British sitcoms. Whats your view?
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I love British sitcoms, things like Blackadder, Spaced, Fawlty Towers, The IT Crowd, Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, The Office, Extras and Black Books.
Some great stuff with incredibly funny and recognizable comedians. Plus, the last decade has seen an increase in British TV being translated for an American audience, so I find it odd for Americans not to like British TV, as if they don't understand that, right now at least, it's the root of some of our best television. Hell, House MD- on of the best shows on right now would be nothing without Hugh Laurie and his success in things like Blackadder and A Bit of Fry and Laurie.
Some great stuff with incredibly funny and recognizable comedians. Plus, the last decade has seen an increase in British TV being translated for an American audience, so I find it odd for Americans not to like British TV, as if they don't understand that, right now at least, it's the root of some of our best television. Hell, House MD- on of the best shows on right now would be nothing without Hugh Laurie and his success in things like Blackadder and A Bit of Fry and Laurie.
Peep Show and the Inbetweeners are fantastic. Sitcoms with John Cleese are generally good but they stopped making those a long time ago. I prefer British sitcoms to American ones because generally American sitcoms last for way too long and completely lose all humour after the first season. Two and a Half Men, for instance. It has its very rare funny moments, but it's not worth watching anymore because it's just stretched out too much with the humour spread very thinly.
I don't think I've ever seen a British sitcom I didn't like... That I can remember
They do have a major problem though, what the hell, is with only 6 episodes a season?!?! What, the, hell? make it 20-22! Black Books only had 18 episodes, true, they were all excellent, but seriously, they work for 6 weeks straight and need a years holiday? A YEARS holiday? In America the adoption of 10+10 is fine, they could easily work for another 4 weeks, then break, then work again.
Red Dwarf
Black Books
IT Crowd
Black Adder (haven't seen it all)
Spaced (never seen an episode, but I know it'll be good)
Coupling (a bit girly maybe, but, it had good comedy)
I love TopGear as well, but A. I'm a car enthusiast, and B. Plenty of non-car enthusiasts like it for the comedy alone, but it's still not a sitcom, so I can't count it (or is it at times? eg. the challenges?).
They do have a major problem though, what the hell, is with only 6 episodes a season?!?! What, the, hell? make it 20-22! Black Books only had 18 episodes, true, they were all excellent, but seriously, they work for 6 weeks straight and need a years holiday? A YEARS holiday? In America the adoption of 10+10 is fine, they could easily work for another 4 weeks, then break, then work again.
Red Dwarf
Black Books
IT Crowd
Black Adder (haven't seen it all)
Spaced (never seen an episode, but I know it'll be good)
Coupling (a bit girly maybe, but, it had good comedy)
I love TopGear as well, but A. I'm a car enthusiast, and B. Plenty of non-car enthusiasts like it for the comedy alone, but it's still not a sitcom, so I can't count it (or is it at times? eg. the challenges?).
(making this one work better hopefully)
there is a trouble with making one season with 20 is thats there will likely only be 1 season. take fawlty towers as an example. every single episode needed to be as funny or funnier than the last so John Cleese stopped after 12 episodes because he knew that he could not top what he had done. Also Morcambe and Wise were hetting worried because their shows had to be as funny or funnier than the last.Conor Wainer said:
Fawlty Towers, Bottom and Spaced are personal favorites. All brilliant and works of genius. Mr. Bean is also good and Blackadder goes forth (for some reason I could never get into the others). There's others I like too but thats just to name a few.
A few American ones I like that I'd probably need to erect a flame shield before admitting too so I'll save myself.
As a rule though, I do think us brits have the better sit-coms.
A few American ones I like that I'd probably need to erect a flame shield before admitting too so I'll save myself.
As a rule though, I do think us brits have the better sit-coms.
As much as I understand the arguement, I don't think it's really justified. I think all series should be ~20 episodes long, for almost all shows. Look at Friends, it was a good comedy show, it must've had ~200 odd episodes, which is better for the show overall, as you get more show, even if more doesn't always give you more comedy.cutecuddely said:
I think the british television industry should rethink its 6 episode per series strategy, I mean look at TopGear, it has a ridiculous amount of seasons, 16, in only 9 years. If it were 18, and they did 10 episodes a season, that'd be a different story (the same as American shows, only half and half).
I generally prefer britcoms because their shorter format means only the best jokes and sharpest comedy can make it in, leading to generally a higher quality of writing. I'd also agree with the early 90's view, except that I think Men Behaving Badly is funny as hell too.
For me britcoms didn't really start to suck until The Office came out. Apart from the IT CROWD and Garth Merenghi, british comedy today mostly seems to be triying to get laughs out of throwing characters into increasingly awkward positions, which gets repetitive and dull pretty quick.
Quiz shows like QI are good though, combining education with off the cuff conversational comedy.
For me britcoms didn't really start to suck until The Office came out. Apart from the IT CROWD and Garth Merenghi, british comedy today mostly seems to be triying to get laughs out of throwing characters into increasingly awkward positions, which gets repetitive and dull pretty quick.
Quiz shows like QI are good though, combining education with off the cuff conversational comedy.
I don't sort through enough to really be qualified to pass judgment. However, if anyone here can sit through a single episode of Peep Show without dying of laughter at some point, I automatically deem you unfit of human status.
I see what you are getting at like some shows can go on for neigh on 200 episodes and that some could be a bit longer like QI or any other things but the thing is with comedy programs is moderation and gettint better or staying as funny as the last one. if a comedy show which lasts for 20 episodes a series and after series 1 the BBC wanted another its going to be very difficult for the writers to come up with new stuff and using the Mentalist as an example the first series was fantastic but in series 2 it got worse and because series 1 was about 20 episodes and they then had to write another 20 episodes for series 2 and they had not got that many ideas left. (i probably have reiterated what i said earlier but i think in different terms)Conor Wainer said:
I love Brit comedies.
I dislike US comedies.
Of course there are exceptions, but all-in-all, my sense of humor leans more to the dry/sarcastic/border-line offensive style of British humor.
That being said, I don't watch much tv at all, aside from Animal Planet, Travel Network, et al.
*shrugs*
I dislike US comedies.
Of course there are exceptions, but all-in-all, my sense of humor leans more to the dry/sarcastic/border-line offensive style of British humor.
That being said, I don't watch much tv at all, aside from Animal Planet, Travel Network, et al.
*shrugs*
I'm not familiar with the new stuff cause local TV stations only show Turkish soap operas. Seriously it's a frigging epidemic, you can't even catch a decent movie these last couple of months. I did like the old stuff such as Black Adder, 'Allo 'Allo and especially Red Dwarf.
Conor Wainer said:
Quality > Quantity
Plus, a HUGE reason that networks order more shows per season is because after 100 episodes, they can be sold into syndication.
Not trying to argue your opinion, I'm just saying that I'd rather have fewer really great episodes versus 10 good eps and 10 really awful ones, especially when it comes to series with longer arcs. (Obviously, for the sake of the topic, I mean comedies. Series like Mad Men and The Walking Dead do JUST FINE with short seasons, too.)