Gadling

Back when the only thing on television was either about lawyers or crime scenes, I lamented about the lack of a show featuring the airline industry.

How things have changed.

There are now documentary, drama, comedy and reality shows that cover every aspect of the airline world.

BBC and ITV have each done ‘fly on the wall’ documentaries; Airport and Airline, there are dramas such as the upcoming Pan Am, the defunct, but wildly raunchy British show Mile High, reality shows like Discovery’s Flying Wild Alaska and Ice Pilots, not to mention the painfully mind-numbing Fly Girls.

Now the BBC is back with six episodes of a documentary comedy called Come Fly with Me that premiers in the U.S. on BBC America at 11:30 p.m. eastern tomorrow.

We had a chance to watch the first three episodes from the show, which was enough to realize that the program will be just as controversial here in the U.S. as it was in the U.K.

If you haven’t figured it out from the late night time slot, Come Fly with Me is a politically incorrect edgy comedy that isn’t afraid to use racial stereotypes to get some laughs.

But the racial jokes don’t even qualify as being funny. There were other amusing parts, since airlines are the low hanging fruit in the comedy world, but most of the jokes seemed overworked and not at all subtle.

Granted, I’ll admit that I laughed out loud when a passenger service agent lied about a maintenance delay (caused by wing failure) explaining that it was because “The pilot is still at home ’cause he’s watching Avatar on DVD and he didn’t realize how long it was.”

And I rather enjoyed the Captain and Copilot husband and wife team formed when the captain’s wife decided to become a pilot to keep an eye on her husband after she discovered he had cheated on her.

Most of the scenes are played by David Walliams and Matt Lucas, each taking turns dressing up as the pilots, flight attendants, ticket agents, the CEO and many of the airport staff. In this scene, Walliams and Lucas parody the check-in staff:

The airport and airline scenes are highly realistic, having been filmed in London’s Stansted and the cockpits of actual aircraft which was refreshing for a change.

In all, I’d say it’s a show that airline nuts probably should watch as they’ll likely appreciate a few of the jokes. But I’d leave the seat belt sign on for the onslaught of criticism Come Fly With Me will generate after the first airing.