Gavin & Stacey reached 10m by the end of its run. In terms of mainstream successful sitcoms still running, Benidorm and Outnumbered are doing well 6-7m per episode. Miranda will probably get that for the next series. Not Going Out is on the verge of becoming a mainstream hit too, it reached 5m for its latest series.
Quote: dennispennis123 @ June 26 2011, 10:29 PM BSTGavin & Stacey reached 10m by the end of its run. In terms of mainstream successful sitcoms still running, Benidorm and Outnumbered are doing well 6-7m per episode. Miranda will probably get that for the next series. Not Going Out is on the verge of becoming a mainstream hit too, it reached 5m for its latest series.
Success is relative, though. None of those shows have permeated the national consciousness in the way Fools and Horses, One Foot or even Hi-de-Hi! did.
Quote: chipolata @ June 26 2011, 10:45 PM BSTSuccess is relative, though. None of those shows have permeated the national consciousness in the way Fools and Horses, One Foot or even Hi-de-Hi! did.
You're correct but TV is very different nowadays. Gone are the days of shows getting 15-20m an episode. The threshold for a mainstream sitcom or any other show in 2011 is around 5/6m. So I would say that Outnumbered and Benidorm have been mainstream successess in the last few years with Gavin & Stacey perhaps even reaching the national consciousness as you put it, with the Smithy character and "oh what's occurring" catchphrase.
In terms of zeitgeist-capturing all those shows are way behind the likes of Big Brother, The Apprentice or Britain's Got Talent. TV is a very different beast now to what it was ten or twenty years ago but Life on Mars proved it's still possible to produce a non-reality non-soap that grabs the nation by the balls.
Quote: chipolata @ June 26 2011, 11:18 PM BSTLife on Mars proved it's still possible to produce a non-reality non-soap that grabs the nation by the balls.
Frankly that's tommyrot. Life on Mars was a big hit with a lot of people, but for everyone who loved it I bet there was at least one who didn't and at least another two who didn't know it existed and probably still don't.
On these forums we fool ourselves that people know and care about what we watch, but they don't. TV has changed so radically that 4 million viewers for a sitcom IS a pretty big audience.
4m is a decent audience by today's standards but none of the sitcoms mentioned have broken through the glass ceiling and really energised the viewing public. Life on Mars did and is one of the few non-reality non-soaps of recent years that I used to hear discussed at work and on the train or in the pub. I've never heard anybody mention Not Going Out outside of this forum, and certainly none of the characters in it loom as large as Gene Hunt. Ditto for the othe mehcoms mentioned.
I'd say Gavin And Stacey definitely broke through in a big way, whether or not you've heard people at work talking about it. Not Only Fools big, but as has been said, no sitcom seems to these days.
Maybe. Although I'm still not convinced it inspires that much passion.
No TV show will get the audiences it once did. EE Millennium ep over 22 million - I don't even sell that many books these days!
Quote: Marc P @ June 27 2011, 9:12 AM BSTNo TV show will get the audiences it once did. EE Millennium ep over 22 million
No, of course. Everything's relative. But I'm talking about that special indefinable quality some shows have that enables them to get the nation by the throat. And in recent years the shows that have done that by and large haven't been sitcoms.
Quote: chipolata @ June 27 2011, 9:22 AM BSTNo, of course. Everything's relative. But I'm talking about that special indefinable quality some shows have that enables them to get the nation by the throat. And in recent years the shows that have done that by and large haven't been sitcoms.
True. It was a cracking EE ep mind! 
Maybe Miranda on BBC1 might have done. Too many channels, too much SKY+ for water cooler shows. And the Americans got good!!
I have mentioned before that the only reason we continue to dissect Doctor Who is because it is that, outside of reality TV and possibly soaps, it's literally the only watercooler show left running - and then only for reasons of historical affection.
Perhaps this is an inevitable consequence of market segmentation, though the broadcasters' assumption that anything remotely original or challenging could only ever be a cult hit does not help.
Quote: chipolata @ June 26 2011, 12:28 PM BSTIn fact I would imagine the grittier something is, the less likely it is to appeal to a broad audience.
In their different ways a lot of the classic big audience sitcoms have been fairly gritty, if by that you mean rooted in bleak reality: Steptoe, Likely Lads, Till Death, Rising Damp, Porridge, Perrin, OFAH, Shelley, One Foot, even Hancock.
Quote: Timbo @ June 27 2011, 7:09 PM BSTI have mentioned before that the only reason we continue to dissect Doctor Who is because it is that, outside of reality TV and possibly soaps, it's literally the only watercooler show left running - and then only for reasons of historical affection.
That 'historical affection' stuff can only apply to those of us old enough to have grown up with the show.
Quote: Timbo @ June 27 2011, 7:09 PM BSTIn their different ways a lot of the classic big audience sitcoms have been fairly gritty, if by that you mean rooted in bleak reality: Steptoe, Likely Lads, Till Death, Rising Damp, Porridge, Perrin, OFAH, Shelley, One Foot, even Hancock.
These shows are all about the middle class.
Quote: Timbo @ June 27 2011, 7:09 PM BSTI have mentioned before that the only reason we continue to dissect Doctor Who is because it is that, outside of reality TV and possibly soaps, it's literally the only watercooler show left running - and then only for reasons of historical affection.
Perhaps this is an inevitable consequence of market segmentation, though the broadcasters' assumption that anything remotely original or challenging could only ever be a cult hit does not help.
In their different ways a lot of the classic big audience sitcoms have been fairly gritty, if by that you mean rooted in bleak reality: Steptoe, Likely Lads, Till Death, Rising Damp, Porridge, Perrin, OFAH, Shelley, One Foot, even Hancock.
Sure, but I was responding to Teddy's argument which seemed to be craving a Shameless level of griminess.
Quote: Matthew Stott @ June 27 2011, 8:07 PM BSTThat 'historical affection' stuff can only apply to those of us old enough to have grown up with the show.
Beardy's right. Most of the kiddiewinks who watch Who don't give a tinkers cuss about its history.