LOTSW comes in for a lot of flak for having gone on too long, being formulaic, safe etc etc. Mebbe it is these things but is that necessarily bad? After all TV's awash with shows that have 'edge', violence, explicit sex, expletive ridden language, controversy etc. Would we be the better for it if more TV shows were gentler and less obsessed with sex and bloodshed?
Last of the Summer Wine was full of violence-normally carried out by the womenfolk.
Compo sexually assaulted Nora Batty pretty much every day of her life
Filth
Quote: Alexei Q @ 12th February 2015, 4:57 PM GMTLOTSW comes in for a lot of flak for having gone on too long, being formulaic, safe etc etc. Mebbe it is these things but is that necessarily bad? After all TV's awash with shows that have 'edge', violence, explicit sex, expletive ridden language, controversy etc. Would we be the better for it if more TV shows were gentler and less obsessed with sex and bloodshed?
I won't criticise LOTSW because I have accumulated some years - shockingly I've started to think about slippers and pyjamas for the first time in decades, not that I have gone there fully yet - plus I like strong characterisation. I will also meet a distinct style more than halfway if I recognise its worth. Roy Clarke has a distinct style that I have to adapt to. So do others. You'll find I'll defend Carla Lane for the same reasons.
None of the things on your modern list are a huge problem for me per se but they are a significant problem if I sense that something lacks accompanying warmth. In fact, I tend to want big warmth in comedy - and drama - however gritty it happens to be. There is warmth in "Detectorists" and I think there is warmth in "Benidorm". I doubt either are designed for the old folks homes although they may just cross over to some.
As for gentle, well-written, comedy without any of the above, yes, I would always be looking for it in the genuinely new for several reasons. I like it. I believe in diversity so there should always be a place for it in any era. And the one that people tend to miss - it is the new radical. What claims to be radical today is generally highly conventional - in fact the edgier it is the more conservative and staid it tends to be. How could it be otherwise after 30 odd years of people "testing" boundaries that in actuality no longer apply?
Quote: Alexei Q @ 12th February 2015, 4:57 PM GMTWould we be the better for it if more TV shows were gentler and less obsessed with sex and bloodshed?
Yes.
See also: https://www.comedy.co.uk/news/story/000001697/still_open_all_hours_series_1_millions_of_viewers/
Now I'm quite firmly middle-aged and hurtling towards a landmark birthday, I'm enjoying the more traditional sitcom more and more. Shows such as KUA are right up my suburban strasse these days and I admire witty wordplay. Before you ask, I'm wearing my brand spanking new purple suede moccasin slippers and lying under a flowery duvet watching 'Curb Your Enthusiasm'.
But with which trio though?
Despite being an old fart, which it seemingly appeals to, I have never watched it. Perhaps when I finally retire soon I might get the DVD set (?) and watch every episode? >_<
Quote: TheBlueNun @ 13th February 2015, 12:56 PM GMTNow I'm quite firmly middle-aged and hurtling towards a landmark birthday, I'm enjoying the more traditional sitcom more and more. Shows such as KUA are right up my suburban strasse these days and I admire witty wordplay. Before you ask, I'm wearing my brand spanking new purple suede moccasin slippers and lying under a flowery duvet watching 'Curb Your Enthusiasm'.
Cool.
We should do a remake of LOTSW.
I've decided which is your character and which is mine but will keep it mysterious. 
Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 13th February 2015, 4:59 PM GMTDespite being an old fart, which it seemingly appeals to, I have never watched it. Perhaps when I finally retire soon I might get the DVD set (?) and watch every episode? >_<
The only ones really worth watching are the ones featuring Foggy Dewhurst. Wasn't the same after he left.
Quote: lofthouse @ 13th February 2015, 8:11 PM GMTThe only ones really worth watching are the ones featuring Foggy Dewhurst
Wasnt the same after he left
One criticism that could be made of LOTSW was that it didn't travel widely enough.
I went on a couple of football mini-breaks with a Foggy Dewhurst. In Amsterdam, he frogmarched me past the ladies selling their wares in shop windows at 8am saying that it would ruin his breakfast. I wouldn't have minded but he had booked us into a twin room that was not only smaller than the average prison cell. It was on the sixth floor of what I had assumed was a combined hostel and multi-story car park but was actually a brothel. We were told later by Ajax fans in a pub that they had on average one drugs death there per night.
In Nice, I decided not to travel with him for a match in Montpelier, although we did go to one in Marseille, and I travelled by train to Cannes. Unfortunately, an American bloke in a torn jumper spotted me as soon as I got on and proceeded to tell me that he was on the run from the mafia following a big incident in Italy.
They had apparently placed an elaborate tape recorder in his head so that every conversation he had would be recorded. So dangerous was he that they would need, he said, to track down every person he had spoken to subsequently including me. He got out at Cannes and wouldn't leave me so I suggested we went for a coffee. I then made an excuse to go to the toilet, scarpered as quickly as I could, and ran like the clappers back to the station for a return train. I did relay the events later on to Football Foggy but he was more interested in the fact that the opposition had scored in the final five minutes to make it a 1-1 draw.
Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 13th February 2015, 4:59 PM GMTDespite being an old fart, which it seemingly appeals to, I have never watched it. >_<
I know the show has that label/stigma of "only for old people", but I've never understood why. I first saw it on PBS as a teenager and it's been one of my favourites ever since. To me funny is just funny; there are no age restrictions. 
Quote: A Horseradish @ 13th February 2015, 8:25 PM GMTOne criticism that could be made of LOTSW was that it didn't travel widely enough.
I went on a couple of football mini-breaks with a Foggy Dewhurst. In Amsterdam, he frogmarched me past the ladies selling their wares in shop windows at 8am saying that it would ruin his breakfast. I wouldn't have minded but he had booked us into a twin room that was not only smaller than the average prison cell. It was on the sixth floor of what I had assumed was a combined hostel and multi-story car park but was actually a brothel. We were told later by Ajax fans in a pub that they had on average one drugs death there per night.
In Nice, I decided not to travel with him for a match in Montpelier, although we did go to one in Marseille, and I travelled by train to Cannes. Unfortunately, an American bloke in a torn jumper spotted me as soon as I got on and proceeded to tell me that he was on the run from the mafia following a big incident in Italy.
They had apparently placed an elaborate tape recorder in his head so that every conversation he had would be recorded. So dangerous was he that they would need, he said, to track down every person he had spoken to subsequently including me. He got out at Cannes and wouldn't leave me so I suggested we went for a coffee. I then made an excuse to go to the toilet, scarpered as quickly as I could, and ran like the clappers back to the station for a return train. I did relay the events later on to Football Foggy but he was more interested in the fact that the opposition had scored in the final five minutes to make it a 1-1 draw.
Lmao
Classic!
Quote: FracturedMirror @ 13th February 2015, 8:27 PM GMTI know the show has that label/stigma of "only for old people", but I've never understood why. I first saw it on PBS as a teenager and it's been one of my favourites ever since. To me funny is just funny; there are no age restrictions.
I used to LOVE it as a kid, but I suppose their antics are very childlike, so it's not a surprise.
I still like watching an episode every now and then.
Quote: Ben @ 13th February 2015, 10:05 PM GMTI used to LOVE it as a kid, but I suppose their antics are very childlike, so it's not a surprise.
I still like watching an episode every now and then.
I can't wait until I retire. I've never grown up either.
