Little Britain USA
Little Britain USA is an American spin-off-continuation of British sketch show, Little Britain, produced by and aired on HBO. As in the British series, Matt Lucas and David Walliams play the majority of the characters: originals such as Lou and Andy, Daffyd Thomas, Sebastian Love, Emily Howard, Marjorie Dawes and Vicky Pollard, as well as new characters not previously seen in the British series. The series is narrated by Tom Baker, the narrator from the entirety of the original British series. The first series started filming in March 2008 in Wilmington, North Carolina. HBO showed the first episode of the season in the United States on September 28, 2008; The Movie Network broadcast it in Canada the same day, followed by BBC One on October 3 in the UK. New guest-stars include Rosie O'Donnell, Rachael Harris, Bob Stephenson, Paul Rudd (as the President of France), Hilarie Burton, Vivica A. Fox, and Sting. Michael Patrick Jann served as executive producer of the series and directed the majority of the shows. David Schwimmer directed studio-based segments of the show. Rosie O'Donnell also makes an appearance in a "Fat Fighters" segment. The series was released on DVD in the United Kingdom by 2entertain on 24 November 2008. Ratings The first episode attracted 540,000 viewers in the US and 4.7 million viewers in the UK (according to Digital Spy) The second episode, when shown in the UK, attracted 4.23 million viewers The third episode shown in the UK attracted 4.67 million viewers The fourth episode shown in the UK attracted 3.65 million viewers Aborted second season On November 27, 2008 on GMTV Matt Lucas announced plans for another season to air in 2009, but in July 2009, HBO announced the show would not return for a second season, but plan to work with Lucas and Walliams on other projects instead. In Matt Lucas's autobiography, he wrote that HBO wanted to relaunch the show but first they wanted a ninety-minute special. Lucas and Walliams were reluctant to do ninety minutes of solid sketches and a counter-offer of doing two forty-five minute specials was turned down by the network. Reception The show has received a generally mixed response from critics, garnering a 60% approval rating on review aggregator website Metacritic. Mirror wrote: "The sad truth is Little Britain's mix of Monty Python, Kenny Everett, and Dick Emery has run its course. One-joke characters like Lou and Andy and Carol 'computer says no' Beer are being flogged to death. Walliams and Lucas have spent so much time deciding which frocks to wear, they've forgotten to write any gags. And their desperation to be outrageous is now just shockingly tedious." Main characters Reprised characters Marjorie Dawes (works at an American branch of FatFighters in Delaware) Bubbles DeVere (goes on a luxury cruise to Rio de Janeiro) Vicky Pollard (goes to an American boot camp in Utah after being thrown out of Disney World) Daffyd Thomas (goes to university in America) Sebastian Love (becomes Prime Minister of the UK)