Favourite TV Comedy

League Of Gentlemen had its moments but there are plenty of better ones, and I didn't much like Little Britain either but I thought they'd be on somebody's list.
 
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An American sitcom that needs mentioning is Arrested Development.

Last season, under threat of cancellation, was a bit all over the place, but the first two series is some of the best writing of the last ten years. Proper laugh out loud moments.

Of currrently running series, Parks and Recreation is a lovely little conventional sitcom (anyone watching it shouldnt judge it by the first season)

Thought the first series of The Office was just about perfect. Not a foot wrong in it. The Royle Family's three series were fantastic.

Like the Simpsons, ruining their legacy going on too long - with the very poor recent christmas specials.
 
Surely Hawk wing, the final office xmas specials were bang there ? I never thought the quality dropped at all. Look at the very subtle and smart way they quitely showed Neils insecurity too? And yes. How many of us have been moved during a sitcom? when she opened that present......

Abolsutely right about Royle family. A great series stained by the memory of lazily put together almost unwatchable specials. You had a feeling that the writers were just disgracefully taking the money and if the BBC had any guys they would have pulled them up
 
I really enjoyed The Office xmas specials and how it was wrapped up.

The first season I thought was just about flawless - thought the second series there was a bit of "David Brent gets in a muddle around a black office worker" "David Brent gets in a muddle with a disabled worker" still good but not quite the quality of the quiz night, the training day etc...

If you didnt know any better, you'd think the Royle Family Christmas Specials were written by a committee of 20 year olds who watched the boxsets and tried to pick out what was funny and completely missed the point of the programme.

I think you are right. Wheelbarrows of cash being put in front of their noses - supposedly they were due to have one last year, but didnt get the script done on time.
 
I agree about Only Fools and Horses; not sure that I've even bothered to watch one all the way through. Ditto Little Britain which I felt was just a watered down copy of League of Gentleman with a bit of Dick Emery thrown in for good measure. Red Dwarf was superb, but went on for too long and shouldn't have [albeit briefly] come back. Recently all I've watched is Grandma's House, which I quite like, and Lead Balloon. I know it was a girlie one but I used to love Butterflies. And, for all time laugh till I cry, Harry Enfields Aliens took some beating.
 
If you didnt know any better, you'd think the Royle Family Christmas Specials were written by a committee of 20 year olds who watched the boxsets and tried to pick out what was funny and completely missed the point of the programme.
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Perfectly put. Excellent...
 
In no particular order:

Blackadder
Red Dwarf
Steptoe & Son
Naked Video
The High Life
Not Going Out
Harry Enfield in all his incarnations
Horrible Histories
Butterflies
Bread
The Liver Birds
 
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I'm not a huge admirer of the sitcom genre, but Fawlty Towers was pure genius, and Blackadder was consistently brilliant from II onwards (I'm in no manner an advocate of I, despite Peter Cook's input).

Those classics aside, I was a big fan of Cheers (although not of Frasier) and I liked the little known David Jason vehicle A Sharp Intake Of Breath when I was an adolescent.

One of my favourite contemporary sitcoms is the quirky How Not To Live Your Life, though it disappeared very quickly from BBC3 at the end of Season Two, and hasn't been seen since - not by me, at any rate.
 
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First thing I ever agreed with Cliveon, Bilko was brilliant and Fools & Horses not. Also brilliant Faulty Towers, Rab C Nesbitt,Porrige ,Blackadder and more recently Gavin & Stacey and Stella.


Liked the Suns headline yesterday in respect of prisoners gettig the vote " Porridge Votes "
 
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