My Gawd! I was just going to browse for a few moments and I've been hanging on this thread for an hour!

I've seen many of these shows, but not all. Currently watching "Good Neighbors" and "As Time Goes By" for the umpteenth time.

I think they only made about a dozen episodes of "The Vicar of Dibley." At least, that's all I've seen. In my opinion, the aforementioned dissertation on "I can't believe it's not butter" is a classic piece of comedy writing at least on a par with Abbott and Costello's "Who's on first?" I think I caught that episode on videotape, but since I'm notorious for forgetting to label tapes, I'm not sure which stack it's in.

One Britcom, "Yes, Minister" and it's sequel "Yes, Prime Minister" can be something of a telecourse on how politics works -- or doesn't work -- not just British politics, but politics in general. Lines like when Sir Humphrey (Nigel Hawthorne [The Madness of King George]) explains to the Prime Minister (Paul Eddington), "The purpose of the Official Secrets Act is not to protect secrets. It's to protect officials!"

Two American comedies I rarely miss are "Frasier" (although I'm afraid it's beginning to run out of steam) and "Everybody Loves Raymond." In the latter, sometimes nothing more than a long pause can be hilarious.

Fun thread. Carry on.

Don Firth