Brit-Coms anyone?

[AnalogDigit]

Monty Python I grew up watching, along with Are You Being Served? I also really liked Faulty Towers, the funnest sitcom ever made and Black Adder. Does anyone remember Dave Allen at Large?

[eteller]

Grew up on Benny Hill, love Coupling and Top Gear!! On a different note anyone watch "Wire in the Blood", best crime drama ever. BTW netflix is great for this stuff, get the entire seasons of what you want.

[Jon_Logan]

I have to +1 on The Office, although I disagree that the American version sucks. I usuall worry about an Americanised version, but the American version stands on it's own.

Ab Fab was great. I was especially worried about an American version of this one. I heard that Roseane Barr bought the rights and was going to develop an American version. Glad that didn't happen... .......so far.

Falwty Towers? ......God, that could never be duplicated. It's too Cleesey.

[grumpy]

Are you being served
Graham Norton
Young ones
Benny hill
Top gear

And my all time fav Absolutely fabulous.

I watch more brit TV then US.

[Jack Lord]

Originally Posted by Celt

Yes, that's Daisy's husband, Onslow. He's my favorite.

The dude is a trip. Did you know that the same actor did Paul's voice in Yellow Submarine?

[Brian]

The Brit sit-coms and mysteries are about the only reason we've not disconnected the cable. Oh, and Murder She Wrote. The satellite systems I'm not sure get them. None of the over the air channels do. I could live without them and red a good book but wifely loves the mysteries and we both enjoy the sit-coms though we each like differing menus.

The house identifies wifey with a certain character on Keeping Up Appearances and recently when wifey took off for 4 days to see a friend I did a little house reno and changed the door bell with the new one emulating the famous tone of Mrs. Bucket's. The neighbors loved it but, she who must be obeyed (Rumpole of the Baily) had other thoughts and sentiments.

[dr*audio]

Has anyone seen "The IT Crowd?" It is hysterical. You can watch some of the episodes on YouTube if you can't get it on cable.

[Crunch]

Originally Posted by prisoners

..... Extras (also with Ricky Gervais) is very funny as well.

Agreed, Extras is funny. I've been renting that one from netflix lately.

[RobShaz]

Originally Posted by Darkspeed

Wrong. The US version bites. Lacks the original subtleties in the David Brent character as well as any GOOD humour whatsoever. How could you even compare!!!!!!! Thread closed?

Kidding. But I prefer the UK one. I hate bad American rip-off versions.

Interesting how opinion on this is divided. I'm British and tend to, without thinking or trying, be anti-American in many ways. And I'm pretty well versed on the history of UK comedy, the actors and writers involved and the general quality of each [1]. Yet, I just found the US Office to be so much more engaging/involving. Brent is not a likeable character on any level (especially his intentions), which limits the appeal of the show since he is the central character. Scott is likeable, because he has a childlike innocence. You find yourself /siding/ with him which makes all the schemes even more hilarious and in many cases, touching in a comitragedy kind of way. It's an anomaly because usually a US version of a UK show can only reproduce one level, usually the one liners. There are many degrees of subtlety, hidden in the rich regional culture, in the best British comedies. The UK Office is pretty one-dimensional. You dislike "these guys" and you like "these guys". The US one, you pretty much like everyone on varying levels for various reasons[2], no matter how insane or stupid they are (many women all love Kelly and I, personally, think Dwight is quite brilliant). The plot is so much richer as a result. The US Office went on to run much longer and for at least three (long) seasons, just got better and better. The UK one was very short yet you couldn't even sustain it beyond where it went.

[1] Are You Being Served? is pretty famous for being utterly terrible. Keeping Up Appearances likewise isn't actually that good at all (even though I did watch it all originally when I was about 7 years old). And Last Of The Summer Wine has amazing scenery, but I can't see the appeal to anyone under the age of 70. It's 30 years of programming about three old guys wandering around doing stupid things with bikes and falling into bushes.

[2] Dark and depressing may appear to be what makes many British comedies, but it's always based on character-driven humour, and the characters themselves are always people you get behind, regardless of how insane they are. There are obvious examples.

[Mystic]

Originally Posted by mhardy6647

Red Dwarf

A most excellent television programme.

[Mystic]

Also quite fond of:

The Royle Family
Black Books
The League Of Gentlemen

Still waiting & hoping to see The Brittas Empire.

[Artie]

There's so many, that you all have listed, that I've never seen. (Or heard of.) I'll have to see what I can find for rental, perhaps.

BTW: anyone remember that god-awful rip-off of Fawlty Towers that America tried to do? Can't remember the name, but it was complete bomb. The sad thing is, it starred John Larroquette as Mr Fawlty, whom I love as a comedian. (John, that is.) It was just a bad idea.

[VinylHanger]

I love Coupling, just funny stuff. My all time favorite though is The Thin Blue Line. I about fall out of my chair every time I watch it.

[BobHicks]

I remember most of the ones mentioned and loveed them all. You guys have reminded of of some I haven't seen for a long long time so I will now have to go back to my favourite website "thebox" (only has British TV shows and nothing else) and get a few more to relive. I remeber one called "Some Mothers Do 'ave em" that used to make me laugh like crazy. Of course my favourit Brittish TV is any and all Doctor Who.

[steerpike2]

Another one I liked very much was "Kiss me Kate" (no connection whatsoever to the stage musical), the author of which was nabbed not so long ago for collecting kiddie porn!

You might also want to search out the TV shows of Victoria Wood - my all time favourite stand-up. And if you like that, look up "French & Saunders".