The Goggle Box Thread

[Langers]

I always enjoyed friends, cracking show that's aged well. Tbh i think a lot of the hate just some weird snobbery. In a "that's not comedy, monty python is comedy ". Usually the same the people who dismiss Coldplay. It is popular, ergo it is wank.

Not in my case - as well as just not being funny, I've always found Friends to be badly acted and utterly cringeworthy. In a bad way - not like The Office or Partridge which are cringeworthy in a good way.

FWIW Coldplay are great and I like Mumford and Sons.

 

[So Long Architect]

Can't believe no-one's mentioned Curb Your Enthusiasm (sorry if I missed it). One of the funniest US shows ever - and way better than Seinfeld, which I never really got.

Big Bang is very good. It's a bit like Friends - consistently funny with good, likeable characters. It's on a LOT in our house.

How I Met Your Mother is also on a lot because of my daughter but I don't like it. No jokes.

Cheers, Frasier, MASH, Parks and Rec all genius.

Soft spots for Everybody Loves Raymond and the US version of the Office.

Going back a bit - we used to watch a lot of 3rd Rock from the Sun, and going back even further, Taxi was excellent.

For the record, I love both Friends *and* Python. Though the Python TV show is better in the memory - it doesn't really hold up now. The books and records are still very funny though, and the films obviously.

Oh, and Coldplay are just a bit dull. Don't have strong feelings on them either way.

 

[Langers]

I think the 'greatest hits' of Python can be totally brilliant, but if you watched every episode, there is a lot of it which really isn't very good. I prefer the films to the TV show.

Does anyone know if Parks and Recreation is on Netflix? I really want to give that a go.

 

[MARKakaJIM]

I generally avoided BBT. No logical reason just came across as not for me. The wife decided she wanted to watch around 2 months ago and now I am hooked. Love the show. Lesson for me there is, judge it by watching rather than what you think it will be like.

I also love Scrubs(well the last 2 seasons can go fuck as they are shit), mainly for the superb level of Sarcasm used and it has one the best episodes ever when dealing with a death. Which is a weird thing for a comedy show to do in the manner they did it.

I liked the penultimate series of Scrubs, some new cast members but they were at least still in the hospital rather than med-school, that series had a good episode around death too where Turk and JD ended up staying late, missing steak night in the process, to be with a patient in their final moments as they'd found out he had no family coming.

Wish Aziz Ansari's character, Ed, had been in the entire series though rather than getting sacked part way through, he had some great lines.

Not in my case - as well as just not being funny, I've always found Friends to be badly acted and utterly cringeworthy. In a bad way - not like The Office or Partridge which are cringeworthy in a good way.

FWIW Coldplay are great and I like Mumford and Sons.

Heard their new song? I don't think the change in direction has done them any favours.

 

[So Long Architect]

I think the 'greatest hits' of Python can be totally brilliant, but if you watched every episode, there is a lot of it which really isn't very good. I prefer the films to the TV show.

Does anyone know if Parks and Recreation is on Netflix? I really want to give that a go.

Yeah, I have the box set of the entire Python series, and it really doesn't work any more. I remember coming across the TV shows in the early 80s and it was just the most amazing thing. In a world of Terry & June and George & Mildred it was extraordinary. My mate and I would watch them for hours.

 

[So Long Architect]

Heard their new song? I don't think the change in direction has done them any favours.

I heard it the other day. It was very Coldplay like. The guy on the radio reckoned it was because they've had to go for a stadium filling sound now they're so big, and banjos just aren't going to cut it.

 

[MARKakaJIM]

I heard it the other day. It was very Coldplay like. The guy on the radio reckoned it was because they've had to go for a stadium filling sound now they're so big, and banjos just aren't going to cut it.

I've only heard it the once so far but it just came across very plain and bland. The banjos and everything else gave them a very unique sound in mainstream music and thus a lot of character came with that, most of that seemed to have gone with the new song, even his voice seemed a bit flat compared to their older stuff.

I saw them in the NEC a while back and their choice of instruments certainly didn't hamper their ability to fill that space adequately.

 

[Langers]

I heard it the other day. It was very Coldplay like. The guy on the radio reckoned it was because they've had to go for a stadium filling sound now they're so big, and banjos just aren't going to cut it.

Not heard it yet but the banjos and folky style of their songs was their main appeal. Having seen them in small venues a few times, they're great. I never thought they'd be big enough to play stadiums so I'll await the new album and 'new sound' with interest. I hope they aren't going to move away from the things that made them appeal to me int he first place.

Apols, this has gone off topic.

 

[MARKakaJIM]

Not heard it yet but the banjos and folky style of their songs was their main appeal. Having seen them in small venues a few times, they're great. I never thought they'd be big enough to play stadiums so I'll await the new album and 'new sound' with interest. I hope they aren't going to move away from the things that made them appeal to me int he first place.

Apols, this has gone off topic.

I've put the song up in the Music thread if you want a listen.

 

[Langers]

I've put the song up in the Music thread if you want a listen.

Thanks Mark - I will do.

 

[Carrotdude]

Been ages since I watched it. It has Brendan Fraser in it throughout the episode and it turns out he died at the very beginning.

There was another good one where someone had said dying was like a musical, that was pretty good too. For a comedy they do serious stuff very well but never went too far either way, loved it.

 

[Carrotdude]

I think the 'greatest hits' of Python can be totally brilliant, but if you watched every episode, there is a lot of it which really isn't very good. I prefer the films to the TV show.

Does anyone know if Parks and Recreation is on Netflix? I really want to give that a go.

I think the first series at least is on Amazon prime, could always get a free trial to try it out. Remember to cancel within the 30 days though otherwise they charge £70 straight off the bat for the year (learnt from experience!)

 

[MARKakaJIM]

There was another good one where someone had said dying was like a musical, that was pretty good too. For a comedy they do serious stuff very well but never went too far either way, loved it.

Wasn't that someone with a head injury rather than dying, everything just came across as singing to her so the whole episode was a musical.

 

[Kenny]

Had aaneurysm or something so she saw everything in musical form.

 

[Kenny]

 

[Toon Wolf]

Not in my case - as well as just not being funny, I've always found Friends to be badly acted and utterly cringeworthy. In a bad way - not like The Office or Partridge which are cringeworthy in a good way.

FWIW Coldplay are great and I like Mumford and Sons.

I really don't think it's badly acted at all. In particular, David Schwimmer and Matt Le Blanc are very good character actors IMO.

However, overall it isn't as well acted as TBBT, some of the acting in that is really terrific for a mainstream sitcom IMO. And who cannot love a program that makes geekiness cool? We're all geeks on here after all...

 

[Langers]

We're all geeks on here after all...

:nod:

 

[Tyrannosaurus Dan]

Can't believe no-one's mentioned Curb Your Enthusiasm (sorry if I missed it). One of the funniest US shows ever.

Great show.

As for American comedy shows, I have been watching a lot of Portlandia recently. Although, I am biased due to my Portland obsession and the fact that one of the stars of the show is the guitarist in my favourite band. Kyle Maclachlan amuses me greatly as the Mayor of Portland.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

I like Friends, also Seinfeld, Frasier, Curb, Cheers (although it's a bit dated now).

Not a fan of the Big Bang Theory, it's not for me. Never really watched How I Met Your Mother or Scrubs. Never got on with Python, self-indulgent drivel. Each to their own and all that but it really did baffle me how thousands of people bought live tickets for that last year - so they could talk along word for word with the same old sketches.

 

[Kenny]

Each to their own and all that but it really did baffle me how thousands of people bought live tickets for that last year - so they could talk along word for word with the same old sketches.

No different to going to a concert though is it. To hear the same songs you listen each day live or going to see Phoenix Nights Live, which was essentially them using classic stuff from the show. Its all about being there and with Monty Python it was probably a chance for younger fans to try and experience the stuff as they were not around when it was massively popular.