Alan Partridge is hard to call one of life's losers. Clearly he's petty, unprofessional, untalented, dimwitted, etc... but he can afford a divorce, P.A. and a custom built multi-bedroom house all while working 3 hours a day.
There are shows about genuine losers like Harold Steptoe, Ronnie Corbett in Sorry! or Chris Elliot in Get A Life... but they are pretty rare on either side of the Atlantic.
Harold Steptoe is really a tragic figure. He aspires to much, but as his father recognises, will always fall down because he is not as clever as he thinks. Albert, while selfish, is always the more realistic and tries to keep him grounded.
Aren't you all forgetting that Alan Partridge bounced back? The Tobelerone addiction was just a low point but he soon got over it. Plus, you've only got to read I, Partridge to realise he is one of life's winners. Needless to say, he had the last laugh.
Re the US v UK thing, any choice is going to be influenced by the cultural references you intrinsically understand given your own background. Persoanlly, I find the US version of The Office pretty pants but I could understand an American thinking exactly the same of the original UK version.
Larry Sanders was fantastic; I used to love Seinfeld when it was on BBC 2 many moons ago; I grew up on M*A*S*H; and when I went to Noi Yoik I was so disappointed that the taxis weren't all controlled by an uptight Danny de Vito.
All of those wee on Home to Roost and Just Good Friends. But nothing America or indeed anywhere could ever produce will ever hold a candle to Brush Strokes.
Of course, I jest.
Canada wins though. Trailer Park Boys. After all, you've gotta have a hobby, Bubbles.
What's your hobby, Ray?
Drinkin'.
The UK version of Dear John was much better than the American version in my opinion. Kurt was just ace.
Cheers
Fawlty Towers
Mash
Yes, Prime/Minister
Friends
Blackadder (all, except Christmas special)
Big Bang Theory
Only Fools & Horses
Scrubs
Dad's Army
My preferences, not in any particular order.
They are different, but I judge them by how many belly laughs they get. They do change as do people. As brilliant as it was Fawlty Towers is beginning to look dated to me (Brave or stupid to say on a British Comedy forum).Dad's Army still makes me laugh though.
I didn't put the US show; SOAP on the list because I can't remember much of it. I just remember it making me laugh.
Both Mash and Scrubs made me laugh and cry in the same amounts, sometimes in the same episode. I never get that with British stuff.
Different is good.
I find the big difference between the two are that American shows have a laugh at every 2-3 lines but the jokes are either weak, cliche or predictable but creates a joke-packed show. If the first one don't get you the second one will. American comedies tend to all be the same nowadays, not much variety of styles.
British comedy tends to lean more towards 4-5 lines of build-up to a bigger joke and a stronger joke at that but if it falls flat it has longer to recover. One thing British Comedy has going for it is the diversity of material and styles. From Vic & Bobs surreal sitcom; House Of Fools, to the more traditional; Friday Night Dinner, to 70s inspired Mrs. Brown's Boys to the more drama based Episodes or even the more sketchy Badults. American comedies tend to all bleed together and follow a formula and are also written by a big group where British Comedy tends to be written by 1-3 people.
My personal preference is for UK comedies and I do get annoyed that we import so much entertainment whilst the US remakes our stuff with their own actors. I guess that it must be a union thing?
I still like Cheers but try as I might, cannot get into Seinfeld or Frasier. As for Friends, I once read that they constantly re-wrote and re-shot scenes which didn't herald enough laughter. Don't get me started on 26 week seasons...
Quote: TheBlueNun @ 28th June 2014, 8:29 PM BSTAs for Friends, I once read that they constantly re-wrote and re-shot scenes which didn't herald enough laughter.
That's standard practice across the US industry, not just Friends.
British.
No further questions m'lud.
Quote: Aaron @ 28th June 2014, 10:36 PM BSTThat's standard practice across the US industry, not just Friends.
The difference on Friends is that they did that on set, not just in the room.
Quote: Wadley @ 27th June 2014, 1:47 PM BSTBoth Mash and Scrubs made me laugh and cry in the same amounts, sometimes in the same episode.
You would almost definitely enjoy Enlisted a lot.
Quote: Vince Ives @ 4th July 2014, 2:13 PM BSTThe difference on Friends is that they did that on set, not just in the room.
Yeah that's what I was referring to. I think it's fairly common.
Quote: Aaron @ 4th July 2014, 2:33 PM BSTYeah that's what I was referring to. I think it's fairly common.
It's unusual, generally you'd just have the writer of the episode being shot present and sometimes not even them. On a 13+ episode season it'd be rare for a show to be on schedule enough that the writing staff could be out of the room for any length of time. Naturally things vary between live audience and single cam though, and in the interest of time it's a lot easier/cheaper to just sweeten the laugh track in post if a joke didn't land as well with a studio audience as it did at the table read.
Quote: Vince Ives @ 4th July 2014, 8:02 PM BSTin the interest of time it's a lot easier/cheaper to just sweeten the laugh track in post if a joke didn't land as well with a studio audience as it did at the table read.
Of course that's not actually addressing the problem - the joke, and the audience at home.
Interesting though. I've certainly heard in the past of it happening on series other than Friends. Perhaps it was something that was successful on Friends and has been popularised since.
I think they both have different qualities and at the same time influence each other. Personally I think I prefer British comedies, maybe because I'm British...
Usually USA comedy is somewhat slow. There are exceptions. King of Queens, Becker are good, but they are like a drop in the ocean compared to the wonderful British sitcom scene. Raymond, Drew Carey, Seinfeld and such are interesting, but IMO couldn't even possibly come close to Red Dwarf and others from UK. Contemporary US sitcom is not for me at all. I'd better watch new US and Canada sci-fi series (Continuum, Defiance).
Icelandic comedy every time.... I'd hate to be just stuck with one or the other. But I'd probably hate being without any British comedy more. Comedy is evolving in both countries. They aren't afraid any more of comedies without the laughter track in the US, but I think here in the UK we're better at just throwing away all the rules and trying out completely new things.