Poll: British Sitcoms vs American Sitcoms

[captaincabbage]

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.

Personally I'd give the edge to Britian because of Stephen Fry, but it's a petty squabble anyway.

 

[Berserker119]

I like American better, but I don't really watch it too much. I prefer explosions by the dozen.

 

[Blue Musician]

I prefer the British sitcoms, but I do not watch many sitcoms actually...

 

[child of lileth]

there's very few American ones I like, but I also only like a few British ones. Then again, I'm unaware of any extremely awful ones in the British side that could surpass how bad some American ones are. So I'll say British is better as a whole to me.

 

[TheTurtleMan]

This poll is instantly biased because the majority of the Escapist users are European and whether you say you're biased or not, you know you'll pick wherever you live just because thats where you see all your tv. I think that American sitcoms are better but thats probably just because I've never seen any Brit shows and we also have a much better variety of shows in all honesty.

 

[DazBurger]

I dont like the American sitcom and stand-up humor... Maybe some of the political satire... But thats mostly because American politicians are easy to make satire on...

I find it... Erhm... Childish and pointless :/

The sitcoms are about awkward situations... All of them... All the time.

And the stand up seems to be, about someone using "bad" words or making funny faces... Srsly? Funny?

 

[Gordon_4_v1legacy]

Well, if you want a genuine wit and a biting satire, look no further than Britain; the crowning examples of the genre (in my opinion) being Yes Minister and Yes Prime Minister.

However, if the Americans know one thing, its a good slapstick. Seriously, any British slapstick outside the Python crew has fell pretty flat, but the Yanks can make the old Pie in the face gag a screamer every time.


Both nations can and have created comedies that will stand the test of time. And both of them have created abominations that are best left forgotten.

 

[Naheal]

American, prefer British humor.

 

[DazBurger]

2 and half men is the most consistently awful show I've ever seen. Like I find that show insultingly bad.

O_O tell me he di...did he just?

Ooh hell no *****!

Episode 1: Intro.

Episode 2: Something awkward happens - Things go bad - Then back to status quo.

Episode 3: Something awkward happens - Things go bad - Then back to status quo.

Episode 4: Something awkward happens - Things go bad - Then back to status quo.

...
...
...
...
...
Episode 56: Something awkward happens - Things go bad - Then back to status quo.


-

I begin to see a pattern...

 

[zxcxczczx]

America gave us Seinfeld and for that, America wins.

Usually every summer I find at least one TV show I love, Scrubs, Arrested Development, That 70s Show, Spaced, Etc. But This summer I found Always Sunny in Philidelphia and Seinfeld.

So America wins.

 

[Eldritch Warlord]

British comedy is better in-general. However, my three favorite comedy series (Seinfeld, The Simpsons, and Futurama) are all American. And if you insist on only discussing sitcoms then my top three of those would be, in order, Seinfeld, The Office (US version), and Blackadder. Also, the American version of Whose Line is it Anyway? is much better than the British version.

So what's more important, quantity (lots of good shows) or quality (the few best shows)?

 

[TheTim]

hmm, Big Bang Theory, King of Queens, How i met your Mother.

America for sure.

 

[jdbuck]

Sit coms come in all shapes and sizes. You have your generic stuff like Friends, My Family, Roseanne and Frasier. Personally i'm surprised no one has mentioned Community. This was a great series! I'm from Britain and watch a a variety of comedy. I own several dvd box sets of sitcoms some US made some US. I dont think you can say who make better stuff as everyone finds different things funny.

 

[tomtom94]

Britain gave the world Red Dwarf, Lab Rats, Krod Mandoon and Peep Show.
America gave the world Friends among others.

They're different styles of humour - America goes for absolute laugh-a-minute, Britain tries to make the good jokes really good., I think.

 

[Mister Eff]

I'm a brit, but I have to vote America. It's a tough one, I love IT Crowd, Peep Show (I fucking love Peep Show)etc but the US has/had Scrubs, Seinfeld, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, How I Met Your Mother, Cheers, 30 Rock, Community etc. No brainer. Plus we have Ricky Gervais' Office which I cannot fucking stand. I hate that man.

 

[Phoenix09215]

Older British sticoms are way better than the American ones, eg. Only Fools and Horses, Men Behaving Badly, Red Dwarf, Father Ted etc. However, Aemrica gave us Friends, Two and a Half Men, The Big Bang Theory so in the modern era of the sitcom, I think America wins. But when it comes to old school, Britain will always win

 

[imnot]

Black book's, Red dwarf, blackadder and Monty Python(kinda).
'nuff said

I love all of those, I always found American ones to be really cheesy and annoying.

 

[Fetzenfisch]

Black book's, Red dwarf, blackadder and Monty Python(kinda).
'nuff said

and IT Crowd. We have a winner!
there are quite a few very good american ones, but i prefer the british humour the most of the time