TVSquad

John Hodgman's public lambasting of the BBC for not bringing QI to America didn't explain the network's reason for their decision, other than Dumb Ol' America is so dumb (how dumb are we?) that when we go to a sperm bank, we ask the teller for a BLANK.

Thankfully, Hodgman isn't the only man coming to the U.S.A.'s defense. John Lloyd, the show's executive producer, feels the same way so much so that he was willing to interrupt his vacation in Turkey to chat with me about it.

"Garth Ancier (BBC America chief) is convinced that Americans 'won't get it'," Lloyd said in an email. "We disagree (of course!)."

We constantly hear of the British invasion of American TV (The Office, Life on Mars and many others), but there is one executive producer swimming against the current. Former Friends executive producer Adam Chase is working on a sci-fi comedy series called Clone starring Jonathan Pryce for BBC3.

The show is about a scientist who invents the first successful human clone to be used as a prototype super-soldier, but the clone ends up acting like a pacifist. The series is also being directed by The King of Queens alum, Rob Schiller.

Will the show work? I'm honestly not sure. The British are a different audience than the American one and they have a different style for their comedies. Their seasons are traditionally six episodes and all written by the same person. This format allows for more risk-taking in their programming and no question of ownership. Many American shows have enjoyed success over there, but I can't think of a single example of an American being the creative force behind an original and successful British show.

I just hope Mr. Chase can adjust to the much smaller budgets of British productions.

The BBC3 comedy I'm with Stupid, about a man who befriends a boy in a wheelchair and moves into a home for the disabled, is being retooled for NBC by Peter and Bobby Farrelly, the duo behind such films as Dumb and Dumber and Me, Myself and Irene. Peter Farrelly will direct the pilot episode, and both brothers will executive produce the new series along with Bradley Thomas and Ben Silverman. Kenton North, an executive producer on the original British series, will also serve as an executive producer for the American adaptation. Silverman has already successfully helped to get two other shows from different countries off the ground in the states, NBC's The Office and ABC's Ugly Betty. We'll have to see if he can work his magic again with this new series. Wil Calhoun, a writer for Friends, is set to pen the pilot episode.