Quote: Alfred J Kipper @ 28th September 2017, 11:32 AMOFAH is such a broad church sitcom
I don't remember Olivia Colman.
Only Fools and Horses Documentary series Page 3
Quote: Alfred J Kipper @ 28th September 2017, 11:32 AMOFAH is such a broad church sitcom with different people loving different things about it, because it evolved into a family based sitcom in the last few years. Personally that's when I switched off because I didn't want to know about the clingy mumsy Raquel or the miserable stone faced whinging Cassandra. When he introduced these women it killed it for me. I'd have stuck with the great Marlene and just kept bringing guest women characters in as per the early to mid series which worked really well imo. When the two women characters moved in the sitcom lost its get up and go.
In my opinion, the show grew as a comedy and added many more funny dynamics to the show. The show aged well.
Sullivan wanted to add a bit of realism in to the show so there's nothing wrong with having the boys married/partnered up etc.
I know it means you don't have to enjoy it, but I feel it was more believable and necessary. You couldn't have the 3 of them, all single (even Albert got lucky with Elsie Partridge) getting old, trying to pull in the pubs and clubs.
In family sitcoms, it's often conventional (passé or not) for the characters trajectories to take the drawn out paths of: settling down-marriage-pregnancy-little addition to the dynamic.
OFAH didn't do this by the manual of traditional sitcoms, given Rodney & Cassandra's separation, plus Del's temporary setback with Raquel, however it was more or less the expected route.
If you take this show's entire journey into consideration, it's perhaps (?) fairest to take the beat points of the entirety and watch those, maybe, six episodes if you were trying to watch how characters change over time.
Excellent series, I really enjoyed all six episodes. There was certainly lots of unseen material for fans to appreciate.
Hopefully this will get a DVD release, this needs to be added to the collection.
It really surprised me just how much unseen material there was! I'd always thought it was slim pickings, but there was certainly a substantial amount for DVD extras.
I'm not sure why there's never been any extras TBH. It's not like there's problematic reasons like there is with licensing music. There wasn't even any deleted scenes that were questionable in their content, so why not bring joy to the fans?!
The amount there was would undoubtedly be enjoyed by hardcore fans and normal viewers alike
Quote: WarmWasp @ 5th October 2017, 11:00 PMIt really surprised me just how much unseen material there was! I'd always thought it was slim pickings, but there was certainly a substantial amount for DVD extras.
I'm not sure why there's never been any extras TBH. It's not like there's problematic reasons like there is with licensing music. There wasn't even any deleted scenes that were questionable in their content, so why not bring joy to the fans?!
The amount there was would undoubtedly be enjoyed by hardcore fans and normal viewers alike
I always got the impression that Sullivan was a perfectionist and didn't want any outtakes on the DVD extras.
Quote: Tommy Griff @ 26th September 2017, 11:16 PMHe wrote about what happens to real people in real life. He mixed death, abortions, glimmers of violence (Driscoll Brothers etc) with touching and poignant moments and above all - gag after gag after one liner.
Very true. Few writers manage to strike the terrific balance of laughs and pathos that John Sullivan did with Only Fools. The show deserves its place in the country's heart.
There are some of us who think OFAH is just OK and nothing to get excited about.
I wouldn't even go that far. With all the awesome sitcoms the UK's churned out (Fawlty Towers, Young Ones, Porridge, I'm Alan Partridge, Steptoe and Son etc), I'm amazed this one always gets special treatment.
Quote: Tommy Griff @ 26th September 2017, 11:16 PMDo you know what I really hate? Your lack of paragraphs..
Sorry, I missed this.
I hate political corruption, priests who molest children, and companies who close without paying. Lack of paragraphs come fairly low on the list.
Quote: Tommy Griff @ 26th September 2017, 11:16 PMNow listen, everyone is entitled to their opinion but yours borderlines on trolling. .
When people say 'You have a right to express yourself,' it means 'I think you're taling balls.'
Quote: Tommy Griff @ 26th September 2017, 11:16 PMOFAH has broken all sorts of viewing records. .
One Direction's first album outsold Never Mind The Bollocks. Success does not mean quality.
Quote: Tommy Griff @ 26th September 2017, 11:16 PMHe wrote about what happens to real people in real life. He mixed death, abortions, glimmers of violence (Driscoll Brothers etc) with touching and poignant moments and above all - gag after gag after one liner.
.
Not sure. Mind you, with 64 episodes he had a bit of leeway...
Quote: Tommy Griff @ 26th September 2017, 11:16 PMYou seem a tad odd to me.
Is that a criticism?
Quote: WarmWasp @ 16th September 2017, 3:50 AMI do get why some folk have no time for it though!
Wow, someone almost agrees with me on something. Better lower my standards.
Ironically it's the main character of Del Boy that gets on my tits - all the others are OK.
I have met characters like him and they are twats who are all mouth and no trousers. They'll do this for you, they'll do that, they know this, they know that and at the end of the day are just full of crap. Total waste of time and space.
Did you once get ripped off by a cockney wide boy?
Good God no, I'm not that stupid. It's just when I lived in Herts there was a lot of London overspill and in every crowd there was one "Del Boy" waster.
Quote: Michael Monkhouse @ 20th January 2018, 2:20 PMI wouldn't even go that far. With all the awesome sitcoms the UK's churned out (Fawlty Towers, Young Ones, Porridge, I'm Alan Partridge, Steptoe and Son etc), I'm amazed this one always gets special treatment.
Sorry, I missed this.
I hate political corruption, priests who molest children, and companies who close without paying. Lack of paragraphs come fairly low on the list.
When people say 'You have a right to express yourself,' it means 'I think you're taling balls.'
One Direction's first album outsold Never Mind The Bollocks. Success does not mean quality.
Not sure. Mind you, with 64 episodes he had a bit of leeway...
Is that a criticism?
Wow, someone almost agrees with me on something. Better lower my standards.
It's not that I disagree with the notion you dislike the show. It's the fact you're dismissing the reasons behind its success. And it isn't a fluke that it's arguably the most popular sitcom in history.
Whether you think something is quality or not, that is purely your opinion. Nothing else. The fact OFAH IS a successful show is nothing more than a fact to those who don't enjoy it.
One Direction are successful - don't like them. Not my thing. But a fan would tell me how great they are. I'd say 'no, they're generic shit but I understand how and why they're successful'.
Even that analogy isn't fair, as OFAH clearly was held in high regard by some of the greatest writers and comic critics, let alone the fans which generation after generation of people continue to enjoy it so very much. Whereas One Direction (using your analogy again) probably isn't held in high regard by Sir Paul McCartney or Dave Gilmour.
OFAH imo is a national sitcom treasure yes but it's not the only one and you're right to put the arguably in there, Tommy. Dad's Army keeps on demonstrating how loved it is and has an avid fan base to match OFAH's. There are huge fans of OFAH's forever determined to tell us how great it was but it's also had a steady stream of critics telling us what's wrong with it, and its immense popularity with the masses has long since rankled a few, who see flaws in it.
I'd say its quality was inconsistent, ranging from C- to A+ over its long run but with lots of A or aboves at its peak and many Cs in its early and later days. Dad's Army seems to me to be much more consistent ranging from C to A but with a preponderance of solid Bs but not hitting a classic ep A or above as much as OFAH. And both sitcoms took a little while to reach their peak so compare that with other great sitcoms like Fawlty Towers, Porridge or Rising Damp, all of which sparkled from Ep1. Arguably OFAH reached its peak in creating cracking episodes every week from the start of Series 3, whereas the legendary classic episode heavy FT was over by then. A little perspective for you from a fan but not an avid one, agree with it or not, cheers.
Quote: Alfred J Kipper @ 21st January 2018, 10:14 PMOFAH imo is a national sitcom treasure yes but it's not the only one and you're right to put the arguably in there, Tommy. Dad's Army keeps on demonstrating how loved it is and has an avid fan base to match OFAH's. There are huge fans of OFAH's forever determined to tell us how great it was but it's also had a steady stream of critics telling us what's wrong with it, and its immense popularity with the masses has long since rankled a few, who see flaws in it.
I'd say its quality was inconsistent, ranging from C- to A+ over its long run but with lots of A or aboves at its peak and many Cs in its early and later days. Dad's Army seems to me to be much more consistent ranging from C to A but with a preponderance of solid Bs but not hitting a classic ep A or above as much as OFAH. And both sitcoms took a little while to reach their peak so compare that with other great sitcoms like Fawlty Towers, Porridge or Rising Damp, all of which sparkled from Ep1. Arguably OFAH reached its peak in creating cracking episodes every week from the start of Series 3, whereas the legendary classic episode heavy FT was over by then. A little perspective for you from a fan but not an avid one, agree with it or not, cheers.
That's a very fair and accurate response.
It's true that OFAH took a little while to hit the ground running, but thanks to the re-runs during the BBC strike in the early 1980s, fans look back on these episodes in a different, more positive manner.
I love OFAH and I would say the series aged well and became funnier with each season.
Dad's Army deserves every bit of credit it gets.