To avoid thread jacking I've decided to open a new one on a sitcom/comedy drama idea I've had.
As a working title I've called this 'Stage Leftovers' which had all of 30 seconds thought.
The show would use classic scenes from 70s and 80s sitcoms but would focus more on the backroom staff on those shows - the lighting, sound, make up and wardrobe people. The viewer would see the star actors (lookalikes) blurred in the background of shots featuring the new show actors something similar to this.
Imagine the lighting and sound guys talking at the side of the stage and between them you can see Basil and Manuel and the BBC audience watching the a show recording. I think it's a very interesting concept which draws people in by the interest in the original shows but has the added twist of being a new show within a show.
I saw the characters as BBC staff so they could be working on one or several programs. I know it's getting ahead of myself but you could conceivably do one show per episode on a year-by-year basis.
1977 - Dad's Army
1978 - The Good Life
1979 - Fawlty Towers
1980 - Not the Nine O'clock News
1981 - Only Fools and Horses
1982 - The Young Ones
I quite like this list as it means you are seeing the change in comedy from cosy sitcom to anarchy and the changes in broadcasting techniques. As for the background usage of old clips and blurred actors I would keep those to a minimum as I wouldn't want it to detract from the main storylines.
BBC Four was mentioned as an outlet for a comedy documentary thing and I quite like that though it wasn't my original idea.
What do you think - would it interest you enough to watch?
