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Worst series in sitcom?

Started by rue the polywhirl, January 09, 2021, 04:24:35 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Phil_A

Quote from: notjosh on January 13, 2021, 11:03:31 AM
It was down to a mix-up at the frozen egg bank.

It's been years since I watched but my memory is that series 4 had been pretty good, and Downey Jr was a great foil for Flockhart. Then he had to go into rehab so we got fucking Bon Jovi, and Dame Edna. Nothing against the Dame per se[nb]I mean...[/nb], but the show was always dangerously close to being insufferably wacky and she just tipped it over the edge.

I am judging you, and I think you're fab.

Ah right, I missed the origin story for the daughter so it just seemed like they'd conjured her up out of nothing (which to be fair they basically did).

It just felt like a show in it's death throes desperately grabbing for anything to keep people's attention at that point.

Ignatius_S

Quote from: Brundle-Fly on January 13, 2021, 10:59:43 AM
The third series of The Fall & Rise Of Reginald Perrin was an interesting development with the commune aspect but had lost the sparkle of the first two outings. The ending of series two was very moving so it should've stopped there. Might have to rewatch it though, as it has been many years since I've seen it. Decades even...

I need to rewatch again myself - partly because I've read the books and would like to see how that would affect my viewing now.

Although I like the final series (quite a lot), felt the previous ones were stronger - it was a shame that Tom got replaced; it's not that the new actor was bad (and in fact, I think it's always puts in a good performance whenever I see him) but the original was just great in the part.

When I read the books, I thought the source material for the final series was superb and it worked brilliantly, which the adaptation didn't successfully capture.

Quote from: Brundle-Fly on January 13, 2021, 10:59:43 AM... The Legacy Of Reginald Perrin trumps that though. Leonard Rossiter was inconveniently absent by dint of being dead, production didn't bother in contacting Trevor Adams to recreate Tony 'Great' Webster and the whole premise seemed Xeroxed from the comedy film Laughter In Paradise (1951). Great cast as always, but plum duff without the plum.

And arguably executed in a similar way to the film's remake, Some Will, Some Won't...

Ignatius_S

Quote from: Marner and Me on January 13, 2021, 11:36:03 AM
Tbh I'd say the third series when one of the writers left. I think the second series was still good.

When the was last repeated, I caught a little of the second series and thought it very solid, and was tempted to watch it in full as think I would be kinder about it now.

re: writers - that's a good point and from what I recall of the third, it was step down.

JaDanketies

Talking of Hayden Panettiere, the last season of Malcolm in the Middle was inferior to the rest. I still think it's a show that stands up from start to finish, but at the end of it, they were always argumentative and at each-other's throats, whereas in earlier episodes it felt like they had heart. Maybe the characters were Flanderised too, in that they became more extreme caricatures. It seemed that Francis was an afterthought, and Piama was noticeable by her absence. The season starts off with a very misplaced episode where Malcolm loses his virginity with a much older woman that doesn't even like him and the tonal shift continues from there.

Marner and Me

Quote from: Ignatius_S on January 13, 2021, 01:36:57 PM
When the was last repeated, I caught a little of the second series and thought it very solid, and was tempted to watch it in full as think I would be kinder about it now.

re: writers - that's a good point and from what I recall of the third, it was step down.
Hmmm I am sad enough to have downloaded from Pirate Bay, I think there are episodes on YouTube. I think it is one of the best sitcoms I have seen.

Jockice

It wasn't awful but the third series of The Inbetweeners was a big step down in quality from the previous two.

Marner and Me

Quote from: Jockice on January 13, 2021, 04:22:28 PM
It wasn't awful but the third series of The Inbetweeners was a big step down in quality from the previous two.
Agree with that, it was like they were trying to hard in places. Still some brilliant moments in it. The squirrel being probably one of the shittest bits.

Jockice

Quote from: Marner and Me on January 13, 2021, 05:14:04 PM
Agree with that, it was like they were trying to hard in places. Still some brilliant moments in it. The squirrel being probably one of the shittest bits.

Yeah, that's what I was going to say (before I got distracted by something else and posted the short version) they were running out of ideas and stretching those they had too far, so it wasn't realistic anymore. I still haven't a clue how Simon managed to drive home naked after staying at his girlfriend's sister's place and them all getting chucked out. He'd either taken the keys out of his pockets and then left his trousers there or had left them in the car overnight. Neither of which seemed likely.

The squirrel bit was horrible but not beyond the bounds of possibility with teenage boys. I remember hearing a tale of someone I knew but wasn't friends with doing something horrible to a cat and this being seen as a great laugh. I wasn't involved in that sort of stuff myself (and the lad concerned came from a pretty posh area so he wasn't materially deprived) but males of that age can be total feral twats.

Doesn't Jay say something like "look at his sad little eyes" immediately after running it over, he gets riled up by Will and Neil saying the squirrel's mugging him off and regrets it. I bloody love that episode, Will trying to stop the other three chucking toast or pissing in the garden.

lipsink

Quote from: Phil_A on January 13, 2021, 10:09:27 AM
Jesus, I'd even forgotten Robert Downey Jnr was in the cast for a while, back when he was so fucked up he was constantly getting fired from everything.

I'm pretty sure he was hugely popular in that and even won an Emmy/Golden Globe? I do remember Season 1 of Ally McBeal being incredibly grounded in comparison with how surreal it became with imaginary dancing babies and frogs in toilets etc.

Gurke and Hare

Quote from: Ignatius_S on January 13, 2021, 01:34:42 PM
When I read the books, I thought the source material for the final series was superb and it worked brilliantly, which the adaptation didn't successfully capture.

The final Fall & Rise series, or Legacy?

Rolf Lundgren

I really need to watch the last series of Roseanne again to remind myself if it's as terrible as I remember but it deserves a prize for not only going in a completely different direction to what made it popular but dumping on previous well-loved series. It doesn't only burn the house down but taint every good memory you ever had of living there.

billyandthecloneasaurus

Quote from: Jockice on January 13, 2021, 04:22:28 PM
It wasn't awful but the third series of The Inbetweeners was a big step down in quality from the previous two.
IIRC, the creators said that the majority of the plots in s1 and s2 were (to a greater or lesser extent, obvs) based on things that had actually happened to them, whereas they'd run out of funny anecdotes by s3.  It might be bollocks but it definitely makes sense.

Jockice

Quote from: billyandthecloneasaurus on January 13, 2021, 07:38:42 PM
IIRC, the creators said that the majority of the plots in s1 and s2 were (to a greater or lesser extent, obvs) based on things that had actually happened to them, whereas they'd run out of funny anecdotes by s3.  It might be bollocks but it definitely makes sense.

The films were good though I thought, even though the events shown (especially in the second) were for the most part not true to life at all. They stopped trying to be realistic (and some of the bits in the first two series were incredibly realistic) but  instead ramped it up a bit. And it worked.

billyandthecloneasaurus

Quote from: Jockice on January 13, 2021, 07:48:15 PM
The films were good though I thought, even though the events shown (especially in the second) were for the most part not true to life at all. They stopped trying to be realistic (and some of the bits in the first two series were incredibly realistic) but  instead ramped it up a bit. And it worked.
I thought the second was pretty shite tbf but watchable.

St_Eddie

I thought both the Inbetweeners movies were shite, with the second one being marginally less shit.  A huge step down from the TV series. 

Jockice

Quote from: St_Eddie on January 14, 2021, 01:25:14 AM
I thought both the Inbetweeners movies were shite, with the second one being marginally less shit.  A huge step down from the TV series.
Better than the third series I'd say. But not the first two.

JaDanketies

It's hard for so-called cringe comedy to keep up the momentum without eventually getting into the wacky farces that you might associate with Fraiser. It might still be very funny though. I remember laughing uncontrollably the first time I watched that episode of Peep Show where they barbecue the dog on the canal boat, but the farce is many steps removed from the more believable plots it had initially. Same with The Inbetweeners.

And yeah when it comes to serialisation in sitcoms it can start to get a little bit shitty, which might have been a problem Peep Show started to suffer with, or Fraiser for that matter. No more 'bottle episodes'. The most recent series of Big Mouth seemed very inferior to me and I think that serialisation had something to do with it.

SteveDave

Quote from: Jockice on January 13, 2021, 07:48:15 PM
The films were good though I thought, even though the events shown (especially in the second) were for the most part not true to life at all. They stopped trying to be realistic (and some of the bits in the first two series were incredibly realistic) but  instead ramped it up a bit. And it worked.

I thought they should've left more time between the first one and the sequel or had the sequel be Jay's stag do weekend to Amsterdam or somewhere. And then have a third film that's set at Neil's funeral. 

Jockice

Quote from: SteveDave on January 14, 2021, 03:17:33 PM
I thought they should've left more time between the first one and the sequel or had the sequel be Jay's stag do weekend to Amsterdam or somewhere. And then have a third film that's set at Neil's funeral.

Oh, I hope Beesley and Morris haven't read that. Don't give them ideas.

Panbaams

Quote from: St_Eddie on January 11, 2021, 01:20:42 AM
I have to confess that a small part of me was relieved when Caroline Aherne passed away because it at least pretty much guaranteed that we'd never have to face the indignity of seeing the show being sullied any further.  That's how bad those final few episodes were; they genuinely made me a little bit glad that a comedy legend had died of cancer.

What a peculiar thing to say.

Marner and Me

Quote from: Jockice on January 14, 2021, 03:21:11 PM
Oh, I hope Beesley and Morris haven't read that. Don't give them ideas.
I think Neil is one of the best characters in the show tbh, along with Donovan the bully and Simons dad. I'll have to check out this Phoneshop. Is it on all4 or something?

paruses

It is. I highly recommend. If you watch it please post to the "A Owl" thread  because I want an excuse to post favourite quotes again.

kalowski

Quote from: buttgammon on January 11, 2021, 10:27:56 AM
The thing with The Royle Family is that the later episodes are so bad that they've put me off watching the first (very good) three series. Ab Fab got very bad but not bad enough to write off the first three or four series, which I still really enjoy.

I watched that episode with my family and we collectively agreed to turn it off at that point. It was too sad to see these nuanced characters turning into unfunny caricatures before our eyes. It's similar to late Simpsons, where these characters that were so human have become so entirely one-note - particularly Homer - that years of delicate groundwork has been destroyed for some cheap gags that aren't even funny.
So true. This was a series that had the confidence and brilliance to base an episode around them watching Catch Phrase, if I remember rightly that's virtually all they do in it. ("Say what you see. If you see it, say it.") . Fucking brilliant. And it got so, so bad.

neveragain

It was Millionaire, but they do talk about Catchphrase in that one.

kalowski

Quote from: neveragain on January 14, 2021, 09:02:03 PM
It was Millionaire, but they do talk about Catchphrase in that one.
I need to watch it again.

St_Eddie

Quote from: Panbaams on January 14, 2021, 03:25:31 PM
What a peculiar thing to say.

Well, it's one of the first thoughts which crossed my mind upon reading of her passing.  I'm simply being up front and honest in relating how I felt and how that reflects just how bad the ongoing specials of The Royle Family were.  It may also reflect just how fucked up my brain is but that's beside the point.

the science eel

Quote from: Brundle-Fly on January 13, 2021, 10:59:43 AM
The third series of The Fall & Rise Of Reginald Perrin was an interesting development with the commune aspect but had lost the sparkle of the first two outings. The ending of series two was very moving so it should've stopped there. Might have to rewatch it though, as it has been many years since I've seen it. Decades even.

Episode 7, when Reggie meets FJ (CJ's brother) features a dialogue about 'lobster thermostat' which is on fire, the to-ing and fro-ing (typically of scenes anyway between John Barron and Rossiter) ramped up a bit and even sillier. It's absolutely brilliant, I've watched it several times and it never fails to lift my spirits. John Barron was just phenomenal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Nmi6OyqyZc

(starts at 12:10)

rue the polywhirl

Has IT Crowd series 4 been mentioned? After a mostly passable first 3 series, 4 really was the pits - The Countdown episode with Benedict Wong being the biggest, most steaming garbageball waste of opportunity. The sight of Moss on Countdown - funny. Every other element of the episode - bungled. The animated Trailer Park Boys season 2 is also completely unwatchable. No effort whatsoever.

Jockice

Quote from: St_Eddie on January 11, 2021, 01:20:42 AM
That scene where David takes a bath with the defrosting Christmas turkey?  Just mindbogglingly wrongheaded writing for the type of show it ought to have been.  David was a bit dim, sure but he was never a certifiable moron.  I don't believe for one second that any grown adult without severe learning difficulties would bathe with their defrosting food floating in the water with them. 

I think that most adults with severe learning difficulties would have thought about it twice too.