Definitely Dick Shawn

His scene was one of the highlights of The Boys from Brazil (the other being Uta Hagen's scene).

So … Hitler = Pierre Bernard?

True.  But there are plenty of brainy actual game shows in Britain (University Challenge, Mastermind, Only Connect, Eggheads, Brain of Britain) that would never pass muster on US networks.

You're thinking of Aziz Ansari's cousin.

Bah!  As if mere facts could ever stem feminist outrage!

The other way to spin the joke is that France and Britain are the worst, but capitalism makes them rise to merely "okay" and "terrible."  But your first way works a bit better.

I was confused by the "now it has a spin-off."  Is the author unaware of the existence of NTSF?

Really?  You're attacking Matt Lauer for something Meredith Vieira said?

True story: In the original story that the episode about monks keeping Satan locked up was based on, the guy who was locked away was actually Hitler.

I'm curious what @Scrawler2:disqus  is referring too.  I can personally vouch that Ken Jennings has acted like an asshole, so I doubt he'd be much of an improvement in that regard.

Or from Fleming's cameo in Airplane 2.

Vernon is not convincing as a Cuban (nor is his co-star, Karin Dor), but they give moving performances.

That episode was directly based on a movie called Moon Over Parador (which reworked tropes from a bunch of things, including The Prisoner of Zenda).

I remember him from great guest shots on Mission: Impossible, particularly the first season's oft-imitated "Operation Rogosh" (which may have been inspired by this episode).  He's also in one of my favorite action movies, Black Sunday, where he gets to play a heroic role at the climax.

I remember him from great guest shots on Mission: Impossible, particularly the first season's oft-imitated "Operation Rogosh" (which may have been inspired by this episode).  He's also in one of my favorite action movies, Black Sunday, where he gets to play a heroic role at the climax.

As a fellow 1984er who spends a lot of time mentoring undergraduates, I've had that realization more times than I care to count.

As a fellow 1984er who spends a lot of time mentoring undergraduates, I've had that realization more times than I care to count.

Well, you can get pretty up there with British shows.  Rumpole of the Bailey went seven seasons with 40-something episodes.  Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister combined hit 37 episodes (+1 special) in five seasons (which are pretty much all brilliant).  As far as American sitcoms go, I'm sure you'd love Remember…

How flexible are you on the 80-100?  I can think of some really good shows that didn't hit the lower bound of that target.