I dont go there .

MajGenl.Meade · Post by **MajGenl.Meade** » Mon Jan 04, 2016 2:39 pm

People who think that Your Show of Shows and You Bet Your Life were 30-minute sitcoms:
Lord Jim

People who think they were not:
Everyone else

Lord Jim · Post by **Lord Jim** » Mon Jan 04, 2016 2:49 pm

Hey, dated humor is dated humor...

And you brought up Carol Burnett; that wasn't a 30 minute sitcom either...

dgs49 · Post by **dgs49** » Mon Jan 04, 2016 3:55 pm

CAN'T WATCH:
"Reality" TV, including talent scout programs,
Anything with a laugh track,
Daytime Soaps, Daytime "talk,"
Most contemporary "comedies,"
Anything associated with the she-devil, Shonda Rhimes.

MUST WATCH:
Homeland, Game of Thrones, other selected Cable drama,
Wheeler Dealers,
Bluebloods, NCIS (various),
Grand Slam tennis and golf,
60 minutes, when I can.

Shark Tank can be very entertaining but I'm not sure I would actually set aside the time to watch a fresh one. Like some other shows, I sometimes see it when I'm flipping around and if it looks good I'll remain there for a while.

TV Comedy is mostly drek, and it always has been. The humor is gross, painfully predictable, and often not funny at all because it simply makes the audience "laugh" with discomfort - "2 Broke Girls" being Exhibit A. It is monumentally difficult to write scripts that are consistently funny, and even the best programs must be given some slack in that regard. My faves over the years have been Monty Python, Barney Miller, Roseanne, M*A*S*H, Bob Newhart. The original "Saturday Night Live," and R&W's "Laugh In," were both extremely funny to me at the time. The Big Bang Theory seems to be funny now, but I only watch it when I happen to come across it while channel flipping. I couldn't say when it is scheduled.

The Honeymooners was mildly entertaining when presented because the alternative programming was sparse. It was amateurish and the characters (Ralph and Norton) were cartoon-like; it all made sense when I learned that Gleason refused to rehearse because it would spoil the spontaneity of the show. A lazy jerk justifying his unwillingness to work.

wesw · Post by **wesw** » Mon Jan 04, 2016 6:03 pm

holly has downloaded three new episodes of Still Open All Hours.....

yippee!!!!

I m watching an old one on MPT right now!!!

Last of the Summer Wine is on next!!!

Econoline · Post by **Econoline** » Mon Jan 04, 2016 9:28 pm

dgs49 wrote:The humor is gross, painfully predictable, and often not funny at all because it simply makes the audience "laugh" with discomfort

The states precisely and concisely why I've never been able to stand some "old classics" like I Love Lucy.

dgs49 wrote: My faves over the years have been Monty Python, Barney Miller, Roseanne, M*A*S*H, Bob Newhart. The original "Saturday Night Live," and R&W's "Laugh In," were both extremely funny to me at the time.

I'd agree with all of those (except I never watched Barney Miller; no particular reason, I just didn't) and I'd add The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

MajGenl.Meade · Post by **MajGenl.Meade** » Mon Jan 04, 2016 9:42 pm

The Honeymooners - Donald Trump would have made an excellent Cramden. Rude, mean-spirited, sexist, selfish, unkind, threatening, blustering, lying....

"Vulgarity is no substitute for wit"
- the Dowager Countess of Grantham

Long Run · Post by **Long Run** » Mon Jan 04, 2016 11:42 pm

Trying to figure out why some people really like shows like The Honeymooners and Lucy. Do those who like them just have a bigger tolerance of irritating and incompetent characters, so that their annoyance doesn't overwhelm the humor involved? The only comedy I can think of that I like that had truly irritating characters is Seinfeld, and that only worked because those characters were limited, and, of course, there was exceptional writing. In fact, a lot of so-called comedies are well-liked despite their mediocre writing because their characters are likeable (e.g., Friends).

wesw · Post by **wesw** » Tue Jan 05, 2016 12:02 am

I like Sanford and son because the characters are like people I knew in real life as a child. lamont was pretty lame, but fred grady bubba and aunt esther were very much like the black folks I knew when I was young.

same with last of the summer wine, and open all hours, they remind me of home, and the white folks that I knew

also fools and horses, their life in London, at the nelson mandela house, wasn t much different than my teen years in the apt complex,,,,

I knew someone like every character on the show

wesw · Post by **wesw** » Tue Jan 05, 2016 6:10 pm

been watching a show on mpt lately. a british show called 'the detectorists', pretty funny.

british shows are much better than American in my opinion.

I have never seen "east enders' tho, is it worth watching?

Gob · Post by **Gob** » Tue Jan 05, 2016 8:25 pm

MajGenl.Meade · Post by **MajGenl.Meade** » Wed Jan 06, 2016 12:50 am

Long Run wrote:Trying to figure out why some people really like shows like The Honeymooners and Lucy. Do those who like them just have a bigger tolerance of irritating and incompetent characters, so that their annoyance doesn't overwhelm the humor involved?

Yes

Lord Jim · Post by **Lord Jim** » Wed Jan 06, 2016 1:01 am

Here are a couple of really "incompetent" characters:

MajGenl.Meade · Post by **MajGenl.Meade** » Wed Jan 06, 2016 1:38 am

Trump and running mate?

dgs49 · Post by **dgs49** » Wed Jan 06, 2016 1:51 pm

Laurel & Hardy, Abbott & Costello, and Martin & Lewis. I never got it. One person being mean to another, and the other one taking it. And of course the Three Stooges - funny until I turned 13.

Not funny.

wesw · Post by **wesw** » Wed Jan 06, 2016 1:56 pm

well, I haven t seen this in 35 yrs, I hope that it is still funny. we ll see...

wesw · Post by **wesw** » Wed Jan 06, 2016 2:03 pm

yep. still funny.

oldr_n_wsr · Post by **oldr_n_wsr** » Wed Jan 06, 2016 4:52 pm

Some people who think The Honeymooners was funny:
Lord Jim
oldr_n_wsr

FTFY

And yes LJ you watch too much TV, but who am I to judge.

I used to more TV, but there is very little on now that interests me. I do have a TV in my basement workshop that I put on when working, but it's more for background noise than anything else.

Over new years, I kept switching between the 'mooners and the twilight zone. Saw a few TZ episodes I never saw before. That was cool.

And I watched the entire Jets game over hte weekend. I shouldn't have bothered.

Last night after my AA meeting I put on something on nat geo. Some group of wolves going after a stag. Fell asleep before they took it down, or it got away, I'll never know.

After my AA meeting tonight I will spackle the holes in the walls of my daughters old room. The wife has some plans for that room which invovles me doing work.

Lord Jim · Post by **Lord Jim** » Thu Jan 07, 2016 8:20 am

And yes LJ you watch too much TV, but who am I to judge.

You just did...

oldr_n_wsr · Post by **oldr_n_wsr** » Thu Jan 07, 2016 2:43 pm

Lord Jim wrote:
And yes LJ you watch too much TV, but who am I to judge.
You just did...

It's one of my character defects I am working on. Seems I have to work a little harder.

MG McAnick · Post by **MG McAnick** » Fri Jan 08, 2016 2:19 am

MajGenl.Meade wrote:The Honeymooners - Donald Trump would have made an excellent Cramden. Rude, mean-spirited, sexist, selfish, unkind, threatening, blustering, lying....

Wife beating is just one reason The Honeymooners was not funny.

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