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37 minutes ago, Gaspode said:

You just stick to those good old British sitcoms matey. It Ain't Half Hot Mum, Love Thy Neighbour, Citizen Khan and Mrs Brown's Boys - they must be right up your street.....?

they are a bit too deep for me

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21 hours ago, SouthStandDan said:

Friends is one of them shows the more you watch it, the more you understand why people really enjoyed it. Not my favourite show at all, missus loves it and I can put up with it. 

I'd rather watch it than Big Bang Theory, overrated horrible show. I've tried to like it, the constant canned laughter makes me cringe.

What about the bit where Shellman says BOZINGO! Surely you can't see that without laughing so hard you rupture your spleen?

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1 hour ago, Gaspode said:

You just stick to those good old British sitcoms matey. It Ain't Half Hot Mum, Love Thy Neighbour, Citizen Khan and Mrs Brown's Boys - they must be right up your street.....?

Just as terrible! 

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3 hours ago, David said:

I agree. But there has to be some substance there or even actual funny moments to enjoy.

Friends had neither and I’m amazed we have so many people here trying to defend it. ?

For you friends had neither but a lot of people thought it had elements of both which is one of the reasons why it was so popular. It's fine if it's not to your taste but I don't think the writing was objectively terrible like you made it out to be. Personally, I think Friends has some very funny moments in it partly made by the writing partly made by the acting. 

 There was also some substance in the character portrayals especially early on, yes it wasn't massively deep but as I said before I don't think sitcoms are supposed to function that way. Peep show which everyone raves about (rightly so) is fundamentally no deeper in its portrayals than anything Friends did. 

Edited by Leeds Ram
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Only Fools & Horses

Porridge

Fawlty Towers

Peep Show

The Inbetweeners

The Royal Family

Blackadder

Red Dwarf

Bottom

Men Behaving Badly

I mean the list goes on, these American sitcoms don’t even come close.

Of course we have some bad ones as well, Mrs Brown’s Boys, that’s right up there with the American nonsense like Friends.

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4 minutes ago, Leeds Ram said:

For you friends had neither but a lot of people thought it had elements of both which is one of the reasons why it was so popular. It's fine if it's not to your taste but I don't think the writing was objectively terrible like you made it out to be. Personally, I think Friends has some very funny moments in it partly made by the writing partly made by the acting. 

 There was also some substance in the character portrayals especially early on, yes it wasn't massively deep but as I said before I don't think sitcoms are supposed to function that way. Peep show which everyone raves about (rightly so) is fundamentally no deeper in its portrayals than anything Friends did. 

If it doesn’t make you laugh, the writing is terrible. I mean, that’s the idea of a sitcom isn’t it, make you laugh at a bare minimum.

I’ve sat through many episodes of Friends and I haven’t laughed once, not even a smirk. American humour is pretty non existent. 

Americans excel in Hollywood blockbusters, should stick to what they are good at.

Genuinely amazed so many of you are defending it. Expected a couple, but dear me, what are you all doing with your TV’s!

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7 minutes ago, David said:

Only Fools & Horses

Porridge

Fawlty Towers

Peep Show

The Inbetweeners

The Royal Family

Blackadder

Red Dwarf

Bottom

Men Behaving Badly

I mean the list goes on, these American sitcoms don’t even come close.

Of course we have some bad ones as well, Mrs Brown’s Boys, that’s right up there with the American nonsense like Friends.

Police Squad was funnier than any of those.

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36 minutes ago, David said:

If it doesn’t make you laugh, the writing is terrible. I mean, that’s the idea of a sitcom isn’t it, make you laugh at a bare minimum.

I’ve sat through many episodes of Friends and I haven’t laughed once, not even a smirk. American humour is pretty non existent. 

Americans excel in Hollywood blockbusters, should stick to what they are good at.

Genuinely amazed so many of you are defending it. Expected a couple, but dear me, what are you all doing with your TV’s!

If it doesn't make you laugh then it's not to your cup of tea it doesn't objectively make it terrible David. It makes me laugh quite a lot and it did with a lot of people does that automatically make it good? On your list of 'superior sitcoms' I'd say there are some that don't really make me laugh a ton such as Inbetweeners and Blackadder which for me was shocking until the final season but that doesn't mean they necessarily suck. 

American humour is non-existent? Robin williams, Chris rock (in his prime), Dave Chappelle, Bill Murray and Rainn wilson aren't funny? I generally don't like broad statements like that, Americans can make excellent sitcoms and excellent deep films. They do have a tendency to overrun tv series by 4-5 seasons unfortunately though.  

Edited by Leeds Ram
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6 minutes ago, Leeds Ram said:

If it doesn't make you laugh then it's not to your cup of tea it doesn't objectively make it terrible David. It makes me laugh quite a lot and it did with a lot of people does that automatically make it good? On your list of 'superior sitcoms' I'd say there are some that don't really make me laugh a ton such as Inbetweeners but that doesn't mean they necessarily suck. 

American humour is non-existent? Robin williams, Chris rock (in his prime), Dave Chappelle, Bill Murray and Rainn wilson aren't funny? I generally don't like broad statements like that, Americans can make excellent sitcoms and excellent deep films. They do have a tendency to overrun tv series by 4-5 seasons unfortunately though.  

more historically, MASH, taxi, Rowan and martin's laugh in (quirky humour).  

yep they do keep them going too long, Modern Family lost the spark a few series ago.

when was the last really clever, grown up funny shows to come out of the UK?

Fri night dinner had its moments.  Can't think of anything current that makes me look forward to the next series

Edited by Spanish
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2 minutes ago, Leeds Ram said:

If it doesn't make you laugh then it's not to your cup of tea it doesn't objectively make it terrible David. It makes me laugh quite a lot and it did with a lot of people does that automatically make it good? On your list of 'superior sitcoms' I'd say there are some that don't really make me laugh a ton such as Inbetweeners and Blackadder which for me was shocking until the final season but that doesn't mean they necessarily suck. 

American humour is non-existent? Robin williams, Chris rock (in his prime), Dave Chappelle, Bill Murray and Rainn wilson aren't funny? I generally don't like broad statements like that, Americans can make excellent sitcoms and excellent deep films. They do have a tendency to overrun tv series by 4-5 seasons unfortunately though.  

I’m only giving my opinion, same as you.

No correct answer here, no rights or wrongs.

I think it’s terrible and I’m amazed so many enjoy it.

You don’t believe it’s terrible and enjoy it. 

Nothing you can say that will convince me otherwise, I was going to ask you to post some “funny” clips from Friends, but I don’t believe there is any out there to be had, you do and I’ll press play and waste both our times.

Plenty of articles out there that agree with my opinion, just Google Friends overrated, there’s a great Guardian review which compares it to School dinners.

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3 minutes ago, Spanish said:

more historically, MASH, taxi, Rowan and martin's laugh in (quirky humour).  

yep they do keep them going too long, Modern Family lost the spark a few series ago.

when was the last really clever, grown up funny shows to come out of the UK?

Fri night dinner had its moments.  Can't think of anything current that makes me look forward to the next series

Have you tried Catastrophe?

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1 minute ago, Spanish said:

when was the last really clever, grown up funny shows to come out of the UK?

Problem is these days with comedy, always people out there ready to be offended so we’re left with sanitised efforts to not end up with Ofcom investigations.

I mean imagine Friends being released now, there’s apparently a 4 minute YouTube compilation of lines from the entire decade of Friends with BAME actors.

Comedy is dying fast. 

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6 minutes ago, David said:

I’m only giving my opinion, same as you.

No correct answer here, no rights or wrongs.

I think it’s terrible and I’m amazed so many enjoy it.

You don’t believe it’s terrible and enjoy it. 

Nothing you can say that will convince me otherwise, I was going to ask you to post some “funny” clips from Friends, but I don’t believe there is any out there to be had, you do and I’ll press play and waste both our times.

Plenty of articles out there that agree with my opinion, just Google Friends overrated, there’s a great Guardian review which compares it to School dinners.

I'm not trying to convince you one way or the other- I just think presenting it in such terms that make it seem objectively awful is a bit too too much. I mean almost anything exceptionally popular will be castigated as overrated precisely because it's exceptionally popular and a lot of culturally pretentious people find serious problems with it. It's no surprise that a guardian critic didn't love friends and neither does will self which is again no surprise.  

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1 minute ago, Leeds Ram said:

I'm not trying to convince you one way or the other- I just think presenting it in such terms that make it seem objectively awful is a bit too too much. I mean almost anything exceptionally popular will be castigated as overrated precisely because it's exceptionally popular and a lot of culturally pretentious people find serious problems with it. It's no surprise that a guardian critic didn't love friends and neither does will self which is again no surprise.  

You had a thing for Gunther didn’t you? Schoolboy crush?

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Not sure we have made a funny sitcom in the U.K. for years ,,,, Miranda???? Lee Mack ???? We really churn out some dire garbage nowadays, makes you wonder who reads/watches these things then commission s them for tv ( mainly bbc from what I can see) often seems like a university back scratching club

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