Posted on 02/25/2016 5:15:42 PM PST by chasio649
Yeah, that one, too. ;)
I was just making sure you knew it was a comedy, not a medical show. You seemed confused.
Fairly Secret Army didn’t get very far. It was supposedly a spinoff of Reggie Perrin with Jimmy the former catering officer.
He and his cohorts were going to save England when the balloon went up.
Ah, I see you know my aunt...must’ve watched In The Loop half a dozen times by now and it still cracks me up. Brilliant stuff!
He does care, it's just he is getting exasperated by trying to keep a village of idiots alive, and they are not helping.
My favourite scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALZZx1xmAzg
..racialists, paki bashers, queer bashers, chink bashers, basher bashers ... fascists, neo-fascists, cryptoo-fascists, loyalists, neo-loyalists, crypto-loyalists...
It’s funny but that situation has been reversed, in the 1970s US comedy shows were sickly, cloying, unfunny, twee rubbish, while British comedy was sharp, witty, intelligent and cutting edge.
I would go as far as to say that you could actually apply that to US TV in general compared to British TV.
Now however that situation has been largely reversed, now US comedy and TV in general is much funnier, better written, more intelligent and more challenging than UK TV, which is now tiresome, flat, PC-obsessed and predictable.
I do realise that given the politics and themes of many US TV series today many here in FR wouldn’t like them but give me Larry Sanders or Breaking Bad any day before any of the pap (Downton Abbey?) produced by the UK.
I don’t fully agree.
I get your point and sort of semi-agree, but the UK still produces some great comedy like Toast of London. As to TV in general, again sort of. In fact, US vs UK tv is a bugbear of mine, esp the sneery UK critics who fawn over everything US.
Yes, US tv has been very good to superb over the last 20-25 yrs, but before was either poor or disposable, with the occasional gem. Britain had the best TV in the world, and we made the US raise its game, just as the US has made us raise ours. Also the sheer quality of European TV has made the UK raise its game, some might argue its been more influential than the US. Personally I think both the US and Europe has done so, add to that some superb Canadian and Aussie series.
Its worth remembering that we see only the best of US tv, whereas we see all the dross and the gems of our own. They have just as much if not more dross than we do. IMO we still overall have a better standard of television in the UK. Across drama, comedy, documentaries and all genres of TV. Also some of the US shows, although most do, don’t catch fire here. House, Seinfeld and others being classic examples.
As to quality, sorry but imo, whilst the quality of UK tv dropped a few years ago, it has raised its game again, esp in drama. And there is a long list of current and ‘recent’ (which can mean anything from last year back to the 90s/00s) British shows that I would put against any American show.
Britain still make some brilliant TV, brilliant drama. I agree the comedy quality has dropped, but I still love Toast of London, Inside No 9 (and anything by the League of Gentlemen group) and Plebs (which is crude but very funny) and one of two others.
That’s the difference between cable TV and broadcast TV in the US. Broadcast is largely unwatchable while cable is breaking new ground.
I still tend to love old Brit shows to modern....Just relaxes me so!
And you do re3alise Downton Abbey is tailored and aimed at the US market?
Chef!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chef!
And one that hasnt been mentioned in this thread. This is a particular favorite of mine
Goodnight Sweetheart
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodnight_Sweetheart_(TV_series)
Goodnight Sweetheart is a British sitcom that ran for six series on BBC1 from 1993 to 1999. It starred Nicholas Lyndhurst as Gary Sparrow, an accidental time traveller who leads a double life after discovering a time portal allowing him to travel between the London of the 1990s and the same area during the Second World War.
Gary Sparrow is a somewhat disillusioned TV repairman, in a drab marriage with his ambitious wife Yvonne, and best friends with Ron, a printer whose marriage is on the brink of breakdown. While on a TV repair call-out in East London, Gary accidentally discovers atime portal which leads to war time London. There he meets Phoebe, a pretty barmaid who works in the Royal Oak pub, and Reg Deadman, a dim-witted but friendly policeman.
Gary strikes up a friendship with Phoebe, and makes repeated trips through the time portal, gradually establishing a second life for himself in the 1940s. In this life, he claims to be both a secret agent (aided by his knowledge of future wartime events) and a singer-songwriter, in fact passing off modern day pop songs as his own, particularly songs by The Beatles. He impresses Phoebe by bringing her goods which are widely available in the present day, but were rationed in wartime Britain, such as chocolate, bacon, and nylons and they begin a romance.
Throughout the series, Gary flits between both time periods, struggling to balance his two lives and keep Yvonne and Phoebe happy, getting tangled in webs of lies and deceit as he invents cover stories to explain away his constant absences to both. Most episodes centre on a dilemma for Gary caused by his dual life, often having to choose between letting Yvonne or Phoebe down. Ron is the only other character who knows of his double life - he helps Gary by printing 1940s five pound notes and ID documents for him - and it is to him who Gary usually turns when in a predicament, even if helping him is to Ron’s detriment.
Sorry for being so late with this. Only just spotted the thread. If you loved The Vicar of Dibley, and you want something gently amusing to watch at bedtime, can I strongly recommend Ever Decreasing Circles. I think its a sorely neglected classic.
It stars Richard Briers as the neurotic Martin Bryce, with Penelope Wilton as his long-suffering wife, Anne. Everything is a stuggle for Martin, and then the effortlessly smooth Paul (Peter Egan) moves in next door....
It is sublime.
You make a fair point about the fact that we only see the best of US TV and vice versa, and I haven’t actually seen a great deal of UK TV lately but I have to say that what I have seen (with the exception of the BBC’s Sherlock Holmes) has left me distinctly underwhelmed.
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