Nogget
Wednesday 21st September 2011 5:47am
Brighton
6,626 posts
Quote: sidecar jon @ September 20 2011, 8:15 PM BST
Well in that they have succeeded, but for me it's not all that funny, just a bit sad. I can see it's well crafted. But it's not really for me.
Although I do still enjoy the show, I think I see where you're coming from. The kids are so tiresome that it's harder to laugh at the parents' failings, because they deserve better. The best laughs in sitcoms tend to come when characters are hoist by their own petards, like when Basil Fawlty starts gambling against Sybil's wishes, or when Mainwaring suffers as a result of his own pomposity. If the parents were meaner to the kids and suffered as a result, we might be more inclined to laugh.
As it is, it's the kids who behave badly, and endlessly get away with it; perhaps they should be seen to be suffering as a result? I'd certainly laugh if Ben got all covered in poo, locked out from his favourite TV show or incarcerated in a Fritzl-like dungeon.