Best tv shows like Black Books

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Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969)

Plot Summary:

Monty Python’s Flying Circus is a British sketch comedy series created by the comedy group Monty Python and broadcast by the BBC from 1969 to 1974. The shows were composed of surreality, risqué or innuendo-laden humour, sight gags and observational sketches without punchlines. It also featured animations by Terry Gilliam, often sequenced or merged with live action. The first episode was recorded on 7 September and broadcast on 5 October 1969 on BBC One, with 45 episodes airing over four series from 1969 to 1974, plus two episodes for German TV. The show often targets the idiosyncrasies of British life, especially that of professionals, and is at times politically charged. The members of Monty Python were highly educated. Terry Jones and Michael Palin are Oxford University graduates; Eric Idle, John Cleese, and Graham Chapman attended Cambridge University; and American-born member Terry Gilliam is an Occidental College graduate. Their comedy is often pointedly intellectual, with numerous erudite references to philosophers and literary figures. The series followed and elaborated upon the style used by Spike Milligan in his ground breaking series Q5, rather than the traditional sketch show format. The team intended their humour to be impossible to categorise, and succeeded so completely that the adjective "Pythonesque" was invented to define it and, later, similar material.

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It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (2005)

Plot Summary:

Four egocentric friends who run a neighborhood Irish pub in Philadelphia try to find their way through the adult world of work and relationships. Unfortunately, their warped views and precarious judgments often lead them to trouble, creating a myriad of uncomfortable situations that usually only get worse before they get better.

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Green Wing (2004)

Plot Summary:

Green Wing is a British sitcom set in the fictional East Hampton Hospital. It was created by the same team behind the sketch show Smack the Pony, led by Victoria Pile, and stars Tamsin Greig, Stephen Mangan and Julian Rhind-Tutt. Although set in a hospital, it uses no medical storylines; the action is produced by a series of soap opera-style twists and turns in the personal lives of the characters. They proceed through a series of often absurd sketch-like scenes, or by sequences where the film is slowed down or sped up, often emphasizing the body language of the characters. The show has eight writers. Two series were made by the Talkback Thames production company for Channel 4. The series ran between 3 September 2004 and 19 May 2006. A special episode was filmed with the second series, which was shown as a 90 minute long special on 4 January 2007 in the UK, but was shown in Australia and Belgium on 29 December 2006. Separate from the series, a special sketch was made for Comic Relief and screened on 11 March 2005. Another was performed live at The Secret Policeman's Ball on 14 October 2006.

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The IT Crowd (2006)

Plot Summary:

UK Comedy series about two I.T. nerds and their clueless female manager, who work in the basement of a very successful company. When they are called on for help, they are never treated with any respect at all.

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The Office (2001)

Plot Summary:

The Office is a British sitcom television series that was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 9 July 2001. Created, written, and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, the programme is about the day-to-day lives of office employees in the Slough branch of the fictitious Wernham Hogg Paper Company. Gervais also stars in the series, playing the central character, David Brent. Although fictional and scripted, the programme takes the form of a documentary, with the presence of the camera often acknowledged. Two six-episode series were made, along with a pair of 45-minute Christmas specials. When it was first shown on BBC Two, it was nearly cancelled due to low ratings, but has since become one of the most successful of all British comedy exports. As well as being shown internationally on BBC Worldwide, channels such as BBC Prime, BBC America and BBC Canada, the series has been sold to broadcasters in over 80 countries, including ABC1 in Australia, The Comedy Network in Canada, TVNZ in New Zealand and the pan-Asian satellite channel STAR World, based in Hong Kong. The show began airing in The United States on Cartoon Network's late night programing block, Adult Swim on 18 September 2009 until 2012.

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British Men Behaving Badly (1992)

Plot Summary:

Men Behaving Badly is a British sitcom that was created and written by Simon Nye. It follows the lives of Gary Strang and his flatmates, Dermot Povey and Tony Smart. It was first broadcast on ITV in 1992. A total of six series were made along with a Christmas special and three final episodes that make up the feature-length "last orders". The series was filmed in and around Ealing in west London and the final scene of series six was filmed at the Cerne Abbas giant. The setting however is implied to be South London and many references are made to Surrey. It was produced by Hartswood Films, and Thames Television co-produced the first two series for ITV. They also assisted with production of the third series onwards that aired on the BBC. After being moved to a post-watershed slot on BBC1, Men Behaving Badly became highly successful. It was voted the best sitcom in the BBC's history at BBC Television's 60th anniversary celebrations in 1996. It also came sixteenth in the Britain's Best Sitcom poll commissioned in 2004 on BBC2. It has also won the Comedy Awards' best ITV comedy, and the first National Television Award for Situation Comedy.

IMDB Rating: 7.7

IMDB Votes: 9000

Genere: Comedy

Country: UK

Duration: 45 min

Plot tags: sitcom, humorous, talky, not serious, realistic, witty, offbeat, sexual, sexy