Oooo, cut it out .....The glut of forensic pathology based TV shows

Channel surf any night of the week.... I'm pretty sure you are going to come up with a corpse on a slab sooner or later. Grand guignol television is tres popular. We obviously can't get enough of scalpels being inserted into dead flesh. From "Hannibal" to "Da Vinci's Demons", from 1880's "Ripper Street" to 1940's "Murder on the Homefront", the gorier the better. Even the Australians have combined historical drama with gore: the excellent "Doctor Blake Mysteries". A particularly nasty crushed body featured in the latest "Whitechapel".
The Brits do graphic, as well as gritty. "Silent Witness" has been laying them in aisles morgue since 1996. That's a lot of autopsies.
As Kenny Everett would lisp, "All in the best possible taste!".

Is British TV Crime Drama Better than U.S. TV Crime Drama?

Probably.
Throw me any good U.S. show and I'll put up a better U.K. offering (or original). The  U.K. shows I am prattling on about are all free-to-air television (as opposed to HBO and other U.S. cable networks).
Those C.S.I. <insert interesting U.S. city here> series are running out of puff.
You get more bang for your buck with British crime shows, particularly featuring psychos. Take a recent episode of BBC's "Silent Witness" (it started a decade before C.S.I Crapola started). You had a serial killer that made Joe Carroll from "The Following" look like Mr Rogers. All in two (1 hour each) episodes.
Take ITV's "Broadchurch" for superb character development. "Wire in the Blood" for tormented, gifted profilers, long before Will Graham in "Hannibal". "Waking the Dead" also blitzes its U.S. counterparts.
Then you have three more ingredients to add more texture - the British class system, historical locations and eccentric (nutbags?) characters. Take "Midsommer Murders" (please, some wags would say).
Take the Brit's heritage of murder whodunits - Agatha Christie, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, G.K.Chesterton, Ruth Rendell). The Brits do 'gritty' as well as graphic. Take old episodes of "The Bill" - even minor characters were so well cast, the acting so polished. I remember the high quality of 1960's shows like "Z Cars" and "Softly, Softly".

Don't get me wrong, there are a few standout U.S. stars of the genre: I'm sure you can think of others...like "The Sopranos" and "The Wire" (both cable, though).
"Hannibal" is remarkably brave and multi-layered for free-to-air television. "Dexter" (HBO) was groundbreaking, hope the last season goes out with a bang.
Then to add confusion, we have U.K./U.S. co-productions like the delightful "Ripper Street".

New stuff on TV, brief reviews

• Please Like Me Who knew Josh Thomas could act? Bittersweet, endearing, naturally funny. Thomas is a self-deprecating writer/comedian. Well directed, talented cast of old pros and new faces. This show is a winner. ABC 2 Thursday 9:30. It puzzles me why ABC put on double episodes on the first night. Hope it builds an audience. Perhaps ABC 1 will repeat it.
• New Qi Series 11 "J" - why doesn't ABC play the 45 minute (XL) episodes?
• Another ABC grizzle ... bring back Friday Night Dinner! You dropped it after 3 episodes on a Friday night for more Qi repeats. Some are 7 years old! ABC's answer to Big Bang Theory/2 and a Half Men overuse.
• Ripper Street (BBC produced for first 2 seasons) - set 6 months after Jack the Ripper murders. Great characters beautiful art direction. Classy and strangely informative. Update: Series 3, Amazon is now producing. Bigger budget, great characters, intriguing situations, set 4 years later.
• Banshee (FX) a "guilty pleasure" series - Peyton Place meets Billy Jack meets Witness with a sprinkling of Twin Peaks. Silly but fun. Produced by Alan (6 Feet Under, True Blood) Ball. 
• American Horror - Asylum (Eleven) Glee creators /writers but galaxies away .... oh, it does have aliens...and Nazis doctors....and crusading lesbian journalists.....and possessed nuns ....and Jessica Lange doing a 60's dance number ....and the kitchen sink. Stylish direction and buckets of blood. You have been warned. Guilty pleasure No 2. Watch all 13 episodes with the lights off and your brain in Neutral.
• The Following (Nine). Pilot was great. Think Seven/Silence of the Lambs I had to look away once. Kevin Bacon is great. Written by Scream's Kevin Williamson. Beware commercials and late night programming because of gore. Gets a bit repetitive, who is NOT in this serial killer cult, but Episode 6 was a knockout. Stick with it, but I prefer Banshee.
• Elementary (Ten). We have watched 12 episodes and haven't tied of it, quality is consistent. Inventive scripts. I have no time for US rip-offs of UK shows, BUT THIS WORKS. Remember Johnny Lee Miller from Trainspotting? Trivia: both Miller and Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock) played Frankenstein/the Creature in Danny Boyle's stage production last year.They used to swap roles each night.
• Parade's End Nine has bought it because of Benedict Cumberbatch and to get some Downton Abbey like ratings but they will murder it with commercials. Gorgeous to look at, but a trifle slow for Nine viewers. That sounded snobby.... tough.