American Comedy Vs. British Comedy "TV"

[Angel4576]

Guy Gardener wrote:

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HD of Compo?

Better still, Nora Batty......!

[Guy Gardener]

Good Lord!

A new season of Yes Minister started this evening!

Zoe Telford makes me weak at the knees.

I knew that Nigel was dead, but Paul's passing snuck by me.

It's odd that they recast rather than invent new characters surely?

Zooooooooeeeeeeeeeee.

[JoeZhang]

Asbo Zaprudder wrote:

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I wonder why the Americans never took to Last of the Summer Wine - it certainly had a heck of a lot of episodes compare to the usual British comedy show - 295 in all. Perhaps it was the accents/dialects, insufficient cultural overlap, or perhaps it was because it was the same old jokes, repeated again and again and again...

Some of the cast got so old that towards the end, they used doubles for "walking fast" and the like.

[Random_Spock]

Chaos Descending wrote:

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American and Britain each have their gems. Some British stuff sucks, and some awesome. Same with the US.

That's how I feel about both as well. Some shows like, 'Frasier' (US comedy) are really good and others aren't so much.

As for British comedies, I really like 'Keeping up Appearances' -- it really cracks me up , especially since I know people who are kind of like Hyacinth, 'As Time Goes By', 'The Vicar of Dibley' <-- really loved this show -- everyone character wise cracked me up and for the most part the writing was top notch.

Hyfen_Underskor wrote:

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The brits have put out duds for sure. I think there are a number of strengths they have that we don't.

1. Not afraid to use senior actors/actresses as leading characters (Waiting For God, As Time Goes By, Keeping Up Appearances), which tends to remove barriers of having to look good in every shot (Friends, and the equivalents thereof).

2. They've been able to pull off some Sci-Fi comedies (Red Dwarf, HHGTTG, and yes, I would include Doctor Who). The closest we've done that I can think of is Third Rock From The Sun, which I have a strange hunch was not that funny ( I never really watched it).

3. A show not designated as a comedy can be very funny (Doctor Who, Rumpole Of The Bailey).

4. The ability to pull off historical themes. The brits were able to produce a successful renaissance era comedy (The Black Adder). We haven't produced any comedy westerns, or pilgrim/founding father comedies. I have to admit though, that the Brits attempted another Renaissance era comedy that was a flop.

5. I don't think we have anything like Monty Python's Flying Circus.

1. Not afraid to use senior actors/actresses as leading characters (Waiting For God, As Time Goes By, Keeping Up Appearances), which tends to remove barriers of having to look good in every shot (Friends, and the equivalents thereof).

American comedy did this back in the 1980's to the 1990's with the Golden Girls (really loved that show, it's one of my all time favorite comedies). But the British have done it more often. American comedies don't have as many older people in up front roles as they do.

3. A show not designated as a comedy can be very funny (Doctor Who, Rumpole Of The Bailey).

Definitely. Inspector Morse had its funny moments, along with Inspector Lewis, A Touch of Frost did as well -- heck it's one of my favorite British shows due to it . Jack never failed at making me laugh out loud some times.

[Hyfen_Underskor]

I forgot about The Golden Girls.

The British mini-series I' Claudius, which had a lot of tragedy and brutality, had a strange humor throughout the series. Particularly John Hurt as Caligula. His hyper-arrogance and effeminate mannerisms came across quite comical.

Another funny Brit-com was Chef.

[gblews]

I just have not seen many British sitcoms that I'v liked, except for Ricky Gervais' "Extras". That show used to have me in stitches. I caught every episode and sadly lamented it's death. weird though, I saw some of his original Office episodes and still prefer the American version. I saw Couples and part of an episode of Red Dwarf and neither grabbed me.

But I do plan on checking out some of the shows mentioned here on Netflix. I prefer subtle, but am not totally opposed to broad comedy. Any suggestions welcome.

[MacLeod]

Well it all depends on which episode of Red Dwarf you caught, some are better than others. Season 5 of RD is widely regarded as one of it's best.