Birds of a Feather

[Fambo Number Mive]

Watched the first episode of this on UKTV play last night. Never watched this sitcom before. I find the premise really interesting. To be honest I only chuckled a couple of times and found the whole bit with Dorian Greene really tedious. However I will try the next couple of episodes to see if it improves.

What do people think of Birds of a Feather? I know you can't really judge a sitcom on one episode but does it get any funnier because it felt more like watching a drama really.

[Icehaven]

I remember really liking this when it was first on, which is odd as I was only about 10 so a lot of the stuff like Dorian being a nympho would have been totally lost on me. I chanced across a few episodes quite recently (the one where they aren't sure if their Dad was really their Dad) and agree it seemed more comedy-drama than I remember it being. Not sure I'd embark on a rewatch tbh, but definitely give it more than one episode, although be warned if you don't like Dorian as she's very much a main character throughout. 

[idunnosomename]

WADDLE AYE DOOOOO

desolation.

[Utter Shit]

Watched the first episode of this on UKTV play last night. Never watched this sitcom before. I find the premise really interesting. To be honest I only chuckled a couple of times and found the whole bit with Dorian Greene really tedious. However I will try the next couple of episodes to see if it improves.

What do people think of Birds of a Feather? I know you can't really judge a sitcom on one episode but does it get any funnier because it felt more like watching a drama really.

Funnily enough I watched the first episode a couple of months ago just to see how much I remembered of it. I certainly didn't remember it being so aggressively hateful and misogynistic, it felt like the first ten minutes was just a sequence of people waiting their turn to call Sharon a fat, ugly bitch.

[badaids]

WADDLE AYE DOOOOO

desolation.

Yeah, I came here to post that - the maudlin soundtrack to school nights in late 80s and early 90s.

All I can remember of the program itself was there was a sour one, a fat one and a slutty one. That's not my evil mind working - I was a kid. These were the horrible tropes and jokes that the programme was based on.

[buttgammon]

It always makes me think of Alan Partridge talking about how he used to watch it obsessively when he was depressed, even though it was "a programme [he] rightly despised".

Was this actually shown on Sunday evenings? Just thinking about it gives me that sense of back-to-school dread.

[Fambo Number Mive]

Funnily enough I watched the first episode a couple of months ago just to see how much I remembered of it. I certainly didn't remember it being so aggressively hateful and misogynistic, it felt like the first ten minutes was just a sequence of people waiting their turn to call Sharon a fat, ugly bitch.

Her husband was utterly vile I remember.

[Gulftastic]

Leslie Joseph somehow spun a character who could generously be described as one-note into a fairly good career, popping up all over the place.

[badaids]

Leslie Joseph somehow spun a character who could generously be described as one-note into a fairly good career, popping up all over the place.

If I recall as well, there was also a fair amount of fun poking about her character being Jewish.

Regarding the all the husbands, they were all horrible. Even Joseph's though I don't recall he ever made an appearance. But the women still relied and waited upon them.

A horrible programme.

[The Culture Bunker]

About the only thing I can remember about it was a scene in which the son of one of the main character was caught in the jacuzzi with some girl. He leaps up in surprise, apparently in the buff, as Dorien gives a leering "my, how you've grown!"

The suggestion apparently being she'd seen his bits when he was a lot younger.

[Magnum Valentino]

What do people think of Birds of a Feather? I know you can't really judge a sitcom on one episode but does it get any funnier because it felt more like watching a drama really.

Wasn't it broadcast on the Freeview channel 'Drama' for years? Quite recently, like.

[Icehaven]

Wasn't it broadcast on the Freeview channel 'Drama' for years? Quite recently, like.

That's probably where I saw it not long ago. It was definitely a Freeview channel.

[Captain Z]

It was very much of its time, and that time was 10:30pm on a school night in January when you have PE, maths and English all before lunch tomorrow.

[jamiefairlie]

Cockneys

[Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse]

WADDLE AYE DOOOOO

desolation.

This is one of those sitcoms(?) that I only watched because it was on. Weren't their husbands in jail or something.

[checkoutgirl]

Weren't their husbands in jail or something.

Yeah and Linda Robson had a big house in Chiswick or somewhere bought from the proceeds of bank robberies or something. Pauline Quirk moves in with her sister to support her while both their hubbies are in the boob. Their neighbour is slutty and from thence the humour arose.

It's a broad BBC family sitcom with a dash of raunch thrown in. I doubt it's worth a reevaluation and the best thing about it I reckon is the title sequence with a miserable looking cast and sad and fairly unique theme tune, I suppose Only When I Laugh had a similar theme song.

[Video Game Fan 2000]

One of them married a foreigner so she has a foreign name now.

Poor people talk a bit common like. Its unexpected and funny when you hear someone talk a bit common like in a house thats a lot bigger than you'd expect the houses people who talk a bit common like to be in.

The actual show was more depressing than the fucking credits song. What an achievement in shit. And a decade of it.  But the really interesting thing about Birds of a Feather is that it wasn't actually commissioned by the BBC or written by any established writers, it suddenly appeared on the schedules because someone rubbed a magic genie lamp and asked what would the Good Life be like if the Nazis won the war?

[Enzo]

I was always amazed at the photo effects in the opening credits until I found out that Pauline Quirke and Linda Robson were childhood friends. Then I wondered if they cast the show on the basis of the photos

[Keebleman]

It's like Estelle Harris getting the Seinfeld gig because she really did look as if she could be Jason Alexander's mother.  Except that Seinfeld was funny.

[imitationleather]

I was always amazed at the photo effects in the opening credits until I found out that Pauline Quirke and Linda Robson were childhood friends.

I'd say "Fuck my hat!" but I don't care enough about this awful show.

[Enzo]

It's like Estelle Harris getting the Seinfeld gig because she really did look as if she could be Jason Alexander's mother.  Except that Seinfeld was funny.

I heard the character of Cosmo Kramer was based on Dorien Green

[Keebleman]

I heard the character of Cosmo Kramer was based on Dorien Green

Kramer was sexier.

[idunnosomename]

they were childhood friends, but none of the photos in the intro are genuine as far as I can tell. the child ones are lookalikes, then the last one of them is genuine pics of them, but comped together

[Famous Mortimer]

It was very much of its time, and that time was 10:30pm on a school night in January when you have PE, maths and English all before lunch tomorrow.

Agreed. I can't imagine rewatching it today, either.

[Gurke and Hare]

Lesley Joseph got amusingly slaughtered throughout the Mrs Merton book.

[neveragain]

Grimly amusing that it all ended with Pauline Quirke falling out with the other two, leading to one morbidund Quirkeless series and a cancellation.

[shoulders]

Door Ian

[Excellent_Biscuits]

It was very much of its time, and that time was 10:30pm on a school night in January when you have PE, maths and English all before lunch tomorrow.

Exactly my feelings.

That Alamo cards ident still sends shivers down my spine.

End of the world.

[dissolute ocelot]

From the creators of Alan B'stard. The fact that it was written by 2 men is perhaps the weirdest thing. The theme music at the time filled me with terror and wistfulness.

[Enzo]

Exactly my feelings.

That Alamo cards ident still sends shivers down my spine.

End of the world.

Yes the theme tune still playing over the playing cards was uniquely depressing