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.
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. 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. 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.
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.
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.
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.