Every so often — this time, literally, once in a blue moon — a television network stumbles into something that simply shouldn’t be on their air, something that is counterintuitive to their programming sensibilities. The result is serendipitous and fun, and this has happened with CBS’s American version of the UK’s “Creature Comforts.”
I’d watched the British version years ago, and it was funny and sweet; I worried that an American remake would ruin the magic… but I was mistaken. In fact, I think that the American version is a stronger, more humorous mix than the original. Perhaps we have a cruder sense of humor, evidenced by the opening scene where unheard voices are describing the scents of what we assume is wine… and when the picture flashes in, we’re watching dogs sniff posteriors.
I haven’t had a laugh-out-loud-by-myself-in-the-living-room in ages, and I thank CBS for taking a very risky move by airing such a creative and funny show when they could have simply slapped on another reality show and called it a night.
[Abe Greenwald, one of the editors of this gorgeous series, writes to inform me that the production team has a blog at http://eyeballsandfishlips.blogspot.com/ … and on his behalf, I remind everyone to watch next Monday at 8pm. I guarantee you will be hooked and tell your friends; which in turn might have the effect of convincing a major television network that this kind of entertainment is so much more satisfying than, say, another incarnation of “Big Brother.”]
Got around to watching it the other night. Totally hilarious. I don’t think I laughed as loud at the UK version (which, granted, I don’t quite remember as vividly).