Poll: British Sitcoms vs American Sitcoms
- Thread starter JWRosser
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I find I prefer British sitcoms better, though that isn't to say there aren't any good American ones.
Wow, I was going to say this exact same thing.kaieth said:
Britain has the edge in terms of sketch comedy or unscripted comedy (Monty Python, QI, Mock the Week etc), but Arrested Development is the single greatest sit-com of all time, hands down. Seinfeld, meanwhile, invented the concept of a sit-com being about petty assholes doing hilariously petty things, which pretty much every sit-com since has copied. These two together are enough to win the prize.
I would also like to give some love to 30 Rock, which is the only really good American sit-com still on the air.
I'm not a fan of sitcoms at all. They typically grate on my nerves constantly until I have to do something else more fun, like beat my head against a wall. I prefer more satirical and unexpected comedy (South Park, Futurama, Gurren Lagann, Lewis Black, Dave Attel, some others)
Big Bang Theory in particular annoys me. All my relatives say I should watch it (because I'm a physicist) but I just find every single character annoying and none of the situations interesting. I couldn't stand to watch more than a couple episodes.
Big Bang Theory in particular annoys me. All my relatives say I should watch it (because I'm a physicist) but I just find every single character annoying and none of the situations interesting. I couldn't stand to watch more than a couple episodes.
Totally agree with this. There is some fundamental sitcoms that stand the test of time above all others. Fawlty Towers may be politically incorrect, slightly racist in the odd episode but it was a different world back then and I personally find it all very funny regardless. You really have to be incredibly stupidly sensitive to be rocked by some of the one liners in that.octafish said:
I'm tempted to lean towards a lot of US sitcoms as of late, such as Frasier (an all time favourite) Everyone Loves Raymond but I don't really find Two and a half men all that funny regardless of how many episodes I've tried. It seems to be too similar to Friends, using the relationship routine as a comedy supply bucket, something I've not really found funny...just more awkward and too much of a reminder of past relationships.
On the Brit side of things, I did like Goodnight Sweetheart now and again for it's time-travel aspects and blitz-set London. Never really got into Monty Python series beyond the movies really and my folks here watch enough of The Good Life as of late to make me sick of it nowadays.
Saying this however, just about any sitcom will beat any over-dramatic/emotional/shouty/miserable soap opera into a bloody pulp as when I watch something on TV, I'd prefer to be entertained instead of grimacing at horrendous acting and storylines so shallow you couldn't even drown yourself in them
I have to say that most american versions of english sitcoms where they decide to change random stuff because "it doesn't translate well" makes me want to build a time machine, go back in time and shoot all the in-any-way competent leaders of the american revolution just to protect future generations from the horror
The bottom line is that most sitcoms suck regardless of country of origin. Some are reasonably entertaining. And only a handful are truly funny.
My all time favorite sitcom is "Married with children".
And the only British show I can even sit through is "Are you being served".
My all time favorite sitcom is "Married with children".
And the only British show I can even sit through is "Are you being served".
To be fair, British Television, full stop, has an advantage due to the mere existence of Charlie Brooker. British game shows are boring, American Games shows are stupid. British Reality TV is just like American reality TV, only 1 year ahead of schedule. News programs are on about the same level, so no reason to compare. Newer children's programming in the US is cheap, and usually done in Adobe Flash to save time (save for a handful of shows that actually care about what they're teaching kids). Britain, on the other hand, can put out shows that are annoying as all hell. Please, go back to stop motion. Knock it off with all the guys in bulky costumes dancing around in front of green screens.
Back to sitcoms, though.
Overall, I think the American sitcoms, past the 90's, are basically like mild flavored.
Bland, stupid, humor. Easy to digest stories that don't take many risks, and only seem to offend thinking people.
When you get right down to it, Family Guy is one of these shows.
It does nothing to challenge it's target audience, and makes sure that it's references connect with said group. The jokes are very simple, any idiot could understand them, and the political humor is about as subtle as a newspaper comic. But, since it's sound investment, fox will push this show to the moon. And that's, generally, the state of comedy in the world today.
Back to sitcoms, though.
Overall, I think the American sitcoms, past the 90's, are basically like mild flavored.
Bland, stupid, humor. Easy to digest stories that don't take many risks, and only seem to offend thinking people.
When you get right down to it, Family Guy is one of these shows.
It does nothing to challenge it's target audience, and makes sure that it's references connect with said group. The jokes are very simple, any idiot could understand them, and the political humor is about as subtle as a newspaper comic. But, since it's sound investment, fox will push this show to the moon. And that's, generally, the state of comedy in the world today.
No Vs. Threads guys!
Anyway, OT: It's a trivial thing to argue about anyway. Everywhere has different shows that are awesome. Recently, America came at me with Modern Family and I've practically been pissing my pants with every episode, and Britian, of course has this:
And then, out of nowhere, us Aussies had a crack at a comedy show back in the '90s and this was the result.
I know it's not really a sitcom, but damnit, it's funny!
Anyway, OT: It's a trivial thing to argue about anyway. Everywhere has different shows that are awesome. Recently, America came at me with Modern Family and I've practically been pissing my pants with every episode, and Britian, of course has this:
And then, out of nowhere, us Aussies had a crack at a comedy show back in the '90s and this was the result.
As much as I like Brooker, British television in general is frustratingly awful. The BBC, despite taking all our money, are useless when it comes to making actual shows. Occaisonaly they get lucky with gems such as The Deep and the modern adaptaion of Sherlock Holmes, but normally it's just 'hey lets make more Doctor Who/Spooks/Ricky Gervais' banal tripe'SadakoMoose said:
It's so dissapointing where you read through a TV guide and it's great US shows like The Wire, Firefly, Heroes, V, Family Guy, Scrubs, South Park etc. They're great to watch but why the hell do we get the likes of Simon Cowell doing his bit to rape the creative arse of the country?
/rant
It's apples and oranges really. Both are engineered to appeal to their target demographics. If I had to choose though, I'd vote British simply for Spaced and Mitchell & Webb.
Also, this thread is the perfect oppurtunity to ask brits what they think of Mitchell & Webb because, since I found them, I've been watching their stuff almost non-stop on YouTube.
Also, this thread is the perfect oppurtunity to ask brits what they think of Mitchell & Webb because, since I found them, I've been watching their stuff almost non-stop on YouTube.
Mitchell and Webb are my current favourites in comedy. Their sketch show is amazing, Peep Show was just so good I still don't think it actually existed, just a pleasant dream.Dirty Apple said:
I was going to say that I like British Sitcoms better than American ones, me being British and all it was important that I not let the side down. Besides, we had Red Dwarf, Peep Show and the work of Graham Linehan
But then I remembered that America gave us Arrested Development, the most well written comedy I've ever seen.
Plus I think America has better TV shows in general. British TV tends to be so much 'Pretentious Grit - volume five' for my tastes. Recently I've noticed more British TV shows slathering the camera lens in what looks like liquid cigarette smoke to make things look more 'real.' By real, we of course mean depressing - it's like the writers are telling us 'this is how reality works, damnit!' it's pretentious at best and downright insulting at worst.
Plus us Brits have to look at Simon Cowell's ugly mush way more than you Americans do. You should be thankful.
Really American shows on the whole tend to have a lot more colour and imagination to them. I say on the whole, because I can think of a couple of examples of good TV from both sides of the pond.
I guess my answer is - it depends what you're into.
Normally this is where I'd put in a joke but it's 3AM and I'm quite tired, so just laugh at something funny on the internet and then attribute it to me. Matt out.
But then I remembered that America gave us Arrested Development, the most well written comedy I've ever seen.
Plus I think America has better TV shows in general. British TV tends to be so much 'Pretentious Grit - volume five' for my tastes. Recently I've noticed more British TV shows slathering the camera lens in what looks like liquid cigarette smoke to make things look more 'real.' By real, we of course mean depressing - it's like the writers are telling us 'this is how reality works, damnit!' it's pretentious at best and downright insulting at worst.
Plus us Brits have to look at Simon Cowell's ugly mush way more than you Americans do. You should be thankful.
Really American shows on the whole tend to have a lot more colour and imagination to them. I say on the whole, because I can think of a couple of examples of good TV from both sides of the pond.
I guess my answer is - it depends what you're into.
Normally this is where I'd put in a joke but it's 3AM and I'm quite tired, so just laugh at something funny on the internet and then attribute it to me. Matt out.