Well, I started this thread, OEDIPUS, and I thought maybe I’d get 10 or so replies. I’m gratified.
And I find that there are many Britcoms that I have never heard of, much less seen. The Fast Show is another one.
I don’t think anyone but me has mentioned Knowing Me, Knowing You. It has come around a few times on BBCA and I find it hilarious. Now I’m starting to question my own sense of humo(u)r. Can everyone else hate this show so much that they refuse to even mention it?
It’a certainly true that I’ve been told I have a sick sense of humor…
oedipus, I’m over here;)
Well fawlty Towers and Monty Python are my favorited.I’m not sure about this one but i found a tape with a couple shows of The Dangerous Brothers on it , if they count as a true show.
Dangerous Brothers, huh? I reckon that’s Rik Mayall and Ade Edmondson.
You’d like Young Ones, Bottom, Filthy Rich and Catflap, Five Go Mad, and Mr Jolly Lives Next Door, then.
My favorites are Waiting for God, As Time Goes By, and of course, Red Dwarf.
Here in Oz we get to see many Brit shows and one brilliant one that nobody’s mentioned so far is The Brittas Empire starring the man who plays Crichton in Red Dwarf as Mr Brittas. He’s an appalling, inept control-freak who runs a “leisure centre” (ie swimming pool and gym). An eccentric supporting cast, well worth watching.
An aussie comedy that is first-rate is FrontLine, although I feel it won’t travel well. It’s a cynical look at our shallow current affairs industry where (for example) a story on breast cancer is only worth running if it involves lots of close-ups of tits. The makers, Working Dog Productions went on to make the films The Castle and The Dish.
If I don’t get home on the dot of six my pussy goes absolutely out of control.
I’m free!
Reply to Redboss:
The star of the sitcom The Brittas Empire is Chris Barrie as in Rimmer in Red Dwarf. Kryten is played by Robert Llewellyn.
This reminds me that many people in Britain think that US Drama and comedy is good because we get only the best generally, and vice versa, the US gets mostly the best of UK TV.
You don’t see painful comedies like Chris Barrie’s comedy about an ex soccer player Gary Prince, called ‘Prince Among Men’; IMHO it never really worked.
What is also interesting is how some English Drama and Comedy series which are admired in the US, are less admired here (Benny Hill among others) and vice versa (some US series have, I believe received a year or so reprieve because of UK guarantees to buy a further year ( I think Murder One was one although I could be wrong).
Have you had ‘Strangerers’ over in the USA yet? it was written (or maybe co-written) by Rob Grant. Unusually, it had a very high budget for a Britcom and first aired on Cable/Satellite early last year. Still hasn’t been seen on terrestrial. Concerns vegetable-based aliens visiting earth to study humans and is indescribably weird and IMHO hysterically funny.
Official website : http://www.thestrangerers.co.uk/
I’m glad you’re pleased with the response ageless6. The Fast Show is sketch-based rather than a sitcom and the characters build over time. Stick with it if you get the chance, I think it’ll grow on you (of course there’s always the risk that you don’t get it over there - Mr Depp may have seen it on his travels).
Very funny show. There was also a follow-up series in which Alan got fired from his TV show and had to work as an early morning DJ on a tiny radio station in our equivalent of Wyoming (?). The episode where he meets his No.1 Fan must not be missed.
android -- 'scuse me mate, I should've used that Profile button first eh?I like Fawlty Towers.
Someone was asking about Australian comedies. I just saw an episode of The Games. It’s sort of a cross between Sports Night, This is Spinal Tap and C-SPAN. May have to keep an eye on this one.
I was surfing while watching As Time Goes By, and came across this thread. I’ve become slightly obsessed with that show, although not as obsessed as the people at this site, 58 of whom flew from the U.S. to England to watch it being taped. The most recent (eighth) series was produced last year, and there’s talk about a ninth series coming soon.
Yes, Minister was brilliant, Fawlty Towers was hysterical, and I really enjoyed May to December (like everyone else, I preferred red-headed Zoe). I also like anything with Penelope Keith.
I love The Good Neighbors, Hitchhikers Guide, Red Dwarf, Yes Minister, Yes Prime Minister, Are You Being Served? (esp. the earlier episodes with the original cast). I don’t like Faulty Towers or Brittas Empire.
In the Good Neighbors, I particularly like the episode where both couples get plastered on homemade wine, and Mrs. Ledbetter (I’ve forgotten her first name)gets weepy about not having a sence of humor.
It wasn’t a series, but a British import I saw on public tv years ago and really liked was a set of three stage plays, The Norman Conquests, involving a guy named Norman (played by Tom Conti). Each play covers the same events on the same day, but in a different location: living room, yard, and kitchen (I think it was).
Thanks for putting me right Pjen
For me: Mr. Bean without a doubt. Unfortunatly, PBS stopped showing it (here in NY at least).
Runner up: The Thin Blue Line (PBS stopped showing this too.)
Well, Fawlty Towers is the funniest sitcom EVER. Forget Lucy, MASH, Seinfeld, Roseanne, Friends etc. Nothing even comes close. After that:
The Young Ones
Monty Python
Ab-Fab
The Hitchhiker’s Guide mini-series was ok, but the original radio play was much better.
I’d heard alot about Red Dwarf but after seeing it on BBC-A it’s, well, lame. Not nearly in the same category as the above shows.
I just saw this the other night. They just started putting it on after “Black Adder”. It’s great. And if it’s not too much a hijack to mention something from my own continent, “Games” was followed by “The Industry” from Canada. Fucking hysterical.
It’s cold outside
There’s no kind of atmosphere
We’re all alone
More or less
Let me fly far away from here
Fun, fun, fun
In the sun, sun, sun
I want to go
Shipwrecked and comatose
Sipping fresh mango juice
Goldfish go nubbling at my toes
Fun, fun, fun
In the sun, sun, sun
Red Dwarf-Star Trek connection
In the Star Trek Encyclopedia there is a small graphic representing the state of San Fransisco about 25 years from now(One of Star Trek’s jaunts into the “past”).
On this graphic, in small print, it reads:
**HON. DAVID LISTER, MAYOR
CITY OF SAN FRANCISCO
HON. ARNOLD J. RIMMER, GOVERNOR
STATE OF CALIFORNIA**
God help us all.
It’s, “Goldfish shoals nibbling at my toes!”
Shoals being like a school of fish. It is clearer when the Elvis impersonator sings it.
Um, sort of hijack. Not a Britcom, but I thought it might amuse people to know that the Queen has just appointed a “Personal Painter” named Blackadder 