Tip jar

If you like CaB and wish to support it, you can use PayPal or KoFi. Thank you, and I hope you continue to enjoy the site - Neil.

Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com

Support CaB

Recent

Welcome to Cook'd and Bomb'd. Please login or sign up.

March 28, 2024, 01:46:47 PM

Login with username, password and session length

Little - Remenbered Comedy Shows

Started by Lisa Jesusandmarychain, November 19, 2020, 08:03:26 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

BeardFaceMan

Roman's Empire is one i never see mentioned. Fair enough really, it was crap and the only thing i remember about it is that Chris O'Dowd was in it.

Lisa Jesusandmarychain

That one that the late, much missed Sick As A Pike co-wrote set on a farm, starring Phil Daniels and someone else.

mippy


Ignatius_S

Quote from: Lisa Jesusandmarychain on November 25, 2020, 08:00:14 PM
That one that the late, much missed Sick As A Pike co-wrote set on a farm, starring Phil Daniels and someone else.

Sunnyside Farm - a very solid show.

studpuppet

Quote from: icehaven on November 25, 2020, 07:36:11 PM
Is Brush Strokes little remembered or just best forgotten?

There's a load of shows that were big ratings winners in the mid-eighties that seem to have been swept under the BBC carpet: Just Good Friends, Dear John, Two Point Four Children etc. When you think back to the seventies and how fondly remembered/repeated shows like Dad's Army and Are You Being Served? are. Even Terry & June is remembered, even though it hasn't been repeated. Weird innit?

Ignatius_S

Quote from: paruses on November 25, 2020, 01:33:36 PM
Am not surprised as even that snapshot memory marks it out as being a Radio 4 sort of thing. And weirdly I knew Simon Brett wrote it not you've mentioned it. He must have had his name as a massive opening credit. Looking at the run dates I must remember it from 1988 or so.

I am finding bits of this thread very Proustian (and I hate people who say that).

Hee, like the Proustian comment.

Quote from: Gurke and Hare on November 25, 2020, 01:41:25 PM
It's in the middle of a repeat run right now - 8.30 this morning on 4 Extra and presumably a few times more through the day. It's quite weak but, y'know, Prunella Scales and Joan Sanderson so it can't be all bad.

Cheers for the heads-up. Will have to have a listen for old time's sake - can't remember too much about it, but pretty sure it was mainly for the cast that I listened to it and suspect you are spot on!

Quote from: paruses on November 25, 2020, 12:46:16 PM
Clarence - Ronnie Barker one-series job with the woman I now know to be Josephine Tewson. He was a short-sighted removal man who found love with Tewson's character. I do remember it being very funny no doubt because of the mishaps that you can just imagine would happen! Mad.

Lasted one series. Turns out it was his last one before retirement (and may even have been billed as such but I could be retrofitting that information).

I think the retirement was announced after the series, but wouldn't swear to it. Although I have the series in the Barker Ultimate Collection, I've never re-watched it - possibly because I have fond memories of the series. IIRC, although not the strongest of shows, the pairing of Tewson and Barker made it worthwhile.

Quote from: mippy on November 25, 2020, 05:23:07 PM
I was visiting a friend in London in 2005 and he got us tickets to see it being recorded - I think because it seemed like a fun thing to do with someone from out of town. It was not very good but I liked seeing Actual David Schneider.

Not many people my age seem to remember Watching, was it actually as big a show as I thought it was or was I just a weird child fan? I even got my mum to tape the credits so that I could work out what the song lyrics were.

There were a few ITV sitcoms I remember from round the same time but don't seem to have much of an online presence - Land Of Hope And Gloria, Conjugal Rites, one set in a hospital which I can't even Google because Google thinks I mean Only When I Laugh.

Rather like that as the idea of the reason for going to the recording.

re: Watching - suspect your impression is correct as it was very popular. It was also a show that was covered in the media  and I can remember that the end of the series got some pretty big news coverage. Earlier in in thread, I mentioned that Emma Wray later starred in a series by Simon Nye and the publicity for that made a lot out of the fact that she co-starred in Watching.

Can vaguely remember Conjugal Rites as it had Gwen Taylor and Michael Williams, who I like a lot. Land Of Hope And Gloria, I can't place - am curious about it, especially as Daphne Oxenford was in the cast as always like her and provided brilliant radio support for Les Dawson.

Ignatius_S

Quote from: studpuppet on November 25, 2020, 10:23:36 PM
There's a load of shows that were big ratings winners in the mid-eighties that seem to have been swept under the BBC carpet: Just Good Friends, Dear John, Two Point Four Children etc. When you think back to the seventies and how fondly remembered/repeated shows like Dad's Army and Are You Being Served? are. Even Terry & June is remembered, even though it hasn't been repeated. Weird innit?

In quite a few cases, the shows were repeated (and again, popular) which makes it in some ways odder that they have been shown so infrequently since then. Going from memory, but the BBC had daytime slots for sitcom repeats but those went.

GOLD very recently showed Two Point Four Children - rather nice to catch some of it again.

The Brittas Empire is another, I would say.

j_u_d_a_s

Quote from: studpuppet on November 25, 2020, 10:23:36 PM
There's a load of shows that were big ratings winners in the mid-eighties that seem to have been swept under the BBC carpet: Just Good Friends, Dear John, Two Point Four Children etc. When you think back to the seventies and how fondly remembered/repeated shows like Dad's Army and Are You Being Served? are. Even Terry & June is remembered, even though it hasn't been repeated. Weird innit?

Just Good Friends had a repeat run a while ago when BBC were showing OFAH episodes during the day time. And weirdly Two Point Four Children is currently running on UKGold, or at least is available via NowTV.

Couple more, ITV2's first original sitcoms - FM set at a radio station starring Chris O'Dowd was originally piloted on Channel 4 with a whole new cast. Remember liking it at the time but pretty inessential. And No Heroics, a superhero sitcom that had Nicholas Burns as The Hotness. Was done on the cheap but had so many background details with a bunch of comic references. But also had a nasty streak of schoolyard homophobia which soured things a fair bit. Notably its creator Drew Pearce went on to write Iron Man 3.

More recently, Threesome was Comedy Central's first UK sitcom and was alright at best. Had a premise where the lady of the couple gets pregnant after having a threesome with their gay best friend... amazingly they got two series out of that. And later was Brotherhood which had Ben Ashenden from The Pin and Johnny Flynn as brothers, was the kind of thing you'd expect to see on BBC one at 8:30 and had a bit of heart to it which was nice to see. Then there was I Live With Models, which had a horrendous first series. But by the second, a proper US showrunner came on board, an almost complete cast change and it became something more credible.

Yussef Dent

When Reality TV had completely blown up in the early 2000s, there was such a clamour to come up with new ideas for shows. One of which was a part-sitcom, part reality-TV show that was Bedsitcom on Channel 4. The premise of this was that people would move into a shared house, and were part of a show called "Making Friends." However, three of the housemates were actors who put the genuine residents in uncompromising situations. A bold concept that turned out as a crass failure. It just simply didn't work. Bizarrely, Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong and the Gibbons brothers were on the roster of writers. Best leave that one off the CV.

The Kevin Bishop Show. Probably the most prominent member of the cast of Star Stories (which was panned on here as I used to come on as a lurker in 06 and thought the criticism wasn't really merited, it was daft and the impressions were supposed to be rubbish. Hit and miss but the George Michael one made me laugh although it's not really dated well.), this ran for two series. It rattled through sketches at a really fast pace, with the effect that the viewer was channel hopping. Quantity over quality meant a lot of the content failed to hit the spot for want of trying a bit too hard but some of the stuff was decent. It caused a bit of a furore for having a "Sophie's Choice as a musical" sketch.

Take The Mike. Late night ITV comedy weekly stand-up contest in 2003 hosted by Paul Tonkinson. Budding comedians would do their set in front of the other participants and an established stand-up who would effectively act as a mentor by picking out what worked, what didn't and what should be changed. They would then perform their set in front of a live audience who would pick the best one to progress. Greg Davies got to the final of it (and I seem to remember Marek Larwood being in it too), I cannot find any footage of it but I remember really liking Davies and wondering what happened to him, then a couple of years later he shows up playing WG Grace for Channel 4's Ashes series promos.

Menu

Quote from: Lisa Jesusandmarychain on November 25, 2020, 07:26:16 AM
Was Menu ' s " pardon?" at the end of their last post referring to top quirky Northern character populated sit- com I Didn't Know You Cared ? ' ( featuring the young Stephen " No, I'm Not A More Serious Version Of Rowland Rivron, Fuck Off" Rea as Carter Brandon, at least in the first two series) cos that was written by Peter Tinniswoood.

OF COURSE IT WAS

Menu

Quote from: icehaven on November 25, 2020, 07:36:11 PM
Is Brush Strokes little remembered or just best forgotten?

It's very good actually. Especially Lionel played by the posh one in Vicar of Dibley. One of the great sitcom performances.

Artie Fufkin

Quote from: j_u_d_a_s on November 25, 2020, 10:39:43 PM
And No Heroics, a superhero sitcom that had Nicholas Burns as The Hotness.
Which jogs my memory re Father Dougal as Thermo Man, which was complete shit. Was it called Thermo Man?

Gulftastic

My Hero was it's name.

The difference between it and Father Ted represents the biggest drop in quality between two projects from any actor ever.

Glebe

Quote from: Gulftastic on December 01, 2020, 03:02:17 PMMy Hero was it's name.

The difference between it and Father Ted represents the biggest drop in quality between two projects from any actor ever.

I only ever watched a tiny bit of it but it seemed awful.

Artie Fufkin

Quote from: Glebe on December 01, 2020, 03:49:11 PM
I only ever watched a tiny bit of it but it seemed awful.
It was. It really was.

Famous Mortimer

Quote from: Gulftastic on December 01, 2020, 03:02:17 PM
My Hero was it's name.

The difference between it and Father Ted represents the biggest drop in quality between two projects from any actor ever.
That's a good thread idea. How about Leonard Rossiter - either Reginald Perrin or Rising Damp, to Tripper's Day?

Glebe

Quote from: Famous Mortimer on December 01, 2020, 05:34:15 PMTripper's Day?

Aha, that's the one Brucie took over and it became Slinger's Day. Watched about half of the first episode on YouTube once and gave up. His only sitcom role I believe.


Brundle-Fly



Get Well Soon (1997) Written by Ray Galton and John Antrobus. Great cast, great writers, looks great, not so great premise. Who wants to spend time every week with some coughing men trapped in a post-war tuberculosis sanatorium? I know trad sit-coms can have slightly grim settings: Porridge, Steptoe & Son, Only When I Laugh, etc but this conceit might have pushed the glumness envelope.

Brundle-Fly

Quote from: Glebe on December 01, 2020, 05:50:00 PM
Aha, that's the one Brucie took over and it became Slinger's Day. Watched about half of the first episode on YouTube once and gave up. His only sitcom role I believe.




Nobody remembers Flitter's' Day, then? Thames TV attempted the hattrick and made just one more series recasting again with another oleaginous, shifty looking comedy character actor. This time, Milton Johns. It was pulled after the first episode.


George White


Was on youtube briefly.

On a more honest note, spawned a Canadian remake with Don "Smart" Adams.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48Vi__KdTPc

petril

Quote from: Brundle-Fly on December 01, 2020, 05:54:11 PM


Get Well Soon (1997) Written by Ray Galton and John Antrobus. Great cast, great writers, looks great, not so great premise. Who wants to spend time every week with some coughing men trapped in a post-war tuberculosis sanatorium? I know trad sit-coms can have slightly grim settings: Porridge, Steptoe & Son, Only When I Laugh, etc but this conceit might have pushed the glumness envelope.

my first thought was "Douglas Adams regrets rewrite"

Brundle-Fly

Quote from: George White on December 01, 2020, 09:08:38 PM

Was on youtube briefly.

On a more honest note, spawned a Canadian remake with Don "Smart" Adams.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48Vi__KdTPc

Ha ha! Couldn't resist it, George. 

Those U.S, titles are pure joy. Huge cast. I love Simon Reynold's shopping bag gag, Alf's face, and the shit bogroll pratfall at the end. Proper Too Many Cooks intro.

Brundle-Fly

Quote from: petrilTanaka on December 01, 2020, 09:11:18 PM
my first thought was "Douglas Adams regrets rewrite"

Or if Only Fools And Horses was remade but set in 1947. And if Del Boy and Rodney had TB.

jenna appleseed

Quote from: Glebe on December 01, 2020, 05:50:00 PM
Aha, that's the one Brucie took over and it became Slinger's Day.
Watched about half of the first episode on YouTube once and gave up.

Me too mate, me too.

jobotic

Life Without George - barely remember it other than 14 year old me finding Carol Royle rather appealing. Simon Cadell was George.

I don't think Stressed Eric is very well regarded here, but I liked it, apart from the painful attempt to make the awful word "arseburgers" a thing.

JaDanketies

#205
Loved Stressed Eric. Watched it again in the last decade and also loved it. Great characters. I mentioned it on CAB and ppl didn't like it. It only managed two seasons.

There was a claymation style comedy for all the family called The PJs that only lasted one season afaik. Never seen it repeated or even mentioned.

PowerButchi

I remember the PJs. Chanel 4 used to show it at silly o clock. Eddie Murphy wasn't it?

Then song was something like "The PJs! AIn the projects!"

famethrowa

I remember watching and somewhat enjoying Stressed Eric, despite feeling sorry for Eric and the awful wobbly Klasky Csupo animation. Never knew it featured Big Train alumni though!

JaDanketies

Quote from: PowerButchi on December 02, 2020, 12:37:08 AM
I remember the PJs. Chanel 4 used to show it at silly o clock. Eddie Murphy wasn't it?

Then song was something like "The PJs! AIn the projects!"

That's the one! And there were three seasons according to Wikipedia. Will have to rewatch it.

Andy147

Quote from: PowerButchi on December 02, 2020, 12:37:08 AM
I remember the PJs. Chanel 4 used to show it at silly o clock. Eddie Murphy wasn't it?

Then song was something like "The PJs! AIn the projects!"

I remember one joke from it: Thurgood (the Eddie Murphy character) had had some sort of accident and said "Can't .... move... arms.... Can't ... use ... pronouns."