Birds Of A Feather - Series 10 Page 3

I think the new series is a lot more sitcom-y in terms of the amount of jokes per episode which is an improvement and I'm really enjoying it

It seems to be doing quite well, 8.20 million for episode 1 and the overnights for the next two seem promising.

As for the content, the first episode was a bit "cheesy" but I suppose they had to set the scene up somehow, the following two episodes are as if it has never been away, having location shots has helped keep the feel of the original series, something which a few modern studio sitcoms lack.

So far I'm loving it and hoping for an 11th series.

Again, not a bad episode last night. Rather enjoyed it actually.

Yes it's doing very well and congrats to ITV, at last they've made a daring move into the feared waters of comedy/competition with the untouchable Beeb and it's paying off. Interesting interview with Marks on radio the other day, he said it straight about BBC, they're losing their touch through stupid over management. Asked why the BOAF relaunch didn't stay with Beeb he said they started off the interest but only wanted one Christmas special.

He told them that's not good business, we want a series for the efforts of getting it all going again. They came back with 2 part Christmas special at most, but adamant on no new series. This had all taken several weeks through 4 FOUR different Beeb exec meetings. Not happy with this he and Gran thought why not ask ITV, they're back doing sitcoms.

They got a meeting and just 15 minutes later a full commission to an eight ep series. Laughing out loud Ha ha. Fantastic stuff, the ITV bods clearly having a good smile towards Beeb House when breezily penning that contract. Great story and well deserved after decades of BBC domination and smugness. And the rest is already history.

I was interested enough to look up the interview Alfred refers to, and it's here for anyone who wants to listen:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b03q9q2q/

Starts about 19 mins in.

Is it just me or does Pauline Quirke look like a turtle that's fell out of it's shell?

Considering I don't like the original series particularly - Series 10 has proved rather entertaining so far and I'm not even a massive fan!

Really weird that I think it's better than it was before!

I think it's slightly more stagey than before. Which is completely understandable since they've been performing it as a stage show for ages.
But when I watch old repeats in the week between the new eps the old ones do seem to have a more natural style.

All sitcoms are getting much stagier, it's very noticeable. Only the non studio audience sitcoms or comdramas are remaining natural looking. I've been looking at this for a while and I'm convinced it's mainly a money saving thing.

Watch older sitcoms on nostalgia channels at the mo like WHTTLL, BOAF and EDC and you will see natural looking SASes. In sitcoms lately we've had WAK, Miranda, MBB, TMB, Vicious, TWW, TOL, HOF etc which range from adult stage show to panto. This barrage of stagey one dimensional cartoony crap has seemingly informed the way crews now film and produce sitcoms, which is a disturbing trend.

It's much harder and costlier and definitely takes more time to make sitcoms look real like they used to, so I think they've taken the opportunity with the influx of stand ups and their taste for experimental sitcoms to save a heap of money on bothering to make them look half realistic anymore. It makes me Sick it really does. The sets and even the titles are looking cheap and nasty now, and the rubbish theme tunes last 3 seconds. :( Sitcoms are not real sitcoms anymore. Angry

I guess the theme song has to be shorter for the ITV version of BOAF otherwise, due to advert time, there isn't enough time to do a proper episode.

The ITV studio seemed smaller and more cramped than the Borehamwood & Teddington studios that were used for the former series of BOAF.

This week's episode had its funny moments too. Would be nice to see more of BOAF after this series.

My guess for the title of the next one, Honky Tonk Women.

Love, <3 Love, <3 Love <3 that this show is back on air.:D Although there are a few mistakes I have picked up on: :(

1. The house on the outside is exactly the same as the first 9 season, but the inside is not... :S how do you convert a house like that on the inside??? The kitchen in the old Series was behind the living room, the stairs were on the back of the wall to the living room; there were French doors leading to the garden on the left side of the living room and there was only one entrance with double doors to the living room, not two. Why didn't they keep it the same??

2. In Series 10, Episode 6, Chris was asking for a divorce from Sharon because he wanted to marry his new girlfriend and Sharon had asked if the old bird (Chris's mum) had passed away. Well, she had passed away in Series 5, Episode 6 while Chris was in prison... what did they do that for, if you are a true Birds of a Feather fan, it's a little disappointing that they put that Episode in there for Series 10. Didn't the writers look back to find out what had happened in previous series ? ? ? :$ :$ :$

Other than that, I have been loving watching them all on the Birds of a Feather 15 years later and I hope they do more Episodes and for a few more Series too. Welcome back girls, loved you back then, love you even more now. :D :D England

Well you could contact the creators http://www.marksandgran.com/contact.asp
and complain to them. Though Gary & John wrote that particular episode, I expect all the plotting was done jointly.

http://www.marksandgran.com/blog/birds-rule-ok/

You might get a witty answer or you might get "never let a bit of history get in the way of a good joke!"

As for the house interior .. It had travelled a bit, from Elstree to Teddington to South Bank so I expect a few bits fell off & were put back in the wrong places :)

Maybe Tracey's second husband rearranged it all. You would be surprised at how much interior rearrangement is possible in a house. Watch some of the building renovation programs :)