The Poorness of Margaret & The Dimbleby Code

American comedian David Cross has had his comedy pilot The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret commissioned as a series for More4. I'm not familiar with David Cross but I'm very happy for him and wish him all the best.

The original pilot was part of Channel 4's Comedy Showcase series, so why More4 have jumped in & decided to make this their first original comedy project is a source of bafflement to me. It's disappointing that a British digital channel with limited resources & a dependance on imported programming is focusing on transatlantic talent. Comedy on Channel 4 could really do with an intelligence shot, so it's even more depressing in a way that Mr Cross was passed up in favour of other, broader efforts like Phoneshop.

Together with the Showcase pilot for loveable Rhys Darby from New Zealand, & the forthcoming British series for Matt Le Blanc from Friends, we're beginning to see an odd pattern emerging. Comedy is something of a religion here and, at the risk of sounding like a fanatic, it makes little sense to me to avoid our culture in favour of projects with a whiff of getting sold abroad.

Meanwhile, in the BBC's increasingly presenter-led history section, we see the much-praised A History Of The World in 100 Objects shoved to Radio 4 in favour of EXACTLY THE SAME SHOW presented by David Dimbleby, only with half the content and a catalogue of shots of "the British Martin Sheen" wandering through greenery in a windcheater.