The New advebtures Of Old Christine is pretty good.
Female led sitcoms? Page 3
After Henry. Prunella Scales and the late Joan Sanderson and a daughter too but I don't remember who she was. Loved it at the time, welcome entertainment at the end of the day when feeding my babies.
Quote: zooo @ November 14, 2007, 8:40 PMLiver Birds? No, only clips. Was massive though, apparently. Let's wait for one of our token old members to come along and enlighten us.
Jeez - here I go. I remember The Liver Birds being quite funny at the time. It was basically an emancipation-of-young-women-flatshare-com set in Liverpool in the 70s, starring Nerys Hughes and Polly James (later, and in the better series in my view, Elizabeth Estenson). It was written by the doyen of fem-com, Carla Lane - virtually everything she has done is female led (e.g. Butterflies, the Mistress, etc). But now all she does is moan about how the BBC doesn't commission her work - I suspect she is a BSG member under a pseudonym.
Jamie Jones?
There was Kiss Me Kate and Feel The Force.
Quote: oroboross @ November 15, 2007, 8:10 PMThere was Kiss Me Kate.
Was that the Chris Langham one?
I liked that.
Indeed it was.
Dressing For Breakfast.
Maybe she wasn't the main star in the show, but the late Hilda Braid was excellent as Florence in Citizen Smith
Quote: zooo @ November 14, 2007, 8:40 PMLiver Birds? No, only clips. Was massive though, apparently. Let's wait for one of our token old members to come along and enlighten us.
Here's another one of them! 
The Liver Birds was OK ... but only OK... Yes, it was massive, but that's because there were just as many plebs watching TV then as there are now! 
Quote: zooo @ November 15, 2007, 8:11 PMWas that the Chris Langham one?
I liked that.
Yes it was, Caroline Quentin's show.
Let's face it, we can throw up as many sitcoms as we like, but there are no female led British sitcoms that match the full on brilliance of I'm Alan Partridge, The Office, Only Fools and Horses, Father Ted or Peep Show. I don't want to start making blanket statements like men are funnier, but men are funnier. Discuss.
Butterflies
George & Mildred (?)
and from the US
Bewitched
Did anyone mention Pulling?
Quote: chipolata @ November 16, 2007, 9:46 AMLet's face it, we can throw up as many sitcoms as we like, but there are no female led British sitcoms that match the full on brilliance of I'm Alan Partridge, The Office, Only Fools and Horses, Father Ted or Peep Show. I don't want to start making blanket statements like men are funnier, but men are funnier. Discuss.
We've already discussed that! It's boring now.
I think Nighty Night and early Ab Fab absolutely match the brilliance of the ones you mentioned.
But of course, there are less female led ones over all. Just like there are less say, black based sitcoms. Times are changing slowly as producers and commissioners get less blinkered.
And I know you wouldn't say black people aren't as funny as white people, so why is the woman blanket statement so acceptable?
(Not addressing you personally with that bit, chipolata).
Quote: zooo @ November 16, 2007, 11:37 AMTimes are changing slowly as producers and commissioners get less blinkered.
And I know you wouldn't say black people aren't as funny as white people, so why is the woman blanket statement so acceptable?
It's not just about commissioners' attitudes though is it. A lot of sitcoms in this country are written by stand-ups and the percentage of female stand-ups to male is minimal. You would expect there to be a lot less that are written by and star females as the leads. Similarly, how many women try to become sitcom writers? A lot less than men I would guess. There are more women trying to make it in comedy now though and I would argue that is why a change is slowly occurring. If 20 times as many men try to become comedians though, you would expect there to be 20 times as many funny men.
The curious thing is that there aren't many famous funny black comedians in Britain at the moment. I obviously don't think that is in any way due to genetics but it is strange that black comedians maybe had more of a presence on TV decades ago than they do now here.