Capturing the zeitgeist?

I mentioned in another thread that I thought Big Brother (depressingly) was one of the programmes that best reflect the age we live in. I wonder if people have any suggestions on comedy shows that best sum up the age we live in?

There have been a lot of great shows in recent years - The Office, Father Ted, Black Books - but I'm not sure they really capture the zeitgeist. In contrast, there have been loads of dramas - This Life, 24, Sex In The City - that plug into modern life far more effectively.

I think Benidorm best answers your question. Back in the 60's before the package holiday became available to the masses, ignorance and bigotry were fairly common because people didn’t travel and didn't know better. Nowadays, people like those lampooned in Benidorm are fiercely proud of there ignorence and that's why we have programmes like Big Brother and people like Jade, God help us. If this attitude persists then I'm afraid we're all going to Birmingham in handcart.

We've given up in Britain, that's the trouble. By failing to teach children common manners and respect for others; by failing to put people in jail for crimes and by bending over backwards not to offend anyone except those who won't fight back. See if you can think of an MP who would continue to be one if there was no salary.

I think Nathan Barley was scarily spot-on for that time and setting

One of the faults of Benidorm is that it more accurately sums up the zeitgeist of 20 or more years ago. Take out the casual references to celebrity culture/obession and tone down the vulgarity and it resembles the Are You Being Served film where they all go on holiday to the Costa Plonka, or whatever it was. Or Carry on Abroad.

Quote: chipolata @ February 2, 2007, 10:44 AM

I wonder if people have any suggestions on comedy shows that best sum up the age we live in?

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good question Chipolata, i kinda think that a lot of shows sum up the world we live in, like this new show W.A.Gs boutique (or something along them lines), how can these people with no job no hope of getting a job just go around shopping with their rich partners credit cards , it's sad that younger girls look up to these woman and admire even copy them like Jade Goody, she isn't pretty, she isn't clever, funny, dosn't do a lot for charity, she isn't good at sport, she can't even run a hair salon, yet she has made millions and is seen as a hero to some,

i can't think of many that really answer the question though, i'll go and look at my t.v times

NEW SIG TIME

The last show that captured the zeitgeist (so to speak) was Brasseye, which brilliantly summed up the media's obsession with trivia and its tendency towards sensationalism and hysteria. I can't think of a show since then that has been anywhere near as culturally relevant.

WAGS Boutique and CBB don't sum up the world we live in. They sum up the world that some people live in but, I would wager, not most people in this country. My girlfriend teaches at secondary school level and says that, whilst there are girls who look up to Jade Goody and footballer's girlfriends, the majority are intelligent, polite people who want to gain good qualifications so that they can go on to higher education or get a decent job. But that doesn't make for 'interesting' TV so instead the media focuses on the negatives and, in turn, the importance of Goody et al is blown out of all proportion. And the next thing you know, it becomes a 'fact' that the country is awash with brain dead, teenage sluts who want to be lap dancers and bag themselves a football player.

Wheeler, i wasn't suggesting that every girl is a "teenage slut" i was suggesting that when shows start to be made about the wives of footballers and there is a market for it then the world has changed a bit, when i was growing up the footballer was the center of attention, i suppose you could put that down to the media aswell, in the fact that they started digging into footballers private lives and found dirty secrets so they continued to dig, i suppose i mis-understood the question a tiny bit in the way i answered what i thought that audiences are prepared to tune into on t.v compared to the good ol' days, i'm still trying to find a answer that really does sum the world up, it's a tricky question but i think brasseye is the best suggestion.

I think Spaced was quite zeitgeisty.

IMO, Spaced was way too niche and closed to reflect anything more than its own little world.

But in answer to the original question, London 2012. Surely that counts as a comedy by now. It's certainly nothing serious. I think it's pretty reflective, even if it's not a TV show; cock-ups, ministerial twattery, robbing the taxpayer, corruption, and so on and so forth. In short, Labour.

I think Spaced perfectly reflects the outlook of a generation of people in their 20s/30s.

I wasn't a member of that generation when it came out, but I am now.
Sadly. : (

Welll, perhaps of a generation, yes. I'll give you that one. But not the zeitgeist as a whole.

I think the zeitgeist is more generally refering to the young, rather than those in their forties or over, as it is generally the young that are driving popular culture.

True to an extent I suppose, but the zeitgeist isn't purely popular culture, so I'd still have to disagree re Spaced. And anyway, the young may be driving popular culture, but everyone else has their say on it too. Or something.

Yeah.

Yes indeedy!

I actually had to go and look up zeitgeist in the dictionary to make sure I wasn't making a total tool of myself. And it can mean the spirit of a time, an age or a generation. So, phew.

Of course that doesn't mean I'm not a tool in general.