It did. Judd Hirsch played the lead in the US remake. I thought I wouldn’t have minded trying to warm up the “frigid” woman in the original (played by Belinda Lang, who later appeared in Rosanne-a-like 2.4 Children.
How’s Ren keeping by the way?
It did. Judd Hirsch played the lead in the US remake. I thought I wouldn’t have minded trying to warm up the “frigid” woman in the original (played by Belinda Lang, who later appeared in Rosanne-a-like 2.4 Children).
How’s Ren keeping by the way?
Another vote for the **Goodies[/]b (Hey - I’ve got a photo of me with Tim Brooke-Taylor, you know!. LOL)
And, Chelmsford 123 anyone?
I wonder if Stimpy’s chanced across one of the characteristics that distinguishes many UK comedies from their US counterparts. FWIW, I think many UK comedies tend to have an underlying tragic aspect to them; sometimes poverty and desperation, other times social exclusion – usually by being oddballs, maybe just hopeless (usually male) cases…there’s usually a theme of people struggling with something. Or not ?
BTW, Freedom for Tooting !
Is that Yeti still here?
(another personal fave of mine BTW L_C)
British comedy tends to be a bit more slapstick/farcical that american. American sitcoms largely consist of a group of people sitting around saying witty things to each other, wheras brit-coms put a character in a funny situation, and watch him get out.
… Or watch him dig himself ever deeper into that hole. There’s a comedy on BBC2 right now that’s very good at that, Coupling,, a take-off of Friends but good in its own right, IMHO.
British comedies are darker than American, definitely. That’s why transfers rarely work well, unless only the basic idea is taken over and the rest if left to grow on its own.
And NBC is going to remake Coupling as a new show to take over after Friends goes off the air next year. The cycle continues…
Telemark, really? That’s perfect in its irony!
I do certainly think the centre-stage sofa thing is pretty limiting. Yep, there’s more slapstick but I was thinking more of some kind of depth beyond the surface humour…
Yes! Citizen Smith! Excellent show. Robert Lindsay was really funny in that one. Peter Vaughan as the dad was pretty terrifying. I saw some episodes of the US version of “Dear John” and didn’t think it worked at all. Judd Hirsch never really captured the pathetic quality that Ralph Bates did in the English version. And Belinda Lang was damn cute in that as well… rowr! 
Thank you MarkF. Ralph Bates! And (unrelated) wasn’t he in “Day of the Triffids” or the one where everyone on earth inexpicably disappears except for a handful of people? Both mid-eighties fodder i think.
I see what you mean London_Calling. We do like our black humour (we do, we do - a moderate alteration to one of my favourite Fawlty Towers lines (The Builders)). The Young One’s and, to a much lesser extent because i was more repelled than tickled, Bottom are degradation and degeneration at their teetering height. I also adored the trials and tribulations (?) of Reginald Perrin. A see-saw two series spectacle of man pitted against his world.
How many U.S. sitcoms get re-made in the U.K. (or elsewhere for that matter)? I remember the disastrous Brighton Belles as a remake of Golden Girls (which i quite enjoyed).
Stimpy, Reggie Perrin is one of my ahem perrinennial favourites. The show hasn’t been repeated for several years, but each series is available in book form, and they’re almost as funny.
would be interesting to see this remade for the US. oil tycoon Dwight Schultz (Howling Mad Murdoch) fantasizes about his young prodigy whilst imagining his mother-in-law to be a snout-blowing water buffalo… or something. takes off all his clothes and dives into Lake Michigan. 2nd series, the rise of a president.
sorry, gotta go and watch brazil v germany now.
Let me just say that I despise Mr. Bean.
Thank you.
isnt mr b a victim of every other funny. over-cooked and served up to a suspecting public who peel back the bbq foil and get exactly what they were worried about getting - another saturday night in, in front of the box cheated into thinking theyd be entertained with something new. mr bean, it started off well, possibly even new (yes, its silent humour, but its new for now) and original (god help us) but we do like to push and to push and to squeeze and drain till every last drop is drunk.
mr cleese, ms francis, i salute you. you came, you saw, you left good enough alone.
Which is a good way of determining whether something is worth watching, actually.
But then, I’m a Dr. Who fan. So I’m biased. And no, I’m not going to explain, either.