Becker and surprisingly good sitcoms

[JaDanketies]

Yeah it's easy to point to the loss of Reggie in Becker but when Bob disappears it's a lethal blow.

[kngen]

Always enjoyed The Drew Carey Show, as casting Ryan Stiles and Diedrich Bader as the 'kooky friends' took that trope and stretched it to an entertainingly ludicrous level (the latter being called Oswald Lee Harvey still makes me laugh), although it was a real shock when Craig Ferguson turned up as a regular character.

Norm Macdonald's The Norm Show had some great surreal diversions in it, even though it was very trad in its set-up at first glance.

[The Culture Bunker]

I remember the Drew Carey Show being on at some daft time, perhaps even post-midnight on Thursday or suchlike, on ITV back in the late 90s and usually getting a few laughs from it, though I'd complete forgotten Diedrich Bader was in it.

[Famous Mortimer]

The Drew Carey Show did some live shows, where they incorporated Whose Line-style improv games, I remember. It was decent. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drew_Live

[mr. logic]

It isn't a UK show.

Funnily enough it is co-created by Bill Lawrence of the aforementioned Spin City and another contender for this thread (though I am sure many will disagree), Scrubs

Is it just my memory or was Scrubs somewhat of a critical darling for quite a long time?

[Largely Babble]

Is it just my memory or was Scrubs somewhat of a critical darling for quite a long time?

Nah. Everyone hated Scrubs didn't they? It was the butt of multiple jokes about it being a knock-off of I can't remember which popular sitcom of the day. I also remember it being the punchline in perhaps the Simpsons once. Homer watching an episode and asking his friend "Which one is the funny one?"

[thr0b]

I thought Caroline In The City was very enjoyable, particularly the title character's misanthropic assistant. Would love to give that another watch.

Big shout out for Paramount in the late nineties/early noughties, they had loads of good sitcoms including Becker and the rest listed above. The Mailbox pages on their teletext was probably the first ever "forum" I contributed to.

Of course, the old PText Mailbox isn't truly dead. Just resting, and occasionally wakes up. www.newmailbox.co.uk - last update was Christmas Day 2020, and archives go back to 1996.

And Christmas Day 2014's edition was tremendous: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJ7MBAsoAac

[thr0b]

Nah. Everyone hated Scrubs didn't they? It was the butt of multiple jokes about it being a knock-off of I can't remember which popular sitcom of the day. I also remember it being the punchline in perhaps the Simpsons once. Homer watching an episode and asking his friend "Which one is the funny one?"

Scrubs was great, you fools.

[dissolute ocelot]

I thought Caroline In The City was very enjoyable, particularly the title character's misanthropic assistant. Would love to give that another watch.

I quite enjoyed Caroline in the City, especially as you say her assistant (improbably forced to work with her for reasons I forget). It was in that tradition of mainstream sitcoms where everybody had a very strictly defined personality and nobody ever went too far outside the box, but with good gag-writers, strong acting, and likable characters, the format did entertain the nation every week.

I was watching a lot of old Will and Grace at the weekend, the season with Woody Harrelson, and it's often glib and lazy - Karen says something about alcohol, Jack is camp, Grace fluffs her hair up, and Will looks bemused. All very formulaic but enjoyable.

Nowadays it's all high concepts and mockumentaries, though.

[phantom_power]

Scrubs was critically fairly well acclaimed and popular with comedy fans as well I think. I just recall some talk recently on here about how it hasn't aged well, which I agree with to a certain extent but I still think it is funny

[thr0b]

Scrubs was critically fairly well acclaimed and popular with comedy fans as well I think. I just recall some talk recently on here about how it hasn't aged well, which I agree with to a certain extent but I still think it is funny

Parts of it, perhaps not - but then it is 20-ish years old. For its relatively minor failings, it does some tremendous episodes based on grief and mental health. The (last) Brendan Fraser episode in particular is astonishing for a mainstream US sitcom.

[13 schoolyards]

Scrubs I think got some stick at the time from comedy fans for dropping in serious moments and episodes at a time when US comedy was really going hard the other way. On the other hand the critics seemed to love the drama stuff (as they always do), which further pissed off the people who just wanted comedies to be funny.

I loved it at the time but I think the fact it staggered on well past its natural death did a lot of damage to its reputation.

[Largely Babble]

Scrubs was great, you fools.

Apologies. Never seen it. Was trying to remember the cultural reaction.
I've also remembered I might have been thinking of Dream On.

[keir]

Not sure if it's "surprisingly" good because I'm not aware if it has any rep (or was even shown) over here, but whenever I've been in the States and caught an episode of Barney Miller, I've always enjoyed it. Great theme tune too.

It WAS shown here, but maybe not for a long time, I don't think I've seen it for more than forty years although it's possible it's been on since.

[thr0b]

Apologies. Never seen it. Was trying to remember the cultural reaction.
I've also remembered I might have been thinking of Dream On.

Also possible that you're thinking of the final series, which was intended as a spin-off, and was dreck.

The previous two seasons, intended to be the final with the original cast had spent a lot of time introducing new characters for a potential spin-off. Most of these characters were dropped for the eventual spin-off, in favour of forgettable new characters. And it was no longer billed as a spin-off, despite being written as one. So it lost all the goodwill of the original series, which was built around JD. Who was only now an occasional Special Guest Star.

It's a shame, as a spin-off with a new cast was not an awful idea in itself. But...executives.

[phantom_power]

The spin-off had Eliza Coupe in it as well, who is great. And Michael Mosley, who is good. And Dave Franco...

Dream On was also great

[Seedsy]

I think the first 3 series of scrubs are pretty flawless. I think it fell away pretty badly.

I also thought it was well received.
I want to give another shout for King of Queens, something about it I find really charming, and Jerry Stiller is just fucking briliant. He was originally cast as Hesh in the sopranos but pulled out at the last minute. that would have been quite interesting to see

[BeardFaceMan]

I always remember liking The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air a lot, I fancy rewatching some of that for some easy viewing after recently watching the reunion special.

[Famous Mortimer]

I'm right at the end of season 5 of "Becker" now, and after them presumably using up all the scripts they'd written for Terry Farrell, with an occasional mention of Becker being in love with Chris, they've gone full teenager-in-heat with Becker's character. He's essentially a completely different person now, and it's really chuffing annoying.

Still, just got the last season to go, where Bob (who I've grown to like) is replaced with Hurley off of "Lost", and apparently the quality takes a further nosedive.

[Famous Mortimer]

The me of 15 days ago didn't know the mess he was getting himself into. Season 6 is just awful, with Becker and Chris acting like a couple of nervous teenagers in their first romance, not a couple of middle-aged people who ought to know their own minds. There could be a twist in the final episode where it's revealed they're being forced into a relationship at gunpoint and I'd believe it.

At least I won't be disappointed that there's not more of it. I remember abandoning "Earth: Final Conflict" a few episodes into its final season as it was just pathetic (even in relation to its own previous seasons, not exactly the highest of watermarks), and I guess I could do the same with "Becker", but I've only got 8 episodes left and they're only 22 minutes each.

[JaDanketies]

If you give up, I think I should 'recommend' the episode A Subway Story. It's certainly one that sticks in the memory.

I do remember there being awkward romantic plots that wouldn't be out of place on Hannah Montana (presumably)