The British invasion of American television

Restricted until 05 Apr. 2011. The British invasion of American television is a takeover of startling proportions. Consider the top ten highest-rated prime time television series of the past decade: American Idol (Tuesday and Wednesday nights) 2004-2007, Survivor 1999-2001, and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire 2000. All of them were run by Brits.; In ten years, that amounts to a complete coup of the Top Ten. It used to be that American producers such as Steven Bochco and David Milch (Hill Street Blues, NYPD Blue), John Wells (ER), Diane English (Murphy Brown), and the Charles brothers, Glen and Les (Cheers), set TV’s gold standard. But ever since the turn of the 21st century, U.S. television has opened its doors to a steady influx of hit-makers from the U.K. The new captains of industry include names like Mark Burnett, Simon Cowell, Simon Fuller, Conrad Green, Mark Koops, Nigel Lythgoe and Ken Warwick. And they run shows as familiar to us today as Hill Street Blues and Cheers were in their heydays: American Idol, America's Got Talent, The Apprentice, The Biggest Loser, Celebrity Apprentice, Dancing With The Stars, Hell's Kitchen, Nashville Star, Supernanny, So You Think You Can Dance and Survivor, to name just a few.; By their own estimate, roughly two dozen Brits are managing these "reality" or unscripted series, and occupying some of the priciest real estate in prime time. And in doing so, they have set the American paradigm of prime time comedy and drama on its ear. British producers have found ways to reinvigorate the kind of television where ordinary people become stars. Masters of a reinvented genre that saw its humble beginnings in such classic American television series as Ted Mack and The Original Amateur Hour (1948) and Candid Camera (1948), the Brits have succeeded in taking over American living rooms, altering the way we are entertained and, very often, how we interact with that entertainment.; The question is, how did this happen, and why? What is it about the British sensibility, training, culture and style that translate so well here? And why haven't Hollywood producers -- never shy about copying or stealing from the best -- been able to pull off the same kind of ratings monopoly? Partly, it is because the Brits have imported a fresh take -- albeit edgier and meaner -- on television's formerly polite manners. Partly it's because they have exposed flaws in the American television production model, which favors TV specialists over well-rounded craftsmen. And perhaps most importantly, the British invasion is an indictment of the American work ethic, especially in Hollywood.