Keeping Up With the Joneses in the U.K.

"Keeping Up Appearances" was a 1990's British sitcom starring Patricia Routledge as Hyacinth Bucket (which she insisted on pronouncing "Bouquet"), a lunatic housewife from hell and social climber who commandeered her husband, family, neighbors and friends into unwilling participation in her ultimate quest for middle-class snobbery.

Set in Southwest London, this weekly half-hour comedy might have been a laugh a minute for English viewers but her frenetic search for a trivial and meaningless social pedestal made America's Lucy Ricardo of 1950's fame look like a Girl Scout in comparison.

At least "Keeping Up Appearances" held more entertainment value for many Americans than the British sitcom "Are You Being Served?". In that farcical sitcom, store clerks and management of a London clothing store served absolutely no one because they were too busy putting on preposterously stupid theatrical shows and skits. Now that's more like "I Love Lucy".