I got really excited when I saw that "The Facts of Life" with Gary Coleman was being re aired this year until I started watching them. They were really not very funny, they were more like dramas with a laugh track. Same goes for a lot of 80's US family comedies I loved when i was a kid like Full House, Step By Step and Family Matters. I don't know if you guys got these shows in your country but they were huge when I was a kid. Watching them now you think to yourself "wow...I really didn't have a very good sense of humour as a child".

For a fairly recent show, I think Only Fools and Horses has dated quite badly. Don't go by memory - watch it again.

Quote: Leevil @ May 27, 2007, 4:27 PM

I haven't seen it for a few years, but I thought it was ok, along with Bewitched.

Sam and Jeannie are both hot!

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Agreed, but they're not as hot as Ellie-May Clampet, from The Beverly Hillbillies.

Quote: chipolata @ February 11, 2008, 1:27 PM

shows like Are You Being Served and Rising Damp look distinctly creaky

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You think? I wouldn't have said so. Perhaps they've not lasted in quite the same WAY as Dad's Army, but I wouldn't be that critical of them.

Drop the Dead Donkey is so dated it needs an explanatory introduction when it shows up on cable.

Quote: Godot Taxis @ February 11, 2008, 2:14 PM

For a fairly recent show, I think Only Fools and Horses has dated quite badly. Don't go by memory - watch it again.

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I've been watching some old eps recently and think it's aged excellently. Of course there is the occasional non-PC thing that wouldn't be done today but still very funny and well acted.

I will be banned from the board, but, from what i have seen (and I have not seen much from 1970s britcoms, apart from cream of the crop), On the Buses and Bless this House seem like most dated.

Regarding US sitcoms, I must agree with Curt, although obviously I did not watch these as child. I saw all of these around 1992-1994. I recently found Family Matters on internet... OMG! What was I thinking.
On the other hand, Perfect Strangers first and second season DVD set just came out, and I will be buying it And that is something I also saw first around that time.

Anything starring Wendy Craig is dated

Without doubt it's Fresh Fields. I find it so hard to believe that anyone ever found it funny. Disagree with the early Only Fools and Horses, Bless this House and On the Buses.

Quote: David Bussell @ February 11, 2008, 3:35 PM

Drop the Dead Donkey is so dated it needs an explanatory introduction when it shows up on cable.

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But it does. "This episode was first broadcast in a week when _________, _______, and _________."

Quote: WrongTale @ February 11, 2008, 3:52 PM

I will be banned from the board, but, from what i have seen (and I have not seen much from 1970s britcoms, apart from cream of the crop), On the Buses and Bless this House seem like most dated.

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You think? I can understand On The Buses, but what about Bless This House exactly? Apart from the obvious - picture quality, mono sound, clothing - I can't really think of much that's "dated" in it. In fact now that I think about it, much of the scripts could probably be used with only slight changes for a current show such as My Family.

Anything which deals explicitly with actual current events like Drop the Dead Donkey is bound to date to a certain extent.

On the other hand, the news events themselves were not the basis of the humour in DtDD but rather the characters of a busy newsroom. I can still watch it and have a giggle even though, admittedly, I'm aware of most of the items referred to - a very young modern viewer might be left cold.

My guess is that some of the current 'crop' of sitcoms will date so rapidly that they'll be dead in the water in a very few years...

The Office

Any other 'cringe' comedy ... it's soooooo style without substance! Those in the know have moved on or back to something funny instead.

Quote: Frankie Rage @ February 11, 2008, 9:39 PM

The Office

Any other 'cringe' comedy ... it's soooooo style without substance! Those in the know have moved on or back to something funny instead.

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Agreed. Exactly what I meant.

Quote: Jolanta Zofia Nowak @ February 11, 2008, 9:36 PM

Anything which deals explicitly with actual current events like Drop the Dead Donkey is bound to date to a certain extent.

On the other hand, the news events themselves were not the basis of the humour in DtDD but rather the characters of a busy newsroom. I can still watch it and have a giggle even though, admittedly, I'm aware of most of the items referred to - a very young modern viewer might be left cold.

My guess is that some of the current 'crop' of sitcoms will date so rapidly that they'll be dead in the water in a very few years...

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Have you watched DTDD recently? I'm faaar too young to have seen it originally, but it's still very very funny stuff because there's actually very little reference to specific events at all. Much less than one would imagine!

Definitely agree about the current shows though. Oh, how I shall laugh when we're still watching My Family and Two Pints of Lager and A Packet of Crisps in 20 years time, whilst The Office and The Mighty Boosh will be as derided as On The Buses is now.

IMO there's no rhyme nor reason to it. Later episodes of OFAH are more dated than early ones; the Young Ones is really dated but at the time it was fantastic and exciting - the comedy equivalent of punk. I even find Phoenix Nights to be very dated already, even though it's not very old, but I still think it was very good when it came out.

Hmmm... I think I'm saying dated is one thing but it doesn't mean "bad", it's just the luck of the draw. Stuff that was good when it came out is good by definition, isn't it? Or is it?