Red Dwarf is a British comedy franchise which primarily comprises eight series of a television science fiction sitcom that aired on BBC Two between 1988 and 1999 and Dave from 2009–present. It gained cult following. It was created by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, who also wrote the first six series. The show originated from a recurring sketch, Dave Hollins: Space Cadet part of the mid-1980s BBC Radio 4 comedy show Son of Cliché, also scripted by Grant and Naylor. In addition to the television episodes, there are four bestselling novels, two pilot episodes for an American version of the show, a radio version produced for BBC radio 7, tie-in books, magazines and other merchandise.
In 2008, a three-episode production was commissioned by the digital channel Dave. These episodes were screened in April 2009 during the Easter weekend and comprised a three-part story titled Red Dwarf: Back to Earth. Unlike the majority of the original BBC episodes, this mini-series was a comedy drama filmed without a studio audience or an added laugh track.
Despite the pastiche of science fiction used as a backdrop, Red Dwarf is primarily a character-driven comedy, with off-the-wall, often scatological science fiction elements used as complementary plot devices. In the early episodes, a recurring source of comedy was the "Odd Couple"-style relationship between the two central characters of the show, who have an intense dislike for each other and are trapped together deep in space. The main characters are Dave Lister, the last known human alive, and Arnold Rimmer, a hologram of Lister's dead bunkmate. The other regular characters are Cat, a lifeform that evolved from the descendants of Lister's pregnant pet cat, Frankenstein; Holly, Red Dwarf's computer; as of Series III, Kryten, a service mechanoid; and, as of Series VII, Kristine Kochanski, an alternative-reality version of Lister's long-lost love.
One of the series' highest accolades came in 1994, when an episode from the sixth series, "Gunmen of the Apocalypse", won an International Emmy Award in the Popular Arts category, and in the same year the series was also awarded "Best BBC Comedy Series" at the British Comedy Awards. The series attracted its highest ratings, of over eight million viewers, during the eighth series in 1999.
After a number of reports and announcements, it has now been confirmed that Series X, will be full length - consisting of six episodes, recorded in front of a studio audience in November 2011 and air sometime in 2012 again on Dave and also on Dave HD.

It is now showing on OldFashionedTv.org and Streamtuner2 on Linux with the help of VLC.

One of my favorite shows. I have all the series on DVD including the new(2009 new) Red Dwarf: Back To Earth.

Also have the books- Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers and Better Than Life.

I just started watching it as I had never seen it before. I would love to have the shows on DVD. I was watching the episode where Kryten ejected the contents of the garbage compacted in the garbage compactor and blew up an asteroid coming at the ship.

I came across it by accident in the early 90's on PBS, I thought it was a documentary about space from the title haha...5 minutes in I was hooked.

Then in the early 2000's BBC America marathoned all the episodes so I recorded them...then finally the DVDs.

The cast does audio commentaries for all the episodes, and sometimes those are almost as funny as the series.

Sadly the rumored theater released movie never came to be.

You would love Streamtuner2, Torgo. I am watching Barbarella, now on the BMovieDriveIn.com

I'll have to check it out.

I have Barbarella on DVD too

Ohhh...another great scifi comedy series is Quark from the 1970's...it only lasted 9 episodes, way too short lived. It was created by Buck Henry who co-created Get Smart.

For Red Dwarf some of my favorite episodes are focused around Arnold Rimmer...and especially his alter ego Ace Rimmer. A great episode is from Series 6 Rimmerworld- which is a planet populated by Arnold Rimmers.

Some people dislike the later Series(seasons) and though I agree the best is the first 2, I think the entire series run is fantastic.

I have read about Quark but haven't seen it, yet. I watched the episode of Red Dwarf where tribute was done to the holograph. I first thought Kryten was Robin Williams.

Great writeup RainbowTrout

I would advise new viewers to start with series 3 to 5, they were the golden years!

Rimmer and Cat Inquisition - Red Dwarf - BBC comedy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tGO79BtWUI

I take it that the one guy is a vampire?

Oh ok. That is cat. I was trying to figure out who Cat was.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-CG6gCrPYM&feature=related

I couldn't stop laughing at this one of Arnold Rimmer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bi1lArDVwQE&feature=related

Two Daleks talking about Red Dwarf

I love that show, it use to air on our PBS station but it ran its course. Other British shows I liked were Vicar of Dibley, Last of the summer wine, Are you being served, Lark rise to Candleford among others.

Are you talking about Cat? He's the descendent of Dave Lister's cat who was pregnant, and while Lister was in stasis for 3 million years the cat gave birth and the kittens bred and multiplied and they eventually evolved into humanoids.

Start with Season 1 and 2 so you know how everything began.

Oh okay. Yeah. I am intrigued now.

True, but if I was aiming to impress someone new to the series I'd explain the premise and start with the best episodes.