Quote: Lt Colonel Henry Blake @ July 12, 2007, 10:56 AM
Is'nt Obvious, deep down all Americans want and long to British., including their comedies, they realise that the English sitcom is far superior and they try to emulate it, granted they do produce the odd quality show, MASH was a Phenomenon, cult classics like Married with children, Happy Days and Sledge Hammer were well worth a watch. The American is just an English man waiting to get out, we know it they know it but like anything they do they find it hard to admit defeat.
they can't come close to Rising Damp, Dads Army, Bless this House, Porridge, Likely Lads, Love thy Neighbour, Black Adder and what about the Carry on films.
You write posts under a different name.
Sledge Hammer was a crap show. So was Happy Days (a teeny-bopper's show, really). Married with Children was absolute rubbish.
MASH had its moments but went on for far too many seasons.
Some of the best American comedies are virtually unknown over here in Britain:
The Bob Newhart Show
Newhart
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
Barney Miller
The Dick van Dyke Show
Green Acres (the critics hated it, but it has aged well)
Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman
WKRP in Cincinnati
NewsRadio
Including sitcoms based on British sitcoms:
All in the Family
Sanford & Son
Three's Company
Mind you, all those in both lists had their fair share of weak shows or weak seasons, but when they were kicking ass, they were on par with the best British sitcoms (Fawlty, Rise & Fall, The Good Life, Black Adder, Ideal, Alan Partridge).
It's difficult to spell out the difference between the best American sitcoms and the best British ones...Somehow the British characters have more depth...They are more believable than the Yank characters (with the exception of the latter day CYE, Seinfeld, and Sanders)...There is more humanity about the Brits than the Yanks...A deeper, more firmly rooted sense of humour (and history)...They can take the piss out of themselves...Americans are too busy being on guard, looking to be offended or insulted...They like to laugh---but not at themselves.
Of course I'm over-generalizing...but the gist of truth is within it.
Britain is an extraordinarily beautiful country to both the eye and heart. The people are friendlier and more humourous and more easy-going than most Americans. There's a sense of enlightenment and appreciation for dignity and civility in England which is palpably absent in America.
America and Americans are very hung up on appearances---hence the customer service rule about saying "Have a nice day" and yet not directing the employees to say it like they f**ken mean it. To say it at all is to follow the rule; to mean it is irrelevant.
Americans themselves are not necessarily bad; but their culture is centered around ambition and greed; they are encouraged by their media to actively participate in the Keep Up With The Neighbours syndrome. They are a consumer-driven society which means spend, spend, spend. And that means work, work, work. And that means stress, stress, stress. And that means neglecting the family; driving like a maniac; road rage; conspiring against others so you may rise up the corporate ladder; paranoia about others conspiring against you, and so forth. It's not pretty and it's not fun. Most of those big American houses and cars are owned on credit with huge monthly mortgages. Behind all the bigness lies great instability and anxiety---hence the booming pharmaceutical market and mental health system.
Ah hell, nevermind. It's a useless rant. I'm just so goddamned glad to live in England that I can't help but throw a few jabs at Uncle Sam as a silly means of publicly celebrating my gladness.
Britain rocks!
, ect. Now we're in these "modern times" we're going through another transition and your generation has now become that old fashioned man.
