Sitcoms - A World We Would Like To Be

I'm just mentioning this, because it seems to me that one of the reasons we love sitcoms, is because (at heart) they are non-threatening places.

Unlike the gritty dramas/stupid dramas we watch, reality (even in "realistic"/mock-doc) is kept to one side.

Which I love.

You watch a sitcom and you never have to deal with the prospects of economic desperation, emotional despair or objectively-real fear of the future. Because, the whole point about proper sitcom - the whole joke - is that nothing can destroy the world that it created. End episode, generally... back to square one.

So, which is the ideal sitcom world in which you'd like to exist?

Who wouldn't want to be a guest at 'Fawlty Towers'? Who wouldn't like to be living with Hancock, a self-sufficient buffoon, but without any seeming money worries? Steptoe & Son always get by. On the other hand, but similarily, life working at Wernham Hogg in 'The Office' generally seems cosy. I'd love to rent at Rigbsy's in 'Rising Damp', or work in the "tedium" of Sunshine Desserts in 'Reggie Perrin'. Worth entering the Catholic priesthood to stay a weekend on Craggy Island with Father Ted? Mighty Boosh fans needn't really explain why they might want to live in their world.

Half the appeal of sitcoms (I think) is that, other than the laughter, they create a world that is safe, dependable, stable - a place that we can feel comfortable in.

Which sitcom would we most like to live in?

As a doctor, I would love to work in 'Darkplace' hospital, for example.

Black Books shop.

I wouldn't mind drinking the day away with Bernard. Good call.

I'm instantly thinking of Dad's Army - faaaaaaar from safe or stable! (Unless we're going into it with 21st Century hindsight, of course.)

Yes, but of course - in terms of the sitcom - it was. No-one was going to get killed/maimed - you can't do that in terms of sitcom. Cosiness is the home of sitcom, Aaron. Not the situation, but the life the characters within it lead. Devoid of destruction, that's the point. Del Boy, however unsuccessful, was never going to end-up on the street, wanking for pennies! That's what is lovely about sitcom. Laughter, identification with characters, distraction from life which is unpredictable unto a life which is relatively cosy.

I'd love to work in the Nathan Barley offices. I imagine I'd spend half the time laughing at their unconscious ridiculousness and half the time pitying them, just like Dan Ashcroft.

Dan

I'd like to drink at Cheers, work at the same radio station as Frasier Crane, and live in one of Larry David's houses (probably the seaf front one from the second season of Curb).

Just highlights the difference between the aspirational US and the miserable UK! Eastenders V Dallas anyone?

I'll live opposite Rachel and Monica thanks...you lot can live down the hall from Del Boy!

Quote: Pete @ November 24 2008, 1:00 PM GMT

I'll live opposite Rachel and Monica thanks...

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You can be Chandler, I'll be Joey.

Quote: Matthew Stott @ November 24 2008, 1:04 PM GMT

You can be Chandler, I'll be Joey.

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Could we be any cooler?

Quote: Pete @ November 24 2008, 1:05 PM GMT

Could we be any cooler?

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Sorry? I didn't catch that, i was having sex with a stripper.

It's a hard man indeed who wouldn't enjoy having his inside leg measured by Mr. Humphries whilst staring at Miss Brahms tits.

I'd happily share a prison cell with Fletcher. And I think the culdesac where Martin Bryce lived was quite nice. And let's not forget the attractive prozzies in Respectable - I'd happily use that establishment.

I'd live in Barbara Good's underwear drawer - with a country place in Dibley at weekends.

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Yeah, maybe not that one. I'm thinking mainly of the studenty one in glasses.