Father Ted and the Irish Season on BBC America

It's time to check Hades for signs of frost, because Father Ted is coming to America. They said it couldn't be done, no network would be brave enough to air Father Ted, despite the fact that it's one of a handful of the finest comedies to come out of Britain...Ever!.

The problem with Father Ted is, or at least was, that it pokes a bit of fun at at a very popular and powerful branch of organized religion. It's parody, satire and general silliness. There's not a serious bone in this series' impressive body of work. Yet, there's always the possibility that it might offend someone, somewhere, and then the offended party might raise a stink and the lawyers and public relations people get involved and so on. It hardly seems worth it in the end, so why bother showing the series at all. It's absurd, of course, but such is life.. Or such it was until BBC America welcomed the good father aboard. (There's every chance that Father Ted has shown up on PBS stations over the past couple of years, but if it has I haven't noticed it.)

Father Ted is set on the remote Craggy Island, off Ireland's western coast. An inhospitable, inaccessible place, Craggy Island is the perfect spot for the Church to send a trio of less than exemplary priests to keep them out of trouble.

There's Father Ted Crilly, a man whose passion for God is second only to his passion for money, well, third to his passion for casinos, well, fourth to his passion for fame. You get the idea. Assisting Father Crilly is Father Dougal McGuire, a nice lad but a bit confused, or possibly brain damaged. It's hard to tell. The third member of this unholier-than-thou trio is Father Jack Hackett, an irascible psychopath taken to drinking Toilet Duck and possessing a vocabulary usually limited to a few choice words Suite 101 would probably prefer I didn't repeat here. Rounding out Craggy Island's spiritual support team is Mrs. Doyle, the tea and tidiness obsessed housekeeper.

Now, I don't expect the Catholic church to start using Father Ted videos during seminary training, but on the other hand, the average Tonight Show monologue is probably more offensive than anything in Father Ted. Plus, Father Ted has the added bonus of actually being funny. Hysterically, pants-weeing, laugh like a drain funny. If you have a sense of humor, you owe it to yourself to watch, tape and re-watch every second of Father Ted that you can. The only sad part is there will be no more Father Ted, due to the tragic passing of award winning actor Dermot