Second chance comedy?

I really couldn't get into The League of Gentlemen when it was on originally. For this reason I didn't even bother with Pychoville and Inside No. 9.

But I've been watching the repeats on Gold recently and realised it's really quite good and just my sort of thing. I have no idea why I didn't like it first time round.

Same thing happened with Seinfeld.

Anyone else had a sitcom, sketch show, film or something else you initally didn't like, then gave it another go years later and completely changed your opinion?

You know, I've been trying to think of one, but none come to mind - apart from saying I will always give the second series another chance if I wasn't impressed by the first (unless it was absolute shit).

Otherwise..........no.

I think he means you disliked it - or ignored it - at the time but rediscovered it later.

Yeah, I see that, but I was sitting on the fence.

last time I did that I was picking splinters out of my ring hole for about 3 weeks.

Great topic, Doug!

For me, it has to be Snuff Box.

And, to an extent, The Office and The IT Crowd.

I think being the snooty alternative, niche loving person I am, if someone is receiving mainstream praise and recognition where people just won't stop banging on about it being the best thing ever to the point of annoyance, I'm more likely to turn my nose up at it and think "well, if everyone likes it, it CAN'T be that good!"

Then I'll stumble across a late night repeat of it a few months later and realise "actually, separated from all the hype, this is actually quite good isn't it, I shouldn't be so arsey about it and give it a chance"

That definitely happened with The Office for me...

Friends.
I half watched a few episodes when it originally aired but didn't like the Phoebe character, or Ross much.

Years later during the many repeats I saw an episode where the duck swallowed the ring. The part where the vet removed it and Ross sniffed it was hilarious - and I was hooked.

I loved the Office from day 1 being an office worker and seeing it advertised. I saw all these people in my office.

Not really through choice but circumstances I never really saw Ever Decreasing Circles or Brittas Empire when they first came out.

Also a friend of mine urged me to watch Father Ted which I'd ignored thinking it was a kind of All Gas and Gaiters.

Quote: codename 47 @ 16th October 2014, 1:36 AM BST

I think being the snooty alternative, niche loving person I am, if someone is receiving mainstream praise and recognition where people just won't stop banging on about it being the best thing ever to the point of annoyance, I'm more likely to turn my nose up at it and think "well, if everyone likes it, it CAN'T be that good!"

Then I'll stumble across a late night repeat of it a few months later and realise "actually, separated from all the hype, this is actually quite good isn't it, I shouldn't be so arsey about it and give it a chance"

That definitely happened with The Office for me...

View original

I agree. People keep telling me I should watch Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones. The more people praise it, the less interested I am in seeing it. I tried watching The Wire, gave it 3 episodes and didn't like it at all. I went to see the first Lord of the Rings because all I heard was how great it was. I thought it was so bad it made me angry.

I reckon a lot of people were late coming to The Office. It started on BBC2 with no real stars and not much promotion. It picked up steam through word of mouth.

When I was younger I was generally quite sniffy about sitcoms I thought of as cosy, British middle class fodder like Ever Decreasing Circles, To The Manor Born, As Time Goes By etc. Seeing them on the Drama Channel I realise that in fact the humour is wry and understated. I'm not much given to belly laughing anyway and even if I don't laugh uproariously at the shows there's usually enough in each episode that's worth a few chuckles.

Slightly different but remember watching Celeb Juice when it first hit the telly and thinking what a load of shit. Now it's my compulsory watch.

Green Wing - managed to get to episode 3 and thought "this really is f**king mental". Finished the entire box set shortly after and have missed it ever since. Still one of my favourites ever.

Quote: Alexei Q @ 17th October 2014, 11:18 AM BST

When I was younger I was generally quite sniffy about sitcoms I thought of as cosy, British middle class fodder like Ever Decreasing Circles, To The Manor Born, As Time Goes By etc. Seeing them on the Drama Channel I realise that in fact the humour is wry and understated. I'm not much given to belly laughing anyway and even if I don't laugh uproariously at the shows there's usually enough in each episode that's worth a few chuckles.

View original

Ever Decreasing Circles! Forgot about that. I wrote it off as middle class bland pap when I was a cocky moody teenager, but watched it recently, brilliant.

Interesting thread. I'm so glad that the peeps on BCG persuaded me to give '15 Storeys High' another try because it was truly excellent. I was also a latecomer to Friends, but watched all 256 episodes in series order years later. I cannot get into Green Wing, Big Train, Vic and Bob and Flight of the Conchords however hard I try.

When I first saw Peep Show, I thought it was the worst comedy I'd ever seen.