Home TV News Friends Comes To an end… What now E4?

Friends Comes To an end… What now E4?

by Dave Elliott

Some may call it the Friends of an era… Some may pelt me with tomatoes for that awful pun. Either way, for those of you that didn’t know, E4 have decided it’s time to pull down the major tent pole of their comedy schedules. Yes… Friends on E4 has finally come to an end. So what now? Well, E4 say they have made the decision to make way for more comedy, which in my book, can only be a good thing. This includes a mix of new homegrown original comedy programming, and a number of new US imports. Here’s what they’re spending their new-found budget on (and given the amount of show’s they’ve bought, it does beg the questions ‘How much money where they spending on Friends?!’.

New Homegrown Original Comedy on E4

Noel Fielding

Noel Fielding

Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy

This is a new character based sketch show from Mighty Boosh star Noel Fielding. It’s part filmed and part animated, featuring the stunning work of animator/director Nigel Coan, with music from Kasabian’s Sergio Pizzorno. It’s designed to be a joyful manic mix of Noel’s humor and Coan’s animation in the slightly surreal style of Spike Milligan and Kenny Everitt. Noel himself of course has the far more interesting description of the show being “like Salvador Dali and Mick Jagger recreating The Jungle Book using toast.” Either way of you’re a fan of the Boosh, it’ll be one to watch out for.

Show & Tell‘ with Chris Addison

Chris Addison

Chris Addison

‘Show & Tell’ is a stand up/game show with a twist. Each week Chris is joined by 3 new up and coming stand ups, who bring along an item to ‘Show & Tell’ with, just as you may have done at school. For their 1st round, guests are free to bring along pretty much any item that takes their fancy, which is then the basis of their stand up routine with some interjection from the other comics. The 2nd item takes the form of a ‘homework’ item set by Chris prior to the show, and the 3rd round items are those bought along by the audience.

I’m a big fan of Chris Addison, and this sounds like it could be an entertaining premise for a comedy show. Plus I’m always happy with any show that brings more stand up to UK TV.

The Midnight Beast

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4npUdfEmbQ]

The Midnight Beast are Stefan Abingdon, Dru Wakely and Ashley Horne, and are true internet sensations thanks in no small part to their brilliant parady of Ke$ha’s Tik Tok. Their new E4 show takes the form of a sitcom, with the guys playing the parts of struggling musicians ‘stapling their songs and stupid real-life experiences together’. My guess would be if your fans of ‘Flight of Concords’, ‘The Lonely Island’ or ‘Axis of Awesome’, this is going to be right up your street.

New US Comedy Imports on E4

New Girl

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIGP91-WDqk]

New Girl stars Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy’s (and sister to Bones’s Emily) Zooey Deschanel as Jess Day a quirky (hey, it is Zooey!), loveable woman whose life takes an unexpected turn after an unexpected and rather bad breakup with her model boyfriend. This event leads to Jess moving in with 3 single guys. Nick (Jake Johnson – No Strings Attached) who’s the most grounded of the 3, but has slightly given up on the big dreams he’s had in life, and settled as a bartender. Schmit (Max Greenfield – Ugly Betty) is a bit of a player, or at least thinks he is… His heart is usually in the right place, but he’s somewhat immature and always looking for ways to climb the social ladder. The 3rd guy – for the first episode – is Coach (Damon Wayans Jr), former athlete and professional trainer… Coach, however is replaced by a new character Winston (Lamorne Morris) in the 2nd episode. This is due to Damon Wayans Jr other show getting renewed, which brings us to…

New Girl will air in November 2011 on E4

Happy Endings

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvZ8BcgWnUo]

Happy Endings‘ stars 24’s Elisha Cuthbert and Zachary Knighton (Flash Forward) as Alex and Dave. A happy couple living is Chicago, and spending their evenings hanging out with their friends and preparing for their forthcoming nuptuals. Their group consists of Jane (Eliza Coupe) who is Alex’s control freak sister, and her long-suffering husband Brad (Damon Wayans Jr… again). Dave’s best friend Max (Adam Pally), and Penny (Casey Wilson), the groups (slightly desperate) single friend.

All is fine and rosy… until, on their wedding day, Alex and Dave split up, forcing the group to pick sides…

Happy Endings airs September 8th 2011 at 9.30pm on E4

2 Broke Girls

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hr3FXTioTIo]

2 Broke Girls stars Kat Dennings (Thor, ER) as Max, a brash working class waitress at a Brooklyn diner whose nose is put slightly out of joint when the boss decides to hire an additional waitress. This isn’t helped by the fact the new girl Caroline (Beth Behrs) is a rich girl down on her luck, after her father basically ripped off the city.

 

Keep up with all the latest UK premiere dates here.

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