british

One of the things I noticed when I watched last week's pilot of The Riches was that Eddie Izzard was struggling to maintain an American accent of any kind, much less the southern accent that his character, Wayne Malloy, is likely to have.

But when I watched last night's episode (Brett and I are trading off reviews on this show), I noticed that Izzard's accent had smoothed out, and his British didn't seep out as much as it did in the first episode. This is no small feat; doing an accurate American accent is extremely difficult for Brits, as the many tiny differences between how each country speaks English are tough to keep track of. The effort to make the leap has sunk many accomplished British actors; even ones who do a reasonable job, like Emma Thompson, let their native accents leak through every so often.

Oliver Platt, last seen in the Showtime series Huff, will star in the ABC comedy pilot The Thick of It, about workers for a low-level congressman. The show is executive produced by Arrested Development creator Mitchell Hurwitz and based on the British comedy of the same name.

Chris Lowell (Veronica Mars) will join previously cast Tim Daly and Taye Diggs in the two-hour Grey's Anatomy episode meant to serve as a springboard to a possible Grey's Anatomy spinoff.

Steve Howey of Reba has been cast in The Beast, about a womanizing veterinarian who hates animals. Tucker Cawley, a writer and executive producer for Everybody Loves Raymond, will also write and executive produce the comedy pilot for FOX. The series is based on the British comedy Beast.

Another European import gets a stateside remake. In TV land, it's sometimes cheaper to buy somebody else's idea than to come up with one of your own. This would be funny principle if we started teaching it in schools. "I was going to do my own science fair project, but then I realized, I could just do a remake of the photosynthesis experiment that won two years ago." Kids could pay each other royalties for old book reports. I see a whole new economy in the works for the playground set. Anyway, these international translations are obviously working out quite well for the networks, Simon Fuller (American Idol) and Ben Silverman (The Office, Ugly Betty). So, why shouldn't they work out for producer Ashton Kutcher who has already made a bundle marketing Beauty and the Geek worldwide?

Kutcher is translating the British Game Show in My Head for CBS. While the production company has remained quiet on the details, we know that the show involves a hidden camera element and is casting "everyday people who are ready for a little fun in extraordinary situations." They're looking for people who considered themselves to be "daredevils, risk takers and great sales people." The pilot will be shot later this month. Anyone out there seen the British version? Got any insight for us?

Christopher Guest has agreed to direct the pilot for The Thick of It, a comedy being created for ABC by Arrested Development creator Mitch Hurwitz. The show is being adapted for an American audience from the popular British comedy by the same name. In Britain, it was about a member of Parliament who had to deal with inept politicians, a prime minister and other silly minions. I can only guess that the American version will take place in Congress?

According to his IMDB bio, Guest hasn't done much directing for television lately. He seems to stick to the "mockumentary" (he hates that word) movie genre that's heavy on improv, such as Best in Show and Waiting for Guffman.

Jack Bauer is a good name. It's a strong name that doesn't denote much ethnicity. It's the name of a fictional American hero.

And now it's also the name of a computer programmer in Britain. Tim Annan, 35, loves 24 so much that he has changed his name to 'Jack Bauer'. And he makes people at work call him that. He says, "It beats being plain Tim from Watford." Yes. Now he's "crazy Tim from Watford." No word on whether he does a lot of heavy breathing into a cell phone like his alter-ego.

According to British newspaper The Sun, the British Jack Bauer is single. Surprise, surprise.

Channel 4 in the UK is moving ahead with plans to air Virgin School, a documentary that will follow a virgin in his late twenties as he attends a sex school in Amsterdam and eventually loses his virginity with a sex therapist, despite protests from former chief executive of Channel 4, Jeremy Isaacs, who says the channel has been dumbing down its programming as of late.

There may be some merit to Issac's claim, since the network also plans to air a series of shows about masturbation next year. That's right, not one show, but a whole series of shows. I had no idea there was that much ground to cover when it came to playin' Whack-A-Mole with Captain Wang, but I also didn't know one could attend a three-month sex school, either. Frankly, I've never understood why people feel they need to be taught how to have sex. It's fairly easy: stupid people have it all the time. It's a pretty basic evolutionary mechanism.

There's an old British 'Where Are They Now'-type special up on YouTube that is all about Sacha Baron Cohen. The special looks a little dated because it focuses on his work on television as Ali G, and it shows Kristoff, an Albanian reporter character that strongly resembles Borat. It chronicles Cohen's childhood-- he attended an affluent school and then went to Cambridge. There are some old, cringe-worthy video clips of him and his brother ridiculing Jews and of Cohen hosting various cable access shows. One interesting revelation is a picture is of Cohen as a model. That's right- behind the Ali G and Borat characters is a rather good-looking fellow. His short stint as a fashion model reportedly inspired his red carpet reporter character, Bruno.

The video is after the jump. It's pretty long, so if you just want to see the modeling bit, it's at 8:00.

The Brit series Beast, which aired for two season son BBC1, is being adapted for American television with the new title The Beast. That "The" makes all the difference in the world, I believe. Now those who tune into the series will know it's not about a beast. That's important, because in this day and age, I think we all need to underst-- sorry, I'm rambling. Anyway, FOX has ordered a pilot of the new series about a man who inherits his dead father's veterinarian practice, despite hating animals. Tucker Cawley, a writer and producer for Everybody Loves Raymond, will also write and executive produce for the new series. A vet who hates animals? Isn't that basically like House, but with animals instead of people?

"Trial and Terror": During his interview with Matt Lauer, Bush seemed to express extreme interest in others murdering everyone that Lauer has ever known, seen, and loved. "These are people that want to come and kill your families!" Holy crap. Way to bring the terror, President Bush.

"John Oliver's Journey: Don't Stop Believing": John filed his first out-of-studio report, which was tremendously well done. He introduced the viewers to his difficult journey through America, a nation built on sepia-toned immigrants, as an immigrant. See, I'm sucker for this kind of thing... Awkard British guys, Benny Hill music (just the music, not the program), and exaggerated suffering... That's instant-funny to me. I'm really liking this John Oliver fellow. Keep it up, man! Oh, and would anyone care to share their funniest story about immigrants being dehumanized at work?

Something tells me Gervais isn't losing any sleep over this.

Seems that hotel heiress/reality show star/professional nightclub visitor Paris Hilton wanted to be on Extras, and Gervais said no. So now Hilton is firing back, calling him insecure and saying: "I guess he's obviously scared of starring alongside an A-lister."

Hilton did not elaborate on who this "A-lister" was.

[via TV Tattle]

A British study of 69 children ages 7 to 12 found that the kids, when having blood samples drawn, experienced less pain if they were watching cartoons than when their own mothers tried to soothe them. My first inclination, which was also echoed by Dr. Brenda McClain of Yale University, is that when a parent is obviously trying to console a child, the child becomes more anxious because they believe something must really be wrong. Kids tend to be smarter than people give them credit for, and they pick up on things like that. Nevertheless, other researchers insist that this means television is having more of an impact on kids than their own parents. I don't see it as anything so dramatic, but what do you guys, especially those of you with kids, think? I just wonder when the kids get to have their revenge and jab the researchers with sharp objects. It seems only fair.

[via Lost Remote]

(S03E04) The episode started in the middle of a con, while the gang was having lunch with the mark. Stacie appeared in a traditional Indian dress, quite the vision. There was talk about a movie investment. The mark was an Indian fellow named Samar. He was extremely unkind and, as he left, Mickey remarked that he never wanted to take anyone's money so badly. Samar rode away in a limo, chaffeured by Danny. Suddenly, he said that everything was too perfect... "You're all con artists!" Danny turned around to try and make some excuse, but ended up driving into a stationary car. Crap.

TV Squad readers tend to know a lot about the inner workings of the television industry, so it's not a surprise to many of you that some shows we grew up with were actually retoolings of British sitcoms. Three's Company, Sanford and Son, and All in the Family are all based on shows that first aired across the pond. Sometimes, however, networks will try to turn a popular British series into a popular American series and fail miserably, and such was the case with Red Dwarf. I was a pretty big fan of the original Red Dwarf, and I would hear occasional rumblings that an American version was being planned. It turns out a pilot was actually shot with American actors, as well as Robert Llewellyn reprising his role as the android Kryten. NBC passed on the pilot but still wanted to try to turn it into a series. In the end, though, an Americanized Red Dwarf never came to fruition. Television Obscurities has a wonderful history of this failed attempt, complete with video clips of the unaired pilot.

Some of the American characters on NBC's The Office are going to come face-to-face with their British alter-egos! American executive producer Ben Silverman says next season we can expect to see Mackenzie Crook, who played Gareth; Martin Freeman, who played Tim; and Lucy Davis, who played Dawn on the American version of the show. These are essentially the alter egos to Dwight, Jim, and Pam. I think I'm most excited to see Dwight butt heads with militaristic Gareth, but I know my heart will be torn between Jim and Tim!

Unfortunately, show creator Ricky Gervais is not scheduled to appear on the next season of The Office. Too bad. I can only imagine the wonderfully uncomfortable conversation between David Brent and Michael Scott (Steve Carell).

[Via Pop Candy]

Ah, you Brits are so lucky. Ricky Gervais, creator of The Office and Extras, is bringing his imaginary characters to life on ITV. The 'Flanimals', about which Gervais has now written two books, are ugly, little monster-like creatures with goofy names such as Clunge Ambler, Grundit, Puddloflaj... although it's much funnier to hear Gervais say the names in his accent. The Flanimals will be the subject of six 30-minute episodes that will air during primetime. Making the deal even better is the news that former Aardman Animations pioneers Charles Mills and Terry Brain are also on board. Aardman, by the way, is the brilliant claymation studio that created Wallace and Gromit.