British Comedies

[Mirror_Image]

Sorry, but being a big "Friends" fan myself, I just have to say that they actually explained this.

They only invented that explanation after a lot of people (mostly real NYC residents) ragged them for being ridiculous regarding the cushy pad and her miniscule paychecks.

[freak_in_cage_10k]

yeah, i LOVED fawlty towers

TGPO- remember the words ""sir, i have a cunning plan"- one day when you buy the blackadder series you ill laugh your ass off!

only fools & horses rules, as did porridge, My Family etc

also, the British are renounded for our sarcasm, which can be VERY funny if correctly used!

[sterno]

Fox: How come The Simpsons give Fox such a slating in their episodes once in a while?
Have Fox not a good reputation or is it just an in-joke?

It's kind of a running gag with Fox comedies, "Married... With Children" did it a lot too. A few years back Fox's broadcast stations were always crappy low-power UHF stations. They started getting better stations when they started showing more of the same kind of generic crap as ABC/NBC/CBS, plus The X Files was getting quite a following after a few seasons. And then they got some more when they won a major sports broadcasting contract (I can't remember which one). Now cable and minidish satellite are more common, and they have a cable-specific channel as well as their broadcast, so the jokes are more likely to be limited to content instead of making fun of their low-power stations (one of the standard Fox jokes on "Married..." was "everybody assume Fox viewing positions", and they'd all stand in certain places and hold wire coathangers and antennas in odd positions).

Yeah I've seen them for sale, but thus far havn't bought them. It makes me wonder though if I can find a R1 DVD of the series.

I've seen Blackadder DVDs in Best Buy, so there are R1 versions. I don't know if any place offers them for rental, though. I think I also saw Fawlty Towers and Mr. Bean collections at Best Buy.

[Craig Tucker]

Don't know if you have got them in the states yet, but new stuff to keep an eye out for. The Office, Pheonix Nights and Bo Selecta.

[Will Hay]

That lived in a trendy NYC apartment that a coffee shop employee could not afford to rent for even a week with their entire month's wages and tips. Even the manager of the coffee shop would not be able to rent that place on their higher salary. Housing in NYC, in fact the entire cost of living in NYC, is outrageous!

Sorry, but being a big "Friends" fan myself, I just have to say that they actually explained this. Monica is subletting the apartment from her grandmother that has it under a controlled rent contract. I can't remember the episode, but I remember the maintiance man saying that in one of them. I think its the one where Joey teaches him to dance. Not sure.

Yeah, I knew this
Still doesn't explain Joey (who wasn't in Days of Our Lives when he moved in) and Chandler (in his little cubicle smoking and spraying air fresh, remember ) or even Ross, Professor or not.
I'm a big fan too, but my point was the show has lost it's sparkle insofar as the character's are aa little less believable, less real now.
Saying that, season 9!
Man, that was the funniest series for a long time!
Will

[Will Hay]

Don't know if you have got them in the states yet, but new stuff to keep an eye out for. The Office, Pheonix Nights and Bo Selecta.

Oh man

First rate stuff, first rate, all of it.
Second series of each are superb, and the first is brilliant
Will

[Will Hay]

Yeah I've seen them for sale, but thus far havn't bought them. It makes me wonder though if I can find a R1 DVD of the series.

playusa.com has them all
Invest man, you won't regret it.
Will

[Will Hay]

Sorry, I don't want to steal the thunder of the thread but this post isn't worthy of a whole new thread!
My favourite Blackadder, in order:

1st) 4: Goes forth, WW1

2nd) 2: Elizabethan era

3rd) 3: Edwardian era

4th) 1: Richard III era

[flaninacupboard]

Another fantastic series is Spaced. Two seven episode series so far, all packed with joy! not sure it would translate too well to america, jokes like
"Why is Mike upset?"
"oh, he usually likes to be philippa" when tim and daisy are playing robot wars wouldn't make sense. and i don't know if you have jaffa cakes over there....?
Interestingly though, a lot of the same people get involved in comedy, but different series. for instance, Nira Park, producer of spaced went on to become producer for Black Books, which stars bill bailey (and bill bailey features in spaced) and nick frost features in black books (and nick stars in spaced) but as 100% different characters. another fantastic series to check out (but you won't get it at all!) is The League of Gentlemen (nothing at all to do with the comic or the recent film) but it's excellent.
"This is a local shop, for local people! there's nothing to see here!"
and again Reece shearsmith and mark gatiss from the league make an appearance in spaced, but as new characters.

I think a contributing factor to our comedy is the way our TV works. with only 4.5 channels, we don't get a lot of choice, a series has to be good to make it on the air. it also means a series gets a lot of exposure, because if your tv is on you have a 25% chance of seeing it. it's changing now with cable more popularin rural areas and sky getting cheaper, but even though we have cable i spend most of my time watching BBC and C4 anyway.

Actually, by far the best joke in Spaced is Tim getting himself fired from a comic shop so he can work in a different one by saying
"Derek?"
"yes?"
"Babylon 5's a big pile of shit."
"GET OUT!"

classic. cracks me every time!

Oh, and why oh why do NBC find it neccesary to reshoot and re-write coupling?! just show the proper one! no-one can replace Richard Coyle, in either the physical acting he does or the fact he's welsh. and they're getting slated for ripping off a rip off of their own show. what is that about? people seem to think coupling is a rip off of friends, but i don't think so. firends tries very much to be "real life" wheras coupling knows it's a TV show. Captain sub-text, steve's outbursts (or his explanation of the plot of lesbian spank inferno!) or the great episode "Let's see that again, but this time imagine you're Israeli" or the unforgettable "i have the key to the gates of heaven, BUT I'VE GOT TOO MANY LEGS!"

*Lays back and smiles*
i feel like watching some TV now!

[Craig Tucker]

"i have the key to the gates of heaven, BUT I'VE GOT TOO MANY LEGS!"

That was a great episode, the guy who plays Geoff is brilliant. I forgot about league of gentlemen, another great show.

[willy_annand]

Why are british comedies so much better than American comedies?? Excluding such hits as The Drew Carrey Show, Home Improvment, The Simpsons, The Family Guy. Almost all of USA's comedies are not funny!! It just seems like British Comedies have more wit and edge, while USA comedies go more for fart jokes and slapstick.....

US comedies are marekted and appeal to the "Average" US Citizen. They keep it simple so they get the widest audiences.

I have a feeling that the marketing people have determined that the collective American viewing public are actually "Blonde".
----------------------------------------------------
Like the story of the Blind Man in the bar, asking the guy next to him if he wants to hear a great "Blonde" joke.

The guys says "Look, I realise you are blind, so you could not know that I am blonde, the bartender is also blonde, the bouncer is a big blonde guy and there are two guys at the table behind you that look like wrestlers and they are both blonde.... Are you sure you want to tell that joke in here?"

The blind guys says "Hell no, I hate explaining jokes once, let alone five times."
-------------------------------------------------------

[willy_annand]

That's because we are in the business of kicking ass and chewing bubble gum... and we're all out of bubble gum.

but really, that "Who's line is it anyway".

Roddy Piper from "They Live" a strange yet inventive Sci Fi "B" movie.

[willy_annand]

I think part of the problem is the religeous groups here in the US, alot of them seem to get offended at everything thats on tv. They think they represent the majority of what viewers want to see. My attitude is if they dont like the show, they shouldnt watch it.

Agreed, I love George Carlin's routine on Religion vs TV.

He goes on about the Religeous group not wanting to see some show on TV. George says "I don't know about their TVs, but mine has two knobs, off/on and volume... You don't want to see it, TURN IT OFF. Grab the knob and twist....... oh, I forgot, God doesn't want them touching knobs."

[tgpo]

I think one of the biggest problems with US comedies is that they are trying to cater to everyone. They seem to want to include everyone in there jokes, but it seems like they run themselves thin.

[sterno]

nother fantastic series to check out (but you won't get it at all!) is The League of Gentlemen (nothing at all to do with the comic or the recent film) but it's excellent.
"This is a local shop, for local people! there's nothing to see here!"
and again Reece shearsmith and mark gatiss from the league make an appearance in spaced, but as new characters.

Comedy Central showed that once or twice, late-night. And you're right, I didn't understand half of it. Now and then Comedy Central shows an entire series of some British comedy back-to-back, but usually it's at 1:00am on a weeknight so it doesn't get much exposure.

Oh, and why oh why do NBC find it neccesary to reshoot and re-write coupling?!

Probably for the same reason that somebody felt it was necessary to rewrite Red Dwarf for the US. The US pilot was so incredibly bad that they never even aired it.

[hoyboy]

Who would they have got to play the cat in the remake of red dwarf- knowing some of the xxxx they peddle on the tv today posing as entertainment- it would have to have gone to the bloke who played urkle in some crappy show from a few years ago!

[gmatov]

Flanina hit it on the head when he said only 4.5 or 4-5 channels. US TV was much better before the big cable push, and then the satellite competition, upped the ante to something like 500 channels.
Where DO you get content for all that?
The only place is in the old reject bin. Stuff they'd have been ashamed to show even 10 years ago gets big bucks advertising.
With those few channels, it's no wonder BBC material is better than 90+ % of the garbage we show. I don't say trash, as that would imply a bluenose. Xs in the ratings don't bother me. Just so damn much of it, particularly the comedy, is totally inane, and totally unfunny. ( Sorry to say half the top vote.
getters here are way low on my list.)
Oh, jeez, just wait'll you get 100 or more channels. 12 shopping, 10 religious, 15 news, 10 MTV types, 10 kids shows. You'll be like the Dilbert comic where the Rat is smacking himself on the head while he sings a song, and a couple flipping the channels says "This looks interesting!"

Sorry(edit) have to add all the reality shows, Cops, Real Cops, True Life Cops, etc., etc. They found they didn't have to go spending millions to make content. Just put a camera in a patrol car, give the cameraman 500, and, presto, a HIT series, a dozen of them, probably.

You'llllll bbbeeeee sorreeeeee!

[hoyboy]

The league of gentleman is a horrible show- horrible yet strangely compelling

[flaninacupboard]

tell me about it! the naked dentons are creepy!
what really made me laugh was edward and tubbs raising from the dead as zombies, and then getting splattered by a train!!
Still think they should have stuck with the name "The Porn Dwarves"

[scottymac]

Not the Nine O'clock news.


That was one of the funniest and most politically incorrect programs ever. And brought many upancomers into light, including Rowan Atkinson, and Mel Smith.

But the brits have never been afraid to be non-PC. Look at the black and white minstrel show. Try doing that on todays TV.

[Craig Tucker]

Talking of politically incorrect comedy, who remembers Love Thy Neighbour . I remember watching it as a young lad, and no-one thought anything of it in its day, but it was incredibly racist and would never get aired today. I actually quite enjoyed it from what I can remember of it, the bigotry was not one sided and the black guy gave as good as he got. I think nowadays people are far too eagre about being politically correct in case they offend somebody.

[flaninacupboard]

Not entirely true. without wishing to spark off any kind of debate it always seems to me that it's ok to make racist jokes about white people (and in america there's lots of jewish jokes) and that's ok. you can shout cracker till you're blue in the face, and it's comedy. but anyone who even knows what i mean by the N word should be horribly and slowly killed for noticing someone had skin a different colour.
again, i'm not saying i'm racist or people should be or anything, just that there seems to be positive minority discrimination and that white people are fair game. strikes me as rather odd.

[willy_annand]

don't worry, give it another 10 years and then white people will be in the minority and they can start complaining.

[tgpo]

don't worry, give it another 10 years and then white people will be in the minority and they can start complaining.

What are you talking about. No need to wait 10 years, they're doing it right now. In fact here in the south, some people are making a living off of it. I'm telling you, one day I'm donna make a movie that makes fun on your typical Southern White person.....which I am by the way. That way everyone can see just how dumb some of us act down here. :P I'm thinking of calling it Jackass.