Teachers is a weird one, because it went from being 90% drama in series one to being 90% comedy in the final series.
Comedy-dramas...? Page 5
Quote: zooo @ March 21 2011, 12:08 PM GMTTeachers is a weird one, because it went from being 90% drama in series one to being 90% comedy in the final series.
Are you sure? I remember Andrew Lincoln fantasising a lot about the sexy black woman teacher. I don't remember much drama.
And wasn't it produced or created or something by Ricky Gervais's other half?
Oh yeah, possibly!
There was comedy in the first series, and silliness, but it was all rather serious and deep.
Then by the last series it was all prat falls and donkeys in the background. I liked all of the series, but it changed massively.
Found it. Jane Fallon produced Teachers and then tried to replicate that success with 20 Things To Do Before You're 30, another comedy drama, starring Mathew Horne amngst others. It didn't do nearly as well.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0354264/
Nowadays she probably just sits around counting Ricky's money.
Quote: chipolata @ March 21 2011, 12:44 PM GMTNowadays she probably just sits around counting Ricky's money.
Fun!
She used to be the rich one in their relationship (presumably).
Quote: Steve Sunshine @ March 21 2011, 12:03 AM GMTBut what of the sitcoms that aren't quite funny enough to be considered sitcoms? They often get called comedy dramas wether they like it or not.
This Life comes to mind, more of a drama but light comedy too... Does it really matter I wonder? Do the writers take offence if it's termed one or t'other or both or something else...I don't know. 
Quote: Shandonbelle @ March 21 2011, 10:49 PM GMTDoes it really matter I wonder? Do the writers take offence if it's termed one or t'other or both or something else...
*splutters as entire thread is dismissed*
Quote: chipolata @ March 21 2011, 10:53 PM GMT
The first comedy drama I remember really enjoying was A Very Peculiar Practice which I would like to see again to judge whether it was as good as I remember it. Shame it hasn't been repeated and would be of great interest now as there was a serious back story debate about university commercialisation which is still raging today.
Nice Work, starring Warren Clarke and that very tall actress, was another excellent comedy drama about a British university.
That show about Bin Men from a while back. It might even have been called Bin Men.
Quote: ToddB @ March 21 2011, 11:14 AM GMTNo idea what you're talking about - I actually laughed plenty. Now those old ones - "Dad's Army" and "The Good Life" - what was with them, what were they going for? I always found it difficult to find a laugh there...
I know, I stand against a tide.
You do have some strange opinions. How can you not find those two shows funny but think those other ones are?
Quote: Chappers @ March 23 2011, 1:22 AM GMTYou do have some strange opinions. How can you not find those two shows funny but think those other ones are?
I guess I find that the humour is indicated a little too much - which I don't find funny. I do find "Fawlty Towers" funny - love it in fact - so I'm not totally odd. But "Fawlty" moved at such a brisk pace that there was no time to telegraph anything or draw it out.
As I said to someone in another discussion - I like things that are particularly brittle, subtle or sophisticated to the point of archness, or I like something that is deliberately, self-referentially low and anarchic - like "Bottom". I don't like much that sits in between and tries to be safe. I recall "Vyvyan" from "The Young Ones" smashing a TV while "The Good Life" played and bemoans comedies of the innocuous, slightly eccentric, loveable middle-class variety. My sentiments - I suppose. The reason I love "Ab Fab" is because it veers wildly from one of my extremes to the other.
Quote: ToddB @ March 23 2011, 1:11 PM GMTI don't like much that sits in between and tries to be safe. I recall "Vyvyan" from "The Young Ones" smashing a TV while "The Good Life" played and bemoans comedies of the innocuous, slightly eccentric, loveable middle-class variety.
The irony - as pointed out by Simon Pegg once - is that The Good Life has stood the test of time far better than The Young Ones, which feel extremely dated and laboured now. While The Good Life feels as fresh and funny as ever.
Quote: chipolata @ March 23 2011, 2:19 PM GMTThe irony - as pointed out by Simon Pegg once - is that The Good Life has stood the test of time far better than The Young Ones, which feel extremely dated and laboured now. While The Good Life feels as fresh and funny as ever.
While I greatly admire master Pegg's work - it is the opposite for me in this case. "The Young Ones" may have out of date clothes, music and references, but plenty of comedies have overcome this. The anarchic spirit of youth, of wanting to be somehow different from the older generation, of carving out an identity - stills resonates for me, while the characters of "The Good Life" feel like dated British types from an era before sitcoms got up the nerve to shout about anything. The premise is original, but did not contain enough humour to make me laugh much.
I know it is loved by many, I am just not part of that legion. 