Greatest Sitcom

[TheDruid-3X3]

I enjoyed many of the early episodes of Cheers - but then working nights meant I missed it for a while and by the next time I saw it Shelley Long had been replaced by Kirstie Alley and it didn't seem to work as well.

 

 

I seemed to like it a Better with Kirstie Alley. I think Shelley Long was Over Rated.

 

 

Of course, there was that Iconic Sit Comedy that addressed a lot of Social Issues of the Day 'All In The Family'

 

They have Full Episodes on YouTube and here is the Episode that addressed the Issue of the Vietnam War and Draft Dodging:

 

 

 

3X3

[Albert Tatlock]

It was interesting to hear Jack Dee on Desert Island Discs last weekend and one of his selections was the theme to Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads ?, a sitcom that he remembers fondly and one which is often overlooked. I'd forgotten how great the theme song was too.

God that was truly awful. Put me off James Bolam for years, until he became a proper actor and 30 years had past.

 

I'd rather watch paint dry.

 

[TheDruid-3X3]

All in the Family was derived from the BBC sitcom Till Death Us do Part. It was fairly controversial by American standards but it was severely watered down from the original and, just as my personal opinion is that Shelley was better in Cheers, so I think that Till Death Us do Part was both 'edgier' and funnier than the show ABC made from it.

 

I never heard of that.

 

I will have to check it out.

 

 

3X3

[TheDruid-3X3]

From:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_in_the_Family:

 

"Produced by Norman Lear and Bud Yorkin, the original pilot was entitled Justice for All and was developed for ABC. Tom Bosley, Jack Warden, and Jackie Gleason were all considered for the role of Archie Bunker. In fact, CBS wanted to buy the rights to the original British show Till Death Us Do Part and retool it specifically for Gleason, who was under contract to them, but producer Norman Lear beat out CBS for the rights and offered the show to ABC."

 

 

Looks like I will have to check out a few episodes of that which might be running on YouTube.

 

 

3X3

[TheDruid-3X3]

Ah - Here we go:

 

 

 

3X3

[Donald Trumps]

Alf: "It's that Bleedin' Arsenal that's won the Cup"

[quilp]

Where did it all go wrong...?

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpAYd8rJ8jg

 

Oh how we laughed! Massive viewing figures, liked by millions of people of all colours. Was this a particularly British way of dealing with race-relations? I actually started to feel guilty sniggering at this. Ran from '72 until '76. The S-word, the N-word and much else. The comments are interesting too.

[Shake me up Judy]

Interesting post that Q. I enjoyed some of the comments too ! I watched it with an open mind and was surprised to find it quite funny, in the gentle, harmless sense. In these politically correct times, I can't say I found it particularly racist or prejudiced, even though some of the words used are unacceptable today. They were unacceptable then too, but the writers and performers found a way to ridicule the language rather than to legitimate or validate it.

 

You could also argue of course that the cosy domestic sitcom setting of Love Thy Neighbour ignored the real politics of racism.

 

It was good to see this again though, (nearly forty years later for me) and to think about what we were watching and laughing at back in the early 1970's, and how we feel about it now.