Friends

[Gee SCREAMER !!]

2 minutes ago, Archied said:

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

[JoetheRam]

Friends is more consistently funny than Only Fools and Horses, which has about 6 good episodes and probably 20 iconic moments from 64 episodes.

Bring on the hate.

Last good "British" sitcom was Catastrophe (written by and starring an American man and an Irish woman, but British in the sense it was made for C4 and is set in London) and even that is 6 years old. Before that it was Peep Show which came out 18 years ago.

There just aren't many good sitcoms around. The Americans do make a hell of a lot of 8/10 ones though. I'd settle for one 8/10 sitcom on British TV right now.

[TigerTedd]

13 minutes ago, JoetheRam said:

Friends is more consistently funny than Only Fools and Horses, which has about 6 good episodes and probably 20 iconic moments from 64 episodes.

Bring on the hate.

Last good "British" sitcom was Catastrophe (written by and starring an American man and an Irish woman, but British in the sense it was made for C4 and is set in London) and even that is 6 years old. Before that it was Peep Show which came out 18 years ago.

There just aren't many good sitcoms around. The Americans do make a hell of a lot of 8/10 ones though. I'd settle for one 8/10 sitcom on British TV right now.

IT Crowd was good. That’s not had much live on here. Still ages ago now though. 

Ricky Gervais’s Afterlife is a good, thoughtful typically British sitcom. 

[Gee SCREAMER !!]

13 minutes ago, JoetheRam said:

Friends is more consistently funny than Only Fools and Horses, which has about 6 good episodes and probably 20 iconic moments from 64 episodes.

Bring on the hate.

Last good "British" sitcom was Catastrophe (written by and starring an American man and an Irish woman, but British in the sense it was made for C4 and is set in London) and even that is 6 years old. Before that it was Peep Show which came out 18 years ago.

There just aren't many good sitcoms around. The Americans do make a hell of a lot of 8/10 ones though. I'd settle for one 8/10 sitcom on British TV right now.

I like Friends but

 

[MrPlinkett]

For UK comedies anything Alan Partridge I find funny.

[DarkFruitsRam7]

One that I find underrated is Dad's Army. 

I know that sounds ridiculous because it's widely renowned as an absolute classic. But I don't ever see it put in the same bracket as OFAH, Blackadder, Fawlty Towers, etc, i.e. the contenders for the greatest British sitcom of all time.

I don't think I've ever seen a better cast of characters than Dad's Army. You end up loving every single one of them.

Edited June 2, 2021 by DarkFruitsRam7

[Gee SCREAMER !!]

Just now, DarkFruitsRam7 said:

One that I find underrated is Dad's Army. 

I know that sounds ridiculous because it's widely renowned as an absolute classic. But I don't ever see it put in the same bracket as OFAH, Blackadder, Fawlty Towers, etc, i.e. the contenders for the greatest British sitcom of all time.

I don't think I've ever seen a better cast of characters than Dad's Army. You end up loving every single one of them.

Arthur Lowe- Captain Mainwaring. A massive Derby fan, Forgot about him in the celebrity supporters last week. Even got them a mention in a programme he did with Sid James.

[MrPlinkett]

6 minutes ago, DarkFruitsRam7 said:

One that I find underrated is Dad's Army. 

I know that sounds ridiculous because it's widely renowned as an absolute classic. But I don't ever see it put in the same bracket as OFAH, Blackadder, Fawlty Towers, etc, i.e. the contenders for the greatest British sitcom of all time.

I don't think I've ever seen a better cast of characters than Dad's Army. You end up loving every single one of them.

that reminds me of another uk series I loved, goodnight sweetheart. Only reminded me because of the nod to dads army in one episode. 

 

[TigerTedd]

58 minutes ago, DarkFruitsRam7 said:

One that I find underrated is Dad's Army. 

I know that sounds ridiculous because it's widely renowned as an absolute classic. But I don't ever see it put in the same bracket as OFAH, Blackadder, Fawlty Towers, etc, i.e. the contenders for the greatest British sitcom of all time.

I don't think I've ever seen a better cast of characters than Dad's Army. You end up loving every single one of them.

Allo Allo. Used to love that when I was a kid. I liked that it wasn’t just episodic, it actually had an overarching plot, the saga of the fallen Madonna with the big boobies. 

[David]

2 hours ago, JoetheRam said:

Friends is more consistently funny than Only Fools and Horses, which has about 6 good episodes and probably 20 iconic moments from 64 episodes.

Bring on the hate.

[Van der MoodHoover]

10 hours ago, TigerTedd said:

Allo Allo. Used to love that when I was a kid. I liked that it wasn’t just episodic, it actually had an overarching plot, the saga of the fallen Madonna with the big boobies. 

Imagine trying to pitch that as an idea today....so many stereotypes crammed in there it would cause an epic meltdown of righteous indignation... 

Dad's Army not a bad shout from young fruity. My  favourite British sitcoms of relatively recent times were the office, the royle family and early doors. 

Which kind of supports the view that a really good sitcom has quite a limited shelf life. 

Never seen friends so can't comment on that bit of the debate. 

[Brammie Steve]

On 30/05/2021 at 00:20, David said:

I don’t think Americans do sitcoms well at all.

Friends, Frasier, Big Bang Theory and the like, poorly written and the humour is very basic where I can barely smirk.

It’s one thing Britain can do well, sitcoms. They could learn a lot from us.

The Simpsons is the best reality TV sitcom bar none!

(Steptoe and Son excepted...............obviously!)

[Anon]

13 hours ago, MrPlinkett said:

that reminds me of another uk series I loved, goodnight sweetheart. Only reminded me because of the nod to dads army in one episode. 

 

Gary Sparrow... The man blessed with the supremely powerful gift of time travel who uses it mainly to commit bigamy.

[Gone]

On 02/06/2021 at 17:47, JoetheRam said:

Friends is more consistently funny than Only Fools and Horses

Surely this warrants a life time ban? 

[ThePrisoner]

On 02/06/2021 at 12:51, Anon said:

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

[Anon]

2 hours ago, ThePrisoner said:

Maybe the humour is just too cerebral for some people. Let me try to explain, the Shellman likes video games! Can you imagine? The very idea of a scientist enjoying video games is so amusing to me that I have just simultaneously pissed and pooed myself whilst writing this sentence. For instance, he might try to explain a complex equation to Penny using Super Maaaario as a learning aide, hilariously forgetting that she knows nothing about either of those things as she is a girl.

Edited June 3, 2021 by Anon

[Cisse]

I love British sitcoms but they have done some great shows in USA too.

All in the Family

MASH

Taxi

Soap

Cheers

Murphy Brown

Frasier

[ViewsFromTheMiddle]

On 03/06/2021 at 07:02, Brammie Steve said:

The Simpsons is the best reality TV sitcom bar none!

(Steptoe and Son excepted...............obviously!)

The first 10 or so seasons of The Simpsons yes.  

Another show that went on longer than it should have.

[WhiteHorseRam]

On 02/06/2021 at 17:47, JoetheRam said:

Friends is more consistently funny than Only Fools and Horses, which has about 6 good episodes and probably 20 iconic moments from 64 episodes.

Bring on the hate.

Last good "British" sitcom was Catastrophe (written by and starring an American man and an Irish woman, but British in the sense it was made for C4 and is set in London) and even that is 6 years old. Before that it was Peep Show which came out 18 years ago.

There just aren't many good sitcoms around. The Americans do make a hell of a lot of 8/10 ones though. I'd settle for one 8/10 sitcom on British TV right now.

The Americans do make some great sitcoms, Christopher Lloyd being the tip of the spear with Frasier and Modern Family.

I think like a lot of things we only get to see the good stuff though, and the plop sitcoms - whether UK or USA are soon forgotten / dropped after one series.

Quite often sitcoms outstay their welcome as the ideas run out. A classic for me recently is Mrs Browns Boys. Just about funny at the start, but has now dissolved into over sentimentality and horse plop as it has begun to believe its own kitchen sink wisdom. And the film was proper manure, almost as bad as the Keith Lemon film.

Classic symptom is the extended 'Christmas Special', which is reliant on the TV audience being half leathered and fiercely concentrating on secretly releasing vast quantities of methane in front of their in-laws.

It also depends on personal likes and biases. For me, I would find it physically impossible to watch a sitcom with James Corden or PJ and Duncan in it.

[Anon]

This great sitcom line always runs through my mind whenever I see James Corden. I just don't understand the appeal. Also, Gavin and Stacey is crap. One of the most overrated, unfunny, mawkish pieces of trash to ever sully the screen.

Stewart Lee probably summed it up best when Corden got his US talk show, "Britain's loss is now America's loss."