The Future of TV Comedy – E4

You might remember back in May we looked at the future of US TV, running through the various shows coming to American screens this Autumn. This week we have a distant cousin of this series as we look at comedies heading to UK TV. In the next few days we’ll look at upcoming original UK comedy but today we’re looking at which of the US crop E4 have bought, and whether this matches our predictions.

The New Girl
The New Girl 2One of the most critically acclaimed new series coming to the US, this comedy about a newly single young woman moving in with three guys has one major draw: Zooey Deschanel. It looks like it could actually be funny and we’re grateful to have it on a channel we can actually watch. We predicted either Sky or E4 so this is a win for Mild Concern.

Apartment 23
Apartment 23James Van Der Beek (Dawson of Dawson’s Creek) plays himself in this comedy about bitchy New Yorkers allowing a new girl into their group. I’m sensing a pattern here. The trailer looks like it’s worth a try, and with it on E4, it will be nice and easy to sample. Another point for us as we said that the show was “E4 territory for sure”.

Napoleon Dynamite
Napoleon DynamiteNapoleon Dynamite is understandably not everyone’s cup of tea and an animated series adapted from it will no doubt garner a similar reaction. Can’t be any worse than E4’s sole existing animated offering, The Cleveland Show. We fell apart here having suggested that it would go out on MTV. Ugh! Gross! Freakin’ idiot! As Napoleon might say.

Allen Gregory
Allen GregoryAnother animated series as E4 tries to find its answer to Sky’s The Simpsons and BBC3’s Family Guy. Jonah Hill has created and starred in this series about a precocious seven-year-old. How long the joke will last of Gregory saying things inappropriate for his age, only time will tell. We found this series hard to place, proposing either Comedy Central or BBC3. Still two out of four ain’t bad.

The Future of US TV – ABC

ABC is the third American network in our preview of the new US shows coming this autumn. ABC currently have a mixed bag of sitcoms, two good and two bad, and some positively vintage soapy dramas along with a few newer, crime-based dramas. ABC needs all it can get which is why it has so many new shows coming. With every instant classic there’s a comedy about men in drag that no UK channel will touch. Continue reading