TVSquad

A few months ago, I ever-so-giddily wrote about the entire first season of the British comedy Green Wing being available on Hulu to American viewers. It only seemed right to spread the good word, as it happens to be one of my favorite shows (it's like Scrubs if it were a little less annoying and more demented).

Well, shame on me for being late with more news, because it wasn't until reader Erik pointed it out that I saw that the entire series of Green Wing is now on Hulu. Having both seasons and the finale special means that you get the laughs and closure. Isn't that nice?

You guys, you guys (Americans, specifically)! Green Wing is on Hulu! Exclamation mark!

All right, let me back up. I am a British comedy nerd. Some of you more eagle-eyed readers may already know that one of my favorite shows is something called Green Wing, which aired on Channel 4 way back in 2004. It's one of those programs that perfectly blends the quickness and quotability of sketch comedy with the engaging story arcs of more traditional sitcoms. There is no laugh track (thank goodness) but a beautifully quirky score that heightens the comedy instead of fighting with it. Plus, it's just plain snazzy.

(S03E01) I have been looking forward to this Special for a very long time and, I'm sorry to say, I was a little bit disappointed. Although many questions were answered, I didn't think there was enough substance to justify an hour and a half of television. The whole thing could have wrapped up very neatly in about thirty minutes, I think.

The latest edition of The Guardian features some fantastic interviews and articles about some of today's hottest British comedians. They're all great reads, but the photos of the comics re-enacting various moments in pop culture are what really reeled me in. My favorites include Ricky Gervais and Steve Merchant (from The Office) as McCartney and Lennon, the boys from Green Wing as Queen, and Nick Frost and Simon Pegg (from Spaced and Shaun of the Dead) as Paul Gascoigne and Vinnie Jones. Hilarious.

Read the text and then check out the great pics by Karl J. Kaul.

The Green Wing cast and crew seriously sound like some of the loveliest people alive. Seriously. From all the great fan encounters I've heard, the brilliant interviews I've read and watched, and the fantasies I've had about working with them, they, and their fantasy-selves, just seem like all-around good people. To further my belief, the GW folks have gathered a bunch of amazing stuff and put together some charity eBay auctions. 100% of the proceeds will go to the World Wildlife Foundation and, even better, the shipping is free.

Items include signed DVDs and scripts (with unreleased scenes!) and a costume lot with Martin's spiky raver shirt, Sue White's long-arm blazer, and Mac's coma tee and glorious bottomless scrubs (ass-less scrubs, is what they mean). These aren't the usual crappy auctions from programs that offer "a water bottle used in scene four" kind of stuff... Each piece was part of a fantastic moment in the show. If I didn't have student loans to worry about, I'd snap up all these items. Anyone want to buy me something? My birthday's only eleven months away.

(S02E08) This season has been an absolute roller coaster ride. As if the first season's crazy relationships and antics didn't confuse us enough, this time around, everything stepped into the next realm of bizarre. There's love triangles (love quadrilaterals?), murder, babies, threesomes, pimps, affairs, proposals, and Guy being considerate. The first episode was relatively weak, but the rest of the season has had a lot of strong points. The plot thickened considerably without sacrificing any of the laughs.

As a huge fan of the first season, I was eagerly anticipating the premiere of the new season of Green Wing. Last season ended with a literal cliffhanger: three doctors in an ambulance dangling from the edge of a cliff. I was expecting the premiere to pick up where it left off, explaining exactly how Mac, Guy, and Martin were saved (or how they all died, became fatally injured, sprouted wings and flew away, etc.), so I was surprised when they offered absolutely no insight into what actually happened. Instead, we were immediately faced with a fully normal scene of all the main characters going back to work at the hospital. But then, suddenly, the entire scene changed into a futuristic setting and everyone had donned new, silver costumes. What's going on?!

There are some great new Green Wing photos and teaser trailers (and a nifty behind-the-scenes blog) online, in anticipation of the new season starting March 31st on Channel 4. I really like the group shot of everyone in ballet outfits... However, I'm disappointed that Stephen Mangan opted for a kilt instead for a nice tutu. Tsk, sir. I don't see any Sarah Alexander (she played Rachel Hunter) pictures for the new season... Did she do less Green Wing to work on the new NBC comedy, Teachers? Oliver Chris (Boyce) has been thrown into the new group shot, so maybe his character will be even more prominent this season (more Boyce/Statham awkwardness! Hurrah!).

No word on when BBC America will air the new season... if at all. However, the season one DVD is going to be released soon and, if you are an American lucky enough to have a region-free DVD player, you can relive some of the old craziness until BBC America gets around to airing new stuff. If you haven't seen this show before, I strongly recommend it. It's like a crazier, dirtier (and possibly even funnier) version of Scrubs.