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Sitcoms

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  • I watched one episode of car share and didn't laugh once. Never really been a big Peter Kay fan but maybe should give it another go.
  • Talal said:

    I watched one episode of car share and didn't laugh once. Never really been a big Peter Kay fan but maybe should give it another go.

    Peter Kaye can make me laugh just by raising one eyebrow.


  • The scene where Del tricks Rodney into being in the faulty lift so that he can finally get Rodney to talk about his and Cassandra's baby that died in childbirth.

    Or when Grandad's funeral is taking place, literally days after the original actor had died in real life. And Del mistakes the vicar's hat to be Grandads!

    With Only Fools and Horses you could be laughing one minute and crying the next. It's simply genius.
  • Fiiish said:

    In no particular order...

    Blackadder
    Only Fools and Horses
    Phoenix Nights
    That Peter Kay Thing
    Car Share
    One Foot in the Grave
    Father Ted
    The IT Crowd
    Yes (Prime) Minister
    Fawlty Towers
    I'm Alan Partridge
    Men Behaving Badly
    The Young Ones
    Red Dwarf
    The League of Gentlemen
    The Office
    Bottom
    The Thin Blue Line
    The Inbetweeners
    Peep Show
    Spaced
    Extras
    Cuckoo
    Green Wing
    The Thick of It

    Great British sitcoms past and present. Some haven't aged as well as others but all great in their time. By no means exhaustive. I know it's not everyone's cup of tea but People Just Do Nothing is brilliant.

    kurupt fm are doing the 4-7 slot on radio 1 extra today.
  • Chabuddy G is one of my favorite comedy characters of the last few years.
  • rananegra said:

    For me, what makes a sitcom is you end up caring about the characters, which is part of why The Office doesn't make my list but Porridge, OFAH, Red Dwarf, Blackadder, Desmonds, Yes Minister, Black Books do. I think Car Share has been my favourite recent one, along with Detectorists. Small casts but good actors and scripts and both fairly gentle. For all those we remember, there are some truly awful sitcoms long forgotten - weren't there about 3 separate spin offs from Bless This House? The days of everyone in the family watching the same thing on one of the 2 channels you could pick up on your aerial are long gone.

    There's probably loads I've forgotten. I don't think sitcoms can work on BBC1/ITV1 anymore because you don't have time to build that relationship that makes you care.

    Mind you, I'm probably considered weird on here as I don't hate Miranda, I'm not really bothered.

    Like you I don't hate Miranda. Didn't find it very funny either mind. It was very old fashioned, almost Some Mothers Do Have Them silly.

    I caught up with Detectorists quite late but loved it. Very understated but as you say charecters you can care about. Third series in production at the moment.

    Car share is very very good and at it's best when it just them in a car. brilliant writing to carry that off but Kay is a genius. Pheonix nights is great too.
    This is how I see Peter Kay at his best, his facial expressions alone make him a cracking comedy actor. Detectorists is wonderful, Lance is a superb character.

    It helps with Peter Kay that he writes nearly everything he's appeared in so can really bring characters like Brian Potter, Max and John from car share to life how he intended

    Ricky Gervais does it well in the office, extras and Derek but I've not been overly enamoured with his acting in everything else he's done. Probably for the same reason as Peter Kay
  • Carter said:

    rananegra said:

    For me, what makes a sitcom is you end up caring about the characters, which is part of why The Office doesn't make my list but Porridge, OFAH, Red Dwarf, Blackadder, Desmonds, Yes Minister, Black Books do. I think Car Share has been my favourite recent one, along with Detectorists. Small casts but good actors and scripts and both fairly gentle. For all those we remember, there are some truly awful sitcoms long forgotten - weren't there about 3 separate spin offs from Bless This House? The days of everyone in the family watching the same thing on one of the 2 channels you could pick up on your aerial are long gone.

    There's probably loads I've forgotten. I don't think sitcoms can work on BBC1/ITV1 anymore because you don't have time to build that relationship that makes you care.

    Mind you, I'm probably considered weird on here as I don't hate Miranda, I'm not really bothered.

    Like you I don't hate Miranda. Didn't find it very funny either mind. It was very old fashioned, almost Some Mothers Do Have Them silly.

    I caught up with Detectorists quite late but loved it. Very understated but as you say charecters you can care about. Third series in production at the moment.

    Car share is very very good and at it's best when it just them in a car. brilliant writing to carry that off but Kay is a genius. Pheonix nights is great too.
    This is how I see Peter Kay at his best, his facial expressions alone make him a cracking comedy actor. Detectorists is wonderful, Lance is a superb character.

    It helps with Peter Kay that he writes nearly everything he's appeared in so can really bring characters like Brian Potter, Max and John from car share to life how he intended

    Ricky Gervais does it well in the office, extras and Derek but I've not been overly enamoured with his acting in everything else he's done. Probably for the same reason as Peter Kay
    You forget two of Kay's best characters...Keith Lard and Mr Softee Top!
  • Does anyone have any insight into how the laughter tracks worked on OFAH? I can't find too much online. I'm pretty sure there's not much canned laughter on there, but can't tell if it's a studio audience or if the audience is watching a screening of the episode.
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  • edited August 2017
    JiMMy 85 said:

    Does anyone have any insight into how the laughter tracks worked on OFAH? I can't find too much online. I'm pretty sure there's not much canned laughter on there, but can't tell if it's a studio audience or if the audience is watching a screening of the episode.

    Live audience for internal scenes and canned for others. It is noticeably missing in many episodes (hull and back and Miami twice) which is eerie. Always wondered why they didn't put canned over them.
  • When Trigger hit his head on a mind your head sign. Uncle Albert said didn't you see it & Trigger replied of course I did but I couldn't read at the time.
  • edited September 2017
    Surprised to see no mention of Outnumbered. Certainly one I could relate to. It was written by a parent at my boys' school (Guy Jenkin, a Palace fan regrettably!).
    And Karen was played by a pupil in Lucas's year.

    One of the few 'middle class' life sitcoms that worked.

  • Loads of good ones.
    Detectorists was absolutely my cup of tea, and I even found myself standing and applauding (in the room on my own) the Christmas special.
    Not a belly laugh series, but inventive and sincere with very good characters, and for a city kid it was great to see a sitcom set in the country.
    Surprised no mention of Citizen Smith, perhaps a bit old now, but a good forerunner for quite a lot of shows.
  • edited September 2017
    Honourable mention for Man About The House from years gone by and more recently Not Going Out (lee Mack is a genius)

    As for OFAH we were just talking about it yesterday and a recently shown episode where Uncle Albert mixed up the coffee and gravy at the meal for Raquels parents
  • Has anyone else seen Upstart Crow?
    It's Ben Elton's sitcom about Shakespeare, starring David Mitchell.
    I'd never heard of it, then saw it while on a flight last Christmas. I've watched all six episodes now on other flights (never seen it elsewhere!)
    It's pretty good in places and cleverly written, but has occasional duff moments.
    The worst thing about it is the character Kempe, who for some reason is portrayed (by comedian Spencer Jones) as an impression of David Brent.
    Is this show something of an unknown as I've not seen any references to it or reviews anywhere?
  • Should have ended with the watch. Up to that point, it was consistently the funniest thing ever screened on British TV.

    I'm sure they meant to end it there but got persuaded against their better judgement to squeeze out a few more episodes.
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  • A lot of British one listed, a few US one should get a mention

    Scrubs
    Always sunny in Philadelphia
    Seinfeld
    Parks and Recreation
    Community
  • Coupling, it`s worth watching just for Jeff`s slant on situations.
  • I don't think Tim Vine's latest effort will get into the top ten.
    Personally I would put Porridge at number one. I preferred OFAH when it was half hour episodes.
  • Has anyone else seen Upstart Crow?
    It's Ben Elton's sitcom about Shakespeare, starring David Mitchell.
    I'd never heard of it, then saw it while on a flight last Christmas. I've watched all six episodes now on other flights (never seen it elsewhere!)
    It's pretty good in places and cleverly written, but has occasional duff moments.
    The worst thing about it is the character Kempe, who for some reason is portrayed (by comedian Spencer Jones) as an impression of David Brent.
    Is this show something of an unknown as I've not seen any references to it or reviews anywhere?

    So, nobody's seen this then?
    I didn't imagine it. Honest.
  • edited September 2017

    Has anyone else seen Upstart Crow?
    It's Ben Elton's sitcom about Shakespeare, starring David Mitchell.
    I'd never heard of it, then saw it while on a flight last Christmas. I've watched all six episodes now on other flights (never seen it elsewhere!)
    It's pretty good in places and cleverly written, but has occasional duff moments.
    The worst thing about it is the character Kempe, who for some reason is portrayed (by comedian Spencer Jones) as an impression of David Brent.
    Is this show something of an unknown as I've not seen any references to it or reviews anywhere?

    So, nobody's seen this then?
    I didn't imagine it. Honest.
    Yep. I've seen it and quite liked it too. The David Brent parady was just...weird...and didn't add anything to it in my view. Tbh he's not to everyone's taste but I just find David Mitchell funny. I've been told I share a lot of similar character traits to him by someone who knows us both. Not sure I should be flattered but I'll take it...
  • Not until you read through the thread that you realise just how many excellent series there's been.

    Keep reading new posts thinking oh yeah and that, and that, and that one
  • bobmunro said:

    Some of the funniest ever TV comedy moments are on OFAH - classic British comedy but I can't imagine it would go down well abroad - for a start how would you translate 'luvley jubbly' or 'plonker'?

    Brilliant acting as well.

    But for me Blackadder 2, 3 and 4 beat it.

    We was in Corfu a few years back and was chatting to the barman and it got around to comedy and we suggested he look up OFAH on you tube , with that he turned around and produced the complete boxset from under the bar , said he loved it .
  • Detectorists has been my favourite of recent years - Toby Jones is superb.

    Was just going to post the same , a 3rd series to come .
  • A couple that I enjoyed that haven't had a mention

    Spaced
    Plebs
  • fadgadget said:

    Detectorists has been my favourite of recent years - Toby Jones is superb.

    Was just going to post the same , a 3rd series to come .
    I'm glad people are appreciating this comedy, I flagged it up on here years ago.

    http://forum.charltonlife.com/discussion/64886/dectectorists#latest
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