Nowadays though, you have loads of shows that are about middle aged or old men having their crisis or breakdown,
Which shows are these? (I have 4 women in my house so may have missed something here in the Ice Dancing on Love Island after a 1st Date Wedding mix.)
Only Murders in the Building is a pretty good comedy-drama with Steve Martin and Martin Short.
but how many of these reboots haven’t been absolutely painfully bad?
Which ones? I'm not aware of any
This will very likely be a complete car crash. Rob Reiner's involvement does intrigue tho.
Some sitcoms on the telly would be nice. Why has the whole genre appeared to have relied on Not Going Out and Mrs Brown’s Boys in recent years?
You've obviously missed the Good Place, Ghosts, This Country etc...
It’s meant to be a current, old-aged version of Fawlty dealing with the modern world, not a straight reboot.
So, it will be like the new Top Gun film?
Can only assume Cleese is running short on money again...that seems to be his reason for doing tv stuff - can't be bothered with all this TV stuff so I'll stay away from it and then an offer is made and he is suddenly all for it (probably like most folk, but the sums of money are likely to be much more here).
A new Quantum Leap - I hope they make reference to the previous attempt at this rather than pretending it never happened - reading the bio bit on IMDB it is set 30 years after the original - so they didn't learn anything, or did they? Probably not if they've managed to get someone lost in time again.
There have been some new (non US!) sitcoms, but shortlived and almost hidden away - I loved This Way Up (kinda serious), Frank of Ireland, Newark Newark and The Walshes. Ghosts is nice, but not really hilarious, just amusing.
Just been thinking on this and remembered an article I read many years ago when Cleese (on announcing he was going to do a sitcom about a hotel owner in Torquay) was told it was a dreadful idea that would never work. Maybe, just maybe, he can pull it off again?
that seems to be his reason for doing tv stuff
Keep up, the wokerati won't let him get on TV apparently.
Some sitcoms on the telly would be nice. Why has the whole genre appeared to have relied on Not Going Out and Mrs Brown’s Boys in recent years?
I think the format has changed a bit, so now there are more comedy dramas like Inbetweeners or Spoof docu's like The Office, People Just do Nothing, This Country. Still some funny TV out there. Ghosts was quite sitcom, I liked that a lot.
Some sitcoms on the telly would be nice.
Put Gold on, it's just an unending wall of Dad's Army and Vicar of Dibley interspersed with occasional Keeping Up Appearances and One Foot In The Grave...
I never really liked Fawlty Towers, it was always too OTT and stereotyped, even back then.
Blackadder was genius - there's long been talk of rebooting that with the original cast (or some of them anyway) but thankfully they've left well alone.
The original 12 episodes stand up to scrutiny as very well crafted examples of the genre for the period of original production. But that is where the story should end; Cleese has been in steady decline since and it is difficult to envisage modern attempts improving on the legacy.
"Put Gold on"
Yeah I get that you can see 30-40 year old sitcoms repeatedly.
I should have been more specific....... Some up-to-date fresh sitcoms on the telly would be nice.
Part of the appeal of the old sitcoms which enjoyed huge viewing figures was that they were new and unpredictable. In the case of Only Fools and Horses, for example, they followed a vague storyline which added to their appeal.
Father Ted being a racist will still make me laugh 25 years later but not as much as it did the first time I saw it.
Good to read the comedy experts of Singletrack who think they know better than Cleese, have taken time off from being health experts, legal eagles and generally being holier than thou and have already written this off. Phew, saved myself from the inevitable misery.
If you are not interested in opinions and in an exchange of veiws why do you log on to a forum?
I do it to confuse myself, as a middle aged man, struggling to navigate a rapidly changing world with social skills and attitudes from the 1970's.
I am John Cleese and I claim my £10
##edited for spelling
Where did I state I wasn't interested?
I think its fascinating that some have already written it off without knowing hardly anything about it.
It’s meant to be a current, old-aged version of Fawlty dealing with the modern world, not a straight reboot.So, it will be like the new Top Gun film?
Or Top Gear with Clarkson et al?
Keep up, the wokerati won’t let him get on TV apparently.
It's true! He said so! On TV....
how many of these reboots haven’t been absolutely painfully bad?
Does Cobra Kai count? Loved that.
I think its fascinating that some have already written it off without knowing hardly anything about it.
Not sure people have written it off as such - just expressed (valid) concerns that John Cleese as been drifting further to a right wing populism and pro-Brexit standpoint alongside making various accusations of cancel culture - what right wingers like to call it when no-one finds them funny any more and doesn't book them for any work.
Kind of like how Neil Oliver wasn't bad in the early days of Coast but is now just a conspiracy theory mouthpiece and total **** on GB News. In fact Cleese himself is supposed to be hosting a slot on GB News later this year.
Hotel guests to include Clarkson, Piers Morgan, Katie Hopkins, Prince Andrew and Kevin Spacey. Lizz Truss as the Maid and Anne Widdecom as the Wife.
I think its fascinating that some have already written it off without knowing hardly anything about it.
the original was weak and dated even in its day relying on casual racial sterotyping and sexism for "jokes" It was cruel humour. Cleese has become unbearably right wing as he has aged.
The mix of the two does not give rise to hope for good TV
the original was weak and dated even in its day.
Bollox.
IMHO obviously
🙂
Even if he hadn’t turned into a bit of a dick the guy is 83 years old now so the chances of him making us laugh seem pretty slim. If he tries to attack his car again he’ll probably snap.
Well if he's got six million followers he's obviously doing something right.
****ty Owls MK2 will be shite, or may absolutely hilarious in an unintended way...
the original was weak and dated even in its day relying on casual racial sterotyping and sexism for “jokes”
far from being dated in its day, I’d say it was at least of its day if not even ahead of its time.
as for racial stereotyping, you’re just talking nonsense. I’m totally unaware of Spanish people being characterised as bumbling, inept and a bit dim. Manuel just happened to be a person with those traits that was born in Spain. Nothing wrong with that, you seem to be the one projecting the inferred racism. The black doctor wasn’t portrayed in anyway stereotypically and the Germans were portrayed as perfectly ordinary people trying to cope with a bit of a nutcase. The Irish builders weren’t portrayed as thick as per the 70s English stereotyping.
The closest thing I can see as stereotypical were the upper class gin soaked Major and the neurotic, reactionary middle class, middle aged Englishman.
Thats your opinion. Mine differs. I remember looking forward to it and finding it utterly cringeworthy using cheap stereotypes to laugh at people not with them. Just having the builders as Irish is a stereotype and the handling of the Manual character was offensive and yes - a cheap stereotype. Never heard of "spanish practices"?
I found the humour cruel - laughing at people. I loathe that
It was certainly very dated when it came out. No doubt at all in my mind. It looked and felt like it was a decade earlier
Edit - Why was Manual spanish if not to laugh at furriners?
That tit T*te also has 6 million followers, Jambourgie. I'll complete your offensive racial sterotyping of the males with the sexist sterotying of the females, TJ. And that piped laughter, awful.
TBH didn’t Manuel speak Catalan rather than Spanish ,him coming from Barcelona?
the Manual character was offensive and yes – a cheap stereotype. Never heard of “spanish practices”?
The terms Spanish practice or old Spanish customs are British expressions that refer to irregular or restrictive practices in workers' interests. Typically, these are arrangements that have been negotiated in the past between employers and unions.
In what way does the Manuel character relate to Spanish practices?
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That tit T*te also has 6 million followers, Jambourgie. I’ll complete your offensive racial sterotyping of the males with the sexist sterotying of the females, TJ. And that piped laughter, awful.
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What's your point? Is AT a comedian? I thought he was a kind hustle philosophy grifter? Must be pretty successful at it if he's got six million followers...
Six million followers suggests to me a lot of people find him funny. So, as a comedian, he's doing something right.
But because you don't like it they're invalid. Is that it?
What about... hmm... Sir Paul McCartney, he's probably got six million followers too. Does that suggest he's a successful musician?
Edit – Why was Manual spanish if not to laugh at furriners?
I think the humour relied on the amusing consequences of misunderstandings - a very basic tenet of humour.
And it can work quite well if two people aren't very good at speaking each others languages.
I am assuming that you didn't have a problem with an Englishman being portrayed as an arrogant and violent bully?
I found it cringeworthy. 🙂
Yay! another Tj and Ernie know best thread.
See ya!
I am assuming that you didn’t have a problem with an Englishman being portrayed as an arrogant and violent bully?
where’s the humour in that? For a large chunk of the world, it’s how Englishmen have been experienced for centuries.
I found it cringeworthy
I get the impression that you didn't understand the humour behind it:
"I found the humour cruel – laughing at people."
Yeah that's how humour often works - by laughing at people.
A lot of TV humour does yes - and I loathe it. I prefer the humour that laughs with people - that is affectionate and kind. Billy Connolly being a great exponent of this and if you want to see a sit com that is not cruel then try "Still Game". The laughs are at the situations ordinary folk find themselves in not at the individuals ( apart from perhaps Ida)
I found the Cleese character cringeworthy. thats my opinion
Well if he’s got six million followers he’s obviously doing something right.
Comedy is subjective shocker.
The Cleese character was supposed to be cringeworthy. That's the whole point. See also, Alan Partridge, David Brent etc etc.
I just checked the dates the series was made and as a result I withdraw "dated" as it was on a par with many others around that time in social attitudes. I thought it a decade later
I did/do like the series but it relied on Cleese having a mad amount of manic energy for much of the humour and he just isn't young enough to pull that off now.
Additionally, I'm just not keen on the guy anymore.
