Preacher: Season 4 will air from 04 August 2019 and will be the final season
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Preacher: Season 4 will air from 04 August 2019 and will be the final season -
42 Comedy experts have voted Fawlty Towers the greatest British Comedy of all time:
01 - Fawlty Towers
02 - Father Ted
03 - I'm Alan Partridge
04 - Blackadder
05 - Dad's Army
06 - Only Fools and Horses
07 - Porridge
08 - The Royle Family
09 - Absolutely Fabulous
10 - Dinnerladies
11 - The Thick of It
12 - The Office
13 - Peep Show
14 - The Vicar of Dibley
15 - The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin
16 - The Young Ones
17 - Gavin and Stacey
18 - The Good Life
19 - Detectorists
20 - Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?
.... sighComment
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Reminds me of Stewart Lee's bit about 'Del Boy falling through the bar on only Fools and Horses and Trigger making a face' being the funniest moment of all time in British comedy
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I’m wondering exactly what qualifies someone as a ‘comedy expert’… and Fawlty Towers has never been funny. I really can’t stand slapstick, it’s just childish, like fart jokes.Comment
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Cynics.
Fawlty Towers is a very tightly-plotted character and situation/based farce, with an escalating sense of absurdity throughout the half hour. It showcases several types of comedy devices, including lines you’ll miss even after several viewings. Slapstick is used liberally, but only in the context of character/situation. Slapstick on its own isn’t particularly funny. Slapstick done through characters with pathos and audience connection can be exquisite. See: the greatest - Stan and Ollie.
The huge miss for me is Steptoe and Son. A programme of astonishing quality, being, in essence, a play, featuring two characters only (in most scenes). It’s a masterclass of character study, and some of the black and white episodes are heady in tragic pathos. It’s a socio-economic study in alienation, a lack of social mobility, and a man’s inability to break out of the family ‘prison’. It’ll always be number one on my list.Comment
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I’ve put original air dates on the list. It’s a list that is missing some great shows.Originally posted by Superman Falls View Post
Botttom, Red Dwarf, League of Gentlemen, Spaced, The Day Today, Brass Eye, Look Around You, The IT Crowd, The Mighty Boosh, Black Books, Green Wing, The Inbetweeners, Rab C Nesbit, Still Game and SO, SO much more.
There’s a list of better shows missing from the list than there are decent shows on it.Comment
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And I'd vote Faulty Towers right down at the bottom. That, Allo Allo, Only Fools and Horses and other BBC sitcoms like that never amused me.Originally posted by Superman Falls View Post
At least we see stuff like I'm Alan Partridge, Father Ted and Black Adder up near the top.Comment
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There's nothing wrong with fart jokes if done right. Bottom, young ones and even to an extent the Royal Family.Originally posted by _SD_ View PostComment
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Fawlty Towers was one that I found to be alright but I've never classed it as top tier, I don't know if it getting ended so early helped its position compared to other comedies that ran much longer so might make less impact thanks to having more weaker episode instances by default.
Steptoe is actually a really good description, I haven't seen it in a long time but the comedy in that aged like fine wine the last time I did see it.
Dinnerladies on the list... I liked it but no way in hell was it one of the greatest comedies of all time. Gavin & Stacey and Royle Family can GTFOComment
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This deserves a thread of its own. So much to talk about comedy. All comedy is marmite but I find it a fascinating topic.
Define ‘comedy’. Define what it is. How it works. Is there a formula? Is some highbrow, and other forms lesser?
To be honest, I think this is one of the few forums I know of where you could discuss it and retain civility and respect. For some reason, opinions about comedy tend to bring out the worst in people. Like it’s a personal insult that someone else doesn’t find the same things funny as you.
Re, the list. I’m not fussed about the order, but generally:
Fawlty Towers - love it.
Father Ted - never really ‘got it’. I might re-watch to see if it clicks.
I’m Alan Partridge - love it.
Blackadder - love it.
Dad’s Army - love it. Hated it as a kid, but the character interactions and nuances make it a winner after a rewatch.
Only Fools - popular to hate because it’s on repeat 24/7, but I genuinely think it’s fantastic.
Porridge - brilliant. Barker is a colossus. An incredible comedy performance.
The Royle Family - hated it at first. Grew to really like it. Compulsive viewing.
Ab Fab - I cannot like it. I’ve tried.
Dinner ladies - ditto.
The Thick of It - clever. Not an enjoyable watch for me though.
The Office - exquisite. A character of multiple layers and vulnerability.
Peep Show - not really watched it.
Dibley - hated it at first. Really like it now.
Reggie Perrin - ok. Without Rossiter it wouldn’t work. Like Barker, he delivers a masterclass.
The Young Ones - sporadically funny. It’s dated a bit but still has some great lines and scenes.
Gavin and Stacey - I don’t like this.
The Good Life - ok at best.
Detectorists - what?
Likely Lads - doesn’t transcend ok for me.
Family Fry mentions some great omissions. Bottom, Red Dwarf, The Inbetweeners. Steptoe not being there is a travesty. I also grew up with a lot of things that I enjoyed and continue to do so, but have dated badly. Stuff like Hi De Hi, Are You Being Served and Allo Allo. I still enjoy them, despite their limitations. Another I really loved was from the 80s. A John Sullivan comedy called Dear John. I’d also say Extras is very very funny. Garth Marenghi, too.Comment
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Comedy is far too subjective. The fact that you can have someone who says straight out that they don't like slapstick, pretty much the universal language of comedy, says it all (nothing wrong with that - just using it as an example of how different tastes can be). I once met someone who told me they don't get comedy. Like, don't understand it at all.
One person's Fawlty Towers is another person's Mrs Brown's Boys.Comment
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There's subjective and then there's wrong. Mrs Browns Boys is just wrong
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Have to agree hah hah... I have no idea what people see in MBB at all! Fawlty Towers on the other hand, yeah arguably my favourite of all time, relatable, quotable to the max, and as previously posted, so tightly written and composed there's no flab whatsoever. Cleese and Booth chose to only write 12 episodes, so nothing to do with being cancelled or that malarkey. The Young Ones only went to 12 episodes too.Lie with passion and be forever damned...Comment
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The first few series of One Foot in the Grave were good. That contained some dark humour as well, and I often considered it to be the situational comedy version of observational stand up, with most scenarios built around everyday **** and misfortune that gets on your wick.Comment
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There was a great line up of astronomy themed programming on BBC Four last night to coincide with and celebrate the first image of a black hole:
The Sky at Night
Chris Lintott opens up The Sky at Night's 60-year archive to reveal how stars work, their life cycles and how their own demise holds the key to our very existence.
How to See a Black Hole: The Universe's Greatest Mystery
Documentary following researchers as they try to take the first-ever picture of a black hole. They must travel the globe to build a revolutionary telescope that spans planet Earth.
Gravity And Me: The Force That Shapes Our Lives
Professor Jim Al-Khalili investigates the amazing science of gravity. As well sculpting our universe, gravity also affects our weight, height and even the rate at which we age.
Horizon: Who Is Afraid of a Big Black Hole?
Scientists now believe black holes could hold the key to answering the ultimate question: what was there before the big bang? However, researching them is next to impossible.
Horizon: Strange Signals from Outer Space!
Horizon investigates unusual space signals including the Lorimer Burst, and has exclusive access to researchers at the Green Bank Telescope searching for signals from Tabby's Star.
The two Horizon shows were particularly good and quite thought provoking.Comment
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