Quote: Jack Massey @ May 4 2008, 9:23 AM BSTJust to sum a few things up. The Thin Blue Line was not awful it is a superb sitcom.
Oh no it's not!
Which sitcoms would you bring back? Page 3
OH YES IT IS
It's behind you.
Oh no it isn't
Quote: David Chapman @ May 4 2008, 10:49 PM BSTI remember liking Agony but it probably doesn't stand the test of time
It's done alright for itself.
Quote: Jack Massey @ May 4 2008, 10:51 PM BSTProblem with that. Messrs Bolam and Bewes don't like each other anymore in real life.
Likely Lads/What Ever Happened To would be good.
I read an article on Bewes who said he would like to get together with Bolam but Bolam just isn't interested in meeting him and Bewes says he has no idea why.
Lets face it, Bolam has done plenty of good TV since the original Likely Lads but I reckon Bewes has done mainly stage so maybe Bolam thinks he owes the LL team nothing.
Shame though. Have only just finished watching the Likely Lads/What ever Happened To box set and it is absolutely classic! The writing and acting is superb throughout.
One more 'Flowery Twats' would be cool, too.
One of the things I didn't like about The Thin Blue Line, was that Richard Curtis spent far too much time, using the show as a way of constantly criticising the Police, rather than the people who commit crimes. He did this via the Rowan Atkinson character, who was always criticising the bald one with the moustache, and his little sidekick, who were obviously meant to represent the average Policeman. Yes, those two characters were idiots, but so is the average criminal.
Ben Elton, not Richard Curtis.
But yeah, I guess you're right. Not that I ever read such an undertone into it, of course.
Never bring back Fawlty Towers, it just couldn't compete with its past.
I'd like some more Game On, perhaps give the series a conclusion. You'd have to have Andrew Davies writing it, though.
I would suggest that fawlty towers could not compete with the present.
Quote: Bad dog @ May 5 2008, 10:28 AM BSTI'd like some more Game On, perhaps give the series a conclusion. You'd have to have Andrew Davies writing it, though.
And Ben Chaplin starring in it.
Quote: manchester's trendy chorlton @ May 5 2008, 11:30 AM BSTI would suggest that fawlty towers could not compete with the present.
No, indeed. It couldn't lower itself to such a poor standard as the past 15 years or so if it tried.
Fawlty Towers was a good period piece, in it's day it worked very well and kind of captured the feel of 1970s television.
It's enduring popularity is more based on a kind of 'comedy of comfort'. Fawlty towers fans' tend to be the kind of people that can recite every line, describe every nuance of the show. This is humour by memory, the fan will watch an episode and be waiting for the line that makes them laugh. In other words, the laugh will be memory based rather than based on a consideration of the material that they are currently watching.
this process is one that tends to strengthen after more and more views. So by this day, we have a piece of work that is accepted as a classic - and as such, in the eyes of many, above serious critique. However, there is an argument to be made that Fawlty towers is, by modern standards, incredibly outdated and totally irrelevant to modern television comedy...
Static characters? CHECK.
1-Dimensional Stereotypes? CHECK.
No deviation from a cut and paste set-scenario? CHECK.
Theatrical, rahter than screen, acting? CHECK.
I can accept the view that Fawlty Towers is a great example of 1970s television, and does provide comfort and familiarity to a lot of its fans - but this does not change the idea that it is almost entirely irrelevant to modern comedy, both in its writing and performance.
And that's why modern comedy is so shite.
Yeah, nice one.