Onwards and Onwards

What if some of the worst movie-making decisions were made with the best intentions? Step inside the pitch meetings for some famous movies!

Lead Balloon is a British television series produced by Open Mike Productions for BBC Four. The series was created and is co-written by comedian Jack Dee and Pete Sinclair. It stars Dee as Rick Spleen, a cynical and misanthropic comedian whose life is plagued by petty annoyances, disappointments and embarrassments. Raquel Cassidy, Sean Power and Tony Gardner also star. The first series of six episodes was broadcast on BBC Four in 2006, with the first episode achieving the highest ratings for a comedy on the channel. Repeats of the series were run on BBC Two and BBC HD, bringing it to a larger audience. A second series of eight episodes aired on BBC Two in November 2007, and a third series began airing in November 2008. A fourth and final series commenced broadcast on 31 May 2011 on BBC Two and ended on 5 July. Comparisons were made by critics to the successful American comedy Curb Your Enthusiasm, and positive comments were made about Lead Balloon's characters, particularly Magda, the Eastern European housekeeper. The first series was released on DVD in November 2007. The show's theme tune is a cover version of "One Way Road", written by Noel Gallagher and performed by Paul Weller.

With this satirical series, the E! Entertainment Network returns to a format they helped create with the popular '90s show Talk Soup. Only this time instead of just poking fun at talk shows, they're setting their sights on all things in entertainment, reality TV, pop culture, and politics.

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A new all-female sketch series featuring the writing and performing talents of four hotly tipped new comics - Alice Lowe, Sarah Kendall, Barunka O'Shaughnessy and Clare Thomson. The four comedy actresses write and perform all the material, introducing audiences to a broad range of characters and the peculiarities of their own imaginary world, like being robots, owning a magic bin and dating a duck. Recurring characters include rude South African airline hostesses Jadine and Marla; and the Sex In The City girls, who annoy everyone by misbehaving and acting childishly in a highstreet bar.

A British stand-up comedy programme performed from the Hammersmith Apollo Theatre in west London.

Name a person, and a category they fall under – while avoiding naming people from all previous categories.

Little Miss Jocelyn is a British TV sketch comedy written by and starring Jocelyn Jee Esien. The show is made up of studio sketches and hidden camera footage in which unsuspecting members of the public become part of a sketch. The series ran for 2 series from 22 August 2006 until its cancellation on 14 February 2008. 12 episodes aired whilst a 13th episode was never broadcast for unknown reasons but is featured as a bonus extra on the Series 2 DVD. In 2007, Esien featured in Girls Aloud and Sugababes' Comic Relief video for "Walk This Way", where she puts a parking ticket on Ewen Macintosh, a reference to the character Jiffy from the show Little Miss Jocelyn.

Comedy legend Catherine Tate plays all her best-loved characters in this riotous sketch show. Expect sulky teens, offensive nans and the most tactless women in the world.

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Jam and Jerusalem is a British sit-com that aired on BBC One from 2006 to 2009. Written by Jennifer Saunders and Abigail Wilson, it starred Sue Johnston, Jennifer Saunders, Pauline McLynn, Dawn French, Maggie Steed, David Mitchell, and Sally Phillips. Earlier episodes also starred Joanna Lumley and Doreen Mantle. On BBC America the first series was aired as Clatterford. The show centres on a Women's Guild in a fictional small West Country town called Clatterford St. Mary. It first aired on 24 November 2006. The second series began airing on 1 January 2008 with a 40-minute special and finished on 1 February 2008. The third series was filmed from April 2009. It consists of three one-hour specials, and began its broadcast on BBC One on 9 August 2009. In November 2009, on her blog, Pauline McLynn announced that Jam & Jerusalem would not be returning for a fourth series. She later stated that it was the decision of the BBC and not Jennifer Saunders.

Famous comedian Gad Elmaleh moves to LA to reconnect with his son and must learn to live without the celebrity perks he's accustomed to in France.

Seven of One was a British comedy series that aired on BBC2 in 1973. Starring Ronnie Barker, 7 of One is a series of seven separate comedies that would serve as possible pilots for sitcoms. Originally it was to be called Six of One, which Barker planned to follow up with another series called Half Dozen of the Other. This was a BBC version of a similar showcase for LWT called Six Dates with Barker created in 1971.

Man to Man with Dean Learner is a British comedy chat show that was first broadcast on Channel 4 on 20 October 2006 and released on DVD on 3 September 2007. It features comedians Richard Ayoade and Matthew Holness. Originally called Deano's After Dark, the show features Dean Learner chatting to a range of guests including Merriman Weir and Garth Marenghi.

Asylum is a British comedy series which was shown on Paramount Comedy Channel in 1996. Set in a mental asylum, it ran for one series of six episodes. Unlike traditional sitcoms or comedy television shows, it was to some extent an opportunity for stand-up routines by various comedians, mixed with an overall story involving much black humour. It is significant for involving a large number of British comedians, many who have gone on to work on some of the most successful comedy programmes of the last decade. It marked the first collaboration of Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson, who would go on to make cult sitcom Spaced. Many of the characters names were the same as those of the actors who portrayed them. David Devant & His Spirit Wife were the "house band" for the series, performing segments in every episode, from their first album, Work, Lovelife, Miscellaneous. The lead-in track "Ginger" served as the programme's title music. The series has yet to be released on DVD; however, the full episodes are viewable on Norman Lovett's website.

Fist of Fun was a British comedy television and radio programme, written by and starring Lee and Herring. A lot of the show's comic material was adapted from Lee and Herring's radio programme Lionel Nimrod's Inexplicable World. Each episode of Fist of Fun featured several disparate sketches and situations. Fist of Fun began as a BBC Radio 1 series in 1993, before becoming commissioned as a television series on BBC Two in early 1995. It was broadcast at 9pm on Tuesday nights, and was successful, but not a major ratings-winner. The second series was aired on Friday nights, and although its ratings were relatively good, the show suffered from a lack of preparation and poor promotion. The show was not given a third series, and Lee and Herring went on to write This Morning with Richard Not Judy, for BBC Two. Many other comedians who appeared in the series went on to fame themselves, including Kevin Eldon, Peter Baynham, Ronni Ancona, Alistair McGowan, Al Murray, John Thomson, Rebecca Front, Mel Giedroyc, Sue Perkins, Ben Moor and Sally Phillips.

Them From That Thing is a sketch show featuring a host of Channel 4 comedy stars. The series features Blake Harrison (The Inbetweeners), Kayvan Novak (Facejacker), Sally Phillips (Smack The Pony) and Morgana Robinson (Very Important People) alongside with a host of famous faces from the world of drama. Set in the modern world where serious characters say and do very stupid things, Them From That Thing combines the look and feel of great British drama with a silly and slightly unhinged comic sensibility.

Kings of Comedy was a reality television series broadcast made by Endemol for Channel 4. The show was presented by Russell Brand and narrated by Matthew Rudge. The premise was that eight comics lived in a Big Brother-style house to try to determine whether old-school comics or the newer generation are best. The winner got the chance to make his own pilot show.

Each week celebrity guests join Irish comedian Graham Norton to discuss what's being going on around the world that week. The guests poke fun and share their opinions on the main news stories. Graham is often joined by a band or artist to play the show out.

Ce show avec Mike Ward