Poll: British Sitcoms vs American Sitcoms
- Thread starter JWRosser
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i agree. i once watched a couple episodes of 2 1/2 XY Chromosomes and found it to be thus:Outright Villainy said:
-canned laughter bought from joke shop in crates
-[boy] is corrupted by bad role model.
-[guy] has sex with women
-[other guy] doesnt have sex with women
-[other guy] meets [woman] he wants to have sex with
-[guy] has sex with [woman]
-[other guy] pissed
-[woman] leaves
-huggy touchy feely time
-apologies
-[guy] is unrepentant/makes a joke about [other guy]
-end
OT:
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This is not a random hitting of keys
Don't forget:The Cheezy One said:
-[maid] makes wisecracks all the time, when in any other situation in real life she'd be fired years ago.
God, I hate that show...
Great topic. I'm an American and I can say that I'm a pretty serious aficionado of good comedy television. I also have to say that I can't pick between UK and US sitcoms. They both have different characteristics. British wit tends to be more dry and engages in more clever wordplay than American sitcoms. I generally enjoy a lot of the storylines that US writers manage to create. I think the bottom line is that I'm VERY grateful to have the Mother Tongue as my native language. There is no other language on earth that allows for the kind of multi-layered wordplay afforded by our English language. If I may be permitted, here's a breakdown of my favorite US and UK sitcoms:
US.
-Frasier
-Everybody Loves Raymond
-Seinfeld
-Cheers (the first four seasons)
-The Simpsons
-South Park (very regional, but some excellent satire!)
-The Office (US)
UK,
-Top Gear (ok, it's not a sitcom, but it's hilarious, I'm a gearhead, and it may be the best thing on tv)
-The IT Crowd
-Saxondale (I'm a 50ish musician. It's funny and it hurts.)
-Little Britain
-That Mitchell and Webb Look
-Peep Show
-Black Adder
Again, thanks from across the pond for giving us this infinitely rich language and such brilliant programmes (had to do it) to showcase it.
US.
-Frasier
-Everybody Loves Raymond
-Seinfeld
-Cheers (the first four seasons)
-The Simpsons
-South Park (very regional, but some excellent satire!)
-The Office (US)
UK,
-Top Gear (ok, it's not a sitcom, but it's hilarious, I'm a gearhead, and it may be the best thing on tv)
-The IT Crowd
-Saxondale (I'm a 50ish musician. It's funny and it hurts.)
-Little Britain
-That Mitchell and Webb Look
-Peep Show
-Black Adder
Again, thanks from across the pond for giving us this infinitely rich language and such brilliant programmes (had to do it) to showcase it.
That ^captaincabbage said:
Stop it. Like what you like and dislike what you dislike. What's with all the American vs British sitcoms anyway? Both have great ones and horrible ones.
British purely because most times the laugh isn't handed to you on a fucking platter like most in most american sitcoms. The US has some very good shows overall(more in nr than the british actually due to the fact that the industry is bigger there) but for overall highs, I still have to go with the brits, with their dry sense of humor.
I think we can all agree though that laugh tracks can fuck off. Maybe it's just me, but laughter in the background annoys the hell out of me. It's like I'm trying to process the words the actor is saying and think about context and such(trying to get the joke) and someone says LAUGH NOW DUMBASS. If the show is very good I can let it go but it still annoys me in most of them.
Oh, and another thing in the brits favor. Their shows(comedy or not) don't stale like the american ones because they are much,much shorter. I've seen some great shows like Scrubs go stale after their 4th-5th seasons, with ocassional moments of brilliance but lacking overall when compared to earlier seasons.
I think we can all agree though that laugh tracks can fuck off. Maybe it's just me, but laughter in the background annoys the hell out of me. It's like I'm trying to process the words the actor is saying and think about context and such(trying to get the joke) and someone says LAUGH NOW DUMBASS. If the show is very good I can let it go but it still annoys me in most of them.
Oh, and another thing in the brits favor. Their shows(comedy or not) don't stale like the american ones because they are much,much shorter. I've seen some great shows like Scrubs go stale after their 4th-5th seasons, with ocassional moments of brilliance but lacking overall when compared to earlier seasons.
It's the COD of television. It's unbelievably bad and that show only made it because of cokehead Sheen, who was playing himself in real life. I get more laughs from reruns of Married with Children.Kevin Axt said:
I'm probably biased here, but British. American sitcoms seem a bit too predictable and a bit... *Walks in to the room* "Hi, guys." *audience laughs*
That's not to say they're not funny. I like me a bit of friends and Big Bang Theory and Will and Grace. I prefer British shows though. I think America are better at drama and we're better at comedy.
That's not to say they're not funny. I like me a bit of friends and Big Bang Theory and Will and Grace. I prefer British shows though. I think America are better at drama and we're better at comedy.
They're not really comparable cos British sitcoms only ever have a pathetic 6 episodes a year for some reason. Especially on C4 where ratings actually matter. Things like IT crowd, Peep show and FND, they're good so surely more episodes = more money?
Also on this topic Community has been shelved. Obviously its cos of Big Bang so why don't they just move it?
Also on this topic Community has been shelved. Obviously its cos of Big Bang so why don't they just move it?
Normally I don't mind but when I watched the live episode of 30 Rock the laughing and loud clapping was so annoying.predatorpulse7 said:
What? Community has been shelved? That sucks.Zaul2010 said:
(Brit here) I can say that I like both. Each "side" has their own set of exceptionally good examples, as well as the really bad ones. Fortunately, we're not forced to choose, and can watch the best of both.
Also, I'd agree that laugh tracks are all kinds of terrible. While I do like Big Bang Theory, I think I'd like it more without the laugh track, and I've not enjoyed any other shows that have one.
Not mentioned so far for great shows that are worth watching are the American show Better Off Ted, and the British show Campus. Both tragically canceled before their time. See? We have more in common than we thought!
America has a lot of good sitcoms, but they've also borrowed quite a few British ones. It's about even.
Why choose to nerco this thread?
OT- While I love American sitcom but I find the British sitcom to be far more iconic, afterall there are American version shows to the British shows like The Office and Shamless.
OT- While I love American sitcom but I find the British sitcom to be far more iconic, afterall there are American version shows to the British shows like The Office and Shamless.