Quote: sootyj @ December 16 2008, 11:03 AM GMTBut Spencer was essentially happy and had a well fit wife, who he must have shagged at least once.
Sheer poetry. 
Which is the meanest sitcom? Page 3
Quote: Dr Mato @ December 16 2008, 1:15 PM GMTWhen you really think about it most sitcoms are a bit cruel. We are a sick lot......eh?
A good Britcom has to be a bit sick 
There are only few exceptions to the rule. The Good Life is the first that springs to mind.
Quote: WrongTale @ December 16 2008, 2:25 PM GMTA good Britcom has to be a bit sick
There are only few exceptions to the rule. The Good Life is the first that springs to mind.
Still there was something a bit sad about that too. Like why didn't they have any children? Things often went wrong for them and they had to make lots of sacrifices to live their chosen lifestyle.
Quote: Lee Henman @ December 16 2008, 1:45 PM GMTNighty Night.
Yeah, it's hard to beat series 2 in terms of meanness. Most of Human Remains is pretty cruel too. That Julia Davis!
Quote: Dolly Dagger @ December 16 2008, 2:33 PM GMTStill there was something a bit sad about that too. Like why didn't they have any children? Things often went wrong for them and they had to make lots of sacrifices to live their chosen lifestyle.
And the episode where the garden was wrecked and Richard Briars was going to go and beat the vandals up.
TLOG has to be the darkest, bar none. What, with that local shoppe. I had a hard time with it, even though the quality was great. It felt like "Theatre of Blood" a good film that I find unbearable, for me personally, to watch. Esp. the scene with the corgis.
Bottom was cartoonish grimness like MWC. I watched both of those. Red Dwarf is bleakest if you think about it. Lister is the last living human, or was 
Quote: Dolly Dagger @ December 16 2008, 2:33 PM GMTStill there was something a bit sad about that too. Like why didn't they have any children? Things often went wrong for them and they had to make lots of sacrifices to live their chosen lifestyle.
Undoubtedly so - but it still was neither mean or sick. Small wonder it was ridiculed in The Young Ones 
As Time Goes By, that's yet another one. From the classics, it could be Open All Hours.
but staying on topic, I'd nominate The New Statesman and The Royle Family.
Quote: Little Jersey Devil @ December 16 2008, 2:44 PM GMTTLOG has to be the darkest, bar none. What, with that local shoppe. I had a hard time with it, even though the quality was great. It felt like "Theatre of Blood" a good film that I find unbearable, for me personally, to watch. Esp. the scene with the corgis.
Bottom was cartoonish grimness like MWC. I watched both of those. Red Dwarf is bleakest if you think about it. Lister is the last living human, or was
4 guys in a universe with out girls, that is nightmarish.
Quote: WrongTale @ December 16 2008, 2:44 PM GMTUndoubtedly so - but it still was neither mean or sick. Small wonder it was ridiculed in The Young Ones
Although ironically it's aged much better than The Young Ones, which looks hideously dated now.
Quote: Little Jersey Devil @ December 16 2008, 2:44 PM GMTLister is the last living human, or was
Or will be?
TLOG / Bottom / New Statesman - in that order for me. The other shows I've seen have decent characters with bad things happening to them, which isn't mean so much as misfortunate. In the 3 above they all feature characters that are hideous and viciously nasty to the people in their world. That, for me, is the difference.
But there is a lot of of niceness in The League of Gents tooooo.
Is TLOG really a sitcom though? Or a sketch show, or 20 sitcoms in 1 show 
Oh, God knows!
Sitcom.
Quote: zooo @ December 16 2008, 7:37 PM GMTBut there is a lot of of niceness in The League of Gents tooooo.
Agreed. Yes a lot of niceness and sometimes it's at its best when they created a creature that you despise and then they make you see that character in a touching new way (Pauline in 3 is a good example of an almost complete U-turn handled expertly). But the nastiness is to the fore and the intensty of the hatred (and other negative emotions) between the characters was (for me) one of the things that made TLOG the defining show of its time.