Excellent article on the state of comedy...
http://www.chortle.co.uk/correspondents/2007/12/28/6199/whats_wrong_with_tv_comedy
I agree with every flipping word!
What's wrong with TV comedy
Tell you what I think ladies and gentle folk. In recent years we have had everything that reality TV can throw at us. All utter SHITE!!! Why doesn’t someone at the Beeb or wherever tap into the unknown writing talent which clearly exists, and create a show to find some real LOL comedy?
They could ask for scripts no more than 5 minutes long, no more than 4 characters, stick a selection on each week. and let the public vote. Surely this would create just as much interest as big blubber, or falling on your arse on ice, or can’t sing but I will anyway.
I was with him until the penultimate paragraph; "shows will have to ... be subtler [and] more complex".
Pity that the article wasn't longer, and didn't take three or four paragraphs to make one point, but still reasonably well put, and the underlying message, tone, frustration I don't think can be argued with.
The Beeb have not really moved on from the Oxbridge days. Still reliant not so much on writers from the footlights but these have moved on to those who now commission the shows. I attended a workshop/Q&A session in Bristol last year. Good job it was short because it was exclusively stocked with BBC personnel who had no grasp on reality and were so far up their own backsides it wasn't funny. Awful. I was tempted to walk out. So much good stuff has come from the Beeb in terms of comedy in the past it is a shame to see it imploding. They need a radical shake-up to get talented people behind the scenes not just people from a narrow band of academics. It may be that I have a biased view having only having been to one meet and greet. If anybody knows any different please correct me.
This article, to me at least, just seems like a typical moan without any particular point to it.
I disagree that comedy needs to be subtler and more complex as Aaron has already said. I don't think the style matters as much as the quality.
I also think that there have been many, many good shows over the past few years. Not mainstream hits perhaps but good shows nevertheless.
The issue of shows being lost on obscure channels is pertinent though.
Quote: Nick @ February 5, 2008, 11:21 AMI also think that there have been many, many good shows over the past few years. Not mainstream hits perhaps but good shows nevertheless.
Absolutely agree with this.
When living in the 'now' there's all the crud shows to dilute the overall feeling of how good things are. It's only in hindsight, when the failures have been washed from the mind, that most people will twig that the 00s were actually pretty good.
Gavin and Stacey, Outnumbered, The IT Crowd, Lead Balloon, Not Going Out, Pulling, Extras, Help and Ideal are just some of the recent sitcom creations that I think will still be much loved in the next decade.
Bromwell High. Peep Show. My Family. Meet The Magoons. 
Quote: Aaron @ February 5, 2008, 7:49 PMBromwell High. Peep Show. My Family.
They started earlier in the decade. If you want to go back to 2000 can I also offer up: Darkplace, The Mighty Boosh, The Worst Week of my Life, Green Wing, Nighty Night, The Office, Phoenix Nights, Two Pints, Early Doors, um... The Smoking Room, The Thick of It, Still Game, Black Books and Coupling
In summary: lots of popular comedies made this decade
Quote: Aaron @ February 5, 2008, 7:49 PMMeet The Magoons.
OK, playing like that are we, I raise you: Mad About Alice
Quote: Mark @ February 5, 2008, 9:05 PMThey started earlier in the decade.
Well Bromwell High came after Help, wot you mentioned. 
PH34R MY ENCYCLOPAEDIC SITCOM KNOWLEDGE.
Quote: Mark @ February 5, 2008, 9:05 PMOK, playing like that are we, I raise you: Mad About Alice
Yeah, but it had Amanda Holden in it.
good article.
Meet the Magoons? Was that the thing about the four Indian blokes? If so, I thought it was very, very poor.
Yes it was (about the Indians).
Quote: Ray Dawson @ February 4, 2008, 8:39 PMThey could ask for scripts no more than 5 minutes long, no more than 4 characters, stick a selection on each week. and let the public vote.
They tried something like this here in the States for film. It was called "On the Lot". Spielberg was involved and even with his name attached it was a disaster in the ratings.
Isn't bemoaning the state of British comedy just another national pastime? Right up there with bitching about MP's, grumbling about the weather, and chuntering about youth. That said, British comedy is a bit naff at the moment and I agree with the general thrust of the article.
I think this part of the article was a key reason:
The rise of the DVD box set and the ease with which your programme of choice can be downloaded or streamed from the internet has meant that ratings are an increasingly redundant method of measuring success.
All current ratting systems are very faulty. We actually use these systems as examples of bad survey research in my Quantitative classes.