TV Review of the Year: 2011 Page 2

Quote: Ian Wolf @ January 2 2012, 9:04 AM GMT

I may be one of the show's biggest fans, but I have to admit that the fact that QI does seem to use the same guests over and over is frustrating.

In this current series, Jimmy Carr has appeared three times, Sandi Toksvig has appeared three times, David Mitchell has appeared three times (one of which has yet to be aired), Bill Bailey has appeared three times (again, one has yet to be aired)... and so on. As much as I like them, there needs to be more variety. I'd like to see a series where each guest is only allowed to appear once just to see if there is an improvement.

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Love QI, great format that works & a great host too but I think it does suffer from repetition a bit which I'm sure the scheduling & guest availability must play a part in that. (although I'd be more than happy for David Mitchell to appear on it every week!) Having said that, they have had some decent 'new' people this series. Frank Skinner, John Bishop, Brian Cox & the German comic Henning Wehn (spelling??) come to mind.

Back to the point of the thread... I think QI has done pretty well again this year to keep up with the high standard that it's set itself over the last 10 yrs.

Yes you spelt Henning's name correctly. I liked most of the new guests that appeared on in Series I, with one or two exceptions (why they needed Nina Conti's nan puppet I don't know).

I'd say the worst sitcom of the year was saved for the end and that was The Royal Bodyguard.

Aside from Physchoville - but what else would one expect from The League - it's time and again about trying to make the mundane funny. 2012 was endlessly repetitive and boring observations of human life, in various guises, with only Michael McIntyre actually making me laugh.

Everything is an association of life and how amusing it is, yet it remains that some of the most successful shows with no obvious expiry date themselves are Family Guy, American Dad, Futurama and the daddy of it all, The Simpsons. Yup, they're animated, but I think we lack a basic creativity in creating sitcoms and I haven't genuinely seen anything truly original since Bottom. The panel shows all follow an endless and tiresome stream of "did you know", at which point various people attempt to make it funny, either by direct gag, anecdote, or other means. It's dull and has given rise to a tidal wave of mediocre stand-ups getting far too much air time.

I think the problem with the modern sitcom is that it does nothing to push boundaries; the obvious exception being Reece/Steve naturally doing so through Phsychoville, but into the grotesque sideshows of old, playing on themes of horror and insanity yet reigning that back into comedy. What is completely missing, for me, is the fantastical element, something that makes the ordinary more extraordinary. I watch shows to be entertained and felt that comedy was absent from 2012, in spite of the hundreds of options.

Quote: Nedders @ January 9 2012, 3:13 PM GMT

truly original since Bottom.

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Bottom wasn't even original for Rick and Ade, more a purer distilation of the act they'd been doing on stage, and other sitcoms, for some time.

Quote: Nedders @ January 9 2012, 3:13 PM GMT

I watch shows to be entertained and felt that comedy was absent from 2012, in spite of the hundreds of options.

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If you really feel like no good, original comedy showed up last year then you just weren't looking in the right places. Off the top of my head I can think of:

Louie
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
The Heart, She Holler
China, Il

And some great mainstream ones too, like:

Parks and Recreation
Modern Family
Community

Quote: David Bussell @ January 9 2012, 4:40 PM GMT

If you really feel like no good, original comedy showed up last year then you just weren't looking in the right places. Off the top of my head I can think of:

Louie
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
The Heart, She Holler
China, Il

And some great mainstream ones too, like:

Parks and Recreation
Modern Family
Community

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What's original about Modern Family? I'll hold off on comments elsewhere, as you're right, I haven't looked in those particular places, but MF is just a slight variation on any number of themes from Cougar Town to Sex and the City.

Original is something like Scrubs.

Quote: Nedders @ January 9 2012, 4:46 PM GMT

but MF is just a slight variation on any number of themes from Cougar Town to Sex and the City.

Original is something like Scrubs.

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Quote: Nedders @ January 9 2012, 4:46 PM GMT

but MF is just a slight variation on any number of themes from Cougar Town to Sex and the City.

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Sex And The City? That's a new one on me!

Quote: Nedders @ January 9 2012, 4:46 PM GMT

What's original about Modern Family? I'll hold off on comments elsewhere, as you're right, I haven't looked in those particular places, but MF is just a slight variation on any number of themes from Cougar Town to Sex and the City.

Original is something like Scrubs.

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If you look again you'll see I put MF in the "mainstream" camp. Sex and the City it most definitely aint though. How exactly is a 25 minute sitcom the same thing as an hour long comedy/drama? And thematically speaking they're poles apart! By that token isn't Scrubs exactly the same thing as ER?

I found Scrubs to be surprisingly similar to Ally McBeal, to be honest.

I don't care if it's puerile slapstick with terrible jokes, Mrs Brown's Boys makes me giggle rather than just last laugh. Perhaps Brendan O'Carroll's manic silliness plays on nostalgia.

Walk-on posh woman Susie Blake turns up as Winnie tries to clean the fly swatter:
"How do you get the flies off your flapper?"

Well it made me laugh.

Also enjoyed Twenty Twelve and Rev, with the second series even better.

Pretty good year for UK comedy for me.
1-Not Going Out.
2-Outnumbered.
3-Life's Too Short, yes I loved it.

Not a bad year for Scottish comedy.
Was disappointed with Rab C Nesbitt but Limmy's Show! and Burnistoun were great and I look forward to them returning this year.

Oh yeah, Limmy's Show was great.