Allegedly 'rubbish' flop comedy shows from the past which don't even have a cult following...

[Z/Sb]

TV Squash. Not only do I remember it but I have the first episode on tape. I believe it was first shown on the Sunday evening which followed the infamous Saturday night Halloween edition of Beadle's About where someone was dressed as a vampire in a blood bank and scared the shit out of people working there. We're talking 1992, I do believe, when toytown techno records sampled old kids tv themes and t-shirts featured nostalgic kids tv characters like Zippy and Mr. Benn... I was there.

[Z/Sb]

I always thought Ben Elton's Thin Blue Line was a bit of a copy of Morning Sarge. The way people act in both shows and the feel of the shows were pretty simular.

Chance In A Million - I can't believe I left that out. I really liked that show - I think it was one of the earliest C4 sitcoms. And talking of early C4 sitcoms - what about Relative Strangers starring Matthew Kelly. I really liked that show too!

Dead Ernest with Andrew Sachs. Now I really I couldn't stand that.

But...I was an avid watcher of Duty Free, Never The Twain and In Loving Memory!

And I may as well add the fact that I rewatched Hale & Pace's The Management recently and found that the groans outweighed the guffaws by 70%. I thought that show was hilarious at the time (it used to be on after or just before Max Headroom's briliantly weird tv show).

[Clinton Morgan]

It was his girlfriend Jenny, and the theme tune for 'Boss Cat', actually.

There must be some award for such pointless pedantry, even on here? Sorry Clinton.

Don't apologise. Thanks for correcting me, anyway. I *thought* it was 'The Magic Roundabout' theme. Then again before I bought the video I thought the banned word in Monty Python's 'Chemist Sketch' was Semplenkini.

The word was Semprini.

[Tokyo Sexwhale]

"It's Your Move" - American sitcom made by the same people who made "Married with Children", it had a primetime slot on BBC1 in the mid-late 80s, and starred Jason "Arrested Development" Bateman.

Basically, he was a smart-alec kid who was always involved in schemes against the bloke who played Steve in "Married With Children".

I'd like to see it again to see whether it was as funny as I remember, or whether it was simply the 80's equivalent of "Saved by the Bell" and I was simply within the right "demographic".

Also, "Home to Roost" with John Thaw!

[Pepotamo1985]

Small Potatoes.

Oddly, I was thinking about this the other day. I really, really liked it - despite its plebbishness. I certainly wouldn't mind seeing a DVD release. Does anyone know whether this show was successful? I mean, it must've been to some extent (hence allowance for second series), but how did it go down?

[The Mumbler]

Paramount have repeated both series a few times, so keep an eye out for their two channels, perhaps?

[Pepotamo1985]

Thanks.

[Clerk]

Would "comrade dad" fit in here as I think it was a comedy series with george cole in with Britain being taken over by the Russians in the early 80`s and for some reason I think he had a car hidden away in his front room or something.

Should of done a web search first  to update what i could remember...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide/articles/c/comradedad_1299000698.shtml

[Z/Sb]

I love Saved By The Bell.
So much so that I wrote a review on IMDB praising it...
Absolutely no sarcasm or irony involved in that admission - I really do like the show. Like all shows though, the later series with the new cast of characters couldn't hold a candle to the originals.

I'm very sad to say that I'm being won over by a long-running (it runs for ever over here in Germany!) American sitcom which is so typical of 80s American sitcoms that you just got to love it! It's called "Full House" and it's forever on RTL2 - dubbed in Deutsch but it really doesn't matter. It's so obviously simple, typical and predictable of it's ilk that I just enjoy the overall innocence and stupidity of it all. It's everything rolled into one but basically "Small Wonder" and "Happy Days" meets "My Two dads" but without the robot girl and Henry Winkler. It could only be from America: A house shared by 3 guys raising 3 daughters (the youngest one is duel-played by Mary Kate & Ashley Olsen). One of the guys is a wannabe pop star who looks so classic "cool American 80s" you gotta love him! He reminds me of the TJ Hooker guy who was in Grease 2.
Anyway, on that note I'm definitely out of here!

[TJ]

ITV, summer 1991.  It was made by Yorkshire TV, and screened on Sunday nights in the Spitting Image slot.

Erm... are you sure? I'm fairly certain I recall it going out in a much earlier slot on Saturday evenings, and some time towards the middle of 1992 too - it certainly couldn't have contained a "Bottom" parody in Summer 1991!

[TJ]

I'd also love to see "Relative Strangers" again - an uncomplicated but solidly structured sitcom with some fine acting from Matthew Kelly. Didn't Channel 4 repeat it in full circa 1990-ish?

[Z/Sb]

ITV, summer 1991.  It was made by Yorkshire TV, and screened on Sunday nights in the Spitting Image slot.

Erm... are you sure? I'm fairly certain I recall it going out in a much earlier slot on Saturday evenings, and some time towards the middle of 1992 too - it certainly couldn't have contained a "Bottom" parody in Summer 1991!

Like I say, 1992. I know this for a fact as I have it on tape together with the previous night's episodes of Gladiators and Beadles About. The show was a bunch of crap of the highest order. Reminds me of another show: Anyone remember that weird Monday night comedy show on BBC1 with Shane Richie and David Schneider. What was it called? "Up to Something"... Thanks ever so much IMDB! :) Schneider kept acting like his Cirque De Clown character if I remember rightly - what a bloody strange, mediocre show that was! But highly collectable now, I'd say! I thought Shane Richie was incredibly funny in this show and I think the idea was that it was a showcase for new, fresh comedy performers. I don't know if it was the same show but there was a woman who played a "little girl" character called Trudy (I think her catchphrase was "I'Mate years old and I'm an actress...") which was an obviously very unfunny rip-off of a similar character played by Morwenna Banks in Absolutely. Actually, I just found out that it was the following year's BBC1 effort "You Gotta Be Jokin" again starring Shane Richie. I knew it was that one because George Marshall was also in it and he did a fantastic impersonation of Tom Jones singing children's songs ("I saw a mouse. Where? There on the stairs..." done in the style of "What's New Pussycat?") - now why is there no comedy entertainment around like that anymore?!?!

From IMDB: "Up To Something" writing credits include: Richard Herring and Armando Iannucci...

[Jemble Fred]

I'd also love to see "Relative Strangers" again - an uncomplicated but solidly structured sitcom with some fine acting from Matthew Kelly. Didn't Channel 4 repeat it in full circa 1990-ish?

I thought you meant the US sitcom with Bronson Pinchot. That crazy foreign fuck!

It's a dull sitcom to mention on threads like this, but oh how I do wish I could sit down and watch all of 'Paris' in one sitting. Only watched a couple first time out.

[The Mumbler]

*consults Lewisohn*

Ah, it was 1992.  Apologies.  To be precise, 26/07/92 - 30/08/92 Sunday nights around 11pm, though.  Cast featured Geraldine McNulty (later to work with Lee & Herring, and currently the grumpy receptionist in My Hero), Phil Nice (formerly in a double-act with Arthur Smith), Caroline Gruber (former teacher in Grange Hill, and then in The Nick Revell Show), Angelo Abela (one of the Vicious Boys, also co-producer of the show), Lucinda Fisher (who was later cited by The Face as one of the brightest faces of 1993, and "star of the upcoming Saturday Zoo" - I don't think she was in a single episode, actually), plus three actors (Gabrielle Cowburn, Andrew Dean and Treva Etienne) who I can't place right now.

As I say, Abela wsa co-producer, with Simon Wright, who had produced Comic Strip episodes, and Hardwicke House, but within a year would be directing UFO, Roy Chubby Brown's film.

Lewisohn defines the programme as "adult-orientated" and with "a smattering of bad language", so I'd have thought pre-watershed would have been unlikely.

I remember the problem with it for me was its over-reliance on "real celebrities" sending themselves up.  Now while I don't have a problem with that in plenty of things, I remember it irked in this.  Maybe the script wasn't tight enough, but I'd need to see it again to be sure.

[The Mumbler]

Oof.  Erratum: Simon Wright *produced* UFO.  It was directed by...Tony Dow (Only Fools & Horses, The Keith Barret Show, Nighty Night).

[Harold Lloyd's Safety Net]

"It's Your Move" - American sitcom made by the same people who made "Married with Children", it had a primetime slot on BBC1 in the mid-late 80s, and starred Jason "Arrested Development" Bateman.

Christ, I remember liking that too.  I remember them forming a band that was basically science lab skeletons in black shrouds, and the whole school thinking they were great, wanting to meet them etc.  Do you remember the name of the band, Tokyo?

[Morrisfan82]

I'm pretty sure I've watched more episodes of After Henry in my time than was really necessary.

TV Squash definitely populated a late Sunday slot. Coincidentally, the only thing I remember about it is the Bottom parody as well. I was disgusted at the time, as A) I loved Bottom (careful now), B) it was a parody of something that was already funny, which was something I always hated, and C) it was dismal. The humour IIRC derived from somebody doing a cod Mayall voice and going 'ooh Eddie, where are the girlies?'.

On a re-watch it's possible it might reveal itself to be a brilliantly-observed and deeply venomous satire of Rik & Ade, but I'm skeptical.

[TJ]

TV Squash definitely populated a late Sunday slot. Coincidentally, the only thing I remember about it is the Bottom parody as well. I was disgusted at the time, as A) I loved Bottom (careful now), B) it was a parody of something that was already funny, which was something I always hated, and C) it was dismal. The humour IIRC derived from somebody doing a cod Mayall voice and going 'ooh Eddie, where are the girlies?'.

On a re-watch it's possible it might reveal itself to be a brilliantly-observed and deeply venomous satire of Rik & Ade, but I'm skeptical.

I don't think it was even that - just a bit of a silly poke in the ribs for a programme that the writers and performers obviously quite liked. The irony was that the entire sketch - from "Quick! Freddie! The girlies will be here in a minute!" to 'Freddie' smartening himself up for the occasion by staggering out of an adjoining room with flour all over his head - wasn't really that far removed from what might have happened in "Bottom" itself.

[Munday's Chylde]

Christ, I remember liking that too.  I remember them forming a band that was basically science lab skeletons in black shrouds, and the whole school thinking they were great, wanting to meet them etc.  Do you remember the name of the band, Tokyo?

Do you know I've always remembered that episode too? I never knew what the show was though... I had it in my head it was silver spoons.

EDIT: a quick google reveals the skeletal band were called "the dreggs of humanity"

[Morrisfan82]

On a re-watch it's possible it might reveal itself to be a brilliantly-observed and deeply venomous satire of Rik & Ade, but I'm skeptical.

I don't think it was even that - just a bit of a silly poke in the ribs for a programme that the writers and performers obviously quite liked. The irony was that the entire sketch - from "Quick! Freddie! The girlies will be here in a minute!" to 'Freddie' smartening himself up for the occasion by staggering out of an adjoining room with flour all over his head - wasn't really that far removed from what might have happened in "Bottom" itself.

Hmph. Well, I was 13 & I found it fairly pathetic (though that said, I did raise a chuckle at the 'silhouette dancing' bit where one guy bends over & the other appears to ram his finger up his arse).

[Harold Lloyd's Safety Net]

a quick google reveals the skeletal band were called "the dreggs of humanity"

Of course it was.  Cheers Munday's!

[chav]

Yeah, Home To Roost was on the whole fantastic, and I was grateful to Granada Plus for frequent re-runs. I always preferred Thaw in this comic role, and he & Dinsdale effected a great little relationship on-screen. Memorable eps included the one where Matthew had a party, much to Henry's disdain - and anger when he saw the bootprint on the ceiling ("how did that get there?"), and the one where they both agreed to give up a vice, smoking for Matthew & fattening food for Henry - they can't stick to their promises, and it leads to a brilliant scene where Matthew has to hold the cig inside his mouth to avoid being caught... "what are you doing Matthew?" "<a mumbled> Nothing!" followed by a big puff of smoke and a burnt tongue.

Minder is another - once it got going and the focus shifted from the minder to Arthur Daley... he was a brilliantly-drawn comic character.

[Jemble Fred]

I only remember the one where Matthew had an exam, and all the answers were written on toilet paper in the gents'.

Can't remember the joke, though. Nice pigeons.

[TotalNightmare]

I remember quite liking CHALK, in fact it was one of the first instances i remember about enjoying something 'comedy' and hearing about the bad press and low viewing figures.

As far as a remember, it was kinda like Stressed Eric via Fawlty Towers set in Grange Hill (lets hope it wasnt pitched that way, especially since Stressed Eric wasn't around at that time)

But yea... 'Chalk'.

[Derek Trucks]

Wasn't it that the toilet paper only had 'Now wash your hands' on them rather than the answer?  This is the only part I remember!

Despite having a high 'Jasper Carrott PC-shitecom' factor, I used to like Desmonds when I was younger and I'd love to see that repeated.

[Charlie Bonkers]

What about Eddie Izzard's 'Cows' was that funny? I gave it a chance once I think and didn't go back to it.

KYTV too - I don't remmember much about it now but it must of had a few faces in it.

[Munday's Chylde]

Despite having a high 'Jasper Carrott PC-shitecom' factor.

I hope that doesn't translate as "a black cast"!

Yes Desmonds was quite good fun I think, popular too - it even had a following in the US didn't it? I remember a couple of them guesting on the Cosby Show to huge applause.

[Banana Woofwoof]

What about Eddie Izzard's 'Cows' was that funny? I gave it a chance once I think and didn't go back to it.

No, it wasn't at all.  I can't remember much of it but it was a sprawling mess. His stand-up is well-written but comes across as stream of consciousness, which didn't work at all in sitcom format.


Has Paris been mentioned yet?  What was that like?

[Munday's Chylde]

Cows never got beyond the pilot did it?

[Tom Pynchon's Photo]

Nightingales

I loved that show. Very weird, surreal, very funny. Pinteresque I believed it was called. Whatever the fuck that means. I remember Harold Pinter was mentioned a lot during it.

If you watch Shameless , then it was in Nightingales that David Threlfall first played Frank Gallacher. Albeit with a lot of padding. (He was a big man Dingdong AkA Mr Bell)

It should be on DVD! It was a classic. But then again, haven't seen it for 10 years so........ memory tends to be selective.