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December 6, 2007 1:38 PM

What accounts for the relatively large number of panel shows on UK tv and radio as compared to the US?

Is it differences between our audiences, celebs, incentives for programmers, something else?

The only US panel show I can think of is the insufferable Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, and if that's the best we can do, I understand why we have so few.

posted by the christopher hundreds to media & arts (19 comments total)

I guess I don't know how many there are on in the UK, but I don't feel like there's not a fair number here in the US. Perhaps I need a more rigorous definition of 'panel show.'

If we allow for cable there's both Dennis Miller (that's still on, right?) and Bill Maher's HBO shows. There used to be a comedy-ish one on Comedy Central with Colin Quinn, that's a little closer to what I suspect your definition is since it spent most of its time in panel vs Miller and Maher who have a lot of solo time on their shows.

In the sports arena I feel like there's a lot of them. Ditto news. If you're not watching one person talk about Jesus on Sunday morning tv you're watching four of them talk about which Jesus the political figures believe in.

Then there's stuff we ripped off from the UK like Whose Line is it Anyway?
posted by phearlez at 2:02 PM on December 6, 2007

Dinner for Five has a bit of a panel show feel to it, although it's not built on the conceit of a quiz.

My cynical feeling is that even something like 8 Out of 10 Cats would be seen as "too talky and intellectual for prime time" by US programmers, if not audiences. We also have a shortage of celebrities who could both draw an audience and turn in an interesting performance.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 2:02 PM on December 6, 2007

I'm an American who has been living in the UK for almost eleven years, and although I don't watch TV nor really listen to radio, I'd attribute it to the fact that British culture - like most European cultures - is far more consensual than American.

American mythology and popular stereotypes are much more caught up with the "go it alone" hero view. Europeans in general seem much more interested in what their compatriots think.

Disclaimer: I've spent about one third of my adult life living outside the United States, so although I'm American by birth and almost always am the "token American" at work or University. My own opinion is by defintion subjective and myopic.
posted by Mutant at 2:02 PM on December 6, 2007

Crap hit 'post' too fast - I was gonna add my wife is Dutch, and although our primary residence is in London we keep a second home in Almere (a suburb of Amsterdam), spending about one week a month in Flevoland.

Seems as though in Holland there are even more shows with a group orientation than in the UK than in, of course, the US.

I don't have any quantifiable data to back this up, obviously, but my sense is Europeans are more concerned with what others in "their group" think than Americans.

Best explanation I can think of is relative population density. Many of the smaller European nations are cramped by American standards.
posted by Mutant at 2:08 PM on December 6, 2007

State subsidies for panel shows that nobody actually watches vs. brutal competition for advertiser's dollars?
posted by mrbugsentry at 2:42 PM on December 6, 2007

Don't forget the Mclaughlin Group.
posted by erikgrande at 2:44 PM on December 6, 2007

We also have a shortage of celebrities who could both draw an audience and turn in an interesting performance.

This seems true to me, too. Who are the US versions of Bill Bailey and Clive Anderson?

Thinking a little more about this, Politically Incorrect in it's Comedy Central (and possibly network) iteration was a great example of the kind of panel show I'm thinking of. I don't get HBO or Showtime, maybe that's why I'm missing out on our current crop of the genre.
posted by the christopher hundreds at 2:51 PM on December 6, 2007

Because they're cheap and easy. Talkbalk are behind a lot of them, but the formula has been repeated by others. Also they are almost always based on a radio show, which I believe are a bigger deal here than the US...? Lots of shows like Little Britain were on the radio first (not a panal show I know but just an example of a radio-tv crossover).
posted by gatchaman at 3:08 PM on December 6, 2007

Left, Right & Center
posted by mkultra at 3:28 PM on December 6, 2007

I think they're successful in the UK because it's cheap and easy, but there's also a tendency toward and support for verbal sparring and witty insults (especially of celebrities). The unique sense of humor really makes a difference; nothing in the world can compare to Stephen Fry (QI) or Simon Amstell (Never Mind the Buzzcocks).
posted by lhall at 3:32 PM on December 6, 2007

Panellists on UK shows are willing to take the piss out of each other, and themselves, in a way that a) helps the shows to really work, and b) few US personality's PR people would ever allow them to subject themselves to.
posted by DarlingBri at 4:01 PM on December 6, 2007

About QI - It's great, but we recently watched a DVD with our 14-year-old son. I had forgotten how many jokes about buggery there were!

What's insufferable about Wait Wait? I think it's great.
posted by lukemeister at 6:57 PM on December 6, 2007

I moved from America to England a year ago and I like the panel shows here (I skyplus Mock the Week, and I'll watch QI and Nevermind the Buzzcocks if it's on) and I think part of why something like Mock the Week wouldn't fly in the states is because it focuses on a lot of political and world events. I just don't see that taking off in an MTV/celeb/reality obsessed culture. I'd love to be proved wrong since the popularity of The Daily Show suggests that it *could* work. (Ooh a panel quiz show with Jon Stewart mmm... you heard it here first folks)

Also the panel shows are on late enough that mildly 'offensive' language is allowed and I think the strict rules for American shows would water down the atmosphere quite a bit.
posted by like_neon at 2:20 AM on December 7, 2007

I'd love to see a US version of Room 101 (which is not a panel show but does reveal quite a bit about the guest in interesting and funny ways.) I'm pretty sure that in the PR-driven American culture, everyone would put in "hunger" and "cancer" and nobody would put in "religion" or even "broccoli" for that matter, for fear of offending.
posted by DarlingBri at 2:48 AM on December 7, 2007

darlingbri: perhaps a US version of room 101's media-based evolution, TV heaven Telly hell would work better in the US?

I think the banter between hosts/contestants fits better with the british sense of humour.

just like there aren't as many slick, uber-produced, one-a-week sitcoms over here.

It could also be to do with the panel game being ingrained into the BBC's broadcasting regime since the early radio inception.

I'm sorry I haven't a clue is quite possibly the root of most of the current UK panel games.
posted by Iananan at 5:20 AM on December 7, 2007

Don't forget Says You - heard on public radio, and much more fun than WWDTM.

I loved listening to the Beeb's My Word - wish I could find those shows more easily.
posted by DandyRandy at 8:53 AM on December 7, 2007

What's insufferable about Wait Wait? I think it's great.

Let me guess, you also like the Capitol Steps? I just don't think it's funny or interesting (excepting the occaisional "Not My Job" segment when they land someone who can shine despite the show's overall dullness). Wait Wait and What Do You Know seem to be run on a 48 hour loop on my local affiliate's weekend schedule, forcing me to find something less painful on commercial radio. Like Sean Hannity or Delilah.
posted by the christopher hundreds at 10:42 AM on December 8, 2007

PS - The above was written immediately after 3 hours in the car listening to The Best of Sean Hannity and some Division II basketball game I cared nothing about because my NPR station was airing WWDTM and MF's WDYK. Apologies if it reads snarky or pissy.
posted by the christopher hundreds at 10:47 AM on December 8, 2007

What's insufferable about Wait Wait?

Almost always, the contestents are the very definition of insufferable becasue they're so smug and pleased with their inane, "witty" answers.
posted by Rash at 3:28 PM on December 8, 2007