a brash American sent to London to sell an energy drink to an unsuspecting British public. Trouble is, our culturally narrow-minded protagonist soon finds himself a fish out of water, and hindered further by his unhelpful English assistant (Russell Tovey). It plays out well, and there is enjoyable support from an Anglo-American cast that also includes Will Arnett and Pulling's Sharon Horgan.