Heil Honey, I'm Home!

[Tony Yeboah]

Detailed article here on this notorious sitcom https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20200925-the-long-lost-hitler-sitcom-that-caused-outrage

The fact that The LA Times wrote about it suggests that BSB had commissioned the show as a bit of a publicity stunt. I agree with the conclusion that Hitler in a 1950s style American family sitcom merits maybe a series of sketches, but nothing more. If you watch the pilot it gets very grating very quickly.

[idunnosomename]

wow they really recorded 8 episodes of this? the only way it would be good was if it got absurdly surreal and meta. but like you say it was never more than a one-off sketch-show thing

[JamesTC]

Paul Jackson produced it too. Juliet May directed, who would go on to direct Red Dwarf.

[dead-ced-dead]

Detailed article here on this notorious sitcom https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20200925-the-long-lost-hitler-sitcom-that-caused-outrage

The fact that The LA Times wrote about it suggests that BSB had commissioned the show as a bit of a publicity stunt. I agree with the conclusion that Hitler in a 1950s style American family sitcom merits maybe a series of sketches, but nothing more. If you watch the pilot it gets very grating very quickly.

It sounds like something South Park or Family Guy would do as a quick cutaway gag. I can't imagine it going for 8 episodes.

[up_the_hampipe]

It sounds like something South Park or Family Guy would do as a quick cutaway gag. I can't imagine it going for 8 episodes.

To be fair, the South Park guys did something similar. 8 episodes of a parody sitcom about George W. Bush https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/That's_My_Bush!

The writing was a lot better though. At least, judging from the Heil Honey pilot.

[sevendaughters]

in my head it was similar to the CITV kidcom Spatz, only with more Hitler.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Looking at some of the sitcoms made by Galaxy, it seems like they did have some novel ideas. It would be interesting to see what British comedy would've been like in an alternate reality where it didn't get destroyed in the Sky takeover.

[thenoise]

A parody sitcom is a strange idea in the first place. Chucking Hitler into the mix is even stranger.
Fair play to them for giving it a go,I suppose.

[neveragain]

Great article, thanks for that. There's some annoying misunderstanding of irony ("it seems affectionate [to Adolf]" - that's the joke!) but that's par for the course.

When I first saw the online episode, I loved it and thought it was amazingly artful how intentionally unfunny they'd made it; the gags, plot, performances, everything was the perfect parody of a crap hacky sitcom. Even the canned laughter was beautifully orchestrated, because it obviously wasn't filmed in front of an audience.

Then I found out it was, and they actually were trying to be funny, and that took the sheen off it a bit.
Although that article seems to suggest that could just have been the case for the other (unaired) episodes, where they brought in an American gag-writer.

Neil McCaul was still great though, and whoever played Eva in the first episode.

[Shit Good Nose]

When I first saw the online episode, I loved it and thought it was amazingly artful how intentionally unfunny they'd made it; the gags, plot, performances, everything was the perfect parody of a crap hacky sitcom. Even the canned laughter was beautifully orchestrated, because it obviously wasn't filmed in front of an audience.

Try Trey and Matt's That's My Bush for exactly that (as in intentionally done so).

[Captain Z]

A man in a dress isn't really worth a single sketch and yet there are 748 episodes of Mrs Brown's Boys.

[neveragain]

That's worth numerous sketches!

And thanks for the rec, will give it a look.

[markburgle]

I thought it was interesting in the article how the writer said he considered making it more meta - a pseudo doc about the making of a lost show called Heil Honey I'm Home with clips of the show interspersed with the actors playing themselves and commenting bemusedly on it - basically Garth Marenghi's Dark Place 20 years earlier. That could've been really funny, done right

[JamesTC]

When I first saw the online episode, I loved it and thought it was amazingly artful how intentionally unfunny they'd made it; the gags, plot, performances, everything was the perfect parody of a crap hacky sitcom. Even the canned laughter was beautifully orchestrated, because it obviously wasn't filmed in front of an audience.

[neveragain]

Thanks, that's very interesting.

I was semi-sure it was real (see rest of post).

[Spiny Norman]

Some 8 or 9 episodes were recorded and still exist.

Some say it was the company takeover that cancelled the show rather than the fuss.

In my opinion it is a one trick pony though. Or maybe two tricks: the faux US sitcom style and the other trick.

[JamesTC]

I unironically think WandaVision would have been better if they got Juliet May to direct it.

[TommyTurnips]

A man in a dress isn't really worth a single topic and yet there are 748 threads about Graham Linehan.

Fixed it.

[Mobbd]

I'd love to see this remade with Kevin Eldon.

[PlanktonSideburns]

Need punter in the mix somewhere too

[neveragain]

Putner could be Neville Chamberlain.