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Which Sitcom Has The Best Bottle Episodes?

Started by neveragain, April 10, 2018, 11:16:00 AM

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magval

Red Dwarf tried to recapture lightning in a bottle* with Duct Soup from series 7, which is maybe the worst episode pre-BTL.

*Episode

Utter Shit

Quote from: holyzombiejesus on April 11, 2018, 12:37:51 PM
I imagine many cheaper sitcoms will be entirely made up of bottle episodes just so they didn't need extra sets or location shoots.

Presumably this is the reason why shows like This Country and People Just Do Nothing are given way more leeway and time to grow, the documentary style must be way cheaper to film.

Dr Rock


notjosh

Quote from: NoSleep on April 11, 2018, 12:38:36 PM
Community: Remedial Chaos Theory (the timeline one).

Mate, that doesn't even happen in one universe.

NoSleep

There's several universes in Abed's head, I'll grant.

Replies From View

Quote from: magval on April 11, 2018, 01:07:54 PM
Red Dwarf tried to recapture lightning in a bottle* with Duct Soup from series 7, which is maybe the worst episode pre-BTL.

*Episode

Better Than Life was series 2.

neveragain


Serge

I'm surprised that 'Still Game' hasn't done a proper bottle episode yet. I'm sure I read an interview where they claimed that the caravan episode in the latest series was one, but it definitely isn't. But they could easily contrive an episode where Jack & Victor are stuck in a flat all day, or even the main cast stuck in the Clansman.

Dr Rock

Seinfeld's 'The Chinese Restaurant' been mentioned yet?

Brundle-Fly

Psychoville S1 Ep4 David & Maureen.

Their homage to Hitchcock's Rope (1948)

Sebastian Cobb

Quote from: AsparagusTrevor on April 11, 2018, 08:48:00 AM
Thinking about it, there are quite a few It's Always Sunny episodes that could be considered bottle episodes, there's several that don't even leave the bar.

Charlie Work, one of my favourites from the whole series, stays in the bar for the duration (though technically they go to the street just outside a couple of times).

Gang Gets Quarantined.

Bhazor

Has there been any good bottle episodes in The Simspons? I'm having trouble thinking of any. Apart from the episode where Burns and Homer are trapped in a log cabin but that was only half an episode.

Sebastian Cobb

Archer did one in Vision Quest where they all got stuck in the lift. Although Sealab 2021 did one where they're all trapped in a closet before them:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_WbPyn2gZw

Ant Farm Keyboard

Brooklyn Nine-Nine did a fine episode two weeks ago, with just two sets and four actors (including the lawyer) for the bulk of the story, plus two cameos by members of the regular cast to bookend the episode.

Dr Rock

Also Seinfeld's 'Looking For The Car In The Carpark' episode.

NoSleep

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on April 11, 2018, 07:45:14 PM
Archer did one in Vision Quest where they all got stuck in the lift. Although Sealab 2021 did one where they're all trapped in a closet before them:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_WbPyn2gZw

Lo Scandalo (Season 3 Episode 8) - The one with the gimp-suited dead Italian prime minister in Malory's apartment.

Endicott

Quote from: Serge on April 11, 2018, 04:44:27 PM
I'm surprised that 'Still Game' hasn't done a proper bottle episode yet. I'm sure I read an interview where they claimed that the caravan episode in the latest series was one, but it definitely isn't. But they could easily contrive an episode where Jack & Victor are stuck in a flat all day, or even the main cast stuck in the Clansman.

Wasn't there one where they got stuck in a lift? I don't remember it properly, so maybe that wasn't for the whole episode.

Quote from: Endicott on April 13, 2018, 11:55:30 AM
Wasn't there one where they got stuck in a lift? I don't remember it properly, so maybe that wasn't for the whole episode.
Yes, but it ended up being a flashback episode.

biggytitbo

The Porridge episode A Night In is pretty great, but nothing can beat A Beast in the Cage, every line is fucking gold

Quote
Sucky sweet! l'll be sucking that exhaust pipe soon, much more of this.

Bad Ambassador


petril

Quote from: Serge on April 11, 2018, 04:44:27 PM
I'm surprised that 'Still Game' hasn't done a proper bottle episode yet. I'm sure I read an interview where they claimed that the caravan episode in the latest series was one, but it definitely isn't. But they could easily contrive an episode where Jack & Victor are stuck in a flat all day, or even the main cast stuck in the Clansman.

worth remembering that the original stage play was pretty much a bottle episode

neveragain

Quote from: Bad Ambassador on April 13, 2018, 02:53:10 PM
Brian and Stewie.

Yes, a very nice script for that episode. The second attempt at such an ep was unsuccessful despite an interesting premise (Stewie talks to a child psychologist voiced by Ian McKellen).

MattD

Here's a real hidden gem that you'll all love (okay, barring the first 5-10 minutes, it's not really a 'bottle episode' but the rest of the episode really could be).

The first episode of Going Straight, the sequel to Porridge. I haven't watched the rest of the series (not really interested to be honest) but the first episode consists of Fletch being released from prison and finding himself on a train with the recently retired Mackay.

It's fascinating to see the dynamics of the two change with the hierarchical relationship stripped away and both of them now 'equals' in a sense as they both seek new endeavours. It would have worked brilliantly as the final episode of Porridge.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqBMN0ALERM

thraxx


Blackadder 2 and 3 must have some bottle episodes.  Especially 3, where it looks like the whole series was made for 50p and most of the episodes are the characters just talking in rooms? 

Talking of characters talking in rooms, Yes, Minister must have loads of fucking bottle episodes.

Noodle Lizard

I'm fairly certain Sunny did another Bottle Episode other than "Goes To Hell Pt. 2" ... possibly the one where they quarantine themselves?  South Park, likewise, they must have done one at some point.  I guess you could say has three bottle episodes which take place at the same time (Cat Orgy, Two Guys Naked In A Hottub and Jewbilee).  Don't know if they technically count, though.

(Basic Alan isn't a bottle episode, by any definition)


Autopsy Turvey

Nobody seems to have actually named The Bedsitter yet. Sunday Afternoon At Home and The Lift (and The Radio Ham) are all very well, but half an hour of one man on his own bored in a room, ruminating on the word 'biscuspid' and attempting to read Bertrand Russell? One of the funniest and most poignant episodes of anything ever.

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

Yep, The Bedsitter must be the greatest bottle episode ever made. A magnificent piece of writing and performance, Galton, Simpson and Hancock at their best.

kalowski

Is that loose... or is it my fingers going in and out?

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

Quote from: kalowski on April 14, 2018, 04:06:33 PM
Is that loose... or is it my fingers going in and out?

That's such an inspired moment of mundane observational comedy. It's something every single person on the planet has done at some point - idly checking your teeth when no one else is around, and not being sure if it's your fingers or molars that are moving - but Galton & Simpson were the only people who thought of writing it down.

Quote from: Dr Rock on April 11, 2018, 09:21:52 AM
I thought a bottle episode was where the cast are (mainly) in a place other than usual for the whole episode, particularly if they are also pirates or cartoons. Otherwise almost every episode of Cheers is a bottle episiode.

Trying too remember when anyone left the bar and all I can  thunk of is them decorating someone's apartment.