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There's probably a lot more difference to be found in comedy and dramedy than in straight drama. We seem to have fairly similar sensibilities in drama. They aren't that different tonally. But comedy and comedy drama shows some of the differences more clearly. There's a different rhythm. Though there's also a lot of crossover. A good example of this, I think, is Greenwing and Scrubs. There's a lot of similarity between the two. Not just in terms of the setting, but the use of surrealism and some of the humour. But they're also very different. The rhythm of delivery is different. And moments of discomfort are often left unresolved.
I can imagine a lot of British comedy having an unfinished, incomplete feel to it for non-Brits.
I mentioned the rhythm of delivery and I think that's one of the key distinctions between American and British comedy. It's difficult to pin down, and there are obviously different rhythms within each tv culture as well. Mainstream sit-coms often have a very different rhythm to the more off the wall surrealist comedies for instance.
Being Human is the show that really drove home that difference for me. Because the first couple of episodes of the American series more or less recreated the original, with a few deviations which then broadened out across the series. So that opening two-parter makes for a brilliant comparison of two distinct tv cultures doing the same story and using the same setups. The dialogue in places is almost a direct lift, just tweaked to for the new setting and audience.
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