Go Figure

There is a cable channel called BBC America. It's available in most areas, and it offers us here in the US what I gather must be the best (or maybe only the most relatable) programming produced by the BBC in Great Britain. They have other channels there, of course, but those channels have evidently been less successful at extending the reach of their brand, outside of the occasional cross-Atlantic foray. Perhaps that is the result of competing with robust publicly-funded television.

It has long interested me to observe that no matter what clearly-defined identity a cable outlet manages to carve out for itself, there is no niche so fertile as to keep that outlet from eventually abandoning it quite unceremoniously in hopes of grabbing something more. I hate that, but it's there. The Scifi Channel becomes "Syfy", which apparently has the virtue of allowing a broader ranger of programming (as it's not a word or recognized slang). The Cartoon Network increasingly runs life-action programming, and there's so much more.

This BBC America thing is something else. What previously had been a re-transmitter meant to connect the BBC with American Anglophiles has become self-aware and developed aspirations all its own. I understand that it is putting on an original program entitled "Copper". This is in no respect a natively-made item of British setting or inspiration. Rather, it is a sort of police procedural drama set in 1860's New York (as there has never been a better time to hitch a ride on the coattails of "Gangs Of New York").

Really, it's beyond me why they should attempt such a thing. It sounds tailor-made for HBO or Showtime, doesn't it? Perhaps AMC would run such a show, since they have long ago abandoned their roots as the "American Movie Classics" channel. Instead, we are to be told of our most celebrated city's rough and tumble history by the local office of our one-time foe and more recent friend Great Britain's public television. Isn't that something?