So I'm never sure when recommending something to a non-American if they are already familiar with something or not.

Much appreciated, really. While I had situations in the past when it crossed the line of condescension[1], it's usually for the best to add some explanation. Poland got a good chunk of both American and British programs, and truth be told I prefer most of it over local productions that seem to strive to imitate it (news reporters try to add something witty at the end of transmission since about 2012, among other gimmicks[2]) that only makes it more jarring. Plus Polish TV sometimes will buy a licence for a series and basically remake it locally with little changes. Or imitate parts of it. Let's simply say that I can see a lot of that clueless "wanna fit with the cool kids" mindset in local TV that makes me sick. It does not apply exclusively to TV by the way.

For future reference, I appreciate some context or explanation, but the odds are good that if it's from USA/UK and fairly prominent, I will know at least about it if not the thing proper. After all, why should I settle for an imitation when I can watch BBC or ComedyCentral and actually pass that as language practice :)

[1] - I once had a person explaining to me who was Ronald Regan. I mean, come on. It would be like linking you Winston Churchill with added explanation "that Brit who wasn't particularly fond of Hitler". :P

[2] - By the way, Polish is the worst language for puns as far as I know. It's not that wordplay is impossible, but when this list contains about 80% of our homophones and homonyms don't look any better. Suffices to say that there is no way to make one with even an iota of sense 99% of the time.