I finally finished watching all of The Office. The very end of The Office Special made me feel like everything in the world was good and right. I also finally got around to watching Spaced, which I absolutely loved. Any recommendations? I heard Black Books and The Young Ones are good. Also, I don't really know how British TV works, but I'm assuming shows don't run for very long. I mean, seasons of The Office and Spaced were only 6-7 episodes. Why is this?

Fawlty Towers is a must.

Black Adder
Red Dwarf (haven't seen too many episodes however)

if you can at all get a copy i recommend Spaced.

"The Young Ones" is GREAT - & worth buying on DVD.

I finally got to see "The Office" via the marathons on BBC America the last 2 weekends, & now I see what all the hubbub was about.

Yeh, I agree with Fawlty Towers, Black Adder and The Young Ones. Also Absolutely Fabulous.

As I recall, the part of the special features on The Young Ones DVD explains why the BBC season is only 6 episodes long. The answer's not too interesting - sorta along the lines of "it is 'cuz it is."

Fawlty Towers
Black Adder
The Young Ones
The Office

genius comedy that CANNOT be reproduced.

speaking of, that adaptation of the Hitchhiker's Guide looks like the 5th Element but i'll probably watch it anyway.

and a dash of this.

Father Ted
The Fast Show

British television series are tradtionally written by an individual or a writing partnership. We don't have huge writer staffs like, say, The Simpsons which I believe employs about 12 writers per season.

Obviously it's impossible for 1 or 2 people to write 23 episodes per season so we tend to have much shorter series and a much quicker turn around of programming.

I've not had a TV for a couple of years so I'm abit out the loop but the 'hit' comedy at the moment is 'Little Britain'. I've not seen it but apparently it's very good and since the two people behind it are Matt Lucas and David Walliams I'd imagine it would be. The rights to the series have already been snapped up by some US broadcaster who are going to 'Americanize' it.

If you liked Spaced!, David Walliams appeared in the first series as Vulva the trans-sexual avant-garde artist.

Oh and my favourite UK comedy series of all time is Brass Eye.

Alan Partridge?

Also, I think for British tv, it's quality, not quantity. I'm glad shows like the Office didn't go into 7 years with syndication worldwide. They know when to end a good thing without people hating the characters later, like Friends.

I'll add:

The League of Gentlemen
Lovejoy
Cracker

When I was in the UK last may I saw a show that was a cartoon--it was kind of like Animal Farm, but there was a monkey and some other sorts of animals. The animation was kind of crude like South Park. The episode I saw involved the animals making money by running a computer help line, but their problem was that they later realized they never charged anyone. Anyway, it was pretty damn funny and I've been wondering for a year now what the hell it was called. Does anyone know? Please know.

The premise makes this show. Funny episodes are spotty, but if you're hungover and ready to be spoonfed every episode is great.

Britta's Empire is pretty funny(the hologram actor from Red Dwarf is the lead buffoon) he heads up a public fitness gym with trainers at his beck and call
The Vicar is a smart small english town comedy that revolves around a woman vicar and her pixie airhead assistant