I had a look at the TV schedules today and wasn't surprised to discover that all the comedy programmes, UK or US, now being shown are old: Will & Grace, Open All Hours, Friends, The Big Bang Theory, Outnumbered.
I'm not mad about British comedy. I find British humour whimsical and sometimes kind of embarrassing. I really like sharp comic observation, with lots of one-liners, based on the interaction of the characters, the kind that used to come out of California in large amounts. You know the programmes I mean:
Cheers
Frasier
Golden Girls
30 Rock
Roseanne
The Wonder Years
3rd Rock from the Sun
Just Shoot me
Spin City
Mad About You
News Radio
Becker
Jerry Shandling's Show
I could go on, but you get the idea.
So what happened? Whatever it was, it only happened in the last few years. Did US writers run out of ideas? Did US companies run out of cash to make comedy shows? Did the US continue to produce the shows but the UK couldn't afford to buy them?
And what the hell happened in the UK? I may not have been a fan of Only Fools but plenty of people were and I don't think Miranda was much of a replacement. I loved The Thick Of It and the Royle Family and I sometimes like Have I Got News For You and W1A. Jo Brand's Getting On was good but she seems to have given up on it. Nowadays the only comedy programme I really bother about is on Radio 4: The News Quiz.
The world is so grim right now that I feel we really need comedy. We need to poke fun at ourselves and each other and at our governments - not to mention our religions. Maybe that's the problem. Maybe things are so bad, we can't take the mickey out of anyone without getting into deep trouble.
I hope I've got that wrong. Because we need a laff.
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