No great feat though is it, last 10 years has been the worst decade ever for British sitcom and seen the thing transmogrify into all sorts of weird unnatural forms - see Peep Show. IMO, smartness should not be a substitute for funny and warm & hearty in sitcom, two fundamental British sitcom virtues. Peep Show is simply smart and street credish/cool, it has little sitcom heritage.

It is in my book, woefully over rated by those that rate it, who all seem to think it is bigger or widely viewed than it is. It isn't, it's a niche little C4 cult show for fans of that kind of thing, not in any way a universally loved or even watched sitcom. That's not to say it isn't a good show, just that it isn't a great sitcom, please get this right, thank you.

Quote: comical masterpiece @ 7th January 2014, 8:19 PM GMT

When I say yuppy, I kind of mean it has a yuppy feel to it, pretentious like. Either way it's not my bag. Lol.

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No, I get your point, not an easy trait to express in one word, but I get what you mean and agree. They're a model middle class family with uppish pretentions, very London. To me, they are typically insular and self involved, very 'parenty' which does grate on me. Good little show for those who want it but I couldn't watch it regularly without harming something.

Quote: Alfred J Kipper @ 8th January 2014, 4:22 AM GMT

Peep Show is simply smart and street credish/cool, it has little sitcom heritage.

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Can you expand on that last point? What do you mean by heritage, exactly? It's carved from the most basic sit-com format (flat-share) and given the twist of POV. For me this is the best and most consistent sit-com we have at the moment, regardless of the lack of competition.

Quote: Alfred J Kipper @ 8th January 2014, 4:22 AM GMT

To me, they are typically insular and self involved,

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Sitcom characters are supposed to be flawed.

For me the most overrated is 'Oi! That's my Iguana'.

I don't know anyone who dislikes it but it never made me laugh. Lizards just aren't funny.

Quote: john lucas 101 @ 8th January 2014, 1:20 PM GMT

Can you expand on that last point? What do you mean by heritage, exactly? It's carved from the most basic sit-com format (flat-share) and given the twist of POV. For me this is the best and most consistent sit-com we have at the moment, regardless of the lack of competition.

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I suppose I mean the feel or sense of it being a sitcom as known to us from the past. The clever format PS uses makes it feel detached from this, to me. TBH I've never been won over by the non studio audience single camera thing, it's just not what I want in a sitcom, I want a sitcom to be an overt exercise in making me laugh, and with the live audience laughter it helps the thing achieve this.

With the format PS and many others now follow, I'm always having to work harder to find the laughter. It's personal taste obviously, but I also struggle to accept these non studio things as true 'sitcoms', comedies yes, but I think they problably need a different genre term, they are so different to the old classical sas, imo.

Quote: Alfred J Kipper @ 9th January 2014, 8:19 AM GMT

I suppose I mean the feel or sense of it being a sitcom as known to us from the past. The clever format PS uses makes it feel detached from this, to me. TBH I've never been won over by the non studio audience single camera thing, it's just not what I want in a sitcom, I want a sitcom to be an overt exercise in making me laugh, and with the live audience laughter it helps the thing achieve this.

With the format PS and many others now follow, I'm always having to work harder to find the laughter. It's personal taste obviously, but I also struggle to accept these non studio things as true 'sitcoms', comedies yes, but I think they problably need a different genre term, they are so different to the old classical sas, imo.

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Agree completely!

And: I'm getting a bit tired of these new, innovative and "clever" formats. I used to find them exciting but I'm longing for the good ole' studio sitcoms again. I'm Alan Partridge is one of the few newer things I can enjoy unconditionally...although I must admit it's a bit closer to the "conventional" sitcom format than, let's say, Peep Show.

I didn't watch Peep Show in the whole of its few seasons.

Then I was off work for a few days and there wasn't anything else on Virign On Demand.

I think I watched 4 seasons in 2 or 3 days. In terms of comedy it was like a starving man finding an all you can eat buffet in the middle of the desert.

It had maybe 5 or 6 of the best comedy performers in the UK, working together on a show that was just so unbelievably sharp and tightly written. It even managed to use VO effectively as part of the show and that's just wow unbelievable.

But ultimately it was the writing and the commitment to the essential darkness and despair that makes really good sitcom work.

Not liking Peep Show, I think people like that should be on the register.

Sorry you're just not right.

Toast of London. Horrible. Horrible. Horrible.

Quote: Tomboy Tarts @ 12th January 2014, 1:19 AM GMT

Toast of London. Horrible. Horrible. Horrible.

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Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

Sometimes just the theme tune can make me hate a show. May to December springs to mind.

(I also thought Toast of London was really good)

The problem with Ricky Gervais is he has one joke he over uses, or the facial expressions he over uses.
The Office worked because it was fresh and full of good actors. Fast foward to Extras and Ricky is still doing the same joke, oh and famous people playing against type.
The same bloody storyline every week with a different guest star shoe-horned in.
Then the sitcom with Warwick Davis, and it's clear Gervais and co have exhausted their limited ideas.

Gervais is the luckiest man in comedy but he sure ain't the funniest.

Quote: Joe McSloy @ 14th January 2014, 11:51 AM GMT

The problem with Ricky Gervais is he has one joke he over uses...

...fast foward to Extras and Ricky still doing the same joke

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What's that?

Quote: zooo @ 14th January 2014, 12:03 PM GMT

What's that?

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His characters making a tit of themselves involving serious/schocking themes like AIDS, paedophilia or rape.

But I like it...most of the time. But it's getting a bit boring, I admit

Men Behaving Badly.

Quote: Gordon Bennett @ 14th January 2014, 12:46 PM GMT

His characters making a tit of themselves involving serious/schocking themes like AIDS, paedophilia or rape.

But I like it...most of the time. But it's getting a bit boring, I admit

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Yes, that might have been the basic idea, but it was still very funny and creative and had some great actors, most notably Ashley Jensen. But afterwards, Gervais' creativity definitely went downhill. The Office and Extras were so great because they had some great minor characters and subversive subtext, but his other work became increasingly flat and pointless. Life's too short was just David Brent as a dwarf and Derek was just Ricky Gervais poorly imitating a mentally disabled with nothing much else going on.