Re: [ProgSoc] Why "ftoomsh"? (non-buggered version)

[whophd@nospam.progsoc.uts.edu.au]

On Tue, 22 Oct 2002, jedd wrote:

> On Tuesday 22 October 2002 03:02, Christian Kent wrote:
>  ] Okay, look, far be it for me to come across as a connoisseur of television
>
>  Far.  Yes.  Quite.  <stares>

<stareout compeition>

I forgot to mention Big Train.  Big Train had the shock factor of Smack
the Pony except it had guys in it, eg the office where everybody wants the
right to, erm, well you know the one if you've seen it.

>
>  ] but isn't this a chance to watch some Britcom that you haven't seen before
>
>  Britcom I've never seen before includes Birds Of A Feather,
>  The Liver Birds, The Tea Ladies .. and a bunch of other ersatz
>  sitcoms that in 50 years from now I'll still be saying I've never
>  seen before.  Well, fingers crossed.

Well there's a couple of lame examples.  Some real duds out there too, of
course, from Keeping Up Appearances to One Foot in the Grave.

>  (Hmm, ever noticed how bad britcom is usually based
>  around the antics of a bunch of women, but the really
>  good stuff is based around blokes?  RD, HHGTTG,
>  BA, TYO, etc?)

AbFab?  Mirrorball?  Let Them Eat Cake?  Murder Most Horrid?   I dare to
dissent.  Okay maybe I should think of some non-French-and-Saunders
examples  :)   You can't really go past the Tiger Aspect folks.

Maybe your point is valid in the light of A League of Gentlemen (the odd
man in drag), if you consider that palatable.  I'm intrigued that it is
getting an audience in the USA, something as hard-core as that.

>  Smack the Pony might be an exception .. but the only one
>  I can think of at the moment (that had a majority / exclusively
>  female cast).

I know Gabriela said it was hit-and-miss, but so was Flying Circus, very
much.  Smack the Pony is one of those very few shows capable of doing
something surprising these days.  cf prime time, commercial channels.

>  ] so how about a bit of Fast Show, Smack the Pony and The Sketch Show?  Then
>  Ya know, the best britcom I've seen in years .. is The Alan Partridge
>  Show.  It's got one of the members of Smack the Pony (and also
>  Hippies) .. Sally someone-or-other (what a segue!).

The one that looks a bit like Jennifer Saunders?

>  ] Goodness Gracious Me, and the Glebe-ish weirdnesses of Spaced and of Black
>  ] Books.
>  Black Books wasn't weird, was it?

;)

Pleasantly-get-to-know-the-characters-and-fall-in-love-with-them weird.

>  ] 	Goodies (surely there was one with Graham's hi-tech stuff?)
>  The obvious candidates is the one where Graeme falls in love
>  with his computer.  The scene of the two of them running through
>  the forest was then used for the opening titles for the second series,
>  from memory.

Ah!  Yes.  I want that one.

>  ] 	<http://neolase.lasers.org/TimeTunnel/DrunkInTime/>
>  That's genuinely scary.

I just can't get over Alexei Sayle and co hanging on suspension wires and
flapping around in their suits totally pissed, caught in the maelstroms of
a time corridor.  And that authentic '70s music.  I think they worked very
hard in getting those backward-somersaults to look like the original show.
You have to admire that.

CK.


-
You are subscribed to the progsoc mailing list. To unsubscribe, send a
message containing "unsubscribe" to progsoc-request@nospam.progsoc.uts.edu.au.
If you are having trouble, ask owner-progsoc@nospam.progsoc.uts.edu.au for help.