Hi guys, OK - I have been watching many of our great sitcoms lately - all bought legit of course - no torrent downloads at all!!!!! I thought I would post a SUBJECTIVE list and see how it compares with all your thoughts. I could explain my choices - but for now I'll just publish the list and see what reactions I get. Here we go:- 1. Fawlty Towers 2. The Vicar of Dibley 3. Porridge 4. Only Fools and Horses 5. One Foot in the Grave 6. Open all Hours 7. Dad's Army 8. Hi-De-Hi 9. Men Behaving Badly 10. Keeping up Appearances I think my main criterion would be that the order of the programmes is dictated by my opinion that there are NO weak actors in the particular choice. Hence, I thought all the actors in Fawlty Towers were - exceptional! - and so on. Al.
That's a darn good list Al I think my top 10 closely resemble yours Teach. (could be an age thing ) Anyway here's mine in order:- 1. Only Fools and Horses 2. Fawlty Towers 3. BlackAdder 4. One Foot in the Grave 5. Yes Minister 6. Red Dwarf 7. Rising Damp 8. Father Ted 9. Ever Decreasing Circles 10. Steptoe & Son I still laugh at some of the early Eric Sykes & Hattie Jacques episodes. Just can't remember what that series was called.
oh, heck... Fawlty Towers Yes Minister Doc Martin Blackadder One Foot in the Grave Dad's Army The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin Red Dwarf Steptoe and Son Open all Hours
Love thy neighboor.............. Bread............. The boys from the black stuff............. Aufwiedersehen pet.....
There is definitely an age thing here but I would also say that at different periods in my life the sequence would have been different, I find it hard to put a real rank on things and say X is better than Y it all depends on how I feel at the time. My list is ranked more on how likely I would watch a repeat currently being shown on Dave or some other channel. 1. Blackadder 2. Red Dwarf 3. Yes Minister 4. Father Ted 5. Porridge 6. The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin 7. Black Books 8. Rising Damp 9. Fawlty Towers 10.Steptoe & Son Actually the sitcoms that I watch most often just now are the animated American ones 'Family Guy' and 'American Dad' but they clearly don't qualify for this list
Some interesting responses thus far. Clearly, as Oss so rightly states, it is an age thing and thus will be totally subjective - which is what I wanted it to be. A definitive list would be quite impossible. It is interesting though to see some of the responses. 3 points:- 1. Jim, what is 'Black Books?' - in my ignorance I have never heard of it. 2. I would beg to offer that some of your choices are not 'Sitcoms' - i.e. Aufwiedersehen Pet - Doc Martin - would these not be classed as 'Comedy drama?' 3. Maybe I shall make myself unpopular here but I think, personally, that American comedy is terrible - with the singlemost exception of the incomparable and excellent M.A.S.H. Al.
Al it was Bill Bailey, Dylan Moran and Tamsin Greig, it was very much in a similar vain to Father Ted, really really good, if you missed it you should try to watch some on YouTube. Basically an incompetent alcoholic bookstore owner and friends Actually Father Ted and Black Books shared a writer, Graham Linehan, which reminds me that I also really liked Ardal O'Hanlon in 'My Hero' that was another similar great off the wall sitcom. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Books Small random sample http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4wBLUBa8YI M.A.S.H was really great but yes a lot of american comedy is terrible although I did enjoy Taxi, Cheers and Frasier. The animated comedies like The Simpsons, American Dad, Family Guy and for me particularly Furturama have some really great episodes and are my favorite current American productions.
Thanks for that Jim. Yes, I completely forgot about Taxi - Christopher Lloyd and Danny de Vito were great in that - IMO. Oh, and there was also the great Bilko! Hmm... maybe we should also have an American top 10?? Al.
Yeah from that era Bilko was wonderful, if those original shows were on now I would be watching, might have trouble trying to find a whole ten shows to fill and American top ten though
Not to mention Keeping Up Appearances, The Liver Birds and Bottom ( I used to enjoy watching Rick Mayall ) etc etc
Most of the Bilko series were recorded live, and this is one of the truly classic Bilko episodes where he ad-libs with a monkey. Genius, pure genius. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-Zqi1I6JrU .... and secondly, my addition to the list ... "The Royle Family"
Drop the Dead Donkey Ab Fab Father Ted Hancock's half hour The Good Life I'm Alan Partridge The Young Ones Yes Minister Black Adder Phoenix Nights
A revived thread! Farty Owls The Young Ones Ab Fab Keeping Up Appearances Father Ted Yes Minister Reginald Perrin The Office The Inbetweeners I'm Alan Partridge I may have missed a couple of beauties - Monty Python and The Goodies spring to mind as examples, and Black Adder, and Allo Allo (which grew on me much later than when it was shown.) And of course, Dad's Army. And Porridge. And Phoenix Nights. Ten is not enough!
