Careful now, saying things like this apparently means you "don't get comedy" according to fans of the show. Agree with you here, but I think the general view of CYE is that it sticks to Stevem's description of "everyone else is dumb except me". Poor Larry David with all his money and success, he's just misunderstood. Imagine recasting his character as some top British TV exec - guffaws ensue? Perhaps not unless he is turned into a fat bungling fuckwit who twats up every job he does by being a genuine plonker.
Malcolm In The Middle is NOT supposed to be poor what the frig man!
― dog latin (dog latin), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 15:44 (seventeen years ago) link
― dog latin (dog latin), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 15:48 (seventeen years ago) link
― Konal Doddz (blueski), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 15:49 (seventeen years ago) link
― dog latin (dog latin), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 15:52 (seventeen years ago) link
-- Konal Doddz (stevem7...), May 30th, 2006 12:42 PM. (blueski) (later) (link)
Um, is that the only episode you watched? 'Cause the poor thing is pretty obvious. The mom works in a Rite-Aid clone, for Chrissakes.
And Michael was better than the rest of his family, but not by much. He was still stubborn and fairly arrogant and a pretty bad father.
― Jessie the Monster (scarymonsterrr), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 15:52 (seventeen years ago) link
― dog latin (dog latin), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 15:55 (seventeen years ago) link
Have you ever WATCHED the show? WTF
― JW (ex machina), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 16:13 (seventeen years ago) link
Um didn't you say upthread you've never watched Arrested Development?
― Jessie the Monster (scarymonsterrr), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 16:21 (seventeen years ago) link
― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 16:22 (seventeen years ago) link
Oh, doglatinpaws.
Much as you can't say "all British/American comedy is like this because I haven't seen lots of it, and will just mention the ones that fit into my argument and hope no-one notices", you also can't use "but it's *alternative* therefore it doesn't count anyway" as a get-out clause either.
I was being sarcastic with the "compare Time Gentlemen Please" to "Cheers". They bear no resemblence to each other bar (pardon the pun) their setting. Same goes with Scrubs and Green Wing.
the comedy does come from the fact he and his family are caricatures of a certain type of family - it's actually a very British thing to do in fact rather than relying on witty one-liners and comebacks for comedy.
Couple this with the "no sitcoms really about poor Americans (except the ones we've already told you about which don't count because you've never seen them)" and I'll just point out to you there's a whole thread on New Answers just now about Married With Children. (which, incidentally, was remade for a British audience and was shite, despite being one of your typical British sitcoms.
― ailsa (ailsa), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 18:28 (seventeen years ago) link
― chap who would dare to be a nerd, not a geek (chap), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 18:34 (seventeen years ago) link
― and what (ooo), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 18:51 (seventeen years ago) link
― s1ocki (slutsky), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 18:55 (seventeen years ago) link
― ailsa (ailsa), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 18:57 (seventeen years ago) link
You are supposed to identify with Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, but you're not supposed to like them. If you see the shows through the prism of class, you completely misunderstand them - they are morality plays.
Frasier's Dad is absolutely not the only characeter audience members are meant to identify with
dog latin is totally off the money as to the actual situation of characters in US vs UK coms, but he does somewhat accurately identify a difference in attitudes sold to the different national audiences - Americans more often want to give reality the promising sheen of upward mobility (thus the at least (but not complete) semi-fantasy of Friends), or a light treatment of the ironies of reality, while Britons more often reward a flatter, more malcontented, pessimistic vibe.
You could say that US comedy is about people making a pigs ear of a good situation while Brticom is about people trying earnestly to make the best out of a bad one.
perhaps, but I can easily think of Brit contra examples. As Time Goes By, in many respects. Even Fawlty Towers.
― gabbneb (gabbneb), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 18:57 (seventeen years ago) link
― Konal Doddz (blueski), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 19:31 (seventeen years ago) link
― ailsa (ailsa), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 19:52 (seventeen years ago) link
I've seen My Name Is Earl a few times, and I think he won the lottery but then got hit by a car and lost the winning ticket, so he never received the money. So he's not rich at all, just into karma. I might be wrong about this, though, as I don't pay much attention.
― Teh HoBBercraft (the pirate king), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 21:24 (seventeen years ago) link
If you look at it that way, the Modern World is Archie Bunker's hell in "All in the Family." He's definitely the protagonist, even if he's neither a hero nor an anti-hero. He's clearly an unsympathetic character, usually wrong about everything, but it's clearly his hell.
That would also interestingly make "Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C." Sgt. Carter's hell, as well as making "Dennis the Menace" Mr. Mitchell's hell. "Mary Tyler Moore" is Lou Grant's hell. I'd prefer to look at it that way.
"Family Ties" would be Jennifer's (Tina Yothers) hell. Hippy parents, Reaganite brother, Valley-girl sister. Everything is so clear now. Not that it was particlarly funny as much as "endearing."
Best of all, "The Brady Bunch" is now re-situated as Alice's hell. Maybe it's her salvation, having a family (cf ep where she quits because of the kids), but as far as that goes it's pretty bleak. She's the only funny character in the show, so QED or whatever.
The inverse might be protagonists who are knowing-but-often-removed observers of other people's hell(s). "Seinfeld," for one, particularly that ep where Elaine and George switch fates, but Jerry remains "Even Steven." "The Andy Griffith Show," "The Cosby Show," probably most shows named after the lead actor fall into this category. Except "Newhart." It's his hell.
― slugbuggy (slugbuggy), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 22:46 (seventeen years ago) link
― Abbott (Abbott), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 22:52 (seventeen years ago) link
― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 22:55 (seventeen years ago) link
King of Queens, That 70s Show, American Dad...
― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 22:57 (seventeen years ago) link
― and what (ooo), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 23:04 (seventeen years ago) link
and loads of brit ones about the upper middle class (Good life, EDC, Butteflies) and the wealthy (Yes Minister, To the manor born). this thread is ridiculous.
― jed_ (jed), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 01:02 (seventeen years ago) link
― Q('.'Q) (eman), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 01:34 (seventeen years ago) link
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/cb/Gimmeabreak.jpg
― Q('.'Q) (eman), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 01:36 (seventeen years ago) link
― milo z (mlp), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 01:36 (seventeen years ago) link
― milo z (mlp), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 01:38 (seventeen years ago) link
― milo z (mlp), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 01:41 (seventeen years ago) link
― Q('.'Q) (eman), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 01:47 (seventeen years ago) link
― accentmonkey (accentmonkey), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 06:04 (seventeen years ago) link
― Fred Nerk (Fred Nerk), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 06:07 (seventeen years ago) link
― kingfish doesn't live here anymore (kingfish 2.0), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 06:12 (seventeen years ago) link
Answer, btw, to "where does...fit into this?" is "it doesn't". Doglatin is pretty much talking pish from a fairly uninformed standpoint.
― ailsa (ailsa), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 06:23 (seventeen years ago) link
― kingfish doesn't live here anymore (kingfish 2.0), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 06:29 (seventeen years ago) link
No, he does have the money. What happened was, he got the winning ticket, then he got hit by the car and lost the ticket. Then, while he was in hospital, he saw Carson Daly on the telly talking about karma, so he made his list, and when he fixed the very first thing on his list (I forget what it was), he found the ticket and collected the money. And now he's using the money to fix all the bad things he did because if he doesn't, karma will take the money away from him again.
― accentmonkey (accentmonkey), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 07:53 (seventeen years ago) link
― ailsa (ailsa), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 07:59 (seventeen years ago) link
― accentmonkey (accentmonkey), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 08:01 (seventeen years ago) link
also Cheers.
― Q('.'Q) (eman), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 11:20 (seventeen years ago) link
― i am not a nugget (stevie), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 11:49 (seventeen years ago) link
― i am not a nugget (stevie), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 11:50 (seventeen years ago) link
― milo z (mlp), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 18:23 (seventeen years ago) link
― Jessie the Monster (scarymonsterrr), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 18:39 (seventeen years ago) link
― kingfish doesn't live here anymore (kingfish 2.0), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 18:43 (seventeen years ago) link
― milo z (mlp), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 18:46 (seventeen years ago) link