Royle Family special tonight

[Strawman]

Top posts wookey, I too remember watching the very first episode. For the fist 20 minutes I was mystified as to what the program was meant to be, then it clicked and I was a fan.

 

[_angel_]

I don't think that's true, I think they all have very individualistic characterisations; catchphrases even, which people do have in real life...Jim says 'My arse', Mum says 'Awww,' Denise says 'Mum, tell Ant'nee', etc. I think their voices are very distinct.



.

A catchphrase is lazy characterisation. Although the actors might try and bring a difference to the script.

I think comedy's subjective a lot of the time, and if you don't laugh you don't laugh. Fair enough.

Yes. That's fair enough.

But saying it's badly written shows me you might not really know what good writing is, tbh

But that is completely patronising. Cos you're the only person who knows writing???

 

[Wookey]

But that is completely patronising. Cos you're the only person who knows writing???

I'm not saying I'm the only one who knows good writing, but I think the Royle Family is very well-written, millions of people agree with me, it won dozens and dozens of international awards for it's writing, and I don't think you are at all qualified to dismiss it as 'bad writing' simply because it doesn't appeal to your tastes. You're quite wrong.

Aherne was influenced by people like Mike Leigh and Ken Loach, and in turn her realism led to things like The Office - comedies which didn't rely on a laughter sound-track to signal the jokes to the audience (now, isn't THAT patronising??).

She's taken a high place in the history of British comedy, and British comedy writers of the kind you respect would be the first to tell you that.

So it's cool if you don't like it, no-one can make you like it, but you are showing yourself up by saying it's poorly written, because no-one of any experience is agreeing with you, are they?

 

[Wookey]

For the fist 20 minutes I was mystified as to what the program was meant to be, then it clicked and I was a fan.

I think that's what a lot of folk did Strawman! I think you get that kind of reaction when you're setting new boundaries.

 

[_angel_]

I'm not saying I'm the only one who knows good writing, but I think the Royle Family is very well-written, millions of people agree with me, it won dozens and dozens of international awards for it's writing, and I don't think you are at all qualified to dismiss it as 'bad writing' simply because it doesn't appeal to your tastes. You're quite wrong.

Aherne was influenced by people like Mike Leigh and Ken Loach, and in turn her realism led to things like The Office - comedies which didn't rely on a laughter sound-track to signal the jokes to the audience (now, isn't THAT patronising??).

She's taken a high place in the history of British comedy, and British comedy writers of the kind you respect would be the first to tell you that.

So it's cool if you don't like it, no-one can make you like it, but you are showing yourself up by saying it's poorly written, because no-one of any experience is agreeing with you, are they?

Eastenders has won awards too


I'm sorry but I don't believe in that.

 

[Wookey]

Eastenders has won awards too

And some parts of Eastenders are very well written....

You aren't being a snob are you Madds?

Just because something is popular doesn't mean it's necessarily dumb. There are many episodes of Eastenders and Corrie which, had they been written 350 years ago, would have been better known as Shakespeare! Populist drama, I bet you couldn't write it!

 

[Strawman]

I think that's what a lot of folk did Strawman! I think you get that kind of reaction when you're setting new boundaries.

Definitely, I was the same with "The day today". For the first half of the first episode I thought it was a real news program, then it clicked

 

[_angel_]

And some parts of Eastenders are very well written....

You aren't being a snob are you Madds?

Just because something is popular doesn't mean it's necessarily dumb. There are many episodes of Eastenders and Corrie which, had they been written 350 years ago, would have been better known as Shakespeare! Populist drama, I bet you couldn't write it!

Shakespeare has my full contempt but you're right he would have been writing for Eastenders.


You know what Corrie is actually pretty damn good!


Eastenders has been in the past also. (not at the mo alas)


So you don't get me there with the contempt thing.


The Royle Family is just sneering shite.

 

[*Miss Daisy*]

What an abslute gem to catch the Royle family whilst channel hopping,,

God, i was in bits most of the way, i was watching it with my mum, she nursed my nana when she was dying from cancer,,

we both had tears streaming at one point,,

I love the royle family for being funny,,, touching, showed the teanderness of the characters and of human nature,,

Its good seeing people/families behaving in an oh so familier fashion,,

daily life without all the glamour and fancy meals, and stuff, just real people,, I think the the writers and the actors got it spot on,,

people are funny things sometimes,,

 

[jonnyd1978]

I can't see what your problem is with this show Maddalene! I am a northern working class person and i feel it in no way patronising. I see it as a humourous look into the world of us!
I can see so many parallells with my own childhood and family it's scary! You are a northener aren't you? In Leeds if i recall correctly from the Northern branch meet up thread? Well i work in Leeds almost every day or the surrounding area, and I'm in and out of "normal" people's houses all the time in my job and i see so many of the Royle family every day in all the houses I visit. What is patronising about a sitcom about normal people? None of the characters ever do anything extraordinary or unbelievable like in other sitcoms that have to generate situations to make them funny. The funnies in the Royle family are the same funnies that happen to everyone, everyday.
Did you never have one of your dad's mates who was your "uncle" simply because he was your dad's mate? Or never have sing songs on special occassions? Was the biscuit jar not coveted in your house?!
If you don't like the show then that is fair enough but to criticise it so much is harsh in my opinion.
I think it's fantastic and will be sad if it's the last one ever. Can't understand why this wasn't one of the BBC's "big" shows for the Christmas period though??

 

[Wookey]

The Royle Family is just sneering shite.

It's unfortunate that's what you read into it, I don't think such sneering contempt or patronising tone is there. Best you don't watch any more I suppose!

 

[Chairman Meow]

I think its a celebration of working class life, rather than sneering at it, despite agreeing that this particular episode was too sentimental. I always watch it thinking how nice it would be to have such a close family, before remembering that in real life that kind of set-up would drive me screaming to as far away as possible.

 

[PacificOcean]

It was nice to see that 7.8m viewers disagreed with Maddalene too.

I may be a soft southerner, but I thought it was funny as fuck and moving too.

Now how about a Mrs Merton one off special?

 

[_angel_]

Now how about a Mrs Merton one off special?

Please God no.

 

[Wookey]

Please God no.

Hehe. You're just Ahernophobic!!

Mrs Merton made me piss, I know people who still think she was real.

 

[upsidedownwalrus]

For some reason I had it in my head until quite recently that Mrs Merton was a bloke in drag. I knew she wasn't real, yet inexplicably had taken the 'gag' a step further from reality than it in fact really was!

 

[goldenecitrone]

On a totally different note, Miss Aherne once invited me to tea as she lived in the next street to me in Manchester. I loved her Mitzi Goldberg.

 

[*Miss Daisy*]

On a totally different note, Miss Aherne once invited me to tea as she lived in the next street to me in Manchester. I loved her Mitzi Goldberg.

Ooo did you go??

 

[Orang Utan]

I cried

 

[Orang Utan]

Well, er, what actually happened was that I got a bit of grit under my contact lens and had to blink a lot to get rid of it. And sob like a baby.

 

[*Miss Daisy*]

Well, er, what actually happened was that I got a bit of grit under my contact lens and had to blink a lot to get rid of it. And sob like a baby.

I would've sobbed too, but i had to keep it sort of together coz my mum would've crumbled and we'd be a wailing mess,,

but i did have a silent cry with lots of tears and held my breath alot,, and darent talk!

 

[HarrisonSlade]

There are many writers who Caroline Aherne does not live upto. Loache, Leigh, Beckett, Pinter, blah, blah, blah. And I am so pleased about that, as I don't think that either of the former live up to each other either.

Her strength is to be as honest and factual as humanly possible to her own ends. She has pure simplistic genious within her fingers, and I thank her for allowing me to laugh, cry and cringe at my own sensibilities, as well as those who are closest to me.

I am, however pleased at the absolute finish of the Royle Family, of which I feel ended with the best finale a sitcom has ever had, here or abroad. And look foward to more of her work, with an extremely positive feeling that she will prove her absolute genius even further.

Thank you, Caroline, for the best sitcom for over 20 years. xxxx

 

[Steel Icarus]

Watching "The Queen of Sheba" on Gold right now, for the first time since it was on. Cried then, even more now, and like many, it was from the "Que Sera Sera" bit. Since it was shown I've lost my mum, dad, and step-dad, and had a little girl who, one day, I'll be parted from. Which I can hardly even type.

Point is, the program was fucking brilliant - one of the best things that's ever been on telly.

Off for another beer and maybe another cry now.