http://boards.nxhosting.org/index.php?topic=20977.0
A thread on the Chris Morris fan site 'Cookd and Bombd' about comedy writing. There's a few writers on there, so occasionally a thread will crop up that throws up so interesting (and depressing) things.
Take a read!
Cheers for that link Seefacts - you've unearthed a proper little viper's pit of bitter comedy writers there. :-)
Mind you a lot of it's true...
Yeah, bitter bunch of needy comedy-writing whores. Thank God we're not like that round our way, that's all I can say...
Quote: Tim Walker @ June 15 2009, 11:46 PM BSTYeah, bitter bunch of needy comedy-writing whores. Thank God we're not like that round our way, that's all I can say...
heh.
Playing it safe is exactly what I'd do if I were commissioning for the BBC in the present economical climate.
Nice, warm, fuzzy sitcoms with audiences laughing along that allow you to shut off for 30 minutes and laugh.
Oh, that thread is decidedly tart!
Quote: Mark Norton @ June 16 2009, 9:57 AM BSTPlaying it safe is exactly what I'd do if I were commissioning for the BBC in the present economical climate.
Nice, warm, fuzzy sitcoms with audiences laughing along that allow you to shut off for 30 minutes and laugh.
Yeah, treat the audience like ignorant cattle or melancholy sheep... Our best family-friendly sitcoms have always had some darker edges. Why, during a recession, must we treat the audiences like giggle-junkies desperate for whatever laugh (however banal or contrived) is tossed their way by coked-up media-studies whores?
Huge prime-time audience not only used to enjoy Dad's Army, Only Fools And Horse, Hi-De-Hi, Fawlty Towers, Rising Damp, but also the likes of Til Death Us Do Part and Hancock's Half Hour. None of these encouraged the audience to turn their brains off. They had great three-dimensional characters, whose motivations were not to be liked or to be funny; but were funny by the nature of their failure, frustrations and pompousness. I realise I've listed some great sitcoms and there are scores of prime-time turkeys. I also accept that My Family serves some kind of purpose. But where is the next classic family-friendly sitcom to come from? It won't appear whilst network controllers have some pre-determined formula for what makes a "family" sitcom. Try pitching any of the above in the most basic of terms, if you hadn't seen them, didn't know who the actors were etc. Very few would make it into development as a prime-time show thesedays.
"Nice, warm, fuzzy sitcoms"... fine... but actually very funny? All the funniest British sitcoms have always had an element of failure, class struggle, squalid existances and suppressed (or expressed) rage. The trouble is that there has become a frankly snobbish and condascending presumption on the part of networks as to what constitutes a pre-watershed sitcom.
Whenever this debate comes up, it seems that those of us who criticise the quality of pre-watershed comedy are ourselves somehow snobbish or elitist. Too clever-clever by half. "Why can't you accept that people just like these type of shows?", we are told.
Some may indeed like them a lot, but it doesn't mean that they wouldn't enjoy a less generic sitcom a whole lot more. The point is that I would love to be able to sit down with my twin girls and see a family-friendly hilarious sitcom of an evening. They aren't there anymore. Mainstream comedy is treated as a necessary evil by TV, not as an absolute essential. Until that attitude changes all there will be is contrived family situations with actors going through the motions of trading tedious comic insults at each other, the "wacky" character doing something predictably "wacky" - with a "in this one Ben buys a fish"-type of attitude to plot - make sure you have one scene that alludes to some sort of bond between the characters and you've fulfilled your remit.
"Playing it safe" is the antithesis to great comedy. It is also insulting to the comedy fan. It implies that there is some great insight and wisdom into aspiring to mediocrity and that the audience should somehow thank for the commissioning editors for treating them like ignorant ratings bacteria.
Anyway, got that off me chest... 
What he says, but with less frothing.
Quote: David Bussell @ June 16 2009, 12:01 PM BSTWhat he says, but with less frothing.
I can assure you, sir, I am bone-dry. Don't cast me as "Man With Spittle" in your mischievous Phlegm Drama.
Quote: Tim Walker @ June 16 2009, 11:48 AM BSTBut where is the next classic family-friendly sitcom to come from?
My money's on Sootyj.
Mind you, it'll be Fred West or Josef Fritzl family-friendly.
Quote: Tim Walker @ June 16 2009, 11:48 AM BSTThe point is that I would love to be able to sit down with my twin girls and see a family-friendly hilarious sitcom of an evening.
Yep, I can't think of any sitcom that fits this bill at the moment or recently. In our house it's DVDs of Fawlty Towers, the first series of Blackadder and Father Ted.
Quote: Tim Walker @ June 16 2009, 11:48 AM BSTAnyway, got that off me chest...
Well said that man.
Quote: Dolly Dagger @ June 16 2009, 12:25 PM BSTYep, I can't think of any sitcom that fits this bill at the moment or recently.
In fairness Outnumbered is pretty good. Though interestingly I do not think the first series was screened in a primetime, or at least pre-watershed, slot, which goes to show what programmers know.
Quote: Tim Walker @ June 16 2009, 11:48 AM BSTWhy, during a recession, must we treat the audiences like giggle-junkies desperate for whatever laugh (however banal or contrived) is tossed their way by coked-up media-studies whores?
snip
characters, whose motivations were not to be liked or to be funny; but were funny by the nature of their failure, frustrations and pompousness.
snip
British sitcoms have always had an element of failure, class struggle, squalid existances and suppressed (or expressed) rage.
Recession + unlikable characters + class issues + family sitcom = Bread
Quote: Dolly Dagger @ June 16 2009, 12:25 PM BSTYep, I can't think of any sitcom that fits this bill at the moment or recently. In our house it's DVDs of Fawlty Towers, the first series of Blackadder and Father Ted.
You reckon Ted is family viewing? I dunno, I'd be a bit nervous about letting my kids watch it. Much too sweary.
Recession + unlikable characters + class issues = BCG