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Post by paulmorris7777 on Sept 8, 2016 16:30:10 GMT
Last week, the BBC started a Sit-Com pilot season. I wasn't impressed with any of them, but what did you think? If you too wasn't impressed. What type of Sit-Com do you want?
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Post by dalekbuster523finish on Sept 8, 2016 17:20:52 GMT
Why aren't Porridge and Goodnight Sweetheart options in this poll? I would vote for them. Both excellent revivals that move the story forward rather than trying too hard to recreate the past.
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Post by paulmorris7777 on Sept 8, 2016 17:28:45 GMT
Why aren't Porridge and Goodnight Sweetheart options in this poll? I would vote for them. Both excellent revivals that move the story forward rather than trying too hard to recreate the past. Damn it! I can't edit the poll, now!
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Post by whiskeybrewer on Sept 9, 2016 11:59:27 GMT
I would have voted for Porridge and Goodnight Sweetheart as well lol
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Post by acousticwolf on Sept 9, 2016 12:03:34 GMT
Why aren't Porridge and Goodnight Sweetheart options in this poll? I would vote for them. Both excellent revivals that move the story forward rather than trying too hard to recreate the past. Damn it! I can't edit the poll, now! Unfortunately it doesn't appear that Mods can edit the poll either. I think the only options are remove and recreate the poll or leave as is ... Cheers Tony
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Post by paulmorris7777 on Sept 9, 2016 12:37:06 GMT
Damn it! I can't edit the poll, now! Unfortunately it doesn't appear that Mods can edit the poll either. I think the only options are remove and recreate the poll or leave as is ... Cheers Tony And, Hancock was on last night!
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Post by dalekbuster523finish on Sept 9, 2016 12:50:07 GMT
Unfortunately it doesn't appear that Mods can edit the poll either. I think the only options are remove and recreate the poll or leave as is ... Cheers Tony And, Hancock was on last night! Yeah, that was good. Although I'm be sure a whole series would work.
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Post by muckypup on Sept 9, 2016 13:26:40 GMT
I think they all deserve a series, I have loved them all
I just wonder if those who moaned about young hyacinth & are you being served actually like those sitcoms in the first place? I thought these two were the best of the bunch.
I thought they were all respectful and actually funny while the new pilots were not bad.
I think the biggest missed opportunity was not to have a hi de hi sequel for Peggy, the best comic heroine a true mix of farce & pathos.
long live the sitcom, I will take them over cop, period & violence any day of the week.
and after a summer of tedious sporting events these are something I am happy to have my licence fee spent on......remember the BBC is a bus not a taxi a little of everything for all.
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Post by dalekbuster523finish on Sept 9, 2016 13:59:41 GMT
I think they all deserve a series, I have loved them all I just wonder if those who moaned about young hyacinth & are you being served actually like those sitcoms in the first place? I thought these two were the best of the bunch. My problem with Are You Being Served is that it was too much about bringing back the past and not doing something new.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2016 14:32:09 GMT
Yes, Are You Being Served just did exactly the same jokes as before - there's already 10 series of that, a movie and a spinoff. Can't see that making more of it wouldn't just be more of the same. The show never evolved and the pilot made it clear that Derren isn't interested in taking it further. So maybe the people that "moaned" about it did like the original but nearly 100 eps of the show is enough for them? That and the fact that of all the shows in this season that was the one that just seemed to refuse to believe it's not the 1970s any more and perhaps humour has moved on? There's nothing to be gained by making more, may as well show the old series. Since it's the same jokes anyway, may as well have someone like Mollie Sugden deliver them rather than Sherrie Hewson.
I disliked Gary in the original Goodnight Sweetheart by the end - he was a bigamist and a liar...but the show didn't let him off the hook which I really liked. It made it clear he was a real prig. It was bold for a sitcom and in premise along it was massively inventive. The new ep was a lot of fun - they did all they could with the WW2 stuff but now if the show comes back there's a load of material set in the 60s to have fun with as well as Gary trying to suss out 2016. You've also got the dynamic with the secret daughter and the future wife who knows about him now. Whether anyone likes the show or not, that's potential right there. That's somewhere to go. Any writer worth their salt in comedy could get another series or two out of that and Lyndhurst plays the role so well.
Porridge paid tribute to the original but again felt lie there's something new to do with it. Not sure the guards needed to be avatars for McKay and Barraclough but it worked, and seeing Mark Bonnar is always welcome. Have the protagonist be a young, vibrant character and the cellmate a total change from Godber was a good idea. Kevin Bishop was fantastic as Fletcher. He's always been a favourite of mine and I hope this gets picked up and gives him the true mainstream hit he's deserved for years.
Young Hyacinth was an odd one. I said in my thoughts above that Are You Being Served spent its whole run doing the same ep over and over, well, so did Keeping Up Appearances. This, surprisingly, did something very different with the pre-Bucket Hyanicth and her kin. That's to be commended but the problem is...it wasn't very funny. I liked the pathos, we're seeing Hyacinth's yearning to be a "better" person by just acting upper-class completely missing the fact that the snobs she's learning from are more dysfunctional and cold than her own family. That's good stuff. Again...problem is that there's nothing funny here though. Kinda a pre-requisite for a sitcom. It also didn't feel like the same type of comedy. Routledge played it very broad and grandiose wheras this was all quiet and gentle. It felt more like Last Of The Summer Wine than Keeping Up Appearances. A nice one off butt can't see me watching more.
I'm looking forward to Steptoe next week if only to see the wonderful Jeff Rawle play Albert. Apart from that the only sitcom return that has me excited is Still Game which returns next month after a decade away.
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Post by muckypup on Sept 9, 2016 17:40:25 GMT
I think they all deserve a series, I have loved them all I just wonder if those who moaned about young hyacinth & are you being served actually like those sitcoms in the first place? I thought these two were the best of the bunch. My problem with Are You Being Served is that it was too much about bringing back the past and not doing something new. So you will be against all the new Agatha Christie dramas, the new adaptions of Shakespeare & even new who....all are looking backwards. whats wrong with a bit of old fashioned comedy the two biggest comedy hits of the last few years Miranda & Mrs brown are more old fashioned than these remakes/updates that has not stopped them getting the best ratings. i think there is room for all and many of the "new sitcoms" have hardly set the world on fire anyone actually a fan of boomers, count Arthur strong, boy meets girl? And will we even remember them in 30 years the world is a dark place & half an hour of sillyness can hardly be that bad and much better for the soul than the endless talentless competitions & nasty gladiator style tv.
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Post by dalekbuster523finish on Sept 9, 2016 19:20:09 GMT
My problem with Are You Being Served is that it was too much about bringing back the past and not doing something new. So you will be against all the new Agatha Christie dramas, the new adaptions of Shakespeare & even new who....all are looking backwards. It depends how they are done. If they're too much about trying to replicate past efforts then yes. If they're more like Goodnight Sweetheart's one-off special in that they look forward then no. Don't get me wrong, Goodnight Sweetheart did look to the past with the return of the original cast but they didn't dwell too long on it. It wasn't the main focus of the episode. Are You Being Served 2016's existence seemed to be purely to say 'Hey, this was cool in the past. Let's try to replicate that with the exact same humour in 2016!' Nothing's wrong with old-fashioned comedy, it's how the comedy is done that's the problem. Miranda may take tips from past successes like Morecambe & Wise but it doesn't try to recreate the same humour. It does something new with it. You obviously wouldn't get jokes about mobile phones in 1968 but if you compare it to one of Are You Being Served's jokes, you wouldn't get gags about its main character being gay in 2016 either. That's not funny anymore. They should have used more modern humour than relying on a source that everybody has come to accept as not being a joke(homosexuality).
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Post by muckypup on Sept 9, 2016 21:01:06 GMT
So you will be against all the new Agatha Christie dramas, the new adaptions of Shakespeare & even new who....all are looking backwards. It depends how they are done. If they're too much about trying to replicate past efforts then yes. If they're more like Goodnight Sweetheart's one-off special in that they look forward then no. Don't get me wrong, Goodnight Sweetheart did look to the past with the return of the original cast but they didn't dwell too long on it. It wasn't the main focus of the episode. Are You Being Served 2016's existence seemed to be purely to say 'Hey, this was cool in the past. Let's try to replicate that with the exact same humour in 2016!' Nothing's wrong with old-fashioned comedy, it's how the comedy is done that's the problem. Miranda may take tips from past successes like Morecambe & Wise but it doesn't try to recreate the same humour. It does something new with it. You obviously wouldn't get jokes about mobile phones in 1968 but if you compare it to one of Are You Being Served's jokes, you wouldn't get gags about its main character being gay in 2016 either. That's not funny anymore. They should have used more modern humour than relying on a source that everybody has come to accept as not being a joke(homosexuality). but the jokes never about being gay....it's about being camp and innuendo from that. sure it's old fashioned but that's the point. it's never mean spirited in the way more modern comedy is. being gay myself, I am far more offended by Jim Royale calling his son a little gayboy or the way many American so call comedies deal with it, but most never find issue with that. older comedies like alf garnet, feel offensive but many miss the point that we should be laughing at him, the things he says are stupid he is stupid everyone knows he is stupid he's the joke! sometimes it goes too far like the marigold character in the 80's but most of the time it's well written and funny. it's easy to be offend on the worlds behalf, we need to remember that we are all the butt of the joke sometimes just as long we are laughing with them we should not try to find offence. but as I say everyone has a point, I hope there is a little bit of room for everything. I just wish that people would celebrate it for all it is a joyous slice of nonsense which is missing from most modern TV schedules in favour of high violent drama, or cruel un-reality shows just the fact that we are talking about it shows that there is life in the sitcom format and that is to be celebrated.
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Post by dalekbuster523finish on Sept 9, 2016 21:30:20 GMT
It depends how they are done. If they're too much about trying to replicate past efforts then yes. If they're more like Goodnight Sweetheart's one-off special in that they look forward then no. Don't get me wrong, Goodnight Sweetheart did look to the past with the return of the original cast but they didn't dwell too long on it. It wasn't the main focus of the episode. Are You Being Served 2016's existence seemed to be purely to say 'Hey, this was cool in the past. Let's try to replicate that with the exact same humour in 2016!' Nothing's wrong with old-fashioned comedy, it's how the comedy is done that's the problem. Miranda may take tips from past successes like Morecambe & Wise but it doesn't try to recreate the same humour. It does something new with it. You obviously wouldn't get jokes about mobile phones in 1968 but if you compare it to one of Are You Being Served's jokes, you wouldn't get gags about its main character being gay in 2016 either. That's not funny anymore. They should have used more modern humour than relying on a source that everybody has come to accept as not being a joke(homosexuality). but the jokes never about being gay....it's about being camp and innuendo from that. Camp-gay is more or less the same thing in my book. Still a tired old-fashioned joke that has no place in modern comedy. Comedy in my view is something that tends to fluctuate based on current society values; that's why trying to recreate jokes that worked in the 80s is never going to provide a satisfying experience compared to jokes like Gary Sparrow performing the 2016 song Hello in the 1960s. If the point of the comedy in the show is that it's old-fashioned, then it's a rubbish comedy show. It's old hat and the kind of cringe you experience from watching children on Britain's Got Talent telling jokes that have been passed down to them by their parents. If you take something like Love Thy Neighbour though, the comedy at the time was funny because the society deemed it the norm to be so. If you remade that now in 2016 with the same kind of humour 90% of the audience would find it offensive and 10% would use it as an excuse to push for free speech in a post-brexit environment. Nobody would find it funny. Whereas if you took Love Thy Neighbour and made the humour more about the rivalry between the two neighbours rather than casual racism with gags about social media and political correctness it would be a more accurate reflection of the world of 2016 rather than the world of 1972. Oh, there is life in the sitcom. Just not in the retread of what was funny in the 70s/80s rather than what is funny now.
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Post by muckypup on Sept 9, 2016 23:16:14 GMT
but the jokes never about being gay....it's about being camp and innuendo from that. Camp-gay is more or less the same thing in my book. Still a tired old-fashioned joke that has no place in modern comedy. Comedy in my view is something that tends to fluctuate based on current society values; that's why trying to recreate jokes that worked in the 80s is never going to provide a satisfying experience compared to jokes like Gary Sparrow performing the 2016 song Hello in the 1960s. If the point of the comedy in the show is that it's old-fashioned, then it's a rubbish comedy show. It's old hat and the kind of cringe you experience from watching children on Britain's Got Talent telling jokes that have been passed down to them by their parents. If you take something like Love Thy Neighbour though, the comedy at the time was funny because the society deemed it the norm to be so. If you remade that now in 2016 with the same kind of humour 90% of the audience would find it offensive and 10% would use it as an excuse to push for free speech in a post-brexit environment. Nobody would find it funny. Whereas if you took Love Thy Neighbour and made the humour more about the rivalry between the two neighbours rather than casual racism with gags about social media and political correctness it would be a more accurate reflection of the world of 2016 rather than the world of 1972. Oh, there is life in the sitcom. Just not in the retread of what was funny in the 70s/80s rather than what is funny now. Ok, we are seeing things very differently my friend. being camp is defiantly not being gay, that's a very 70's view & a little offensive...it's a lifestyle choice, ainsley Harriot is camp and he's not gay, so is david walliams. Being gay is something you are, being camp is something you choose. but this is getting a bit deep for a light heart debate on sitcoms love thy neighbour was never funny, or clever, or well intentioned, cheap laughs at both races. Even as a young kid I hated it. it was cruel comedy. ITV never has a good record on good comedy, take on the buses low life work shy scum, we are surposed to take as the heroes. Spiteful, degrading & questionable comedy. i am not sure I see what your point is in remaking it to reflect today's views. I still don't see why everything needs to change to have its place. I can understand why people don't like it, but not why they want to begrudge those who do from a chance to have more of something they like. i absolutely hate sport on TV it's pointless, boring and repetitive, But It would be unfair if I thought it has no place on TV. but good comedy never changes, just the way it's delivered. Hancocks half hour is just as funny today as it was 60 years ago, we all watch morecome & wise at Christmas and still laugh, Tommy cooper is still an impression everyone does. just because it's old doesn't make it less funny. you only have to look at the Dads army film to see that it works better 50 years ago with jokes than it did removing them and trying a more modern approach. so I think we will have to agree to disagree on things
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Post by fitzoliverj on Sept 10, 2016 11:41:35 GMT
I don't think there's anything more worth doing with "Are You Being Served?" or "Young Hyacinth", accurate though they both were. One a remake, one an explanation of sorts, but neither really leaving much needing developing further.
"Porridge" could work, as there were strong elements, but it needs rethinking. The episode they did was trying to do too much in one episode (remember how the original series began, stretching out a gradual introduction of situation and characters) and there were no strong supporting characters amongst the convicts. (Also a shame that Nicholas Lyndhurst's character was recast, bearing in mind he was doing "Goodnight Sweetheart" for the same season).
"Goodnight Sweetheart"... I think this might be the most tempting opportunity, but I'm not sure there's necessarily much they can do with it. Changing the romantic storyline to a parenting storyline, perhaps? And as I recall, they often struggled with the 1990s side of the storylines anyway.
"Hancock's Half Hour" we know they can do. Galton and Simpson planned a remake in the 1970s with Arthur Lowe and James Beck, there was a partial remake in the 1990s with Paul Merton (alongside various other things), and the TV episode was essentially a spinoff from Radio 4's recent series of remakes of lost episodes. Whether it can get the audience - drama on BBC4 is supposed to have been abolished, after all - is another matter, but the fact they used the same stagey setup as "Till Death Us Do Part" did without actually playing it as a theatre production as Simon Day was, indicates it could be done cheaply. (Come to that, both "Porridge" and "Steptoe and Son" have been done on stage with a new cast. As, indeed, has "Fawlty Towers").
"The Coopers vs The Rest" was a strong first episode, although personally I wouldn't watch a series. "Home from Home"... well, I lasted twenty minutes. Not seen the other pilots yet.
"Steptoe and Son" is still to come, and there's still rumblings that "Up Pompeii" might go ahead next year. Apparently they had identified the cast they wanted but it turned out some of them weren't available.
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Post by dalekbuster523finish on Sept 10, 2016 12:46:54 GMT
"Goodnight Sweetheart"... I think this might be the most tempting opportunity, but I'm not sure there's necessarily much they can do with it. Changing the romantic storyline to a parenting storyline, perhaps? And as I recall, they often struggled with the 1990s side of the storylines anyway. I totally disagree. A new series of Goodnight Sweetheart has loads of potential, especially in 2016 where many things have changed since it was last on that they didn't make jokes out of in the special. Self-service checkouts for example.
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Post by chrisscorkscrew on Sept 11, 2016 17:29:03 GMT
Liked Young Hyacinth purely on the performance of Kerry Howard. I wasn't sure if I'd like her portrayal but it was superb!
Chriss C.
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Post by icecreamdf on Oct 8, 2016 22:56:57 GMT
I just saw Young Hyacinth and Are You Being Served? I loved Young Hyacinth, and would like to see that become a series. Especially if Richard and Onslo are introduced eventually. All four of the sisters were perfectly cast, and really felt like younger versions of the original characters.
I thought Are You Being Served was okay. The writing really captured the type of humor that the original show had, and some of the recasts were pretty good. The problem is, the writing was never really the original show's strong point. In the original show, the jokes were pretty repetitive and often kind of dumb. What made it funny was the cast. Some of the new cast were good, but they never really had any hope of replacing Mollie Sugden or John Inman. Mr. Humphries and Mrs. Slocumbe both felt like they were just parodies of the original characters.
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Post by fitzoliverj on Oct 9, 2016 8:08:59 GMT
The BBC are doing "Motherland" and "Porridge" as series; Marks & Gran have hinted at taking "Goodnight Sweetheart" to a different channel.
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