[Televisionary]

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 Polla

As Daffyd Thomas might say, "I'm the only gay in the... Peoria, Ill. metropolitan area?" Variety is reporting that HBO is in talks with American Idol creator Simon Fuller to adapt the wickedly funny British sketch series Little Britain for an American audience. Little Britain creators Matt Lucas and David Walliams have approached Fuller to develop the series for the pay cabler and HBO has confirmed that it is in discussions with Fuller about adapting the show. No further details were released. "It's not surprising a U.S. take on Little Britain would end up on HBO. The surreal and scatological sketch show, whose characters include 'The Only Gay in the Village,' wayward teen Vicky Pollard and an incontinent grandma, would be a tough sell for the broadcast nets." I'd have to agree. But even on HBO, I'm not sure how well characters like Daffyd, Vicky Pollard, Emily, Ill. Howard, and Lou and Andy will translate for audiences on this side of t

There are very few guarantees in this life. Death and taxes, certainly. Mortgages, very likely. But the one thing that you can depend upon in this life is British Comedy. Whenever things are gloomy or grey, the only thing that can cheer me up is the sight of some loony Brits putting on drag and creating some hilarious television comedy characters in the tradition of the Monty Python boys and Benny Hill . (What exactly is it about British comedians and their tendencies towards putting on women's clothing?) Little Britain is no exception to this rule. Adapted from their hit radio series, David Walliams and Matt Lucas have created an alternate universe which on the surface seems similar to our own, but just beneath that is a world of psychotics, eccentrics, and psychotic eccentrics. Oh, and unreliable narrators who sound suspiciously like Dr. Who 's Tom Baker. My fear at first was that the show would be too similar to that other British cult sketch comedy series, The League of E