Sitcoms that take while to find their groove

[idunnosomename]

Aye, 5th paragraph under 'production' on the wiki:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peep_Show_(British_TV_series)

'The theme tune for the first series was an original composition by Daniel Pemberton and is featured on his TVPOPMUZIK album.[25] From the second series onwards, the theme music is the song "Flagpole Sitta" by the American band Harvey Danger[23] (although the original first series composition was still heard briefly during scene changes). '

i knew it changed theme after S1 but totally forgot they kept it for the stings in establishing shots. They kept it in the ad bumpers too I think?

The song worked better as an ending theme because it was so abrupt, but it was a shame to completely lose the original theme. Peep Show s1 and 2 are the only really classic ones for me

[Sebastian Cobb]

For me the first fully-realised Red Dwarf episode is Me², the series 1 finale.

I was going to defend Confidence and Paranoia and Waiting for God, but I guess they're both high-concept stuff that they then sort of fitted the boys around so I guess you're right.

[Lemming]

I've never even watched the first series of Blackadder, it just looks like a different show and I've never really heard anything good said about it.

The series is so bizarre that it's worth a watch just to see how odd it is. It is sporadically funny but it's more unnerving and eerie than anything else, which seems to be by design - the witchcraft episode in particular doesn't even try to be funny for several scenes at a time. The Archbishop episode has a real sense of dread as well.

[mechanical blood goat]

total bollocks I am afraid

ok yeah probably not four seasons, more like two. I was actually surprised at how bad season 1 was when I did a rewatch of it a couple of years ago.

[dontpaintyourteeth]

isn't season one like four episodes though

[Autopsy Turvey]

Hancock's Half Hour didn't really start firing on all cylinders until Hattie Jacques joined for the fourth series in late 1956, after about 50 episodes. The first series of the TV version had already begun by then, but we can't assess that as it's entirely disappeared.

[Utter Shit]

I'd disagree with that for AD - on initial watch and both rewatches it was funny right out of the gate and maintained it at least to the end of S2 - not sure we've made the end of S3 more than that first time though. The plots and ideas may be more extravagant in S2 but I'd say the humour was always there throughout.

Yeah I'd say Arrested Development is great from the start BUT you only realise how good once you rewatch it. Right from the first episode there are some brilliant foreshadowing jokes that you won't get until the second go round, having seen what it's foreshadowing.

[Lapsedcat]

the witchcraft episode in particular doesn't even try to be funny for several scenes at a time

Maybe, but the devil in the courtroom always makes me chuckle, as well as Edmund's "Oh FUCK off Baldrick!" conveniently covered by a cough off-screen

[majava]

Yeah I'd say Arrested Development is great from the start BUT you only realise how good once you rewatch it. Right from the first episode there are some brilliant foreshadowing jokes that you won't get until the second go round, having seen what it's foreshadowing.

It took me a few attempts to get through S1 of Arrested Development, as I spent the entire time thinking 'when does this get funny?'. A friend with good judgement encouraged me to stick with it - I'm glad I did once it all clicked into place.

[JaDanketies]

I think we watched up to about season one episode seven of Only Murders in the Building before my fiancee and I decided that we didn't like it. However it has very strong recommendations and reviews. The big problem for me is it's not funny and I don't care about the storyline / mystery

[Lapsedcat]

I think we watched up to about season one episode seven of Only Murders in the Building before my fiancee and I decided that we didn't like it. However it has very strong recommendations and reviews. The big problem for me is it's not funny and I don't care about the storyline / mystery

I kinda like it - especially the two Martins - but it does seem very pleased with itself

[LordMorgan]

I think peep show absolutely hits the ground running
Love the first series and the second

It's still really high quality for the next few series. But I don't think I've managed to finish it. I think I fell away as it was getting a bit too cartoony for me

Red dwarf, love the creakiness of the first two series. It is up there with my favourite comedy
But S3-6 have some cracking stories and episodes.
It's a different programme really

[Utter Shit]

It took me a few attempts to get through S1 of Arrested Development, as I spent the entire time thinking 'when does this get funny?'. A friend with good judgement encouraged me to stick with it - I'm glad I did once it all clicked into place.

Yeah I was the same I think. It was funny from the start, but you don't realise how unusually clever it is until much later.

[ros vulgaris]

Funny you should put Peep Show in with Blackadder. I feel Peep became more accessible in later series but lost some of what made it great.

I felt it became too much of a soap opera. Sort of like a millennial Only Fools.

[neveragain]

Yeah, I can see that. Sophie and the baby. Dobby. Jez's series-long flings. That one from the university who came back. All quite soapish plots when it's much better to see them milling about.

[Milo]

Obvious one I suppose but it took The Simpsons three seasons before everything fully clicked into place. Then you had a run of maybe five subsequent seasons with barely a dud episode, followed by the gradual laziness creeping in and the slow, agonising decline...

Yeah, three to nine (maybe ten) were absolute gold. I find it hard to comprehend how much Simpsons there is now.

[Lapsedcat]

Yeah, three to nine (maybe ten) were absolute gold. I find it hard to comprehend how much Simpsons there is now.

I still remember the feeling of mild despair when I saw the leprechaun jockeys episode for the first time. It was one of those "what the fuck...?" moments combined with embarrassment as I was watching the show with someone who had tolerated it for my benefit and now had ample opportunity to shit on it - and I was unable to argue. I had nothing.

[ros vulgaris]

The series is so bizarre that it's worth a watch just to see how odd it is. It is sporadically funny but it's more unnerving and eerie than anything else, which seems to be by design - the witchcraft episode in particular doesn't even try to be funny for several scenes at a time. The Archbishop episode has a real sense of dread as well.

The Black Adder (Atkinson is still at pains to give the proper title) was intended to be a parody/pastiche of literary rogues in medieval dramas - the clearest influence being the 70s series 'The Black Arrow' starring Robin Langford (https://youtu.be/fObQ0P8Gbh8?si=1I409_vyLimQG9OB)

If it had been axed I wonder if it would have become a cult thing in retrospect. It seems more like an oddity now with what followed.

[famethrowa]

The Black Adder (Atkinson is still at pains to give the proper title) was intended to be a parody/pastiche of literary rogues in medieval dramas - the clearest influence being the 70s series 'The Black Arrow' starring Robin Langford (https://youtu.be/fObQ0P8Gbh8?si=1I409_vyLimQG9OB)

Haha that's fantastic. I mean look at this:

Fresh horses!!

[damien]

I notice that Richard Curtis is still calling it 'The Black Adder' in the BTS stuff for '.. Goes Forth'.

[TheMonk]

Happy Days didn't really know what it was in Season One, although that gives it some charm. It didn't become the Fonzie show till a bit later.

[RottonRaddish]

Peep Show is an odd one. It becomes more polished from series 2 onwards and you have a change of cast, loosing Toni (who I consider to be one of the most attractive person ever- the actress doesn't appear to have done a lot else) and introducing Big Suze and the like going into series 3.

Series 1 stands out because it's very self contained and does have the rather grim story arc of them both slowly going insane. That's lost in later series when even tho their situation changes their personalities have to reset for next weeks mishaps.

Speaking of situation changes, I think this is one of the few comedy shows to address the 2008 financial fisting and acknowledged that the standard sit com job (Gary's in Men Behaving Badly and most of The Office) suddenly stopped existing in the real world.

[Twilkes]

Saved By The Bell.