Reply With QuoteFawlty Towers seems fresh? It's a great comedy, but it's so stuck in the 70s I couldn't confuse it with modern day life.Originally Posted by SLUDGE FACTORY
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a lot of comedy dates
Only fools and horses , one foot in the sodding grave etc
But Fawlty Towers , Porridge etc are so well written they still seem fresh
Fawlty Titties
Fawlty Towers seems fresh? It's a great comedy, but it's so stuck in the 70s I couldn't confuse it with modern day life.
Flowery Twats
I watched a couple of episodes of On The Buses on Forces TV, early Sunday morning. Compelling viewing, so bad it was good, God we were easy pleased back then yet to this day people still occasionally give you an ‘I ‘ate you Butler’ as if it’s a line from a classic show.
The 3 films that came afterwards did pretty well. I think the first 'On The Buses' film in 1971 was the most grossing film of the year, even beating 'Diamonds Are Forever'.
No doubt Eric, it was massive at the time, but watching it the other morning.....Dear God
Its miles ahead of most seventies , eighties and even nineties comedy
Porridge is also class
But stick on one foot in the grave or only fools and horses and you can hear the canned laughter
Duty Free , keeping up appearances , so much dreadful crap around in those days
Treat ‘em mean, keep ‘em keen, Only Fools and Horses went on far too long, it became a yawn.
I agree it's miles ahead of so much comedy, especially current stuff, but it's hardly fresh!
Yes, it would never be remade as it was!!No doubt Eric, it was massive at the time, but watching it the other morning.....Dear God
Used to love Only Fools and Minder. Both went on too long and are now so dated, I’ll probably never watch an episode again.
I find Fawlty Towers, Porridge, Rising Damp and The Two Ronnies still funny. Ronnie Barker was a comedy genius.
Another dated one is Are you being served?, though Mrs Slocombes going on about her pussy still make me laugh.
We watched the first series of Yes Minister and Reggie Perrin a few weeks back. Yes Minister has completely stood the test of time - but sadly Reggie hadn't. I wish we hadn't watched it at all - just kept the memories of first time around when it was brilliant.
Fawlty Towers is a bit different as we must have watched all (12?) episodes at least half a dozen times each. Familiarity doesn't breed contempt, but it does take the edge off. Saw a couple of episodes over the weekend and could almost anticipate every line. Genius, but probably need to give them a rest for a decade or so before watching again.
Was that the one where Stan and Blakey take a bus into Longleat, safari park?
That always makes me laugh!
Fawlty Towers differs from the others with it not just focussing on what’s happening at the forefront of scenes, there’s very often things going on in the background that you only notice on watching a second, third or even fourth time, the major dithering over something or other, Manuel confusingly going about his day, the two old ladies acting inquisitively etc while Basil, Sybil, Polly etc are acting out the main part. Genius really.
Show me an episode of Fawlty Towers and I can recite every line before it's been said - I don't claim any great credit for this because I think there are plenty more who can as well. I can remember watching Fawlty Towers episodes for the first time with the rest of my family and they'd all go the same way, a few gentle laughs in the first five minutes or so, but from about the fifteen minute mark onwards, uncontrollable laughter. Fawlty Towers is the only comedy show I've ever seen that physically hurt me because I was laughing so much. Yes, it's not lasted well in some respects, but I can still watch and enjoy an episode on something like Netflix if there's nothing else worth watching on.
Same with Yes (Prime) Minister - not as laugh out loud funny, but the original series at least was so sharp and well written and, as you say, seems as relevant now as it was back in the 80s.
A word about On the Buses, I agree with the it's so bad it's good line - as for the films, I watched one fairly recently in wonderment as it ticked the boxes of all of the 70s cliches that you read about these days, I'm genuinely amazed by Eric's comment about one of the films being the biggest grossing British production in 1971 (I was only fifteen then and I knew it was crap!).
I had "belly-laughs" when I watched the first couple of seasons of Allo, Allo when it first came out, saw a coiuple of episodes recently and they are soo predictable, hardly raised a smile. Another series that went on too long though, the later series left me cold, even when first aired.
That was the end part of Mutiny On The Buses. My dad was a bus driver, so ended up knowing the 3 films almost off by heart by the time I was 10!
Did you live in Luxton?
This is a topic I've always been interested in - why does comedy become dated, and why do some things date more than others?
As a kid i'd hear adults saying how funny Tommy Cooper was, but I have never found him even remotely funny, yet I found Harry Hill hilarious and Harry Hill's act seems to awe a fair bit to Tommy Cooper.
Nothing will ever be as funny to me as the first time I watched Monty Python's the Holy Grail - I was just the right age for it and me and my brothers were in absolute hysterics, as soon as it finished we rewound the video and watched it again, every bit as funny. At the time it was probably about 20 years old but seemed really fresh and new.
Similar story with Airplane.
I remember enjoying the sitcom "Game on" when I was in my teens - I went back and watched an episode a couple of years ago and it was completely awful, not funny at all and in fact a slightly depressing experience.
It felt like it!Did you live in Luxton?
Music also becomes dated, but then can also come back into fashion - and I don't think that could happen with comedy that is dated.
I can remember when anything with a real 80s feel musically or fashion wise was the worst thing imaginable, but that all comes back around and feels really fresh again.
I can't imagine that happening with old sitcoms for example
Allo Allo was rubbish but the leader of the French resistance was soon sexy
My Dad especially only had to see Tommy Cooper walk on to a stage and he’d be laughing. I wasn’t as bad as him, but I could see why he reacted like he did - Tommy Cooper was genuinely funny man. I’m definitely in the camp which thinks that he had to be a good magician to look as bad as he did (like Les Dawson’s piano playing really). Tommy Cooper’s jokes would have me laughing despite me also thinking that’s one of the most feeble things I’ve heard - it’d be interesting to see the reaction of a young audience to his act, I really don’t know what they would make of it.
..Mrs Richardson..is this a piece of your brain..
herds of wildebeest!
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