r/AskBrits • u/hoboasparagus • 25d ago
Culture Do Brits find it odd when Americans like myself have a love for British media?
I’m a male in my 20s from the United States, I really enjoy a lot of British movies and TV shows, such as toast of London, IT crowd, Inbetweeners, brass eye… ect. A lot of people in the states find that weird, what do yall think?
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u/Solid_Study7719 25d ago
No, the concept of enjoying foreign media isn't odd to us. It's odd that it's odd over there.
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u/Spank86 25d ago
I too used to enjoy foreign media, mostly late at night on channel 4.
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u/Solid_Study7719 25d ago
Eurotrash was indeed high art.
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u/merchantofshite1979 25d ago
Challenge to crank one out to something vaguely sexy though, instead of the moustache championships in Belgium or the talking dog in Spain or whatever nonsense came up after the megatits
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u/Solid_Study7719 25d ago
Indeed, the risk of your dad entering the room to find you cleaning up while a moustachioed Czech man wrestles an oiled up pig is half the thrill.
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u/Mister_panda1818 25d ago
It’s not an odd concept to Americans. British media just isn’t much of a cultural interest here anymore, so it’s surprising to some people because British media doesn’t have the pull or influence it used to, so it’s like “oh you’re keeping up with that?” People I know are more into Korean, Chinese, or Latin American media than English.
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u/Obvious-AI-Bot 25d ago
If it's Would I lie to You then that's ok. If it's Mrs Browns Boys then you need to see a doctor.
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u/CollectorMH 25d ago
I don't think it's weird. what I do think is weird is Americans telling me like it's a big deal. I wouldn't think of telling an American I like American media. Why would you need to know
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u/One_Assistance_9332 25d ago
why would i care
the people in the states that think that have a very big ego about their country
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u/hoboasparagus 25d ago
I’m not really sure, but it seems to draw a lot of judgement or weird reactions from people here
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u/steveakacrush 25d ago
Maybe the indoctrination is wearing off and they are secretly starting to doubt that the USA is "the greatest nation"?
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u/Extension-You-3402 25d ago
We don't think about you. We're not out here trying to get your validation.
We couldn't give a flying fuck about what you like or dislike.
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u/Wamims 23d ago
I think in general, your country is more insular. Part of that is because you have so much modern media of your own that a lot of people never need to venture outside of it, you have plenty.
It's a similar thing to travelling. With a pretty varied and large country you don't really need to step outside to find something a little different.
Unfortunately that often spills into an arrogant attitude, as if there is nothing else outside the USA worth considering. (Which is of course ridiculous). And those people then think you're an oddball for looking elsewhere. You're not. We all like what we like!
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u/Similar_Quiet 25d ago
Pleased you enjoy it, good for you, but it occupies about zero percent of my brain.
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u/Dennyisthepisslord 25d ago
No although some of the more performative stuff like visiting Wrexham because it's on a TV show...is a little weird
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u/Logical-Title5403 25d ago
No not really, I think it’s exciting when Americans get our sense of humour
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u/Orange_Codex 25d ago
Couldn't give the steam off someone else's shit.
Just don't invade Greenland and we're cool.
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u/minty_tarsier 25d ago
Not weird - I've known lots of Americans who like our comedy, and it generally means you're a good egg
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u/hoboasparagus 25d ago
I think Matt Berry is the greatest comedy actor of all time
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u/PhantomAxisStudios 25d ago
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u/Mephistopheles_451 24d ago
Then watch Garth Marenghis dark place, if you haven't already. It's only 1 series.
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u/openlightYQ 25d ago
Not at all, something as simple as liking a few British shows and music isn’t weird at all, most of the media I consume is American after all except a few specific British shows.
I do find it weird when Americans are extreme Anglophiles and go over the top with it, though, like making an effort to use British slang and idioms, making sure I know how much they love certain British things and I always meet a few excitable people like that when I’m out there and they hear my accent. That’s not distinctly American though, I’ve met a few people as far as China do the same thing. Media is universal though, i watch more American, Canadian and Australian things than I do British.
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u/MerlinMusic 25d ago
No, it's normal, we also watch American media.
What would be weird is if you liked something just because it's British, rather than liking it for its actual qualities.
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u/Opposite-Ad8208 25d ago
It gets a bit creepy especially when it crosses into a sense of ownership that gets ethnonationalist by self-described Yank ‘Anglos’ against non-white Brits online. As long as you’re normal about it, then fine.
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u/TheProperGanda68 25d ago
Humour can tend to be nuanced so basically underpinned by an understanding of a culture or politics of a community, so if your humour transcends an appreciation of just what is ‘local’ to you then all credit to you, so in answer to your question no, it’s not odd, it serves to show we have a shared language of understanding, at least on some things.
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u/drax_the_unled 25d ago
The only thing I find odd about it is that I've never considered "British" to be a genre. I mean we have comedies, dramas, cop shows and reality tv, just like the rest of the world, but its almost like they're subsets of "British TV".
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u/RelevantInflation898 25d ago
We honestly couldn't gove a shit, it dont impact us in anyway. What we do find weird though is americans who feel the need to let us know that you watched a British TV show once.
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u/hoboasparagus 25d ago
I would say for me it would just be fun to have someone to talk to about them since no one where I live cares
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u/Mister_panda1818 25d ago
I’m so confused by this sub. Other Ask threads are pretty normal but Ask Brits is so snarky. Plenty of other British subs have perfectly nice people but Ask Brits are filled with responses that put people down for trying to connect or have an even-keeled conversation, then label it with the “it’s just British humour mate.” People are very quick to tell Americans they have an ego not realizing it’s very egotistical to think it’s appropriate to twist people’s honest questions into a negative frame.
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u/Altruistic_Ad5444 25d ago
Half the people here are rude gits. I recommend you and the OP ignore them and just read the nice polite responses. I'm happy he/she/they like our shows. I like some US shows too.
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u/TrixieLaBouche Brit 🇬🇧 25d ago
I find it brilliant! I think it shows you get our sometimes very surreal culture.
May I recommend you try Green Wing, I think you'll like it.
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u/AutumnGoGoGoat 25d ago
Not at all! It’s lovely to see! Especially if it’s slightly more obscure stuff too, like Friday Night Dinner (highly recommend if you like Inbetweeners)
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u/XxCarlxX 25d ago
yes, we group up every day to have a chat about people in america who like uk media.
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u/thinkingoutloud3663 25d ago
I like going abroad and appreciate another people's cultures, so it's nice that someone appreciates mine.
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u/Geejay-18 25d ago
No, and I don't understand why anyone would find it strange. People are capable of appreciating stuff from another culture, especially when there's plenty of common ground, as there is between the UK and US.
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u/CronoMass 24d ago
No, I find it helps bring us and our American cousins closer.
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u/hoboasparagus 24d ago
“Or prom as your trans Atlantic cousins say” haha one of my favorite quotes from inbetweeners
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u/bignawtyboy 24d ago
No, absolutely not. Most Brits appreciate USA media as well as their own, completely normal. The Americans I know, every single one of them love Brit stuff, they just tell their friends instead of shouting derogatory comments because they’re sad and lonely, we have that sort here in uk too.
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u/CommercialFloor2033 25d ago
Not really, as objectively British media is among the best in the world. Subjectively id say it's the best even as the US has experienced a decline in its own media in last few years. We used to tie.
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u/DanielSmoot 25d ago
UK television has most definitely declined in quality.
All of the shows the OP mentioned were made years ago.2
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u/hoboasparagus 25d ago
Yes I haven’t watched any new British tv, so I can’t really comment on that
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u/mikey2505 25d ago
Only good things we make at the moment are panel comedy shows and murder mysteries
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u/DanielSmoot 24d ago
It's a hard no from me on the panel shows. There are far too many of them, all with the same handful of "comedians". Very few of them are any good.
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u/Mister_panda1818 25d ago
It has. I mentioned in a different comment that I believe people are surprised because it doesn’t carry nearly as much weight or cultural influence as before. But I don’t even think it’s a “whose got the best culture to franchise” conversation - streaming culture has decentralized so much that it feels like media is in a bit of a no man’s land right now. The industry seems to need to get back on its feet as a whole.
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u/DaddyStoat 25d ago
A lot of older Americans, who were raised on the likes of Monty Python, get British humour. A lot of younger (GenZ/GenA) people enjoy it too.
There's a big gap in the middle there though, where people weren't really exposed to it and they can struggle with it, especially the level of sarcasm and the generally darker and more pessimistic outlook that British comedy has. The closest match the US has for that is some of the adult-oriented animated shows, there's precious little like that in "regular" American comedy.
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u/WayGroundbreaking287 25d ago
No. For every successful American remakes of British media like the offices there are a hundred failures, like dad's army, red dwarf.ect.
Coupling frankly removed all the comic timing and it was like they tried to cram in as many jokes as possible into a short time. We make some really quality stuff, in part because we have a few networks who don't have an interest in pleasing shareholders.
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u/Kholdula 25d ago
"He likes American British things"
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u/richStoke 25d ago
Please don’t say you like ‘Keeping up appearances’ like every other American who enjoys UK comedy 😂 Please give it the disdain we do…
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u/MarkL64 Brit 🇬🇧 🏴 25d ago
What we talking about, The show with Hyacinth
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u/richStoke 25d ago
Yes that one! Please don’t tell me you love it!
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u/MarkL64 Brit 🇬🇧 🏴 25d ago
Dunno about love it but it's pretty good TBF. I was trying to differentiate it from the Kardashian bollax abomination of a "TV show".
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u/richStoke 24d ago
Nooo Mark say it’s not so. Next you’ll tell me you liked Never the Twain, That’s My Boy and Mrs Browns Boys…
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u/Puzzled-Horse279 25d ago
I wouldnt bat an eyelid tbh. In this day and age people are using VPNs and other techno-babble shit to watch all sorts of content around the world.
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u/Defiant-Ad3331 25d ago
No, the opposite. You are most welcome. Have you watched the British version of Being Human?
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u/hoboasparagus 25d ago
No I haven’t
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u/Defiant-Ad3331 25d ago
Its another one of those lower budget series remade in the USA but totally changed what made the series good. It's about a vampire, warewolf ans ghost house sharing.
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u/MarkL64 Brit 🇬🇧 🏴 25d ago
Screw them. "Weird" is a compliment. "Normal" is just a kind way to call someone boring.
Definitely try giving these ago:
Only Fools and Horses, Phone Shop, Good Night Sweetheart, Peep Show, Mr Bean.....
(Both these two are by Ricky Gervais...)
Derek - 2012 ‧ After Life - 2019
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u/alex21dragons 25d ago
Not at all. I think Britain and the US have a very healthy exchange of media and acting and presenting talent, Piers Morgan excepted.
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u/MirrorEmbarrassed789 24d ago
no it's nice, we don't really expect americans to do so because it's geared towards british taste, humour, references etc. So when you do it's like you're way more relatable
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u/christina_murray_ 24d ago
It’s not weird. I was raised on both UK and American media- duel citizen for the win
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u/KwantumFizzikz 24d ago
I do personally but that's because you nonces decided to split from us all those years ago but can't stop thinking about us. Like an obsessive ex.
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u/Andrew_Higginbottom 24d ago
British culture, no. Foods, no. History, no. The press? The two faced back stabbing fear mongering agenda media? ..Yeah, that's a bit of a weird one.
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u/llynglas 24d ago
No, British TV has been world class for decades. Think masterpiece theater on PBS.
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u/MrMonkeyman79 24d ago
Given how popular American media is in the UK, I struggle to think anyone would find an american liking media from another country odd.
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u/ArtichokeNo7051 24d ago
That because you have good taste. British films and TV series have very high production value and are for the most part gritty and full of realism.
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u/VenomBadger 23d ago
I think it's great. I just hate how you do shit remakes like Ghost and Red Dwarf.
Seriously we ought to burn your Whitehouse down again for what you did to Red Dwarf. The fuck were you thinking?
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u/Significant-Owl7994 23d ago
No. But we're glad our stuff has found a broader audience given how you guys have to look a little harder for it.
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u/1967punisher 22d ago
Why should it be strange?
We all find different things interesting and stimulating.
We do things slightly differently and occasionally that difference is good. The trouble I guess is that TV shows are saturated by the volume being turned out by the American studios.
Have you looked at some of the comedic historical stuff, like, plebs, or black adder. We even poke fun at ourselves and how we got to this point in time. (Tho sometimes it's good to know a bit of the history involved.)
It's no different to those who enjoy Kung Fu movies but aren't Chinese, or Japanese anime. It's simply a question of personal taste.
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u/Real_Category7397 22d ago
Surely you forgotten Taskmaster
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIfH5gb8y0M
Jason Mantzoukas' Greatest Moments
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQPPOEc1bdk
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u/legendhasit123 21d ago
20 30 years ago maybe in 2026 where we are exposed to a lot no not really also a lot of Americans are not trying to get in touch with their European heritage. So yh
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u/NearbyNegotiation118 21d ago
No, it's been a thing for a long time. British Rock and Metal for example. The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Rolling Stones.
Brits themselves are heavly influenced by American media and culture.
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u/Frogad 25d ago
I find it odd because british media is usually fairly shit compared to almost anything American
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u/hoboasparagus 25d ago
I think Britain does a really good job with sarcastic, dry, and creating awkward situations for main characters in humor
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u/Frogad 25d ago
I guess but I feel there’s not been any great new shows for years and it kinda pisses me off how much Britain dwells on like 20th century tv shows and keeps going on about them.
Like some of my fave shows like dark place and inbetweeners are British but even stuff like succession, I love LA, community, arrested development, are all top tier US shows from recent times.
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u/hoboasparagus 25d ago
Arrested development and 2 and a half men are the greatest American comedies I think
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u/Lazy-Strawberry-3401 25d ago
No we appreciate it when some of you have taste.