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Yeah But No But Yeah: HBO Sets Fall Launch for "Little Britain USA"

Finally, a bit of news about HBO's US-set transplant of BBC hit sketch comedy Little Britain!

HBO is planning to launch Little Britain USA this fall with six episodes set in America, with sketches shot on location in North Carolina and in a Los Angeles studio in front of a live audience, with segments to be helmed by Michael Patrick Jann (Reno 911!) and David Schwimmer (Run Fat Boy Run).

Series, written by Little Britain creators Matt Lucas and David Walliams, will follow the pair as they bring their hysterical creations--a mix of dangerous eccentric individuals from chavvy ASBO Vicky Pollard and homosexual aide to the PM Sebastian to Fat Fighters group leader Marjorie Dawes and unconvincing transvestite Emily Howard (to say nothing of Bubbles de Vere or fan favorites Lou and Andy)--to the United States, where they will skewer contemporary American culture.

Look for Rosie O'Donnell and Sting to turn up in the live studio segments. Storylines allegedly include Vicky Pollard being sent to a boot camp, Sebastian somehow becoming the prime minister, Daffyd finding himself the only gay at the university, and Lou and Andy visiting a faith healer, along with new characters created specifically for the series by Walliams and Lucas including a gun-obsessed Southern sheriff and Madonna's personal assistant.

I'm very curious to see if the UK-centric comedy stylings of Walliams and Lucas can be translated to the US on HBO so I'll be watching this very carefully... and hopefully roaring with laughter when I do.

Stay tuned.

What's On Tonight

8 pm: Ghost Whisperer (CBS); Most Outrageous Moments/Most Outrageous Moments (NBC;); Friday Night SmackDown! (CW; 8-10 pm); America's Funniest Home Videos (ABC); White Chicks (FOX; 8-10 pm)

9 pm: Ghost Whisperer (CBS); Dateline (NBC; 9-11 pm); According to Jim/According to Jim (ABC)

10 pm: NUMB3RS (CBS); 20/20 (ABC)

What I'll Be Watching

8 pm: Charlie Jade on Sci Fi.

My expectations for this acquired series are extremely low but I'll do the cabler a solid and check out the first episode. On tonight's series premiere ("The Big Bang"), detective Charlie Jade is thrust into a parallel universe after an explosion while investigating a woman's murder.

9 pm: Doctor Who on Sci Fi.

Season Four of Doctor Who continues tonight with "The Doctor's Daughter," the TARDIS transports the Doctor, Donna , and a very reluctant Martha to the remote planet of Messaline, where the Doctor's DNA is used to create a daughter while a neverending war rages and the threat of genocide looms large. Just why did the TARDIS send them there against their will? Find out tonight.

10 pm: Battlestar Galactica on Sci Fi.

On tonight's episode ("Hub"), the uneasy alliance between the Colonial Viper pilots and the Cylon rebels form a strategy for attacking the Cylon Resurrection Hub. Is this the end of the Cylons downloading their consciousness into new constructs? And what does it mean for the ongoing battle between them and the fleet?
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Comments

Anonymous said…
Hey, don't knock Charlie Jade. I've been waiting for this for a while. From what I understand its way cool. Advanced word is that its as cool and complex as Lost (done on a smaller budget) and as people friendly as Doctor Who
6/06/2008
Anonymous said…
I hope this is as fantastic and hilarious as it sounds! I'm a little concerned after watching Tracy Ullman's "State of the Union" which was, sadly, not funny at all. But, hoepfully, Walliams and Lucus' characters will translate more successfully in America.
6/06/2008
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