Also, while heavily indebted to ‘OZ’, ‘Buried’ on Channel 4 was an intriguing prison drama that didn’t make it past the first series. It was very downbeat and dour as I recall.

After watching a few shows like these it struck me that UK television is perfectly capable of producing drama on a par with the best of US television, but seems to lack the commitment or courage to back them beyond 1 or 2 series. I rememebr ‘The Cops’ dying a fairly slow death as each series seemed to have less and less episodes.

Certainly in the case of ‘Outlaws’, which was critically acclaimed and BAFTA nominated, all that was missing was the audience, which the BBC didn’t seem to be arsed to chase, with a real lack of promotion for the show and constantly shifting it around the schedule. In the end a second series was not commisioned, so there was less chance of an audience growing organically.

Plus, we got Deadwood. “House of Cards” and “I, Claudius” are the only British dramas that even come close to Deadwood.

The 11 O’Clock Show was essentially a rip-off of the Craig Kilborn-era Daily Show, with Daisy Donovan in the Beth Littleford role.

An English national treasure. Sure she’s kind of bland, but the shows are an invaluable archive. And almost everyone goes on the show; Shipp to Mehldau seem to respect her.

I also liked ‘Bodies’ – which has had 2 runs on BBC2. It’s set in an obstetrics ward, and it uses explicit imagery that I literally never thought I would see on TV. it’s got a sharper adrenaline kick and more interesting characters than any hospital drama I’ve seen, even including early ER which was fantastic. One of those shows where I have to get up and walk about because I am so agitated and upset by events on screen.

Best UK hospital series? Cardian Arrest – savage but , my doctor friends used to admit, all too accurate.

School series? The under-rated Teachers – again, a series sufficiently jaundiced about education as to be unlikely to find a US counterpart – and certainly not on network TV.

No UK equivalent to preposterous but highly entertainnig trash such as Boston Legal.

That said, Desperate Housewifes owes something, or is at least related to, Footballers Wives.

Germany has something like Letterman/Leno Harald Schmidt, I think it is/was, who is/was dreadful. And someone sort of like Conan only funnier: Stefan Raab’s TV Total.

Now I really cannot let that pass unchallenged.

(Old) Harald Schmidt wasn’t ‘like’ Letterman/Leno, it was explicitly modelled on Letterman. Indeed, self-deprecating jokes about ripping Letterman off were a running gag on the show, which far from being dreadful was, to my mind, often rather better than the American original. (Certainly better than more recent Letterman.)

(New) Harald Schmidt is the same Schmidt, but streamlined (two nights a week only; monologue/duologue with ‘producer’ Manuel Andrack; SFAIK no non-musical guests and not always one of those. Schmidt did have Adam Green on, though. Green is huge in Germany).

Not to argue that Conan’s funny, but he’s certainly funnier than Raab. But then, so too is having your eyeballs removed by slow rough rubbing with white-hot steel-wool dipped in Tabasco suace.

Schmidt is an exception to the rule that Germans are unfunny (and never more unfunny than when doing comedy). Raab emphatically isn’t.

I can’t see US television producing anything like these comedies, now or in the future.

Going back to the original comparison it strikes me that there is a US counterpart to the UK Office, and it’s The Larry Sanders Sanders Show. I think it’s true to say such shows are much more likely to get made in Britain, but the US does produce them occasionally, and can make them just as well.

Then compare US TVs best: ER (4 million episodes), the West Wing (ditto), Friends (200 million episodes). These days the US does quality and quantity.

The Brits are good but you could watch all the good TV in about a week. You could watch all the good US TV for a few hours every day.