# Episodes (2011)

> A British husband-and-wife writing team watches their hit comedy get remade in Hollywood, and everything goes wrong.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/29313

## Facts

- Seasons: 5
- Episodes: 41
- Episode runtime: 30 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: comedy
- Created by: David Crane, Jeffrey Klarik
- Network: Showtime, BBC Two
- Cast: Matt LeBlanc, David Schwimmer, Tamsin Greig, Stephen Mangan, John Pankow, Kathleen Rose Perkins, Mircea Monroe, Joseph May
- TMDB rating: 7.8/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1582350/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: mild
- Complexity: simple
- Violence: none
- Tone: cringe comedy, sardonic, irreverent, witty, bittersweet

## What critics say

Audiences broadly enjoy the sharp, self-aware satire of Hollywood television and the chemistry between the leads, with a steady positive audience rating across all five seasons.

## Synopsis

Episodes (2011-2017) is a British-American co-produced comedy created by David Crane and Jeffrey Klarik for Showtime and BBC Two. Married British writers Sean Lincoln (Stephen Mangan) and Beverly Lincoln (Tamsin Greig) have a hit sitcom back home, and they cross the Atlantic to remake it for a Hollywood network. Their goal is simple: keep their creative vision and their marriage intact. Everything standing in their way is the business itself, from a network executive who keeps reshaping the show to a fictionalised version of the star cast as himself, Matt LeBlanc (Matt LeBlanc). Each episode is built from studio meetings, casting disasters, and awkward social set pieces that escalate into humiliation. Across five seasons and forty-one episodes, the sitcom runs as a sharp, self-aware satire of television production in the vein of Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Larry Sanders Show. Its tone is cringe comedy with a bittersweet undercurrent, as a strained marriage absorbs the damage of ambition. Set in contemporary Los Angeles, it is a comedy for adults who enjoy British wit meeting American showbiz excess.

## Shows like Episodes

- [No Good Deed (2024)](https://ember.film/tv/157505)
- [The Studio (2025)](https://ember.film/tv/163312)
- [Staged (2020)](https://ember.film/tv/87518)
- [The Comeback (2005)](https://ember.film/tv/1890)
- [Joey (2004)](https://ember.film/tv/1382)
- [W1A (2014)](https://ember.film/tv/55542)
- [The Larry Sanders Show (1992)](https://ember.film/tv/1807)
- [Reboot (2022)](https://ember.film/tv/117893)
- [Extras (2005)](https://ember.film/tv/2558)
- [Toast of London (2013)](https://ember.film/tv/54756)

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