Complete MITM series shown on Dutch Comedy Central Channel

Richiepiep

Administrator
Dutch Comedy Central channel is now supposed to air all 7 seasons of MITM in the right order, starting Tuesday, April 1 at 8:25h p.m., with a repeat at 11:25h or 11:50h (Monday) p.m. every Monday to Thursday. This is great news for Dutch fans, because there are so many episodes we missed. In Holland, scattered episodes could be viewed on Fox, V8, Net5, SBS6, Veronica channels and the BBC, which was a terrible mess, and discouraged nearly everyone from viewing. It never got the exposure it deserved.

See link:

http://www.comedycentral.nl/index.php?channel=tv&page=view&id=61

Of course, this is a commercial channel, which means they could shift or dump this show any moment if the ratings go down. I've mailed them about their commitment or lack of it, but no reply so far, alas.

I checked the Italian, German, Polish and American Comedy Central sites, but MITM is not on there, as far as I know. I hope satellite viewers outside the Netherlands will be able to watch as well.

Best,

Richard
 

Richiepiep

Administrator
Malcolm's moving to a new time on Comedy Central!

As of May 5, Malcolm in the Middle will be shown on Dutch Comedy Central channel at the following times (as ever likely to be subject to change): :huh:

Monday: 11:25 pm
Tuesday: 8 pm, 11 pm (repeat)
Wednesday: 8 pm
Thursday: 8 pm, 11 pm (repeat)
Friday: 8 pm

Rich
 

Richiepiep

Administrator
Comedy Central is again making a hash of Malcolm!

There seems to be a tendency for channels to completely screw up a series like Malcolm. I've never spoken to a Dutch or British fan who enjoyed they way the series was broadcast in Holland or Britain respectively. Most fans gave up in frustration altogether after a few tries, because it was impossible to keep track of episodes and showing times.

Now again Comedy Central is doing Malcolm a great disservice. After promising ratings for the first season in April (around 200,000 viewers for each episode, including the repeat, making it one of the best-viewed items on CC), they started shifting the showing times around Season 2 in May, leaving viewers in the lurch about when a repeat would be shown. Also, the prime time showing is now set against the 8 o'clock news, always with over 1 million viewers. Last night, they lost the subtitles for an episode (this happened with The Simpsons reruns too - remember I'm talking about Dutch Comedy Central here, where it is essential). In the middle of Season 2, they showed Season 3 eppy Company Picnic 2, making it even worse, because this made no sense without the first part!

Of course, they don't reply to emails. Not surprisingly, the ratings have gone down now to 68,000 viewers last night.

This is a disgrace!

Please send a protest mail to Comedy Central, just like I just did. It may help, you never know!

Rich
 
D

Deleted member 1693

Guest
And FOX 11 has been 7:00 on weekdays for quite a long time now. FX (usually on channel 52 or 53 on cable) shows two eps of it in the afternoon.

What else do they show on the Dutch Comedy Central? It seems very different from the American version already.
 

Richiepiep

Administrator
Hi Batch & Lucky Maroon,

Thanks for mentioning Sky channel. I'd forgotten about it, because we can't get Sky over here. It's a bit odd that both the BBC and British Sky were showing MITM, but at least Sky is the more stable option. BBC let us down terribly, which is kinda weird for a public broadcaster, but you never know.

Things seem to have pretty much settled down with Comedy Central over here :) . They had to accommodate the full run of The Simpsons as of early May, which is a really nice double bill actually, because the shows are so close in spirit and humour.

MITM is now showing at 8pm every weekday, with a repeat at 11 pm, except Fridays, which is cool. Ratings are up to a healthy 150,000 to 200,000 viewers over here. This may not sound like much, but it is the best we can do in Holland at the moment, and it's the most viewed series on CC at the moment, or close to it.

Okay, what does the Dutch CC have apart from MITM? Simpsons, South Park, Family Guy, Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Frasier, The Office US, Scrubs, also more recent stuff: Carpoolers, Reaper, Cavemen. Some of this is pretty cool. Also a slice of British comedy, which is very popular over here: Teachers, Respectable, The IT Crowd and Angelo's.

There could be a bit more Dutch stuff, but CC Holland still has to establish itself, and at least we have CCN, Comedy Central News, which is done by Amsterdam-based Boom Chicago stand-uppers. Some of this is quite funny!

Rich
 
D

Deleted member 1693

Guest
Wow, your CC is so much better than ours. Wish they would stop showing those stupid dirty comedians with their recycled jokes and start showing decent comedies.
 

Richiepiep

Administrator
Just a weird coincidence. Comedy Central is now showing "Unhappily Ever After" on weekdays, followed by MITM, which means you see Justin Berfield age five years in a matter of seconds ...... The mind boogles.

It's good to see the extreme difference though between MITM and something very routine like UEA, which must have been conceived as a clone of Married With Children with some Alf thrown in.

It's quite randy and trashy though, with a very randy and trashy audience laughing, hooting and howling, and some people might like for its unapologetic unwholesomeness, but really, MITM is in a class by itself.

Rich
 
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Richiepiep

Administrator
As I've said, MITM took a long time to catch on and gain a solid fan base in the Netherlands. It wasn't until Comedy Central started showing the complete series in 1998 that this happened. Shame on us :blushing:!

Now, I regularly check these great rating and reviewing sites we have at www.moviemeter.nl, www.musicmeter.nl, www.gamesmeter.nl and www.boekmeter.nl (that's for books) - every country should have those in their own language ;) - , and it turns out that the moderators, often to their surprise, all have come round to the conclusion that the series is great! I think it had to do with the long-standing misconception that the series is a Disney-like sitcom for kids, and very poor programming by several channels of bits and pieces of the series at wildly varying showing times.

Still, note all the qualifications.

Anyway, moderator 'Neo' says "I unjustly ignored this series. Delightfully politically incorrect humor. I can't think of a series where all seasons are so funny and sharp".

Mod 'Chainsaw' added to this only two days ago: "I've been watching quite some episodes by now, and to my surprise it's getting to be almost one of my personal favourites. Wonderful series with most of all great characters, one by one brilliantly played. With Bryan Cranston as Hal as the absolute highlight." :D

Gee, why did it take so long?

Rich
 

Lparsons7981

New member
As I've said, MITM took a long time to catch on and gain a solid fan base in the Netherlands. It wasn't until Comedy Central started showing the complete series in 1998 that this happened. Shame on us :blushing:!

Now, I regularly check these great rating and reviewing sites we have at www.moviemeter.nl, www.musicmeter.nl, www.gamesmeter.nl and www.boekmeter.nl (that's for books) - every country should have those in their own language ;) - , and it turns out that the moderators, often to their surprise, all have come round to the conclusion that the series is great! I think it had to do with the long-standing misconception that the series is a Disney-like sitcom for kids, and very poor programming by several channels of bits and pieces of the series at wildly varying showing times.

Still, note all the qualifications.

Anyway, moderator 'Neo' says "I unjustly ignored this series. Delightfully politically incorrect humor. I can't think of a series where all seasons are so funny and sharp".

Mod 'Chainsaw' added to this only two days ago: "I've been watching quite some episodes by now, and to my surprise it's getting to be almost one of my personal favourites. Wonderful series with most of all great characters, one by one brilliantly played. With Bryan Cranston as Hal as the absolute highlight." :D

Gee, why did it take so long?

Rich

Is there a lot of domestically produced TV/Film in the Netherlands? Or do you guys mostly get British/American/French/German TV?
 

Richiepiep

Administrator
Is there a lot of domestically produced TV/Film in the Netherlands? Or do you guys mostly get British/American/French/German TV?

No, not a lot of domestic sitcoms and the like. They're too expensive to make for a tiny country like ours, especially one-camera drama and comedy with a lot of complicated shots in the style of MITM or Dawson's Creek. So, if we have a sitcom, it's mostly stage-bound, and we cherish the 3 or 4 'cinematic' series we manage to make each year!

I did a quick scan of some 8 well-known Dutch commercial channels for today, and counted 3 domestic series (2 of which are actually Flemish, meaning Belgian Dutch), 3 British and 37 American ones! I think we're suffering from an acute national identity crisis! :w00t:

Rich
 
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we_dye

Guest
When I was a little kid, i used to think that Charlie from Casualty, Prince Charles, Michael Buerk and our next door neighbour Graham were the same person.
 
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