No Signal! is a British

sketch comedy Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and ...

show that aired on a weekly basis from 5 February to 9 April 2009 on FX. The show's humour was based almost entirely on satire of television, including channels, adverts and programming. Though general reaction was mixed, the show was considered successful.

Overview

''No Signal!'' is set up like a regular Sky TV system with similar graphics and numerous channels, which are flicked through until the show ends, meanwhile showing the various spoofs of commercials, documentaries, etc. An odd take on pre-show disclaimers air before each episode, which suggests that at least another series of No Signal! will be produced. The set up is considered strikingly similar to The Kevin Bishop Show, which began the previous year.

Channels

101 - The Main Channel

Parody of:

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's Flagship (broadcasting), flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News ...

Channel 101 (the position of BBC One in reality), generally runs parodies of the said channel's shows, e.g.

Antiques Roadshow ''Antiques Roadshow'' is a British television programme broadcast by the BBC in which antiques appraisers travel to various regions of the United Kingdom (and occasionally in other countries) to appraise antiques brought in by local peopl ...

and Have I Got News For You.

167 - Bloke TV

Parody of: Men & Motors
Channel 167 regularly shows Cop Swap, featuring a pair of paranoid American police officers, one of whom has a very coarse mouth. In the last sketch they kill the show's cameraman, accusing him of perversion due to the constant filming of their daily patrols.

191 - American Nonsense

Parody of: BET
Usually running America's Next Serial Killer (a parody of

America's Next Top Model ''America's Next Top Model'' (abbreviated ''ANTM'' and ''Top Model'') is an American reality television series and interactive competition in which a number of aspiring models compete for the title of "America's Next Top Model" and a chance to ...

220 - The Documentary Channel

Parody of: Sky Real Lives
Shows on this channel have bizarre and often unsettling plots, such as a man trying to live an active lifestyle, despite only being reduced to little more than his head.

333 - The Deaf Channel

Parody of: The Deaf Channel
333 runs various formats of TV for people with hearing difficulties, e.g. Deaf Rap or Deaf Porn. The No Signal DVD also includes a deaf version of

Gallows A gallows (or scaffold) is a frame or elevated beam, typically wooden, from which objects can be suspended (i.e., hung) or "weighed". Gallows were thus widely used to suspend public weighing scales for large and heavy objects such as sacks ...

' In the Belly of a Shark as a deleted scene, which was meant to be included in episode 4 but was left out.

372 - Lard Arse

Parody of:

Food Network Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (which holds a 69% ownership stake of the network) and Nexstar Media Group ...

Easy Chef is the only show on 372 shown to the audience. It features a traditional TV chef (possibly a parody of Jamie Oliver) or Delia Smith, who cooks mostly kiddy favorites like

Baked Beans Baked beans is a dish traditionally containing white beans that are parboiled and then, in the US, baked in sauce at low temperature for a lengthy period. In the United Kingdom, the dish is sometimes baked, but usually stewed in sauce. Canne ...

on Toast or

TV Dinner A frozen meal (also called TV dinner (Canada and US), prepackaged meal, ready-made meal, ready meal (UK), frozen dinner, and microwave meal) is a packaged frozen meal that comes portioned for an individual. A frozen meal in the United States an ...

s, though he presents it in a way that would try to suggest otherwise. He claims to be friends with

Gary Rhodes Gary Rhodes (22 April 1960 – 26 November 2019) was an English restaurateur and television chef, known for his love of English cuisine and ingredients and for his distinctive spiked hair style. He fronted shows such as ''MasterChef'', '' Mas ...

and

Gordon Ramsay Gordon James Ramsay (; born ) is a British chef, restaurateur, television personality and writer. His restaurant group, Gordon Ramsay Restaurants, was founded in 1997 and has been awarded 17 Michelin stars overall; it currently holds a to ...

650 - Child Minder Channel

Parody of:

CBeebies CBeebies is a British free-to-air public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content for children aged 6 years and under. Its sister channel CBBC is aimed at older chil ...

Channel 650 is seen running a spoof of the hit young children's show ''

Tweenies ''Tweenies'' is a British live action Puppet children's television series created by Will Brenton and Iain Lauchlan. The programme is focused on four pre-school aged characters, known as the "Tweenies", playing, singing, dancing, and learning ...

'' called The Chavvy Wavvys, about an asbo-riddled & dysfunctional family comprising Chavvy Daddy, Chavvy Mummy, Chavvy Son and Chavvy Daughter. Most of the episodes revolve around Chavvy Daddie's antics which include (among other things) robbing himself to claim on his home insurance.

969 - Late Night Perv

Parody of: Babestation''
Late Night Perv seems to be the home of Granny Porn XXX, which is a parody of models taking up stripping to grannies stripping. The grannies often say stuff like, "When I catch you with my featherduster, you'll be amazed where I can put it!". It also shows 'Topless Scrubbers On The Phone'.

Adverts

In addition to the TV programmes, some of the flicks through the channel network show parodies of TV commercials such as

dfs DFS may refer to: Brands and enterprises * Dancer Fitzgerald Sample, advertising agency, now Saatchi & Saatchi * DFS Furniture, a furniture retailer in the United Kingdom and Ireland * DFS Group (Duty Free Shoppers), Hong Kong * DFS Program Excha ...

Birds Eye Birds Eye is an American international brand of frozen foods owned by Conagra Brands in the United States, by Nomad Foods in Europe, and Simplot in Australia. The former Birds Eye Company Ltd., originally named "Birdseye Seafood, Inc." had bee ...

and JML.

International broadcast

*Australia - Airs weekly on

The Comedy Channel The Comedy Channel (promoted on air as comedy) is a defunct Australian subscription television channel available on Foxtel, and Optus Television. The channel ceased broadcasting on 1 September 2020. History A joint venture between Artist Ser ...

*New Zealand - Airs every Wednesday at 11pm on TVNZ U

External links

*{{British Comedy Guide, tv, no_signal 2009 British television series debuts 2009 British television series endings 2000s British television sketch shows British television sketch shows English-language television shows