WTAF…… BBC remake Porridge?!?

pure f-in tripe.

why try to remake funny? they did the same with Open All Hours. did they not learn?

why not find new and original writers? new formats?

iz diasppoint.

It was infinitely better than the Are You Being Served? rehash that was on before it…

Is it not part of a wider thing to do with some comedy anniversary? They did a few at the same time.

It was a celebration to mark the 60th anniversary of the birth of the sitcom, not just a remake due to a lack of ideas

This is going to be controversial, especially as I’m a huge fan of the original and Ronnie Barker’s portrayal of Flecther, but I really enjoyed it. Most of the gags had been done before, the characters were recycled from the 1970s but I wasn’t offended. It wasn’t a patch on the original, though.

Porridge Porridge rocks. Can still sit and watch each episode and smile.

We thought AYBS was an absolute triumph. They managed the homage perfectly. Boycey as Captain Peacock was truly, truly brilliant. Quality TV. 😀

Porridge, less so, but it was still good entertainment. Kevin Bishop was excellent.

Remake = toned down to be politically correct to the point of being dull but with added canned laughter to indicate when it should be funny

I happened upon it by chance, it could have been brilliant, but I was never going to give it a chance.

The original is pretty much the perfect sit-com in my opinion, it’s warm without being soft, it avoids being crass without being silly. I’m going to see if there are any available on demand now.

watched the originals recently, loved it, and was quite impressed at how progressive it was for the time, especially season 1. (Certain racially dubious comments aside, mind). Great show.

then watched S1 of Only Fools and Horses, produced several years later, and was quite alarmed by some of the homophobic jokes. (Speaking as someone who wasn’t around to see it at the time…)

odd how stuff looks in retrospect

We thought AYBS was an absolute triumph

Same here. Very well done. You have to remember the original was just a stream of standard one-liners anyway.

Haven’t seem Porridge yet but did read it was basically a generic comedy in a prison (as opposed to being Porridge).

they did the same with Open All Hours. did they not learn?

Well I think Still Open All Hours was OK really – it continued with some of the same characters and had its moments, some will enjoy the continuation of these things.

A follow on to Rising Damp wouldn’t work I’m sure.

“then watched S1 of Only Fools and Horses, produced several years later, and was quite alarmed by some of the homophobic jokes. “

You have to remember; it was ‘of it’s time’ (as were the child-molesting BBC ‘entertainers’ etc). Good to see our society has at least progressed in the right direction though, eh?

Love Thy Neighbour is one I can’t see them doing a remake of…

The Are You Being Served remake was great. I think they over-did the Mrs Slocombe ‘catch-phrase’ a bit, but the cast were excellent and some of the one liners were brilliant.

Cappuccino followed by a massive brownie – still making me chuckle.

Love thy neighbour was basically a vehicle to show how stupid racist men were.

Maybe, but it didn’t really work.

I also love Porridge. The canned laughter of the new one,initially, was a bit awful and there were a few flat bits. I have to say I chuckled a few times and Kevin wotsisname did a decent job of it.
I wonder if we’ll be taking about “people do nothing ” in a few years?

People Just Do Nothing is pure genius. The rest are irrelevant. 8)

I avoided it as it seemed the best thing to do. Celebrate by showing the original.

Are You Being Served was shit back in the 80s. It’s what the people who didn’t get Blackadder or the Young Ones were watching.

Porridge was good, but remakes didn’t interest me in the slightest.

Are You Being Served was shit back in the 80s.

Think along the lines of MBB’s this decades best sitcom – its history repeating.

Drac +1

People Just Do Nothing is pure genius.

+1

“hormones are tiny balls of anger that live inside women”

-“do babies ever come out of the arsehole by accident”
-“well a simple mistake to make… They are very close together”

“I don’t have a problem with drugs… I’ll try anything”

People Just Do Nothing is pure genius.

This show has passed me by, but noticed the four tower blocks being the Green Dragon estate. Will now have to watch it.

why try to remake funny?

Why not?

It’s not replacing the original, it’s a continuation of it. You might as well ask why anyone would film another Pride and Prejudice or War of the Worlds or something.

they did the same with Open All Hours. did they not learn?

Well I think Still Open All Hours was OK really – it continued with some of the same characters and had its moments, some will enjoy the continuation of these things.[/quote]

I’d go so far as to say that Still Open All Hours is really quite good, the way they (the writers, and David Jason) have developed the character from who he was and wanted to be in the original, into who he has inevitably become, is, for a sitcom, really quite thoughtful and sophisticated. There’s some pathos to be had if you want it. The main drawback to that approach though is that it doesn’t quite work in its own right, independently – there’s no point showing it someone who didn’t watch the original.

Think along the lines of MBB’s this decades best sitcom – its history repeating

Yep.

People Just Do Nothing is pure genius.

Yep. It keeps me street.;-)

well it makes for a nice distraction from the many stories the BBC runs in its “news” that focus on people who currently work for the BBC / people who used to work for the BBC / news about BBC brain rot endless series“light entertainment” / remakes of “classic” BBC programmes that were pretty unremarkable even at the time they were first broadcast.

This is a good example – why exactly is someone attending a funeral newsworthy?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/37231057/sue-perkins-will-be-missing-from-tonights-great-british-bake-off-episode

In short – the BBC wastes too much money re-making “classic BBC series” and on promoting itself. Oh, and there’s the £450K a year they now pay to former Labour “media expert” James Purnell.

Anyone seen the latest PJDN? Grindah goes to court, and Steves has to do an 8-hour set. 😆

My life is empty without this programme.

I didnt watch porridge as I’m not a fan of the lead actor.
I did enjoy ‘are you being served’ though, despite its terrible reviews.