Claire Zolkwer - New ITV Head of Comedy Page 3

Quote: Roy Gould @ August 21 2010, 10:23 AM BST

The British laugh at and with failure. In the U.S. (the big cities that is) they like success. Americans are 'Aspirational' and the Brits are 'Desperational' (I know there's no such word!!) The reason I said "the big cities" is that middle America (the Redneck parts) are similar to us - they go for "working Class" comedy - "Roseanne", "Everybody Loves Raymond" just like we do - "Only Fools and Horses" and "The Office". Remember "The Office" was set in Slough and not London (or any Big city) - apart from Gervais's performance, which was pitch perfect, the setting was a stroke of genius.

I doubt if shows like "Frasier" or "Friends" were (as) popular in middle America - they were 'City' shows - but the cities in the U.S. such as New York, San Francisco, L.A. etc are huge, so could bring in huge figures. We don't have that land mass in the UK.

Am I boring you? I'll go away now...

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No, it's very interesting, Roy. Where does Cheers fit in? If that was anything, it was desperational, but fairly huge.

I haven't got a chair with my name on Ben and Roy but it does say "Must not be removed from Terminal 3" on the back of my home-office chair!

I call it my home-office but it's just a desk and chair next to my bed. Not enough room to swing a cat in here but I can wield a keyboard! Wha-hay!

As for comedy on ITV. It's a long time since ... <can't remember the name of the show> ... isn't it?

Quote: Ben @ August 22 2010, 12:09 PM BST

No, it's very interesting, Roy. Where does Cheers fit in? If that was anything, it was desperational, but fairly huge.

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It wasn't desperational at all.

Well some of the characters certainly weren't aspirational.

Quote: Marc P @ August 22 2010, 9:49 PM BST

It wasn't desperational at all.

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But most of the characters were bums!

Happy bums! Well. Not happy, in the main.

Quote: Ben @ August 22 2010, 10:17 PM BST

But most of the characters were bums!

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But comedy characters shouldn't be aspirational! They should be the people we don't want to be. Even drama characters shouldn't necessarily be aspirational.

Quote: Tim Azure @ August 22 2010, 10:21 PM BST

But comedy characters shouldn't be aspirational! They should be the people we don't want to be. Even drama characters shouldn't necessarily be aspirational.

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What are you going on about? No one said characters can't be aspirational or desperational.

Quote: Ben @ August 22 2010, 10:17 PM BST

But most of the characters were bums!

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Lol.

No they weren't. They all worked. Sam owned the bar and was an ex very succesful baseball player. A psychiatirst, a postman, can't remember what Norm did but he worked. Diane is left devastated by being jilted at the bar and takes a job waitressing there. So there is the will they won't they engine driving the show. And the aspirational aspect is audience orientated too, pretty much everybody who enjoyed watching it would say that it was just the kind of bar they would like to drop into for a cold one after work before heading home.

Norm was on the dole for a lot of it. Diane was the ultimate under-achiever, stuck in a job that she is massively over qualified for. Sam is a washed-up alcoholic whose best years are behind him, and he approaches middle age ungracefully with people soon forgetting who he was at his peak. Carla has a string of degenerate ex-husbands and increasing number of children which she raises on her own with the money she gets waitressing. Cliff is very possibly still a virgin at the age of 45. Fraser's life falls apart when Diane dumps him, and he loses all confidence in himself and his ability to do his job. He eventually gets the job side back on track but then ends up in a horrible, cold loveless marriage.

For me, Cheers (along with Roseanne) is one of few American sitcoms that breaks out of the aspirational norm.

I agree though. It is the the kind of bar I would like to drink in.

Quote: Trabs @ August 23 2010, 11:41 AM BST

aspirational Norm.

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This rather goes against your thesis.

I suspect the difference between UK and US sitcom characters is less socio-economic and more to do with whether you would want to sleep with them.

Quote: Marc P @ August 23 2010, 10:55 AM BST

Lol.

No they weren't. They all worked.

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I don't think he meant jobless.

Comedy works by people having a dream that is constantly thwarted.

Quote: Marc P @ August 23 2010, 1:23 PM BST

Comedy works by people having a dream that is constantly thwarted.

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I thought that was just my life.