Best British comedy series to have debuted in the last ten years.

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Citizen Smith is pretty bad. In fact, with Just Good Friends looking similarly shonky at this distance and with no one able to get beyond the theme tune* to Dear John (and let's not mention the Boycey/Marlene spin-off), King Of The Sitcoms John Sullivan kinda looks like a one-hit wonder. And a hit that went on about 10 years too long.

(* - though I do sing it incessantly at home when Ava asks for her Dear Zoo book; she's started singing it now too).

― Michael Jones, Thursday, 10 May 2007 13:11 (seventeen years ago) link

i sort of agree with with quitney is saying. comedy isn't necessarily about 'funniness'. look at Nighty Night - if that makes you laugh out loud...how? why?

― blueski, Thursday, 10 May 2007 13:11 (seventeen years ago) link

i enjoyed Citizen Smith, in the early 90s, as a teenager. i suppose in the same way i enjoyed Bread, in the 80s, as child. what makes us think we know any better as we get older tho eh.

― blueski, Thursday, 10 May 2007 13:12 (seventeen years ago) link

Dear Zoo...by the time you'll read this letter I'll be...goo?

― blueski, Thursday, 10 May 2007 13:13 (seventeen years ago) link

Is Quitney getting into that territory occupied by the Late Lou Jag, with his "important" and "challenging" comedy?

― Dom Passantino, Thursday, 10 May 2007 13:13 (seventeen years ago) link

we need lou jag up in this bitch to rep for 'AD'.

oh FUCK, i had forgotten 'BREAD' which i too watched. this country should be BOMBED.

― That one guy that quit, Thursday, 10 May 2007 13:14 (seventeen years ago) link

true xpost

― That one guy that quit, Thursday, 10 May 2007 13:14 (seventeen years ago) link

half the reason why Friends is such televisual crack is the combination of tight comedy and well-played soap opera. that's why it's going to run twice a day on E4 until armageddon - that and the fact that its really quite well done, like the best fast food - the same thing every time. i think its like Spaced, in that if you hate the characters you hate the show. there's plenty of sitcoms though where you hate the characters (or are potently ambivalent) but still watch.

citizen smith sucks when you watch it now, but i still want a Freedom For Tooting tee shirt. i wish they'd repeat Dear John.

isn't louis jagger lurking on this thread under another name already? i have suspicions...

― stevie, Thursday, 10 May 2007 13:14 (seventeen years ago) link

we need lou jag up in this bitch to rep for 'AD'.

no because that would be v boring. lots of people like AD, end of.

― blueski, Thursday, 10 May 2007 13:14 (seventeen years ago) link

just got offed = louis

― blueski, Thursday, 10 May 2007 13:15 (seventeen years ago) link

comedy isn't necessarily about 'funniness'

Now that's funny!

― Tom D., Thursday, 10 May 2007 13:15 (seventeen years ago) link

is Tom D. L Jag? seriously

― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 10 May 2007 13:18 (seventeen years ago) link

answer my question tho - what's the minimum re funniness? laughing, smirking, smiling etc.

― blueski, Thursday, 10 May 2007 13:18 (seventeen years ago) link

sorry to bring this up but there's a gender thing lurking here. in my experience friends and green wing's biggest fans are female. note percentage of females on this thread. cookd and bombd forums have repeatedly hit the rocks trying to work this one out.

― acrobat, Thursday, 10 May 2007 13:19 (seventeen years ago) link

also scrubs is the new friends

― acrobat, Thursday, 10 May 2007 13:20 (seventeen years ago) link

^^^ OTM

― Dom Passantino, Thursday, 10 May 2007 13:20 (seventeen years ago) link

Are we assuming jgo is loujag just because of the monkeydust thing? I refuse to believe the boy jagger has never watched IAP.

― Dom Passantino, Thursday, 10 May 2007 13:21 (seventeen years ago) link

yeah acrobat is otm x2

― That one guy that quit, Thursday, 10 May 2007 13:22 (seventeen years ago) link

they're just suspicions... i refuse to be drawn further...

― stevie, Thursday, 10 May 2007 13:22 (seventeen years ago) link

Dear Zoo...by the time you'll read this letter I'll be...goo?

Got it! She loves "goo" - particular that bit in Bing Bunny: Something For Daddy where the main protag squirts liquid adhesive everywhere.

(Jeez, that sounds kinda rude).

― Michael Jones, Thursday, 10 May 2007 13:23 (seventeen years ago) link

is scrubs as much of a cultural phenom as friends? i remember the guide running a special piece on the show when the second series began. otherwise, yes! definitely!

was green wing consciously fashioned after scrubs? the faint surrealism?

― stevie, Thursday, 10 May 2007 13:24 (seventeen years ago) link

Citizen Smith wasn't great but Peter Vaughn was, as he is in pretty much everything.

― Ned Trifle II, Thursday, 10 May 2007 13:24 (seventeen years ago) link

answer my question tho - what's the minimum re funniness? laughing, smirking, smiling etc.

-- blueski, Thursday, May 10, 2007 1:18 PM (3 minutes ago)

It maybe needs something else going on beyond funniness, if the laughter is only minimal? I was the one vote for the Armando Iannucci show, and that's as often poignant and slightly unsettling as it is funny (admittedly less with the crap replaced music on the DVD).

A lot of the CaB objection to NB seemed to be "it is advertised/acting like it is a comedy, but it does not make me LOL = it fails"

― Michael Philip Philip Philip philip Annoyman, Thursday, 10 May 2007 13:25 (seventeen years ago) link

point of order: Just Good Friends is very good! but yes very dated. awful theme tune. but the soap opera quotient is still quite compelling. penny seems an awful snit in the 21st C but resembles my other half so this is forgiven.

― stevie, Thursday, 10 May 2007 13:25 (seventeen years ago) link

Peter Vaughn fucking killed it in Our Friends In The North. Awesome performance from the man there.

xxp

― Dom Passantino, Thursday, 10 May 2007 13:26 (seventeen years ago) link

is scrubs as much of a cultural phenom as friends?

it never had as prominent a timeslot as 9pm friday c4 "at the time" but owing to constant repeats it's sort of sneaking in.

― That one guy that quit, Thursday, 10 May 2007 13:26 (seventeen years ago) link

you can say Nathan Barley isn't funny but you can't say it's not a comedy show.

believe me, i tried once.

― blueski, Thursday, 10 May 2007 13:26 (seventeen years ago) link

is it rockist to prefer 'reginald perrin' and 'fawlty towers' over other more ingratiating Classic Sitcoms?

― That one guy that quit, Thursday, 10 May 2007 13:27 (seventeen years ago) link

Not really, I don't think.

― Dom Passantino, Thursday, 10 May 2007 13:27 (seventeen years ago) link

is scrubs as much of a cultural phenom as friends?

Nowhere near it

― Tom D., Thursday, 10 May 2007 13:27 (seventeen years ago) link

a more interesting poll/discussion perhaps:

who is the most likeable LEAD character in a British comedy show/sitcom?

― blueski, Thursday, 10 May 2007 13:28 (seventeen years ago) link

I didn't even know "Scrubs" was supposed to be a comedy, I thought it was a "comedy-drama"!

― Tom D., Thursday, 10 May 2007 13:28 (seventeen years ago) link

I've only saw it a couple of times tho

― Tom D., Thursday, 10 May 2007 13:29 (seventeen years ago) link

Rene Artois?

xxp

― Dom Passantino, Thursday, 10 May 2007 13:29 (seventeen years ago) link

Fawlty Towers is just as ingratiated as Porridge if not more so.

― blueski, Thursday, 10 May 2007 13:29 (seventeen years ago) link

no way

― That one guy that quit, Thursday, 10 May 2007 13:29 (seventeen years ago) link

Iannucci in bewildered/world weary mode, surely

Scrubs is an awkward cut n'shut of comedy with two minutes of bullshit schmaltz welded to the end of each half

― Michael Philip Philip Philip philip Annoyman, Thursday, 10 May 2007 13:30 (seventeen years ago) link

scrubs is repellant. audioly and visually

I thought arrested development was funny but not quite hitting the notes it thought it was or something, the first time I watched it. I did think it got better, as it went on, though--the funniness came from the repetition of situations/allusions to previous incidents and recurring jokes. so, once it had some good things to repeat/previous good things to allude to and good jokes that could recur, it improved. watched it all, again, recently, and I think it v funny and well done, now

― RJG, Thursday, 10 May 2007 13:30 (seventeen years ago) link

Nana Moon as Wolfie's mother in law is fab. "hello foxy".

― stevie, Thursday, 10 May 2007 13:30 (seventeen years ago) link

Fawlty Towers is just as ingratiated as Porridge if not more so.

More so, I'd say

― Tom D., Thursday, 10 May 2007 13:31 (seventeen years ago) link

AD gets funnier every time you watch it.

― stevie, Thursday, 10 May 2007 13:31 (seventeen years ago) link

I obviously haven't watched enough of it

― Tom D., Thursday, 10 May 2007 13:32 (seventeen years ago) link

Nana Moon as Wolfie's mother in law is fab. "hello foxy".

Yes, that was good

― Tom D., Thursday, 10 May 2007 13:32 (seventeen years ago) link

Citizen Smith wasn't great but Peter Vaughn was, as he is in pretty much everything.

Agreed, which is why it was doubly poor once Tony Steedman replaced him.

I may be too harsh on JGF. This is another theme song I sing around the house to amuse 2-y-o and distress wife.

― Michael Jones, Thursday, 10 May 2007 13:32 (seventeen years ago) link

no way

-- That one guy that quit

Quitney, Fawlty is the 'Sgt. Pepper' here. tops sitcom lists as much as Porridge if not more so, has mythical status because it was only two series. it's just as rockist a choice as the older shows.

i like it as much as Porridge.

― blueski, Thursday, 10 May 2007 13:32 (seventeen years ago) link

reggie perrin is just so fabulously tragic. chunks of it aren't all that great - some of the other actors are dreadful, the pacing seems off to me, the climax rushed - but the story itself is so good, and the central performance so staggeringly perfect, you forgive it all.

― stevie, Thursday, 10 May 2007 13:33 (seventeen years ago) link

I don't know if I can forgive the whole of the last series though

― Tom D., Thursday, 10 May 2007 13:34 (seventeen years ago) link

i wasn't talking scrubs = friends as "cultural phenomenon" i was talking about how it used and who it used by. "comedy" isn't always "used" primarily for the jokes. lack of Smack the Pony on list is interesting.

― acrobat, Thursday, 10 May 2007 13:34 (seventeen years ago) link

Scrubs IS like Friends in that it's all about the jokes. I forgive them a lot of shit because they've got a bunch of dudes throwing in gags that would be funny in any show (as Friends also showed).

To like Friends but not Scrubs seems absurd to me.

― blueski, Thursday, 10 May 2007 13:34 (seventeen years ago) link

the xposts here are drivin me mad

― blueski, Thursday, 10 May 2007 13:34 (seventeen years ago) link

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