Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
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Many people in this life have started at the bottom.
Me, for instance. I started at the bottom and have resolutely worked my way down from there.
How apt, therefore, that this post is a perfect reflection of its author because it too starts from the bottom.
Or at least from what's at the bottom of it.
And that's a handy-dandy comments section.
This is, of course, my convoluted way of heralding the return of the feature in which the first person to raise a topic gets to set the day's agenda.
That topic may be drawn from a multi-fold of fields but only you can decide just what it should be.
Therefore, don't hesitate to make your mark upon the internet and post your question, query, postulation, theorem, hypothesis or topic, below.
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31 comments:
What is your favourite sitcom?
Interesting topic, Colin. Almost impossible narrowing it down to one. Maybe either 'Just Good Friends', or 'EDC'.
Phillip
I can answer this in excruciating detail, because I've actually been giving it some thought recently!
I think the crown goes to The Good Life. My wife adores it and I can't really argue with her on that score. It's good-natured, very funny, has four unwaveringly excellent leads. Our cat is called Margot in honour.
I always put Cheers in the list, but it's been a LONG time since I actually watched an episode.
I like the first 4 seasons or so of The Office [US]. There is a lot of curmudgeonly talk here in the UK about how it's not as good as the UK version. Apples and oranges. The US one is plain and simple a sitcom and is very funny.
BUT it did go on way too long. So I might choose Parks & Recreation instead, because that only went on for one season too long [and that one wasn't too bad either].
Curb Your Enthusiasm is majestic. I haven't seen the last season yet, though.
Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads was a good one for me and my best mate back in the 90s when we were in our late 20s. It was nostalgic and relevant at the same time.
Does Silicon Valley count? That show was genius.
Another excellent topic, Colin! Because Charlie really has not watched television with the regularity since 1980, with rate exception he is necessarily confined to the 60s and 70s. And, the favorite sitcoms are often the ones still on TV today on the so-called nostalgia stations.
Charles like many here, will not be able to pick a single favor anymore than we can pick a favorite movie, comic book, or Beatles song.
Sooo…
All in the Family (1970s)
Gilligan’s Island (1960s)
Leave it to Beaver (1950s)
Big Bang (2010s)
Thanks for the comments. I think my all-time favourite is Steptoe & Son (adapted for US TV as Sanford & Son but the US version ended up very different from the original BBC series). I like how Steptoe & Son is often just a dialogue between the two main characters with no other regular cast members at all which I think is unique in sitcom history. Steptoe & Son was also adapted for radio from 1966-76 and those episodes are regularly broadcast on BBC Radio 4-Extra, in fact I was listening to an episode only yesterday. And of course there were two Steptoe & Son movies released in 1972 and 1973. Lots of British sitcoms got made into films in the '70s but only Steptoe & Son and On The Buses got a sequel.
Feel free to include any sitcoms you HATE as well.
Nice topic Colin!
So many that could be named, so many that deserve mention. So I'll follow Charlie's example and go by decade.
50's- "Leave it to Beaver"
60's- "Addams Family"
70's- "Mary Tyler Moore Show"
80s- "WKRP in Cincinnati"
90s- "Evening Shade"
00s- "Frasier"
10s- "Big Bang Theory"
Current- "Ghosts"
As to your addendum question, a sitcom I hate? Hmmm, well, I probably didn't watch a show if I didn't like it. That said, I found "Happy Days" to be rather mudane and overrated...
Charlie’s comments regarding sitcoms he didn’t espelike parallel Red’s. But ones which he didn’t groove to which were quite popular include the spin-offs: Laverne and Shirley, Jeffersons, Maude… didnt hate them but never really like them much.
Hey! Can Spnge Bob Square Pants be considered a sitcom? Loved that show!
I couldn’t possibly decide on a ‘favorite’, there’s just too many that I’ve enjoyed. Also, most of them I’m afraid to revisit for fear they might not hold up to my memories of them. Best I can do is list some that haven’t been mentioned yet:
VEEP and ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT were both hysterically funny at their best, and just kind of cringe-inducing at their worst. Of the two, I thought VEEP was more consistently funny.
The first season of THE GOOD PLACE was brilliant, not just funny but also very smart. Each subsequent season was a bit less so but still pretty entertaining. Fortunately it was cancelled before it could completely wear out its welcome.
THE MIDDLE was a sweet, funny, very down-to-earth Family Comedy that deserved to be a much bigger hit than it was.
LIFE IN PIECES was another very funny Family sitcom that deserved a bigger audience.
My knowledge of UK TV comedies is mostly limited to those that ran on PBS. The missus and I enjoyed reruns of KEEPING UP APPEARANCES and AS TIME GOES BY.
A sitcom I hate: I watched TWO AND A HALF MEN a few times back when it was one of the highest rated shows on TV and I couldn’t believe how poorly written and absolutely Not Funny it was. Just appallingly, insultingly bad.
b.t.
Oooh, Steptoe. Good one.
The films are good too - unremittingly bleak, but good stuff. One of them has Henry Wolf in too.
Veep was good for the first few seasons. Once Iannucci left it descended into cleverly worded insults and not much else.
I’ve only recently tried Arrested Development: I liked it for about seven or eight episodes (early ones) then involuntarily tuned out and it really began to get on my nerves. I can’t watch it any more.
There’s a trend I hate in UK comedy at the moment, one you might call ‘working class people, they’re thick as shit, ha ha’ comedy.
I like ‘Stath Lets Flats’, but there’s so many of these shows all at once that it feels a bit… intentional?
Colin, thank you for the topic.
When it comes to British sitcoms, I'd go for Dad's Army, Porridge or The Office.
When it comes to US ones, I'd go for Cheers.
Sitcoms I hate, or dislike? Too many to mention, Colin!
Although as its already been bought up here, I might as well be dismissive of The Good Life.
And Dad's Army.
I liked The Thick Of It, and - perhaps predictably - Father Ted and Derry Girls.
Going further back... Its probably been well overpraised for decades now, but Fawlty Towers was pretty funny at the time. Also perhaps inevitably, The Young Ones.
And Yes Minister had its moments, like this explanation of why the Brits were in the European Union -
www.youtube.com/watch?v=37iHSwA1SwE
I have a soft spot for Citizen Smith, but I've not seen even a clip of it since it was originally on tv, and suspect it might not actually have been that good.
As for the US ones... I'm not sure I've seen that many. Cheers didn't do much for me (from what I saw of it). But Frasier was quite funny.
And the Simpsons of course.
-sean
No! No! No! We are not watching the bloody Good Life, with Felicity treacle Kendal...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQCi67CQHXY
-sean
Hate's a strong word, but 'The Vicar of Dibley' does absolutely nothing for me. Likewise, to me, Victoria Wood's 'Dinner Ladies' isn't remotely funny. Each to their own.
Phillip
From what I've seen of it, yeah - the Vicar of Dibley seems awful, Phillip.
Friends has to be quite high on the list of annoying sitcoms too. %#@#ing Ross and Rachel, eh?
What do you think about the one with Ronnie Barker in Yorkieface, as a shop keeper in t'North? Affectionate homage, or annoyingly patronising stereotype?
-sean
Open All Hours, that's the one. I looked it up.
Set in a suburb of Doncaster according to the wiki.
-sean
Sean - Yes, I never understood why Friends was supposed to be funny. In the 90s, I thought it was for the younger generation - but, apparently, even people older than me like it! So, it must something I'm not seeing.
'Open All Hours' is okay. Barker's portrayal of a Yorkshireman is okay. David Jason, however, isn't convincing - but, nevertheless, the show inspires affection & gets a high pass.
Phillip
Redartz, I had to google 'Evening Shade' as it was the only one on your list I'd never heard of. My father was a big fan of the American sitcoms M*A*S*H* and The Phil Silvers Show (or just Bilko as he called it).
No UK readers have mentioned Only Fools And Horses (gasp!) and yet it was voted Britain's best sitcom in 2004 by BBC2 viewers with The Vicar Of Dibley coming third (!?!) and Steptoe & Son coming 17th I think, what a farce.
Phillip, you're right that hate is a strong word when I really just meant dislike or a sitcom you'd avoid!
Come off it, Sean, The Good Life is a classic!
Some other British sitcoms that haven't been mentioned...
Man About The House
Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em
It Ain't Half Hot Mum
George & Mildred
Robin's Nest
To The Manor Born
Oh No, It's Selwyn Froggitt
Bless this House
Hi-De-Hi
The Liver Birds
Are You Being Served
Rising Damp
Yeah, I'd avoid all of those, Colin. Except maybe Rising Damp (although I wouldn't particularly seek it out either).
At least you didn't mention Mind Your Language!
Fun fact: Richard Beckinsale's character in Rising Damp was called Alan Moore.
-sean
While waiting for M.P. to confirm or deny Midnight’s post-GIANT SIZE AVENGERS appearances, I confess I resorted to Wikipedia for the answer. Sean was on the right track — Steve Englehart brought him back to life in his late-1980s SILVER SURFER run, and turned him into a full-on ‘Cosmic’ super-villain complete with hand-wavy sci-fi super-powers and a spiffy new name, Midnight Sun. Later, Jim Starlin featured him in one of those THE INFINITY THIS OR THAT storylines.
Most importantly, his amped-up Cosmic re-design retained the stylish snap-brimmed hat.
Forgive the thread back-track. Carry on with the Sitcom Discussion…
b.t.
Us sitcoms
Car 54 where are you
Green Acres
Uk
Here's Harry (later retitled Harry Worth)
Love thy neighbour
By the way the Till death us do part movie had a sequel - The Garnett Saga
I loved GREEN ACRES as a kid, it was by far my favorite of the Henningverse shows. When I watched reruns of it in my teens and twenties, I thought it had somehow actually gotten better and funnier with age. Then about fifteen years ago, I got the complete series on DVD and after watching three or four episodes I felt like it might be better if I just left it as a pleasant memory. Not saying The Suck Fairy had gotten to it, just that I wasn’t getting quite as much enjoyment out of it as I’d expected to, for whatever reason. Really, GREEN ACRES, it’s not you, it’s me…
b.t.
Rising Damp was once called "ITV's only funny sitcom" which seems a bit mean.
I could never see what was funny about The Young Ones and then Bottom just involved Rik Mayall and Ade Edmondson hitting each other with frying pans and other assorted implements for the entire show as I recall. Was that funny?
I've never seen The Office but I thought Extras was pretty good.
The only sitcom I've watched in recent years is Two Doors Down set in Scotland and starring Arabella Weir from The Fast Show. Nice!
I remember Love Thy Neighbour. The first sitcom - indeed one of the first programmes of any kind - that I ever saw on tv in this country (after we came here to live on benefits ;)
Not good, and hardly surprising it doesn't get repeated. Although in fairness the white fella was generally the butt of the joke.
-sean
Early Doors!
Magnificent first series, slightly less magnificent but still really good second series.
"No! No! No! We are not watching the bloody Good Life, with Felicity treacle Kendal..."
He had no problem invoking her underwear to get the washing machines in the laundrette to open, though.....hmmmmm.
Maybe, but I have to say I've never really understood the appeal of Felicity Kendal, B.
-sean
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