I didn't mind Planer playing a different character - I just don't think that the Ralph character worked as such a good foil to the others as Neil did -he was just too degenerate for me. Richie and Eddy should be the most horrid.
I think Ade Edmonson's character gets a little wiser as the series progresses. Vyvian has a juvenile obsession with violence and destruction, Eddie Catflap is, by his own admission, stupid, but Eddie Hitler has a strange kind of wisdom, and is often exasperated by the pretentious Richard Richard. He has some intelligence and initiative - he just doesn't bother to use it often.

Quote: ToddB @ March 19 2011, 3:03 AM GMT

I didn't mind Planer playing a different character - I just don't think that the Ralph character worked as such a good foil to the others as Neil did -he was just too degenerate for me. Richie and Eddy should be the most horrid.
I think Ade Edmonson's character gets a little wiser as the series progresses. Vyvian has a juvenile obsession with violence and destruction, Eddie Catflap is, by his own admission, stupid, but Eddie Hitler has a strange kind of wisdom, and is often exasperated by the pretentious Richard Richard. He has some intelligence and initiative - he just doesn't bother to use it often.

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True Eddie in Bottom did have hidden depths,e.g he knew how to play chess

Quote: Chappers @ June 27 2008, 2:32 AM GMT

I liked the Young Ones. It was ground breaking and I still find it funny. Mike was a weakness though because basically he can't act. I don't remember much about FR&CF apart from it didn't really make me laugh.

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True, true. I can undertand the reason for the character of Mike, a foil to bring the anarchy to a credible level, but Mr Ryan doesn't do much with the character. He was actually a last minute replacement after the far superior Peter Richardson fell out with some of the troupe - he was also the only core member with no (to my knowledge) background in the Comedy Store.
FR'n'C is often written off as a disaster but eps 2 and 4 stand up pretty well and ep 3 views like a fore-runner for Bottom. Incidentally, as a 'Young Ones' devotee I don't much care for Bottom, simply because for me it lacks the spikes and the sparks of YO - live music, puppets, wedged-in skits etc. I can watch a coupla episodes, sure, but it's hardly worth investing in a DVD and watching again and again with director's commentaries and stuff. Mind you, its very shoddiness seems to be what most people love about it.

The girlfriend and I are still partial to announcing 'lager frenzy' when we feel the need for a few drinks, and we have been known to play 'Oo-er Sounds a Bit Rude'. No one ever knows what we are on about. Sigh. I have also bought Tarby and Lynchy and Brucie records on the back of Richie's sterling recommendations in this series.

Richie Rich: What about Filthy, he's still in pris
Eddie Catflap: Yeah, still we're alright so sod him

I remember watching a live recording in Manchester, brilliant stunts, a telly really exploded! Lots of fire extiguishers! Very funny.

Quote: peter gazzard @ March 18 2011, 9:27 PM BST

I was quite pleased that Planer played a completely different character. If he had played a Neil-like character comparisons would inevitably have been made.
Is it just me or do other people think there are subtle differences in Rik Mayall's characters in this, The Young Ones and Bottom, whereas Adrian Edmondson basically plays the same character all the time?

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Nigel Planner is one of the most underappreciated actors in my less than humble opinion.

You only have to watch through The Comic Strip Presents to find a rich Plannerethora of character.

Did not Planer have a show or two about 'acting'? He is the absolute thespian!

Quote: dellas @ April 8 2011, 6:38 AM BST

Did not Planer have a show or two about 'acting'? He is the absolute thespian!

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Oh that's right, he played an actor called Nicholas Craig IIRC.

Thankyou!

Quote: peter gazzard @ April 8 2011, 10:20 AM BST

Oh that's right, he played an actor called Nicholas Craig IIRC.

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Yes and it was hilarious. It was so accurate people even wrote in to the BBC saying 'Who is this pompous bastard, never heard of him'! (Mind you, as Alexei Sayle once said, people think guys who write to the BBC are typical human beings. The fact they're writing to the BBC disproves this.)
Shame about that Bonjour La Classe thing.

Bonjour La Classe is a great bit of fun.

Quote: Ben @ June 21 2008, 2:41 AM BST

Why do so many people on here dislike The Young Ones?! It's one of my favourite sitcoms!

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Quote: Aaron @ June 21 2008, 2:43 AM BST

It's dated badly.

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Quote: Timbo @ June 21 2008, 4:39 AM BST

To be honest I think there was an element of the Emperor's new clothes at the time.

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Coming after the late seventies, to be fair, I don't think the emporor was exactly overdressed to start with.
In fact, he may have lost his clothes while chasing partially clad women around trees in fast forward to a gaudy musical accompaniment.

Quote: Jolanta Zofia Nowak @ June 27 2008, 11:22 PM BST

For me this series just about sums up the talentless, let's-substitute-rude-noises-for-humour approach to 'groundbreaking' TV sitcoms in the 80s.

No understanding of any of the elements which constitute comedy, let alone SITUATION comedy. A humour free zone, where gullible people only laugh because they think it's the thing to do, rather than through experiencing any genuine humour reaction.

Sadly, some of that tendency remains with us, both in material and audience response.

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Ouch - did it ever occur to you that some people might find it funny? And the jokes, whether they are regular or not, is unexpected and a genuine laugh for lovers of alternative comedy. Some people like the political satire, surrealism and anarchy - please don't assume that all the fans are just being pretentious because you don't get it (although I admit that this does happen sometimes when people watch 'edgier' comedy and it doesn't hit its mark).
Everyone has different tastes - for me, after the first gag of a show like "Dad's Army" - I know what I'm in for for the rest of the show and it wears thin quickly. When tish group of comedians came a long, there wasn't a lot of progress being made in comedy. "Fawlty Towers" was over, the Pythons and Goons weren't on and comedy was dominated by the cosy or the vaguely offensive.
To say that these shows were a humour free zone, however, seems biased in the extreme. To class them all as relying on shouting, shock and fart jokes shows a very limited knowledge of the era. The comics of this generation went on to provide most of the best television comedy for the next two decades!

Close rant.

ToddB, your dislike of more popular comedies and adoration for The Young Ones et al, is just as blinkered and loaded with blanket statements as posts like Jolanta's are.

Quote: Aaron @ May 26 2011, 4:01 PM BST

ToddB, your dislike of more popular comedies and adoration for The Young Ones et al, is just as blinkered and loaded with blanket statements as posts like Jolanta's are.

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Of course - the difference being that I can see the merits in a lot of sitcoms that I don't like, even though they are not to my taste. I am not making a blanket ruling that they are badly written or unfunny - only that they are unfunny to me.