Growing up in England (having been born there in the first place) my TV options were limited. As a child I could either watch The A-Team and Knight Rider or that epitome of British TV, Hi De Hi (a depressing soap about a low-cost holiday camp). There were a handful of British TV gems, but those were few and far between. Even in my adolescent years, about the only TV show I can remember enjoying was The X-Files (this has nothing to do with Gillian Anderson honest guv...).

Fast forward to the last few years, and one can see that British TV has improved immeasurably. Shows like Hustle, The Office, and Top Gear are well-written, entertaining and captivating (I'm defining captivating as 'making me ignore my laptop for the duration of the show').

So what does American TV currently have to offer the British viewer, and is it still better? Is it 'Genius'?

For the purposes of comparison, I'm going to pick my three personal favourite American shows: Heroes, Lost, and Entourage.

Let's start with Heroes. It's incredibly popular, every office I've worked in since Heroes started airing has had regular informal group discussions on the latest episode. Heroes has replaced Eastenders as the office TV discussion topic of choice. The only UK show to get as much office talk-time as Heroes is Top Gear, but whereas Top Gear is mainly popular with the male demographic, Heroes is popular with both sexes. In my opinion, Heroes has achieved a very nice balance between having engaging and interesting plots to keep existing viewers coming back and being 'glossy' enough to tempt casual and new viewers. The central premise of Heroes – ordinary people who discover their own extraordinary powers – is one which appeals to almost every little boy's and girl's imagination and that's got to be a winner.

Lost is also a great series. My countrymen (and women) agree, voting it Best American Import at the 2005 BAFTAs. I missed large chunks of Season 1 which I still haven't caught up with properly yet, but from the moment I started watching the show, the complexity, mythology, obscure references, and sinuously twisting plots appealed to my inner geek. However. Whilst my inner geek is intrigued, my outer cynic is wondering if the main story is becoming a bit too farfetched. I do believe that the show is genius, and to date the writers seem to have done a good job of creating complex and interesting plots and subplots without letting the viewer lose the overall narrative, but the possibility for a slide is getting ever larger. The show has some very good eye candy too – for boys and girls. The Jack Vs. Sawyer debate still rages amongst female friends (and a few male ones), whilst I face a tough choice between Kate and Juliette. In short, yes I believe Lost is 'genius' but whether it will continue to be throughout the remainder of Season 4 and through the remaining three full seasons is anyone's guess.