Are You Being Served - the best Britcom ever?

The Radio Ham.
No funk fans here?

 

It's definitely my favorite. The Young Ones and Fawlty Towers are more like mini movies and, since Monty Python's Flying Circus, to me, isn't as good as the Rutles, it doesn't rate above Are You Being Served?

 

Faulty Towers is a funny show! Are you being served is also funny! Great classics!

 

The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin
Fawlty towers
Blackadder WWI
Father Ted (Ireland)
alan partridge
The office
Man About the House
On the Buses

 

My local PBS recently replaced "Keeping Up Appearances" with "Open All Hours". Is "Open All Hours" considered a classic? Every time I turn it on I find it boring and laugh free.

 

There was a UK TV poll a year or so back, 'Open All Hours' was voted into the top 10 best sit-coms.

 

Interesting. I guess I just don't get it.

 

I don't think many British sitcoms have stood the test of time. Not as familiar with the output of other countries, but comedy dates very quickly.

The Likely Lads is probably my favourite sitcom and I still enjoy watching it, but largely for nostalgic reasons. And a lot of its power is down to the skills of the principal cast, rather than the script (this is true of a lot of sitcoms - the scripts tend to be weak, but the actors' skills pull them up).

Like most sitcoms from the Croft-Lloyd stable, I find AYBS to be depressing and dated - though I loved it when I was very young (too young, actually, to understand most of the jokes).

 

I do live there! Or at least just down the road, and believe me you really would not want to live there, it`s cold, wet, and windy....but beautiful scenery.
Although as you live in Niagara Falls you might be used to that sort of weather

It`s filmed in `Holmfirth` in Yorkshire....Holmfirth is also home to `Bamford and Co` the company that produced all those saucy seaside postcards, so probably appropriate for this thread.

 

It was pretty funny.

 

It's remarkable how popular Are You Being Served has been in the U.S. I'm pretty sure it must be the most rerun British show alongside Monty Python with Fawlty Towers and Keeping Up Appearances close enough. Red Dwarf, Blackadder, Ab Fab and Mr. Bean all have strong followings. I'd say As Time Goes By is another that is really strong in America, with Judi Dench and Geoffrey Palmer. It would be amazing to me if anyone saw The Likely Lads or Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads in the U.S., so it's a case of not having a lot to compare with. A large network of Canada ran The Two Ronnies a lot, and an independent border station had On The Buses and Dave Allen as staples for years. Of course Benny Hill too, another giant in America. Once we had specialty channels we got more from England that was geared towards a less broad audience... I liked 2.5 Children, Executive Stress, French & Saunders and Waiting For God quite a lot. Was Mulberry a comedy? It was a sort of should have been more made series I thought had a lot of potential.

 

Most comedies I don't find funny but I think The Inbetweeners is one of the funniest shows I've ever seen from any country.

 

Talking of Saucy Seaside Postcards. We have to mention the Saucy boy who brought them to life!:



Everywhere outside the UK, Aus & New Zealand seemed to get hastily edited hodge-podge half hour compilations which really interrupted the flow of this show. It's best watched as the original 50-minute specials, even if some of the music acts are a bit naff by today's standards.

 

It was dated even when it first aired.

 

Some other good 'uns..
Early Doors
Ideal
Garth Marenghi's Darkplace
Stella Street
Brittas Empire
The Smoking Room

 

Don't forget:

Sorry

Oh no! It's Selwyn Froggatt!

A Very Secret Army

Cowboys

Don't Wait Up

Citizen Smith

Mind Your Language


All funny at the time.

 

We don't get any! PBS shows a handful and we get basically none of your shows on DVD while you guys get almost all of ours, it seems. The majority of the time I hear about a British show I want to see, there's no way for me to watch it. Even YouTube usually can't help.

 

No. Met a British television producers once. He was appalled that American television would show "that crap"

 

I love it, along with 'Allo 'Allo

 

I thought Open All Hours could've done much better in the U.S., it was shown but not a lot. I don't think I Didn't Know You Cared, Some Mothers Do Have 'Em, Only Fools And Horses or Rising Damp ever were aired. I remember Butterflies and Solo being on PBS, but not too often. The Good Life/Good Neighbors seems to show up again every few years though.

 

What, no `Only Fools and Horses` in the USA?
Well guy`s this is what you were missing.........
Del and Rodney are going to a fancy dress party when their van (unsurprisingly!) breaks down......

 

Only Fools and Horses......
Del has bought some goods that he thinks will sell.........

 

Early Doors... big fan - just ordered S1 & S2 box set from Amazon, only £8



I know where you can stick The Brittas Empire though

 

In a parallel universe, I switch the characters with the M*A*S*H cast. I haven't seen this show in a decade or so. Is it streaming anywhere? I used to love it.

 

The wife and I saw Spank the Pony when it had a brief run on Bravo. Several times we laughed until we wept.
I certainly will never hear Nilsson's version of Without You without thinking of the program.