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    Originally posted by Patrick Thistle View Post
    I hated the last episodes of Friends and especially the Ross-Rachel thing. Utter mawkish wank.
    I like that my pathological hatred of Ross is now justified by some sharp as a button interwebs stuff. His fucking voice, his drippy actions, ugh.

    https://mobile.twitter.com/kaneandgr...97786730520576

    https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.buz...not-all-rosses

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      Joey is the only Friend who would be remotely close to likeable in reality. Yes, he's selfish, stupid and promiscuous but they're less annoying faults than those of the others.

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        Originally posted by Jah Womble View Post
        Apologies for the spoiler!

        The 'will-they-won't-they?' aspect of The Office (UK) was well-sustained while the show was still hovering around vérité, but utterly sold down the river for the finale, IMO.

        I'm afraid I've never seen the US version - remakes or wholesale plunders of existing sitcom formats are a complete anathema to me. This is no reflection on its quality - I just can't see the point, is all. Create something original and let your characters exist within that.

        (Various: Fair comment.)
        Everyone says they want originality, but network shows that don’t attract a fairly big audience immediately get canceled. Seinfeld and Cheers, to name two examples, could never survive now. It took them a while to find an audience. That’s why it seems that most network shows are all based on premises that felt stale 40 years ago - hospitals, police procedurals, sitcoms about a dumb dad with a hot, but patient, wife, etc.

        So a show needs to have to start something the audience is already familiar with. Steve Carell wasn’t a big star when The US Office began and everyone else was almost completely unknown. The only hook it had was that the UK version was about as popular here as a UK show could be, so there were a lot of people at least curious to see it. And since the UK office didn’t last long, there was clearly still a lot more to be done with the premise.

        But it quickly diverged from the UK version and became its own thing. In the end, the only thing the shows really had in common were the documentary style and that they were about a regional office of a paper company.

        Parks & Rec’s “hook” was Amy Poehler and it’s similarity to The Office. But then it developed a bunch of new characters and made unknowns famous. Plus, Rob Lowe.

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          I was happy with Dirk Gentley in book form. The thing on Netflix - what the fuck is that?

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            Originally posted by TonTon View Post
            I was happy with Dirk Gentley in book form. The thing on Netflix - what the fuck is that?
            There is a UK and a US version of Dirk Gently. Not sure which is on Netflix.

            I also loved the books. I liked the UK series ok, but not enough to pay for it. I didn’t get far with the US version.

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              Originally posted by Kevin S View Post
              Sort of similar (edit - to 3CR) - there are moments of Peep Show that I think are incredible but they are the moments that feel more like sketches, e.g. cooking and eating the dog, pissing on the wedding congregation. But I can't get into it to watch whole episodes really.

              On the theme of two of the above posts:

              That is a succinct and accurate summary The Apprentice, which is why Trump was the ideal host - a dumb person’s idea of a smart person.

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                I also don't get that UFC cage fighting. I hate it. Nasty, brutal and ugly.

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                  Originally posted by adams house cat View Post
                  I also don't get that UFC cage fighting. I hate it. Nasty, brutal and ugly.
                  Agreed.

                  I understand that they're great athletes and that there's a lot of skill involved, but as somebody who suffered a pretty significant head injury, I can't deal with a sport in which causing a major head injury is regarded as the best way to win.

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                    Originally posted by ad hoc View Post
                    There used to be quite a big scene I presume, when wrestling was on ITV every Saturday afternoon, just after the football results, with Mick McManus, Giant Haystacks, Big Daddy, et al.
                    Late to this thread. Gran used to demand silence when this was on. It also prompted her to use the only swear word I ever heard say - dirty bugger; normally directed at McManus or Jackie Pallo. Woe betide anyone who tried to tell her it was fake.

                    I dislike The Office and Alan Partridge and that type of TV with a passion and I couldn't quite work out why. Now I reckon it is just because they are fundamentally unkind shows. Just about every character in some way is depicted as an arsehole or a drone who should want more from life. To use an old-fashioned word they come across as being really snobbish.
                    Last edited by Uncle Ethan; 23-10-2018, 08:04.

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                      There isn't a great deal of comedy to be gleaned from functional, successful types in happy relationships, to be honest with you...

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                        Originally posted by Jah Womble View Post
                        There isn't a great deal of comedy to be gleaned from functional, successful types in happy relationships, to be honest with you...
                        And when there is they turn out to be Bill Cosby.

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                          I dislike The Office and Alan Partridge and that type of TV with a passion and I couldn't quite work out why. Now I reckon it is just because they are fundamentally unkind shows. Just about every character in some way is depicted as an arsehole or a drone who should want more from life. To use an old-fashioned word they come across as being really snobbish.
                          Originally posted by Jah Womble View Post
                          There isn't a great deal of comedy to be gleaned from functional, successful types in happy relationships, to be honest with you...
                          The American Office, 30 Rock, and Parks & Rec managed to get comedy out of the characters' flaws and confusion without making them irredeemable assholes or merely sad losers. That might not be as realistic, but it's infinitely more satisfying, especially for a weekly show that lasts many seasons than something like the UK Office where the characters just start to grate after a while.

                          Seinfeld pulled it off, I think, because it was fairly new at the time and it always felt like it wasn't actually set in the real world - until the very last episode. It was mostly about mundane day-to-day stuff that many people can relate to so I felt like it was making fun of the laziness, pettiness, and confusion that we all have rather than a specific kind of New Yorker. Or maybe that's just me. Curb Your Enthusiasm does this too, but it feels a lot more specific and set in something more approximating the real world, so I find it harder to empathize with Larry than with George on Seinfeld. Or maybe I've just changed since the 90s. I've only seen a handful of Curb episodes because I only get HBO off and on, so maybe I just need to see more.

                          I too am tired of asshole-based comedy. I don't get the appeal of Woody Allen's movies and I find Lena Dunham's oeuvre impossible to watch. She rates Woody Allen as her favorite, so there's a connection there. And yet Judd Apatow really likes her and supports her. I like almost all of his stuff and I've heard lots of interviews with him where he seems to be a very generous and kind person - indeed, so does Lena Dunham herself - so I guess it's just a disconnect in this one area of comedy taste, I suppose.

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                            The Producers, and any subsequent Mel Brooks comedies.

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                              Originally posted by Satchmo Distel View Post
                              The Producers, and any subsequent Mel Brooks comedies.
                              I'm afraid I agree. It's not that they aren't funny, but they aren't as funny as so many other comedians say they are. Not to me, at least.

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