British television has had some interesting musical series over the years. I'm thinking of "Pennies From Heaven,""Singing Detective," and "Rock Follies," but I'm sure there have been others. Our public broadcasting system doesn't have the kind of funding to produce shows that are comparable to the BBC, which is why we wait for the British shows to be shown over here on public broadcasting instead of our public broadcasting doing much original programming besides documentaries. There was a time when PBS had more cultural programming such as original broadcasts of plays, but that happens less and less.
Our commercial networks are way more risk-averse. Heck, CBS is on the verge of canceling "Vegas," which was the original competition for the second season of "Smash," even though it's been in the Top 20 of all shows, just because the average viewer age is 60. I suppose "Smash" is lucky to have lasted this long and the most anyone can hope for is that the entire run for this season will be shown.
Updated On: 3/6/13 at 09:47 PM
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