Quote: David Bussell @ January 10, 2008, 9:23 AMI love the shit out of Curb Your Enthusiasm, but I recommend no-one watch the last episode of series 5 where Larry goes to heaven.
Series 5 was a bit weird. It was a lot more contrived than the previous series. Like the "Korean Bookie" episode when they're at the beach and everyone at the party thinks they've eaten dog meat, and they all simultaneously spit/vomit it out. Also, Jeff was saying "That's a big bowl of wrong" a bit too much.
As Scrubs went on it got more preachy to me. Only Fools should have stopped after Harrisons Watch episode and The Royale Family from episode 1 [That was a minority report!] And if anyone criticises Phoenix Nights I'm going to have to declare myself a small independent country and invade them!
Quote: Blenkinsop @ January 9, 2008, 1:22 PMNot one I hated but one that I find not as good as the other 11.
Fawlty Towers the - anniversary one. I don't know if it's the lighting and the subject but I tend not to watch it on either repeat or DVD.
Mind it's still head and shoulders above most other stuff on since.
Don't hate it but I always thought 'The Americans' (aka 'Waldorf salad') was the worst ever 'Fawlty Towers' episode (just before 'The Anniversary', I think). And while I adore 'The Young Ones' I always skip that Hell sketch in 'Boring' where they bust the guy's nose - too detailed and sick to be funny. But hey, one crap scene in two series ain't bad.
Quote: Charles E. Lawley @ January 8, 2008, 6:30 PMAlso I only like watching pilot episodes once. I don't know why just hate being reintroduced to characters. Strange isn't it.
Yeah the first episode always comes over as far slower once you've savoured the others. Introducing characters and all that. Even the first ever 'Young Ones' seems mild when you're accustomed to the second series.
And as a non-writer, I don't really notice that kind of introduction, so am happy to watch whatever. As long as it's funny, of course. 
The last episodes of Friends is awful and so cliched it's untrue.
The dash to the airport, will Ross and Rachel get together?
Of course they will, its a prime time easy going American Comedy, it's not going to have a downbeat ending is it. It rendered the entire episode as predictable.
I think it's a general rule for all US sitcom's that they have to be mainstream soft at the edges generally nice as pie. There aren't any that I know of that would be comparable to say The Young Ones or Brass Eye. I think they missed a trick with MASH. It had the potential to be a real anti-war bomb shell [pun intended] but lost a huge amount between film and TV series. At least we took the canned laughter track out. Perhaps I've missed a trick?
Quote: Spagett @ January 10, 2008, 8:49 PMThe last episodes of Friends is awful and so cliched it's untrue.
The dash to the airport, will Ross and Rachel get together?
Of course they will, its a prime time easy going American Comedy, it's not going to have a downbeat ending is it. It rendered the entire episode as predictable.
I thought predictability was exactly what people wanted (knowingly or otherwise) when they tuned in to Friends? Or any sitcom for that matter!
No, we just want it to be funny.
Quote: roscoff @ January 10, 2008, 9:11 PMI think it's a general rule for all US sitcom's that they have to be mainstream soft at the edges generally nice as pie. There aren't any that I know of that would be comparable to say The Young Ones or Brass Eye. I think they missed a trick with MASH. It had the potential to be a real anti-war bomb shell (pun intended) but lost a huge amount between film and TV series. At least we took the canned laughter track out. Perhaps I've missed a trick?
I've always had the impression US sitcoms are closer to soap opera than to comedy. How many people actually laugh at crap like 'The Cosby Show'?
On the subject of MASH, it was a fine piece of work and about as anti-war as you can get on American TV. Only the first few series were soft and fluffy, but after that it developed a real anti-war tone, reflected in it's somewhat nihilistic last episode. As for other American shows being nice and fluffy, Seinfeld certainly wasn't, and shows like South Park and It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia have a deliciously cold, dark heart...
As for the Young Ones. That's aged atrociously, and strikes me as virtually unwatchable nowadays.
Oh, and I agree about the Larry David going to heaven episode being shit.
I'm amazed what a slagging off 'The Young Ones' keeps getting! I still love it.
I'm not keen on the Curb episode where Larry finally appears in The Producers.
It is interesting as a snapshot of a bygone age, and it did have Alexis Sayle in, so maybe it's not totally without redemption.
Quote: chipolata @ January 11, 2008, 9:54 AMit did have Alexis Sayle in, so maybe it's not totally without redemption.
Uhhh.... 
Alexis Sayle?
*shudder*