The UK version of Distraction (C4) ran for 2 series of 8 shows in 2003-4 – see post here. By August 2004 Comedy Central US were impressed and had commissioned Jimmy to host the US version (14 episodes). Announcements were made by Campaign Live and Chortle and Jimmy said:
“I literally can’t believe my luck – torturing Americans should not only be easy, but a pleasure.”
Note that some websites / stories mention 12 shows (e.g. NextTV said, in December 2004, that it would be 12 episodes) but there were def 14 per series (see video links further down).
Series 1, Episode 1 premiered on Jan 18th at 10.30pm on Comedy Central – which had potential viewing figures of 86m, across the US.
The show got a great review in Spokesman (March 2005).
In August 2005 TheFutonCritic reported a Comedy Central press release that said that a second series of 14 episodes had been ordered and S2 Ep1 premiered on Jan 14th 2006 at 10pm.
TVTango has a list of the 2 series – but only with 11 and 13 shows respectively. It’s of interest because it’s a TV Guide format and you can see what was on other channels. Details are also on IMDB.
For anyone that liked the show – Lost Media Wiki has an overview with a nice collection of clips and stills.
Archive.org
Finally…this was a great find!!
Tucked away on this website are some wobbly (but watchable) .MP4 versions 26 episodes. Series 1 Episodes 4 and 8 are missing but all of Series 2 is there. Enjoy!
S1 Ep1: Here
S1 Ep2: Here
S1 Ep3: Here
S1 Ep5: Here
S1 Ep6: Here
S1 Ep7: Here
S1 Ep9: Here
S1 Ep10: Here
S1 Ep11: Here
S1 Ep12: Here
S1 Ep13: Here
S1 Ep14: Here
S2 Ep1: Here
S2 Ep2: Here
S2 Ep3: Here
S2 Ep4: Here
S2 Ep5: Here
S2 Ep6: Here
S2 Ep7: Here
S2 Ep8: Here
S2 Ep9: Here
S2 Ep10: Here
S2 Ep11: Here
S2 Ep12: Here
S2 Ep13: Here
S2 Ep14: Here
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