Heil Honey, I'm Home!

February 12, 2007 7:56 PM

Heil Honey, I'm Home! Somewhere in suburbia, Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun live next door to a Jewish couple in this curious artifact from the BBC. The curiosity was canceled after one episode, for reasons somewhere between quality and taste, but now you can see it for yourself.
posted by Sticherbeast (33 comments total)

You know who else was cancelled after one episode?

Mussolini!
posted by CynicalKnight at 8:04 PM on February 12, 2007 [1 favorite]

Are you having a laugh? Is he having a laugh??
posted by Venadium at 8:10 PM on February 12, 2007 [3 favorites]

My stomach gets tied up in nazis just thinking about this.
posted by Dizzy at 8:31 PM on February 12, 2007 [1 favorite]

I swear to Godwin...
posted by hob at 8:40 PM on February 12, 2007 [1 favorite]

well yeah, shows that aren't funny should be canceled. Too bad it isn't always the case.
posted by wumpus at 8:50 PM on February 12, 2007

*speechless*
posted by dobbs at 9:01 PM on February 12, 2007

I wonder if they burned the scripts.
posted by Clave at 9:07 PM on February 12, 2007

Why do the actors all have American accents instead of German or British?
posted by Clay201 at 9:13 PM on February 12, 2007 [1 favorite]

According to the wiki link, the show was on BSB - the failed satellite channel long-since absorbed into Sky, not the BBC.
posted by pascal at 9:22 PM on February 12, 2007

"Vat is braun und schticky?"
posted by cortex at 9:38 PM on February 12, 2007 [2 favorites]

cortex: If this leads to an Eva Braun and Hitler-only-has-one-ball joke, so help me Gott...
posted by Kattullus at 9:45 PM on February 12, 2007

Putsch became shove, and the next thing you know, it's canceled
posted by erskelyne at 9:56 PM on February 12, 2007 [1 favorite]

Well, the idea was pretty funny. But the execution was a bit bland.
posted by delmoi at 9:59 PM on February 12, 2007

You may know him as the vacky neighbor from Munich TV’s hit comedy “Who Are You to Accuse Me?” Please welcome Karl-Heinz Shelkar.

Eh, I liked Whose Line's infamous "Cosby and Hitler" debacle better.
posted by dreamsign at 10:04 PM on February 12, 2007

Wenn ist das Nunstück git und Slotermeyer? Ja! ... Beiherhund das Oder die Flipperwaldt gersput.
posted by milnak at 10:58 PM on February 12, 2007

When the pilot was shown to a test audience, it totally killed.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 11:05 PM on February 12, 2007

This is so unfunny, it's practically a war crime. I think there are clauses in the Geneva Convention about this.

If only there had been Jews in the oven jokes, but no. It's just "I need to get something out of the icebox." *sigh* Oh Eva, I expected more of you.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 11:48 PM on February 12, 2007

Too bad there was such a Führer.
posted by dhartung at 12:34 AM on February 13, 2007 [1 favorite]

Obviously not filmed before a live studio audience.
posted by zardoz at 1:18 AM on February 13, 2007

Pascal's right. The first link is to the BBC's comedy guide, which is comprehensive and not just about BBC stuff.
posted by edd at 1:32 AM on February 13, 2007

Interestingly, the writer, Geoff Atkinson, has worked on a load of other, much more successful shows. Must have seemed like a good idea at the time.
posted by athenian at 3:58 AM on February 13, 2007

I'm still waiting for the DVD of When Porsche Comes to Shove.
posted by Smart Dalek at 4:10 AM on February 13, 2007

A better take on this premise, Dickie old chum.
posted by picea at 4:44 AM on February 13, 2007

Why do the actors all have American accents instead of German or British?

Because it's taking the piss out of crap American sitcoms in which (for example) everyone applauds when a character enters the room.

And yes, the BBC does not make every single British TV show that has ever existed.
posted by altolinguistic at 5:10 AM on February 13, 2007

And there was that Hitler episode on (the American) Whose Line.
posted by steef at 5:42 AM on February 13, 2007

Then, of course, came the American version: That's My Bush
posted by briank at 5:51 AM on February 13, 2007

I got through about ten minutes before bailing out. It's interesting: the parody-of-a-dumb-sitcom shtick was well done, and I can imagine an Adolf-and-Eva comedy being funny, but the two things just don't work together. I don't think the execution was faulty, I think it was an idea that sounds good but doesn't work in the real world. The sitcom vibe cancels out the Adolf edginess, and the distant aroma of burning Jews keeps the Hitlers-vs-Goldensteins thing from being funny. Now, if it had been a show-within-a-show embedded in a comedy about a hapless TV bigwig trying to come up with a hot new program, it could have worked... but then it would have been The Producers.
posted by languagehat at 6:00 AM on February 13, 2007

Good, but not as good as 'Allo 'Allo.
posted by Mocata at 6:33 AM on February 13, 2007

Then, of course, came the American version: That's My Bush

Actually, the first thing I thought of was The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer. Controversy, early cancellation, and post mortem judgment of "not really funny anyway" (never seen it myself).
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 8:59 AM on February 13, 2007

Thanks for that YouTube link, Lentro. On viewing, my judgement is that it was an intriguing concept, but "not really funny". Just like That's My Bush, they tried to throw in some parody of sitcom genres but didn't dare to take it far enough to matter. McBride couldn't manage a British accent. I see the scenes with his manservant could have been lifted directly from Blackadder, but it didn't seem to help, either. And too many lame, lame sex jokes.
posted by dhartung at 10:19 AM on February 13, 2007

Too soon?
posted by graventy at 11:20 AM on February 13, 2007

Don't mention the war.
posted by Tim McDonough at 3:23 PM on February 13, 2007

I remember reading about this years ago but forgot all about it. Of course it surfaced on the web!
posted by inoculatedcities at 3:33 PM on February 13, 2007