Ben
Jane Asher
Posts: 169
|
Post by Ben on Nov 26, 2006 19:18:00 GMT
Thinking about British sitcoms, most of them were pretty dire. In a pure stream-of-consciousness rambling post, here's some of the worst. There's probably others, but my memory has suppressed them, probably for good reason.
No Place Like Home
Archetypal 80's suburban piece, featuring a middle-aged married couple, Arthur and Beryl, whose four grown-up children kept returning home after making a total mess of their adult lives. Featured the requisite annoying "wacky" neighbour, the endlessly shrieking Vera. Amazingly, this was a first TV gig for Martin Clunes.
Bread
Liverpool. The great city that gave us the three B's - Beatles, Blackstuff and Brookside. All that goodwill built up is swiftly evaporated with this pack of scallys and scroungers, the Boswell family, with their histrionics and unfunny catchphrases. Probably the most irritating was Joey, an alleged favourite with the mums with his black leather trousers, blonde mullet and utterings of "Greetings!" Although the monstrous mother, played by Jean Boht, comes pretty close.
Bottle Boys
With Robin "Confessions Of A Window Cleaner" Askwith as a milkman. TV which makes you lose the will to live.
Last Of The Summer Wine
Sunday night hardy perennial with a gentle, practically flatlining pace and Yorkshire setting. Absolutely chronic. A big favourite, allegedly, with people in nursing homes.
Terry And June
A waste of the wonderful June Whitfield - and also of Terry Scott.
Duty Free
Time-lapse sitcom that managed to string out a two week Spanish package holiday for about five years.
Agony
An agony aunt who can't sort out her life, with the usual "hilarious" consequences. I generally find that agony is induced by anything starring Maureen Lipman.
Keeping Up Appearances
Patricia Routledge, who really should've stuck to being Alan Bennett's muse, guerns throughout her turn as social climber Hyacinth Bucket, without any danger of being funny at all.
Fresh Fields
Another "change of life" sitcom with Julia McKenzie and Anton Rodgers as another middle-aged couple and their tedious exploits. The series anticipated A Year In Provence by having the couple move to France - and call itself French Fields - managing, against all odds, to be even worse.
May To December
It's Anton Rodgers in the frame again as he plays a middle-aged solicitor who - shock, horror! - falls for a woman half his age. More generation gap difficulties ensue, and the series is made unwatchable thanks to an irritating, shrill bimbo secretary, entering the scene with the immortal catchphrase "It's me, Hilary!", a brilliant soundbite that inexplicably failed to catch on.
Post your crap sitcom memories here!!
|
|
|
Post by Bungle on Nov 26, 2006 19:39:22 GMT
I've never seen it, but Come Back Mrs Noah, starring Mollie Sugden, is often cited as 'worst sitcom ever'.
From Wikipedia:
In 2050, a British housewife called Gertrude Noah won a cookery competition, and the prize was a tour of Britannia Seven, the UK's new Space Exploration Vehicle. In the pilot episode, the craft was accidentally sent blasting off into space with Mrs Noah and a small crew on it. The series then centred on efforts to bring Mrs Noah back down to Earth. The news bulletins on Earth, read by Gorden Kaye, provided what some say were the funniest lines in the programme, revealing countries like the USA and Germany had to turn to Britain, the most successful nation on Earth, for help.
Kinvig is a steaming turd of a show, although recent revisionism seems to have upped its reputation. No doubt the recent DVD release will soon see to that.
|
|
|
Post by xenomaniac on Nov 26, 2006 19:55:05 GMT
Keeping Up AppearancesPatricia Routledge, who really should've stuck to being Alan Bennett's muse, guerns throughout her turn as social climber Hyacinth Bucket, without any danger of being funny at all. Are you mad? This is one of my favourite sitcoms. God bless BBC1 for Allo Allo/Keeping up Appearances double bills on Sundays.
|
|
|
Post by Rad on Nov 26, 2006 19:57:58 GMT
oy! most of the above were fucking ace! (or they were to me as a 6-12yr old during the era of the sitcom) I smell snobbery!
I've never heard of that mollie sugden thing, but lets campaign for reruns/a dvd-it sounds amazing!
|
|
Ben
Jane Asher
Posts: 169
|
Post by Ben on Nov 26, 2006 20:35:20 GMT
Keeping Up AppearancesPatricia Routledge, who really should've stuck to being Alan Bennett's muse, guerns throughout her turn as social climber Hyacinth Bucket, without any danger of being funny at all. Are you mad? This is one of my favourite sitcoms. God bless BBC1 for Allo Allo/Keeping up Appearances double bills on Sundays. Sorry but I thought it was appalling. You only have to look at Alan Bennett's Talking Heads plays to realise that Patricia Routledge can act, so I don't know what went wrong there.
|
|
Ben
Jane Asher
Posts: 169
|
Post by Ben on Nov 26, 2006 20:35:56 GMT
Kinvig is a steaming turd of a show, although recent revisionism seems to have upped its reputation. No doubt the recent DVD release will soon see to that. Kinvig is shit, I do concur.
|
|
Ben
Jane Asher
Posts: 169
|
Post by Ben on Nov 26, 2006 20:38:02 GMT
oy! most of the above were fucking ace! (or they were to me as a 6-12yr old during the era of the sitcom) I smell snobbery! Well if I'd wanted to go down the lazy PC snob revisionist route, I'd have picked some easier targets: On The Buses, Love Thy Neighbour, Mind Your Language.... Remove the rose-tinted glasses and quite a lot of BBC/ITV sitcoms of yesteryear were pretty dire.
|
|
|
Post by Bungle on Nov 26, 2006 23:54:16 GMT
Kinvig is a steaming turd of a show, although recent revisionism seems to have upped its reputation. No doubt the recent DVD release will soon see to that. Kinvig is shit, I do concur. (This may sound rather self-obsessed if you're easily impressed) I get a 'Thanks' in the booklet contained in the Kinvig DVD. I still have no real idea how or why, as all I have ever said about it is 'it's a pile of shit, and you're a fool to think otherwise'.
|
|
|
Post by David Hunter on Nov 27, 2006 0:27:17 GMT
You can't list 'Agony'! It was one of the best sitcoms of the time! Plus one of the first TV shows to ever feature a gay couple happily living together (granted one of them did die).
A friend and I still quote lines from this show* and i've always loved the theme tune too.
As for 'Fresh Fields' - obviously not a funny sitcom, but we can still raise a laugh with, 'It's only Sonia!'*
*Yes, it's a laugh a minute round mine!
|
|
booers
Su Pollard
Troppo in love
Posts: 262
|
Post by booers on Nov 27, 2006 10:36:33 GMT
The worst sitcom that I remember was So Haunt Me about a family who lived in a house with a ghost of an old Jewish lady who shrugged her shoulders and said "oy vey" all the time. It was a pile of crap. It was on in the early 90s around the time 2 Point 4 Children started.
The dad in it was Bob from the almighty Rita, Sue and Bob Too (aka BEST FILM EVER) but unfortunately didn't get the chance to have a jump up on t' moors in this pile of poo.
|
|
|
Post by Bungle on Nov 27, 2006 12:17:26 GMT
It's funny, as a young 'un I remember really liking So Haunt Me, but it gets a really bad review in Lewisohn's guide too.
|
|
booers
Su Pollard
Troppo in love
Posts: 262
|
Post by booers on Nov 27, 2006 12:39:30 GMT
Bungle, how old were you at the time? I was about 12 or 13 and even then could see it was wank.
|
|
|
Post by Bungle on Nov 27, 2006 12:46:19 GMT
I was 10.
|
|
|
Post by thelovelykate on Nov 27, 2006 13:28:27 GMT
I anticipate a lot of people disputing this but I always thought 'The Upper Hand' on ITV was rubbish. It had Joe MCGann and some bird who used to be married to Robert Lindsay. Honor Blackman played Joe's hateful, smug, meant to be funny but isn't mother-in-law.
|
|
booers
Su Pollard
Troppo in love
Posts: 262
|
Post by booers on Nov 27, 2006 14:27:00 GMT
I'll let you off then. I bet if you saw it now you'd see it was toss.
|
|
booers
Su Pollard
Troppo in love
Posts: 262
|
Post by booers on Nov 27, 2006 14:40:02 GMT
I anticipate a lot of people disputing this but I always thought 'The Upper Hand' on ITV was rubbish. It had Joe MCGann and some bird who used to be married to Robert Lindsay. Honor Blackman played Joe's hateful, smug, meant to be funny but isn't mother-in-law. I quite liked it, and also its American original Who's The Boss. Both were crap but pretty enjoyable to watch in the whol will they won't they thing but The Upper Hand lost it once Charlie and Caroline did get together and get married. Honor Blackman was fab in it - she was perfect for the role. She wasn't smug in my opinion, just an outgoing, feisty gran.
|
|
Ben
Jane Asher
Posts: 169
|
Post by Ben on Nov 27, 2006 14:40:04 GMT
I anticipate a lot of people disputing this but I always thought 'The Upper Hand' on ITV was rubbish. It had Joe MCGann and some bird who used to be married to Robert Lindsay. Honor Blackman played Joe's hateful, smug, meant to be funny but isn't mother-in-law. Yeah, crap British rip-off of Who's The Boss? - with Katherine Helmond from Soap/ Brazil in the part taken by Honor Blackman. That reminds me... The Golden Girls vs. The Brighton Belles. Ugh...
|
|
Ben
Jane Asher
Posts: 169
|
Post by Ben on Nov 27, 2006 14:41:17 GMT
You can't list 'Agony'! It was one of the best sitcoms of the time! Plus one of the first TV shows to ever feature a gay couple happily living together (granted one of them did die). Okay then, substitute Agony for anything else with Maureen Lipman in it.
|
|
|
Post by jetsetwilly on Nov 27, 2006 15:19:08 GMT
I'm going to defend May to December; I loved this when I was 10/11, and I thought Hilary was fantastic. The programme only went off the boil after Hilary left, when she was replaced by a woman with an incomprehensible Scottish accent. I hated her. It was only when I saw a repeat on Paramount Comedy 2 that I was shocked to see Incomprehensible And Shit Scottish Woman was, in fact, Ashley Jensen from Extras.
And I have fond memories of Agony's follow up Agony Again, because there was one particular episode where her son made a visit to his first gay bar. Being a young gayer myself, I assumed this must be a wonderfully fashionable place, and so I went to the exact same bar. As a result my first experience of the world of the gay bar was Brief Encounter on St Martins Lane. Not so good, but, hey! got me out of the house. And all thanks to Maureen Lipman!
|
|
pops
Jane Asher
Posts: 227
|
Post by pops on Nov 27, 2006 23:05:28 GMT
I used to like May to December too, but must have stopped watching it before the advent of Ashley Jensen. I remember Anton Rogers' daughter and the younger woman he fell in love with were both played by two different actresses at various points though. Clearly only Hilary was irreplacable.
Has anyone seen Watching recently? I used to love it when I was about 11 and still get the theme tune going round in my head from time to time ("it was boredom at first sight, you could hardly call him bright, he was no-one's Mr Right, so what do I see in him?"), but haven't seen it in years. I'm guessing some of Brenda's mulit-colour outfits haven't stood the test of time, but what about the humour?
|
|
|
Post by Bungle on Nov 27, 2006 23:19:30 GMT
It is on DVD, but no, I haven't seen it since it was first shown either.
|
|
booers
Su Pollard
Troppo in love
Posts: 262
|
Post by booers on Nov 28, 2006 10:23:16 GMT
Has anyone seen Watching recently? I used to love it when I was about 11 and still get the theme tune going round in my head from time to time ("it was boredom at first sight, you could hardly call him bright, he was no-one's Mr Right, so what do I see in him?"), but haven't seen it in years. I'm guessing some of Brenda's mulit-colour outfits haven't stood the test of time, but what about the humour? Whilst searching youtube yesterday for that Toffee Crisp ad from the 80s where the people were holding a seance ("are you there Sydney? speak to me") I came across another one from the same campaign where a man is trying to get cash out of a cash point but instead of money out comes a Toffee Crisp wrapper. The man in this ad was Malcolm from watching! (it comes on at 5m25s - but worth watching the whole thing to see some crap old ads!) I didn't find the Toffee Crisp ad I was after by the way.
|
|
|
Post by QuincyMD on Nov 28, 2006 13:11:49 GMT
Still Game - comedy for morons who think saying "Shite" at the end of every line is comedy genius. Lame Ducks- ho ho he's trying to go round the world on a giant inflatable ball. L for Lester - Comedy God Brian Murphy in dreadful Driving Instructor sitcom. Relative Strangers - why Spin off's should never happen. Not with a Bang - Judith Hann destroys the world, hi-larious! A Small Problem - Mike from the Young Ones as a midget terrorist, was even worse than it sounds but did have a very catchy theme tune. Rumble - a wrestling sitcom with the neighbour from Birds of a Feather and Brian Glover, Glover died rather than make a second series. High Street Blues - telly legend Ron Pember in a series about small shopkeepers struggling to survive against the might of a supermarket, the pun in the title was the funniest thing about the show. Bottle Boys - They made 12 episodes of this and then picked the six best to show as the first series, nobody noticed. "Bottle boys, bottle boys, up with the lark. Who cares if it's raining or if it's dark"
|
|
|
Post by Bungle on Nov 28, 2006 13:52:44 GMT
Let us not forget Brighton Belles.
|
|
booers
Su Pollard
Troppo in love
Posts: 262
|
Post by booers on Nov 28, 2006 13:56:18 GMT
Still Game - comedy for morons who think saying "Shite" at the end of every line is comedy genius. Lame Ducks- ho ho he's trying to go round the world on a giant inflatable ball. L for Lester - Comedy God Brian Murphy in dreadful Driving Instructor sitcom. Relative Strangers - why Spin off's should never happen. Not with a Bang - Judith Hann destroys the world, hi-larious! A Small Problem - Mike from the Young Ones as a midget terrorist, was even worse than it sounds but did have a very catchy theme tune. Rumble - a wrestling sitcom with the neighbour from Birds of a Feather and Brian Glover, Glover died rather than make a second series. High Street Blues - telly legend Ron Pember in a series about small shopkeepers struggling to survive against the might of a supermarket, the pun in the title was the funniest thing about the show. Bottle Boys - They made 12 episodes of this and then picked the six best to show as the first series, nobody noticed. "Bottle boys, bottle boys, up with the lark. Who cares if it's raining or if it's dark" i have no recollection of any of them! did you just make them up?!
|
|