decent-ish new-ish u.k. sitcoms - how come?

[DaveCinzano]

where've they all come from?

'grass', 'ideal', 'extras', 'the smoking room', 'nighty night', '15 storeys high', 'the office' even.

okay, so they're not all sitcoms in the trad tv farce mould, but that's not really a bad thing

...but how come, after years of incredibly mediocre, seen-it-all-before situation 'comedies', there's been this raft of quite entertaining, more character-driven, laughter track-less sitcoms of late?

 

[silentNate]

Ideal is fantastic- Epona loves Nighty Night whilst we have both enjoyed 15 Storeys; jury out on Extras...
The Office wasn't thast bad and the smoking room could be better...

All in all I concur....

 

[DaveCinzano]

i reckon it's thanks to 'spaced' and the handful of decent u.s. sitcoms that we've got to see over here - demonstrating that innovention, misanthropy and culturally-specific comedy can all make for funny shows.

well, certainly funnier than the usual lawyer/hospital/suburban home stuff that we were drowning in in the 90s

actually, in the early 90s (or maybe even late, late 80s) there was a series on bbc2, 'the wolfit family', which reminds me a lot of some of today's theatre-of-pain comedies - it was set in group therapy sessions of a fairly normal middle class family.

 

[easy g]

jeez...enough about Spaced already

 

[akirajoel]

You forgot the mighty 'Peep Show'...

It's fucking class.

"She's ignoring me. Of course, she's ignoring me. I sent her a swastika."

 

[Dhimmi]

Nighty Night is fab, 15 Stories hilarious, Extra just seems a little made for the mid atlantic...
Anyone remember "Honky Sausages?"

 

[DaveCinzano]

You forgot the mighty 'Peep Show'...

oops

having said that, i'm sure there's another 2 or 3 i've forgotten on top of that

 

[easy g]

oops

having said that, i'm sure there's another 2 or 3 i've forgotten on top of that

yeah...

Bless This House
On The Buses
Get Some In

 

[DaveCinzano]

anyway, there's interesting stuff on the horizon:

La Triviata (C4)
A new sitcom from Simon Pegg (of "Spaced" and "Shaun of the Dead" fame) about a pub quiz team.

http://www.british-sitcom.co.uk/news.shtml

 

[lostexpectation]

is the other guy from peeped the link in all of them?

you forgot coupling, potentiall very annoying but some classic episdoes

and teachers... if that can be classed as a sticom

 

[Buddy Bradley]

And Green Wing.

 

[Buddy Bradley]

A police sitcom from the BBC's Manchester-based comedy unit. 10:96 will star Neil Fitzmaurice ("Phoenix Nights") and Chris Bisson (Coronation Street) as police officers patrolling Manchester's rough but fictional 'Langthorpe Estate'. Fitzmaurice plays acting Sergeant Gary Barnes, who is overly-sensitive about causing offence and consequently often says the wrong thing to his Asian partner, rookie PC David Sands, played by Bisson.

x 1000

Why don't they just call it "Lawks, It's Political Correctness Gawn Maaaad!!"...

 

[belboid]

mmm....


Full Power (BBC2)

From the writers of "Black Books" comes "Full Power" (working title). This new sitcom will be set in 2182, when Britain has launched a fleet of spaceships to explore the galaxy "in the only way they can - with a stiff upper lip and regular tea breaks". At the forefront of this expeditionary force will be the HMS Camden, helmed by the irrepressible, if a little tetchy, commander Henderson. Ably assisted by a committed but slightly accident prone crew that includes a sociopath, a sycophant and a sarcastic hacker, the commander steers his ship through the stars, giving orders from his big swivelly chair. Full Power is due to go into production in the autumn in studios in Manchester, with six, 30-minute episodes to be made for broadcast on BBC2 next year.

and



Mike Bassett (ITV)

Mike Bassett
A sitcom based on the 2001 film. blahblah Bassett will find himself in an Alan Partridge-esque situation, having fallen on hard times he is managing third-division side Wirral County FC.

do they mean us? Cant do....we`re second division

 

[Sorry.]

Maybe Harold Pinter made it onto the english literature national curriculum around the time this generation of writers were finishing school...

 

[Orang Utan]

Meet The Magoons is awful tosh, isn't it?

 

[purves grundy]

Comedy is the one thing I really miss when I'm out of the UK. I love coming home and catching up though. You're right, there's been plenty of excellent stuff being made recently - anything to do with commissioning policy I wonder? Independent production companies are proliferating, like Coogan's Baby Cow Productions, who made three of my recent faves which you forgot to mention - I Am Not An Animal, Marion and Geoff, and the brilliant Human Remains.

 

[Random One]

Meet The Magoons is awful tosh, isn't it?

oh god yeah...i watched the first 15 minutes and then turned it over. It felt really disjointed and i had no idea if it was actually going anywhere..and definitely wasn't that funny.

 

[Cid]

Maybe Harold Pinter made it onto the english literature national curriculum around the time this generation of writers were finishing school...

lol, yeah - has to be said that modern sitcoms often seem to be a response to post-surrealist theatrical ideals (tongue firmly in cheek).

That said none of it is really good - Black books, Spaced and TLOG are gonna be very, very hard to match.

(just for easy g)

 

[stavros]

Peep Show is definitely great, as is Green Wing. Shows C4 don't just do "reality" wall-to-wall shite and neverending repeats of Friends. Now we just need Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Also The Thick Of It, Armando "Partridge and Day Today" Iannucci's new thing was great too.

 

[purves grundy]

Also The Thick Of It, Armando "Partridge and Day Today" Iannucci's new thing was great too.

Was that Iannucci's homage to 'Yes Minister' I was reading about somewhere? Wish I'd got to see that.

 

[Macabre]

I like Absolute Power. Fry's character is such a bastard in it, fantastic stuff.

 

[DexterTCN]

And Green Wing.

An absolute treasure.

 

[Snufkin]

The Mighty Boosh

 

[Chz]

Yes! Sing along...

...crouton, crouton, crunchy friend in a tasty broth!

 

[R.I.C.O.]

I'd like to throw "Help" into the equation too - Paul Whitehouse and Chris Langham's sitcom about therapy which was on earlier this year....

 

[R.I.C.O.]

You forgot the mighty 'Peep Show'...

It's fucking class.

"She's ignoring me. Of course, she's ignoring me. I sent her a swastika."

I thought Peep Show was great to begin with, then I went off it.

Robert "McDonald's Nationwide Building Society Pepsi" Webb is a complete sell-out, which did'nt help matters.

 

[Orang Utan]

Why is an actor who appears in a funny tv programme and then does an advert a sellout? Lots of actors are in adverts - that's how many of them get the bulk of their income.

 

[DaveCinzano]

...and 'early doors'

 

[electrogirl]

Nighty Night is fab, 15 Stories hilarious, Extra just seems a little made for the mid atlantic...

I liked Extras but can't help but think the comedy of embarrasment has beendone to death recently.

15 Storeys High was quality but hidden away at some ridiculous hour on BBC2 and with basically ni promotion.

The Smoking Room surprised me, I thought the first series was a bit
office-esque but the second series really came into it's own and was proper laugh out loud funny, and clever too.

 

[kyser_soze]

What I love most about Help, Nighty Night & Extras is that they play more as comedy dramas than sit-coms.

But yeah, the last 5 years have seen Biritsh writers producing stuff easily on a par with Galton & Simpson at their best.

And as far as RICO is concerned, anyone who acts/plays music who appears in an ad is a sell out so just ignore it.

And the Ianucci political show is 'In the Thick of It' cos the 3 eps are being repeated in preparation for a new series...