No wonder my ideas don't go down too well.

[avevale_intelligencer]

The Countess and I have different methods of selecting what to watch on telly. When I have the remote, I go to the TV guide and page through it, reading out titles and infoblurbs of possibly interesting things, till Jan says "yes" or "I don't mind" or "just pick something, will you?" and then we watch the thing I've picked. When Jan has the remote, because she can't rely on being able to read the TV guide from her chair, she starts at BBC1 and goes through the channels one by one, flipping to the next one without warning whenever the mood takes her, or when she remembers. This often results in both of us sitting through half an hour of something we both think is horrendous, because she's got the remote and she's staring at the crap in trainwreck fascination, and if I ask for it it's me being sexist and wanting to control her life so I don't do that.

Which is why we just watched an episode of Coming Of Age.

Is it actually no longer possible for the BBC to come up with a new, youth-oriented ensemble sitcom that isn't Two Pints Of Lager And A Packet Of Crisps with different actors? I'm obviously too cerebral and abstruse for them. What with that, Catherine Tate and Enfield and Whitehouse in quick succession, I almost burst out laughing at David Jason in A Touch Of Frost. Even acting his heart out in a serious drama he's funnier than that lot.

True Blood is finally starting to get interesting though.

Comments

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

Having never seen Two Pints... I need to ask: is this a valid description of The IT Crowd (aside from the geekery, which I suspect is the show's twist)? It's about the only sitcom I'd watch these days that isn't 20 years old.

[pola-bear.livejournal.com]

It's not - The IT Crowd is not really youth oriented and is Channel 4 commissioned, anyway. I'd certainly say it's the best british sitcom in ages.

I am actually fairly sure, though I've not seen it that coming of age is written by the woman who wrote 2 Pints... And from what I've heard that but with different actors is what she was going for.

Attempted to watch first episode of some other BBC3 sitcom recently and could not make it through. Him & Her is a sit com which is a bit different, more along The Royle Family lines... but not really my cup of tea either.

[zanda-myrande.livejournal.com]

Ah, that would explain it. *checks* Wikipedia says it was created by someone who wrote for Two Pints. The defining characteristic of both writers seems to be their extreme youth.

*sigh* When I was that young I wasn't writing well enough to be accepted by the BBC. Now I can write better than that, but nobody cares because I'm old...

*dons grubby raincoat and cardboard sign saying WILL WRITE FOR FOOD and shuffles off down rain-washed street with hands in pockets, mumbling querulously into beard*

"Querulously, querulously..."

[keristor.livejournal.com]

I can't stand the Royle Family either. Actually, there are few sitcoms I have ever liked outside the F&SF ones (Bewitched, Third Planet from the Sun, etc.), Fawlty Towers is probably the one I liked most, possibly because it was obviously fantasy even though set in a mundane environment. Oh, and Drop the Dead Donkey, which again was somewhat surreal. I've watched the first couple of episodes of The IT Crowd and wasn't very inspired (stereotypes which as a person in that field I find a little, well, stereotyped[1] and a bit insulting), does it get better?

It's not that I dislike character-driven programmes, I love NCIS and others because of the characters and relationships (what some people refer to as "soap opera" elements rather than the (often stereotype) plots). It's more that I dislike the characters themselves in most sitcoms, and I find those situations non-amusing.

[1] Yes, the stereotypes themselves are stereotyped. This is a recursive relationship...

[dickgloucester.livejournal.com]

I have to say, that apart from CBeebies and some of what I've seen in passing on CBBC, and some of the dramas, I have been monumentally unimpressed by UK television the last few times I've been across.