No.1 seems strange.
No.3 is probably -- like the show -- a bad joke.
No.10 I've never seen.
The rest though, comedy gold.
Of 11 - 100....
Very good -- 11, 19, 30, 42.
Good -- 25, 26, 31, 75.
Very Bad -- 12, 16, 18, 22, 38, 39, 47, 53, 55, 85.
Missing -- Ripping Yarns, MP Flying Circus.
(Via Nora)
Check out some of the clips - I love the one where Wilson is penning a note to Capt. Mainwaring!
Posted by: Nora | 15 April 2004 at 12:31
Great to see blackadder at number 2. Fawlty Towers at 5 surely is a bit low, as is Yes Minister. Always liked Open All Hours with Ronnie Barker - but then again, was a huge fan of the Two Ronnies when I was too young to understand the double entendres.
Posted by: chris88 | 15 April 2004 at 13:34
25 - only "Good"... Should have been in top 10!
Some of your bads I take issue with. 16, 39, and (embarrassing to admit, but a few episodes in the later series were ok) 38.
16's writer gave us a missing VG in "How Do You Want Me", a G in "Wild West", but a VB in "The Savages".
And yes, where is Ripping Yarns?
Should have been a number one contender.
Posted by: boynton | 15 April 2004 at 13:54
Monty Python is sketchcom, not sitcom, hence their absence from a list of sitcoms is not unreasonable.
Posted by: James Russell | 15 April 2004 at 17:50
I'm an old bloke, so I reckon that 32 was the best sit-com ever and bears up well after all these years, for more than the laughs. Ripping Yarns is the funniest television in the history of the universe, but I don't know if it qualifies when there is no continuity from one episode to the next to make it a coherent(?) series.
Posted by: Dirk Thruster | 15 April 2004 at 18:49
Glad that both Porridge and Open All Hours managed to crack the top 10.
I used to watch OAH EVERY morning of the school holidays or whenever I didn't bother going to school during the mid/late 80's.
I'd probably have a top 5 as
1 - Fawlty Towers
2 - Blackadder
3 - Drop The Dead Donkey
4 - I'm Alan Partridge
5 - Porridge
With apologies to a LOT of the others.
Good to see "The New Statesman" get a gig too.
Posted by: Adam | 15 April 2004 at 22:17
What?!
No "Metal Mickey"?!!!
Posted by: Big Ramifications | 16 April 2004 at 11:51
Nora, I wanna see the one where they're in the clocktower and Pike's chucking bottles at the Warden.
Chris, looking back at TTR, there's a distinct cringe factor, but they WERE very talented with word games.
B, didn't know you'd seen the Office, I've only seen it a few times. I loathe the black hair sop on MBB, and Bread is a nightmare of soppery. BOAF - eek! I've never heard of HDYWM, WW or TS. And I agree with Dirk's point about why RY isn't there.
And James's as to MPFC.
Dirk, I haven't seen TDDUP since I was at school, but I liked it then. Good to know it's held up, plenty others don't.
Adam, never quite cottoned to OAH because of how much I liked Porridge. Still, it was pretty darn good. DTDD was over-rated in my opinion. It always looked as if they were TRYING to be funny. And sometime's I'd watch Fawlty Towers and go, "this is a nightmare", then I'd like it again. Weird. Alan Partridge is fantastic. Doth series. I've got the DVDs here now.
Big, what's Metal Mickey?
Posted by: Tony.T | 16 April 2004 at 14:31
"Stupid Boy" now has a regular gig on Eastenders playing the gay manager of the local community centre. Allegedly.
Posted by: Nora | 16 April 2004 at 14:54
I thought he was dead. No one said anything. I just thought he was. I know he was in Yes Minister once, but that's about it. He had a moustache.
Looks like he had a This Is Your Life"....
http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0491874/
Posted by: Tony.T | 16 April 2004 at 15:03
>>>"Big, what's Metal Mickey?"
I'll try and be brief.
Metal Mickey was a comedy show about a robot who lived with an extended British family. Granny, Mum, Dad, Siblings… an impossibly large amount of people living in a small house with a mischievous robot.
(I dunno who looked stupider, Dexter from "Perfect Match", or Metal Mickey. It would be a close call.)
Micky Dolenz from the Monkees wrote it. Or did he produce it? I forget.
Some pictures here: http://fp.culttv.plus.com/ukculttv/kultkidz/metal/metal.html
Posted by: Big Ramifications | 16 April 2004 at 16:03
Are the Alan Partridge DVD's imports, or can you actually get them here somewhere?
Posted by: Adam | 16 April 2004 at 21:37
I had a look at the piccies, Big, but I can't say I remember it. Looks so bad it must be good.
Adam, My mate got it in Elizabeth Street near JB opposite Melb Central
Posted by: Tony.T | 17 April 2004 at 13:00
"Comedy series The Office has continued its runaway success story by dominating Britain's BAFTA television awards for a third consecutive year...
"The Office Christmas Special won the best situation comedy category, which it has scooped the previous two years."
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/04/19/1082326120300.html
Posted by: boynton | 19 April 2004 at 14:54
Interesting, B. Although I thought Bill Nighy as the editor in SOP was a touch cliched. Certainly some of his lines were howlers.
Posted by: Tony.T | 21 April 2004 at 18:18
A sop in SOP?...
Lines may have been howlers, but Nighy delivered them fresh. Good actors can bring depth to any lines.
I argued that SOP may have been as cliched as it gets in terms of plot, but the characterisation and pace of the narrative outweighed this.
It takes good writing to allow such great performances.
(Was disappointed by the ending, however. Seemed slightly ad hoc, and kind of let the character down as well. But I still forgave the ending on behalf of the journey)
Posted by: boynton | 22 April 2004 at 14:32
Very Buddhist of you, B.
Actually, I have trouble getting over lines that are chronically butchered. Script OR delivery wise.
Posted by: Tony.T | 22 April 2004 at 16:35
very Puritan of you, T.
chicken n egg
btw, I just read that your "black hair sop on MBB" has bought the local pub of that taffy sot, PoetBB
http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/news/story/0,11711,1200459,00.html
Posted by: boynton | 22 April 2004 at 16:48
If Don Bradman plays a bad shot, it's still a bad shot.
I won't be drinking herbal tea there then.
Posted by: Tony.T | 23 April 2004 at 10:51