Where on the web are they? | Tivo

Here is another installment in my series on unfairly neglected telly programs. The web is full of telly  sites, official and un-official for all manner of show but some of the best and most important series seem strangely under-represented. I list these series, many of which were suggested by readers, in hopes that it will inspire fans of these terrific shows to take up their html editors and give these series the web presence's they deserve.

Desmond’s

This groundbreaking sit-com centered on the lives of Desmond Ambrose (Norman Beaton) and his family, friends and Peckham barber shop. Not only did Desmond’s present West Indian-British culture in a positive light, as opposed to the frequently racist (or at least politically incorrect) representations that had littered British television in the past but it was a hit, a big hit. Desmond’s broke brit-com barriers to such an extent that it was imported to the US not by PBS or A&E (who would likely have gladly aired it) but by the, then young and groundbreaking, Black Entertainment Network (BET) cable / satellite broadcaster.

 Desmonds’ success, however, lies as much in it’s collection of warm, reasonably believable characters and story lines and the anchoring performances of Beaton as Ambrose family patriarch Desmond and Ram John Holder’s classic portrayal of the philosophizing PorkPie. Between its historical importance and wide-spread international popularity it’s surprising to see such a paucity of Desmond’s related content on the web

 Birds of a Feather

One of the top comedy hits of the 90’s Birds of a Feather made stars of it’s three female leads. Adopted sisters Tracey (Linda Robson) and Sharon (Pauline Quirke) find out the hard way that their hubbies are crooks when both men get arrested and sentenced to a 12 year stretch behind bars. Seeking each others emotional support Sharon moves in with Tracey and next door to social climbing neighbor Dorien Green (Leslie Joseph)

Bird’s of a Feather has enjoyed considerable success and yet it has only a fraction of the Net following of many other less popular programs, quite unfair really.

 Drop the Dead Donkey

Was DDtD too topical for its own good? This brilliant sitcom, set in a television newsroom, was so topical that repeats needed to be prefaced with a brief summery of the current events of the week it had originally aired, DtDD was one of the best written britcoms of the 90’s, as well featuring to marvelous effect one the genre’s strongest ensemble casts.   From Robert Duncan’s extraordinarily nuanced performance as