Rolling UK Comedy Thread - "Ricky Don't Lose Larry David's Number

oh for the love of god why?

xpost

'You're only interested in Jesus because you haven't got a boyfriend.'

HARSH!

haha xpost

mind-boggling that Phillips link

oh for the love of god why?

because the BBC insist/demand a second series of all their comedy shows - refusal to comply has srs consequence. well done to Jessica Stephenson for having the balls to stand up to them and say no i say.

we need more religious Brit ILXors to defend her, this has turned pretty one-way pretty quickly

What on earth is the reasoning behind the two season rule at the Beeb? It's obviously not for selling-to-the-US reasons... is it a DVD thing?

maybe, it's a "it might get better in the second series and become a hit like what only fools and horses did" thing thatcherkid

maybe just banal face-saving exercise ala 'look it can't be THAT bad if it got a second series' and it satisfied their VERY LOW ratings expectations. i think they have relatively huge comedy budget burning hole in their pocket because they're required 'to entertain' and this stuff IS so cheap to produce (one or two writers, mostly indoors, only 3 hours of finished material). nobody is going to harass them for not being funny enough because the 'competition' are no better.

That Phillips piece is hilarious.

I started seeing evidence that I believed: when people cast spells things happened, and when Buddhists chanted things happened you wouldn't expect. So that was a bit worrying. And more so to discover that Satanists appeared to exist. I thought that was all rubbish, but I was uncomfortable with the idea that some people are actively supporting the other side. Even if it was all rubbish, it would be nice if there were people supporting the right side as well, just in case.

I wonder what she was expecting?

How much do you get for writing a 10pm BBC2 sitcom, d'ya think?

Loadsamoney.

channel 4 has peep show, star stories, it crowd, nathan barley (both have 2nd runs forthcoming) i guess. listed like that it's kinda depressing.

because the BBC insist/demand a second series of all their comedy shows - refusal to comply has srs consequence. well done to Jessica Stephenson for having the balls to stand up to them and say no i say.

-- blueski, Wednesday, August 15, 2007 4:03 PM (14 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

they *changed her name*, which was pretty harsh.

xpost

nathan barley pisses all over hyperdrive, still game, saxondale, etc.

Peep Show must be on it's 4th series by now I think. I lost count after 1.

Actually I was watching Swiss Toni series 2 on DVD and found it pretty funny, and funnier than series 1. This may not be saying much.

'You're only interested in Jesus because you haven't got a boyfriend.'
'You're only interested in Jesus because you haven't got a boyfriend.'
'You're only interested in Jesus because you haven't got a boyfriend.'
'You're only interested in Jesus because you haven't got a boyfriend.'
'You're only interested in Jesus because you haven't got a boyfriend.'
'You're only interested in Jesus because you haven't got a boyfriend.'
'You're only interested in Jesus because you haven't got a boyfriend.'

nathan barley is MUCH funnier now than it was when it was on the telly.

xp

i have been told it's £3000 to write an episode of hollyoaks. i may have been misinformed. a days speaking part on dr who is a bit under a grand with dvd royalties at a later date.

so, er, work it out from that.

holy crap, that's loads.

one thing Still Game and Hyperdrive have sort of got right: lead characters are pretty likeable even loveable (altho Nick Frost's safe persona has got boring perhaps)

because the BBC insist/demand a second series of all their comedy shows - refusal to comply has srs consequence. well done to Jessica Stephenson for having the balls to stand up to them and say no i say.

-- blueski, Wednesday, August 15, 2007 4:03 PM (23 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

and chris langham amirite

Altho Bex seemed likeable enough also - maybe it's just more difficult when the lead character is a woman (IT Crowd lass also likeable I think). And different rules apply to early evening sitcoms (people don't watch them expecting riotous hilarity, just something light-hearted to help your dinner go down).

nathan barley pisses all over hyperdrive, still game, saxondale, etc.

-- That one guy that hit it and quit it, Wednesday, 15 August 2007 15:19

i didn't know you huffed glue, how's that working out for you?

hyperdrive is a moderate giggle, still game and saxondale are two of the only things to force yourself to remember to watch.

Gervais being billed above Robert De Niro will do his ego the world of good...

At least he should be spending most of the film dead - not that stops his character, though.

force yourself to remember to watch

wow, appointment TV still exists? who knew?

if you have to force yourself...

even if a show is quite funny i find i'm not that bothered about it/won't go out of my way to see it. i only ever watched all the US animated shows on a casual basis anyway (the Simpsons was pretty unavoidable back when i had Sky anyway). combo of age, jadedness and plateau/nosedive of the medium maybe (applies to lots of music and other art too wah kill me now).

i don't think tv's worse than it was -- even if there aren't many comedy shows i like now it's not like it was ever overbrimming with gold. it only takes a few really good shows to make something look like a golden age.

"if you have to force yourself..."

i kind of have to force myself to watch anything on telly when i could be doing something else (why don't you..). what i meant was inertia vs the rewards you get from the show. actually switching the box on is an effort for me.

hmm i dunno i guess it's easy to be revisionist but is there really anything of the quality of father ted or the day today or i'm alan partridge or blah, blah around at the moment?

nathan barley and peep show are the closest we have to genius, peep show actually attains genius at times.

THE THICK OF IT, why do i keep forgetting, now that's the best thing atm

i.e. it is flat-out genius

no -- but they occupied 30 minutes a week for six weeks, and TDT ran for only six weeks in total. IAP ran in two separate years widely spaced apart. FT was about three series in four years. so TV as a whole wasn't upturned by their presence.

xpost

obviously i do see the mid-late 90s as a golden age, but you gotta fight that.

okay i have no idea if i'm going to get laughed at but the nicholas craig shows on bbc4 ie how to be edwardian, how to be science fiction, the mark lawson interview, have been the funniest things in ages and definitely on a par with early partridge.

oh yeh forgot peep show. no way is the thick of it genius tho.

part of what makes a golden age is the feeling that you're not in a tiny minority of smug media-savvy bbc4-watchers too, and while i do think 'the thick of it' is up there with the 90s stuff i mentioned (though i do think it's mean-spirited but those are the times we live in ;_;), i'm conscious it doesn't have that 'quoting it in the playground the next morning' vibe. granted i'm not at school, but i mean, people at work and even people i like don't know what the hell it is. likewise 'nathan barley', which is somewhat esoteric.

'peep show' is getting more popular as it gets more shit, and again i often find it more depressing than funny.

The Thick of It is great, I forgot that but, but it doesn't make me laff that much. It's a neat little send up of modern politics but no way is it The Greatest Sitcom Since Fawlty Towers (TM Alison Graham)It'll have two or three killers an episode but not Police Squad bang, bang jokes, bruv. Family Guy does. TV Burp does as well but that really should be an entree not a main course.

There's something about the name of that massive If You Don't Like Peep Show You Are Probably Not Worth Knowing facebook group that makes me think that is the perfect sitcom for our crypto-tory shitbag generation.

i'm not saying TV's worse - quality is constant because new problems replace the old ones.

there was a good thing on BBC Four about TV in 1974 a few weeks back. Unfortunately the clips they showed of Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads made it look a rather worthy (Bolam sighs at sight of demolished factory etc.), boring affair with stifled laughter to match. Surely not the case.

"part of what makes a golden age is the feeling that you're not in a tiny minority of smug media-savvy bbc4-watchers too"

i'm not taking offense as such but i never mentioned anything about no golden age which i think is ridiculous anyway (in this context), what makes you think bbc-4 watchers are tech-savvy i'm certainly not in fact most of them are prob middle aged with string round their glasses, and "smug" ? bit douchey, no?

There's something about the name of that massive If You Don't Like Peep Show You Are Probably Not Worth Knowing facebook group that makes me think that is the perfect sitcom for our crypto-tory shitbag generation.

-- acrobat, Wednesday, August 15, 2007 5:08 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Link

yeah 100% otm. i hadn't realized this till recently when it got really massive. the jokes have become more sour over the last two series also, as mark as become the central character and jeremy the tosspot.

xpost i was talking about me and mine, frogman.

in any case, when the day today came out, did you not feel part of a clique/minority watching this tremendous/slightly overlooked thing at 10pm on bbc2? smug, perhaps?

possibly -- but not with 'father ted' or 'brass eye' or 'i'm alan partridge'.

or 'the smell of reeves and mortimer'!

imo Malcolm Tucker and Ollie are more likeable than Mark and Jeremy. maybe it's because they're such high status clever bastards (Tucker at least) and actually succeed most of the time. British comedy penchant for irritating losers really not a plus point.

'i'm alan partridge' was smug-inducing. brass eye was alienating to a lot of people. father ted was a legtimate universal sitcom tho.

ban anyone who uses the words 'smug' or 'genius' on this thread.

blueski banned!!!111