Quote: Dene Kernohan @ September 12 2012, 3:40 PM BSTFawlty Towers is better than Porridge, IMO. Better constructed plots.
As I said some may be as good but none better. Fawlty Towers has not aged well in my opinion. I never thought it was that amazing anyway, just a Faydeau Farce transposed to Torquay. Good central performance though. Porridge on the other hand because of its prison setting dates well, and is not associated with the fashions and styles of the day.
Quote: Gordon Bennett @ September 12 2012, 4:33 PM BSTAs long as you don't say the original show is a complete waste of time my curiosity will probably win over better advice or my tightfistedness (although I could imagine that a complete boxset is cheaper than the individual sets these days). Anyway, my next encounter with "British Comedy History" has to be "Dad's Army". So, there's enough time for me to think this through.
The box set - not complete, sadly, due to the scandal of wiping - is indeed dirt cheap. Only 8 episodes of The Likely Lads survive. Less than £11 for 6 whole discs.
See Amazon product listing
[p=http://www.play.com/DVD/DVD/4-/1134503/The_Likely_Lads_Collection/Product.html]
[h=564998]
Quote: Aaron @ September 12 2012, 6:08 PM BSTThe box set - not complete, sadly, due to the scandal of wiping - is indeed dirt cheap. Only 8 episodes of The Likely Lads survive. Less than £11 for 6 whole discs.
See Amazon product listing
[p=http://www.play.com/DVD/DVD/4-/1134503/The_Likely_Lads_Collection/Product.html]
[h=564998]
You made me change my mind...I ordered this box set (Dad's Army has to wait). But can you tell me what's it all about with these surviving/lost episodes; did someone pour orange juice over some master tapes? The BCG overview and Wikipedia don't go into detail about this.
Ah, well. It affected dozens if not hundreds of shows, from Dad's Army to Till Death Us Do Part, and non-comedy titles such as Doctor Who.
Essentially, during the 1960s and 1970s primarily, the video tape that shows were recorded on was very expensive. Television was also seen as far more of a 'here now, gone tomorrow', purely entertainment medium than we consider it today. It just didn't occur to anyone that the shows would be of interest again - and so thousands of hours of tapes had other programmes recorded over them.
During the 80s it slowly dawned on people just what they'd done, and the practice was stopped. Although incredibly depressingly, a limited number of television companies continued wiping - or simply scrapping - both film and tape well into the 1990s.
With the help of private collectors, international sales copies and various other sources, many episodes have been recovered since the early 1990s - including Steptoe And Son being completed - but often only in black and white when they were originally made in colour; and hundreds of hours more still remain 'missing believed wiped'.
Hey, thanks for this information. I'm a little bit perplexed. I read somewhere that the very first British (or American?) sitcom wasn't even recorded. It was broadcast live and wasn't inteded to be rewatched again. But hearing that a once recorded show was deliberatly erased or recorded over and this well into the 80s on top of that ist really an absurd thought. More than just a nice trivia, thanks.
Yes, the earliest programmes were broadcast live, and done so before there was any real ability to record even if they had wished to. Pinwright's Progress was the first sitcom.
I've just watched the movie and found it to be pretty good. Just one thing though, both Bob and Terry's voice sound "high pitched" on and off throughout, and I am curious to know why this is so?
My guess would be a dodgy transfer of the original film stock.
Never thought of that. Thanks for your prompt response Aaron.
Quote: Stephen Ryder @ September 18 2012, 8:53 PM BSTI've just watched the movie and found it to be pretty good. Just one thing though, both Bob and Terry's voice sound "high pitched" on and off throughout, and I am curious to know why this is so?
Aaron's reply may well account for this, but don't forget PAL speedup. When shown on the UK PAL system, material filmed at 24fps is shown 25fps, i.e. 4% faster. So in a film, Bolam and Bewes' voices *would* sound different to how they do on telly eps.
But if you're watching a DVD from the US, then that can't be the reason because NTSC shows film at the correct speed - as does Blu-ray.
Quote: Dene Kernohan @ September 19 2012, 12:47 PM BSTAaron's reply may well account for this, but don't forget PAL speedup. When shown on the UK PAL system, material filmed at 24fps is shown 25fps, i.e. 4% faster. So in a film, Bolam and Bewes' voices *would* sound different to how they do on telly eps.
Is that minute speeding up really noticeable? I can't say I've ever registered it. It only amounts to about 1 minute difference of every half hour, after all.
Quote: Aaron @ September 19 2012, 4:06 PM BSTIs that minute speeding up really noticeable? I can't say I've ever registered it. It only amounts to about 1 minute difference of every half hour, after all.
Visually, definitely not; aurally, well sometimes.
I can't say it's something I've noticed a lot - music that I'm very used to hearing I have. I was a big fan of ER; when I visited the US and watched an episode, I was struck by the theme tune sounding slower.
People with particularly deep voices are affected more noticeably - Sigourney Weaver sounds quite different in PAL and NTSC. Her voice is more 'mellow' in NTSC!
Quote: Pingl @ September 12 2012, 2:19 PM BSTPorridge is simply one of the greatest sitcoms ever produced. The scripts, acting and production are pitch perfect. There may be sitcoms as good but there are none better.
What does best sitcom mean though? Best made or funniest? Porridge was brilliant viewing from the off, well constructed, every element looked comfortably right, great characters, stories, hardly a wasted minute or bad line. Fawlty Towers imo was a bit wild and ragged from the off, very busy but a little jerky, a bit of a bumpy ride.
But it was and is still way funnier than Porridge! Certainly series 1 of FT may not be as well made as Porridge but it's still funnier. Series 2 way moreso with nearly every episode a classic. OFAH was also easily as funny as Porridge but took longer to find its feet. Porridge could be called the best made sitcom from scratch but it isn't the funniest. So which of these qualities is more important?
Quote: Alfred J Kipper @ September 20 2012, 12:03 AM BSTWhat does best sitcom mean though? Best made or funniest? Porridge was brilliant viewing from the off, well constructed, every element looked comfortably right, great characters, stories, hardly a wasted minute or bad line. Fawlty Towers imo was a bit wild and ragged from the off, very busy but a little jerky, a bit of a bumpy ride.
But it was and is still way funnier than Porridge! Certainly series 1 of FT may not be as well made as Porridge but it's still funnier. Series 2 way moreso with nearly every episode a classic. OFAH was also easily as funny as Porridge but took longer to find its feet. Porridge could be called the best made sitcom from scratch but it isn't the funniest. So which of these qualities is more important?
I know what you mean and you put forward a good case. I must say personally, and I do know I'm in the minority here, but I find Porridge funnier. Fawlty Towers is a far broader, more physical comedy with a tour de force performance at its centre. Porridge, although it has a star name, is a far more an emsemble piece, subtler and slower paced. But for me it's Porridge that stays in the mind, it's Porridge that rewards more viewings, always returning a new tic from Mackay, a corker of a line from a minor character, a new look of resignation from Baraclough. With Porridge every performance no matter how small seems perfect. Best sitcom is subjective and an impossible target, maybe favourite would be better. What we want from comedy is personal, I can see the merit of Fawlty Towers but I don't want to watch it over and over, I never tire of Porridge. Was Fawlty Towers funnier on first viewing? Probably yes, but we are taking a retrospective view, and which has given me more pleasure, Porridge undoubtably.
Quote: Pingl @ September 20 2012, 8:29 AM BST(1)Fawlty Towers is a far broader, more physical comedy with a tour de force performance at its centre.
...(2)But for me it's Porridge that stays in the mind, it's Porridge that rewards more viewings, always returning a new tic from Mackay, a corker of a line from a minor character, a new look of resignation from Baraclough.
(3) Best sitcom is subjective and an impossible target, maybe favourite would be better.
(1) I remember watching Fawlty Towers when I was a boy and my English speaking skills were virtually nonexistent but I did get the plots (and most of its comedy) because, as you said, the whole thing is very physical and every plot twist is accompanied by obvious actions. Years later when I could speak English and I rewatched the show I discovered and enjoyed many of the clever dialogues and word games but storywise it did nothing new for me. This might be an indication that the show is in many aspects broader than Porridge...but of course, in this context broad doesn't mean cheap and stupid. FT is great. But it has and universal (and physical) language which makes it relatively easy to get.
(2) You have to invest more into Porridge. Many gags and dialogues are very subtle. And sometimes there are even emotional, dramatic moments which are almost completely absent from Fawlty Towers. Porridge takes a bit more involvement from the audience side but can also be more rewarding, as you said.
(3) "Best" and "favourite" is not the same. This is a "comedy snob" site, at least I think it is, so it's better to divide these two words. But even on a comedy snob site it's not a crime to like a show like Mrs. Brown's Boys, but we all know, that the scripts of Fawlty Towers or Yes Minister are of different quality. So if one doesn't like Porridge, one has to aknowledege that it's more sophisticated than "Two Pints Of Lager...", even if you prefered the latter.
But it would be interesting to have a "best" and a "favourite" list (voted by snobs and "comedy fast food lovers") and compare the two. And I bet my arse on it that Fawlty Towers would have the overall better outcome than Porridge because of its broader appeal.
