British sitcoms. Whats your view?

[MaxPhantom]

I have to disagree with the idea that the British sitcom is dead, I am also surprised there has been no mention of the fantastic I'm Alan Partridge or the thick of it. There are also a few hidden gems like ideal and nighty night. You could push the sitcom genres to stuff like garth marenghi darkplace and the mighty boosh as well. At the end of the day, its a matter of taste. I am not a massive fan of the 80's "insert laughter track to tell me its funny" sort of stuff, and i would agree a lot has taken on a darker edge. A lot have also stolen from the likes of Seinfeld and curb your enthusiasm, both excellent example of comedy. but while we have the likes of armando iannucci and steve coogan working in TV we have some interesting comedy to look out for.

 

[kurupt87]

A general rule of thumb; if it's on BBC or ITV it's bad while if it is on C4 it is good.

 

[Samwise137]

My Family, particularly seasons 1-4 is, in my opinion, the single best sitcom on the air. Consistently funny, classic comedy. British sitcoms are enormously better than American.

 

[DanielBrown]

I liked Absolutely Fabulous, though the last two seasons got pretty dull. Apart from that I can't say I'm a big fan of English sit-coms. There's just too much added laugher, and it's often way too high. Haven't seen that many though so my opinions are probably wrong.

American sitcoms suffer from this aswell, though, but not to the extremity of the British ones.

 

[somonels]

British > plebbish.

 

[andrew_bhafc]

Red Dwarf
Bottom
The young ones
Men Behaving badly
Blackadder goes forth

These are all good

As for modern ones? well we wont go there

 

[Mr.White]

I tend to prefer British sit coms as they are a bit wittier than the american ones, or a bit more distasteful, whilst the americans comedies (to me) feel a bit too... childish? I don't know really how to explain it.
My best example would be Scrubs, JD's daydreaming being the example, but thats just my opinion, but thats not to say that all American sit coms are like that.

I also find Britcoms to be more... witty, again, just my opinion.

Personally i love the IT crowd, Father Ted and One foor in the grave.

Slightly off topic, i find that some american comedians sometimes shout what they are saying, then people laugh, but i don't really find it funny, it might just be me, but hey.

 

[SilverIntoSteel]

Currently, only Peep Show really gets me watching. I couldn't care less about Inbetweeners and what have you.

Having said that, I used to love some American sitcoms, Seinfeld and Frasier particularly, but the new crop of stuff coming out is bloody awful. How I Met Your Mother and especially Big Bang Theory make me envy the blind.

 

[Outright Villainy]

The only sitcoms I like are British ones. I don't think I've seen a single american sit com I liked, now that I think of it.

Anyway, the I.T. crowd and peep show seem to be the only currently running ones I really like.

Having said that, I used to love some American sitcoms, Seinfeld and Frasier particularly, but the new crop of stuff coming out is bloody awful. How I Met Your Mother and especially Big Bang Theory make me envy the blind.

Oh yeah, I forgot about Frasier! Yeah, that was great whenever I saw it.

And I agree, sweet jesus the Big bang theory is awful. My housemate is huge into How I met your mother, but I haven't watched it at all. I think about 5 minutes of one show was enough to put me off forever.

 

[sinsfire]

I am surprised no one has mentioned "coupling". In terms of timing I don't know if it was an inspiration for friends or a British take on it. Coupling ran for four seasons and at least 3 of them were excellent. You can stream this on Netflix and I highly recommend it.

Please beware there was an attempt to do an American remake that was awful so make sure you stick with the British version

 

[Vitor Goncalves]

I agree with the people who say good British sitcom died in the early 90's, but then I think of it and I think good sitcoms all died in the early 90's (at leats the ones from countries I know, UK, US, France, Portugal, Brazil) with few exceptions. Probably because there is too many and trying more to profit large sums instead of being of good quality.

 

[Dumbfish1]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that, from my experience, most British comedy is better than most American comedy. The only good American comedy t.v. show I can think of at the moment is fraiser, scrubs and friends (But even that is more of a drama).

Whereas for the British, I can reel of lots. I'm sure there are plenty of great American shows, it's just that living in England myself, I never get to see them. I do find America makes much better dramas though, (The Wire, Lost, Heroes, Firefly, ect.)

 

[Zykon TheLich]

Well, it's been a while since I watched anything much on TV so it would be a bit unfair of me to say I think all the recent stuff is rubbish since I've seen very little of anything.

I will say the same thing for TV sitcoms as I do about music, look back at the classics and there are a few that stand out from every decade and a lot of shit that's forgotten.

Although I've not seen much of them myself the general consensus is that we've had some good stuff recently: Peep Show (how many series was it? 7? That's British record right there I'm sure [Red Dwarf doesn't exist past 6]). The IT crowd, The Green Room, The office, I Deal, The Thick of It. You could maybe put Shameless in that category but it's more of a comedy drama I suppose. I hate The Mighty Boosh though, hate it waith a passion.

EDIT: Can't believe I forgot Spaced.

As for American stuff...IDK, I quite liked a couple of the characters on scrubs. Other than that the only US shows I've occasionally watched are the animated ones.

As for which is better? I prefer British sitcoms but then they are culturally relevant to me, I couldn't really judge which is better from an objective viewpoint.

 

[Red Right Hand]

Father Ted

Dangerous territory saying that one! As much as it would be great to take credit for the genius that is Father Ted, that's an Irish show, not British.

EDIT: Forget I said anything about Father Ted being British.

Also, to those people who say British sitcoms died out in the early 90s, what sitcoms have you been watching? We've had shows like The Office, Spaced, Father Ted, Peep Show, Extras, IT Crowd, Green Wing, I'm Alan Partridge and Still Game. Plus many others.

Granted, there have been some really shit shows but that doesn't warrant saying that British sitcoms have died.

EDIT 2: ARGHH, can't believe I forgot Snuff Box. It's actually my favourite out of all of those I mentioned.

 

[SconnieHack]

I'd have to go along with the crowd for the most part, but touting a british comedy series just because its british is the height of precocious trendiness and those people should be beaten with a garden hose.

 

[TheRightToArmBears]

Oh, British stuff is way better than American stuff. We've got, out of recent things off the top of my head, Not Going Out, Misfits (that's a bit drama-ey, but it's damn funny), The Inbetweeners and The Peep Show.

 

[Tipsy Giant]

Peep Show
Inbetweeners
Royle Family
Green Wing
episodes
extras
idiot abroad
ricky gervais show
keith lemons world tour

all great british comedies, watch any you have missed for a right treat

EDIT: oh and...

Bo' Selecta
Father Ted
Trigger Happy TV
Monkey Dust
Da Ali G Show
Turning Japenese with Justin Lee Collins
Smack The Poney
IT Crowd
Garth Marenghi's Darkplace
Man to Man with Dean Learner
The Office
Spaced
Red Dwarf
2 pints of larger & a packet of crisps
Screenwipe
Newswipe
Gameswipe

There are lots more but i'm drawing a blank

 

[SilverIntoSteel]

I'd not thought of An Idiot Abroad as a comedy show as such since it's technically a travel show. But yes, anyone who has not seen it should really endeavour to watch it. It's brilliant.