Older vs. Newer - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

peedal · 05-23-2003, 09:37 AM

Do you reckon there is a larger quantity of quality older Britcoms than newer ones? Seems to me that the ones that really make my family laugh (including the younger ones) are the much older ones being repeated.

Example - my 9 year old American-born son who has lived in the UK for all of 8 months cannot stop laughing at Only Fools and Horses and The Good Life. Before we moved, he just refused to go to bed on Saturday evenings until he had seen Are You Being Served? on PBS at 9pm.

My 15 year old, however, will not miss a showing of The Royale Family (or the much more recent My Family, to be fair).

I guess it's kind of like most of the Simpsons episodes - even though there are so many "regional" jokes, the shows are mostly about the human condition and there's tonnes to laugh at about that!

Tourmaline · 05-23-2003, 02:28 PM

I think it pretty much evens out, each decade has its handful of good comedies, two or three exceptionals, plenty of ok-to-good shows and a fair proportion of complete rubbish. Comedies from the 1970s do well as that was the last generation before we had videos, all the good stuff since then has been released on video (or been videotaped off the TV) so it was much more familiar to us from the start.

If you're in a bookshop or library, look for a copy of "The Radio Times Guide To Comedy" - it was published in 1997 so it's a bit out of date now, but you'd be surprised by how many comedies there are listed there that you've never heard of.

Mickey · 05-23-2003, 04:01 PM

You'd be hard put to find that many decent recent... rethinks that sentence to avoid bad rhyming... You'd be hard put to find that many recent sitcoms from Britain that are worth watching though. Or indeed, that were written by people who know what 'funny' means. The Book Group is unmissable, but I don't think I've watched anything else more recent than Dibley or The Thin Blue Line.

I don't know why it is, but British comedy is seriously not funny anymore. But then British drama isn't dramatic anymore, either, so maybe it's just a general bad patch we're going through!

peedal · 05-24-2003, 03:52 PM

I love Vicar of Dibley! And I guess it does even out - coming from America, I can tell you that, with our plethora of channels, there've been more one-of sitcoms than I'm proud to remember!

Like the sitcom called E/R set in an emergency room...NOTHING like the drama ER that's so popular right now. Or Doctor! Doctor! which had Matt Frewer (Max Headroom) in it and was really funny. Or Gene Wilder's called Something Wilder. I could go on and on and on...

But I won't!

We'll have to agree to disagree on The Book Group (which, written by an American, doesn't really count as a Britcom in my eyes!). It was painful watching it - though my husband enjoyed it. (Of course, he likes Sex and the City, too, and I've never even watched a minute of it.) I guess I just didn't find the last series' treatment of a marriage of convenience for a Visa too funny after all I had to do to get here myself...

Still, I'd rather the kids watch The Good Life than most of what's on in the guise of "kid's television" nowadays! Yikes!

Mickey · 05-25-2003, 05:05 AM

The Book Group is supposed to be painful viewing though! I'd forgotten that it was written by an American - good point, not exactly a Britcom. It was the only current one I could think of that's worth watching though!

05-23-2003, 09:37 AM	#1
peedal Member Occasional Poster Join Date: May 23, 2003 Location: Kent, England Posts: 5	Older vs. Newer Do you reckon there is a larger quantity of quality older Britcoms than newer ones? Seems to me that the ones that really make my family laugh (including the younger ones) are the much older ones being repeated. Example - my 9 year old American-born son who has lived in the UK for all of 8 months cannot stop laughing at Only Fools and Horses and The Good Life. Before we moved, he just refused to go to bed on Saturday evenings until he had seen Are You Being Served? on PBS at 9pm. My 15 year old, however, will not miss a showing of The Royale Family (or the much more recent My Family, to be fair). I guess it's kind of like most of the Simpsons episodes - even though there are so many "regional" jokes, the shows are mostly about the human condition and there's tonnes to laugh at about that!

05-23-2003, 02:28 PM	#2
Tourmaline Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Mar 10, 2002 Location: West Midlands, UK Posts: 71	I think it pretty much evens out, each decade has its handful of good comedies, two or three exceptionals, plenty of ok-to-good shows and a fair proportion of complete rubbish. Comedies from the 1970s do well as that was the last generation before we had videos, all the good stuff since then has been released on video (or been videotaped off the TV) so it was much more familiar to us from the start. If you're in a bookshop or library, look for a copy of "The Radio Times Guide To Comedy" - it was published in 1997 so it's a bit out of date now, but you'd be surprised by how many comedies there are listed there that you've never heard of.

05-23-2003, 04:01 PM	#3
Mickey Ranger Forum Regular Join Date: Oct 12, 2002 Location: The UK, and still finding Desi funnier than Lucy Posts: 960	You'd be hard put to find that many decent recent... rethinks that sentence to avoid bad rhyming... You'd be hard put to find that many recent sitcoms from Britain that are worth watching though. Or indeed, that were written by people who know what 'funny' means. The Book Group is unmissable, but I don't think I've watched anything else more recent than Dibley or The Thin Blue Line. I don't know why it is, but British comedy is seriously not funny anymore. But then British drama isn't dramatic anymore, either, so maybe it's just a general bad patch we're going through!

05-24-2003, 03:52 PM	#4
peedal Member Occasional Poster Join Date: May 23, 2003 Location: Kent, England Posts: 5	I love Vicar of Dibley! And I guess it does even out - coming from America, I can tell you that, with our plethora of channels, there've been more one-of sitcoms than I'm proud to remember! Like the sitcom called E/R set in an emergency room...NOTHING like the drama ER that's so popular right now. Or Doctor! Doctor! which had Matt Frewer (Max Headroom) in it and was really funny. Or Gene Wilder's called Something Wilder. I could go on and on and on... But I won't! We'll have to agree to disagree on The Book Group (which, written by an American, doesn't really count as a Britcom in my eyes!). It was painful watching it - though my husband enjoyed it. (Of course, he likes Sex and the City, too, and I've never even watched a minute of it.) I guess I just didn't find the last series' treatment of a marriage of convenience for a Visa too funny after all I had to do to get here myself... Still, I'd rather the kids watch The Good Life than most of what's on in the guise of "kid's television" nowadays! Yikes!

05-25-2003, 05:05 AM	#5
Mickey Ranger Forum Regular Join Date: Oct 12, 2002 Location: The UK, and still finding Desi funnier than Lucy Posts: 960	The Book Group is supposed to be painful viewing though! I'd forgotten that it was written by an American - good point, not exactly a Britcom. It was the only current one I could think of that's worth watching though!