BS: NonMusic: BritWit - Waiting for God

Subject: RE: BS: NonMusic: BritWit - Waiting for God
From: RoyH (Burl)
Date: 16 Nov 00 - 12:17 PM

You Stephanie Cole admirers have good taste. She is an outstandingly good actress in comedy and drama. Does anyone remember her 'dignified drunk' character in 'A Bit Of A Do'?Brilliant!. BTW I had a small bit in a 'Very Peculiar Practise' episode and I can report that Graham Crowden is a great bloke too. Over here the general opinion is that American sit-coms are better than ours, with a few exceptions. I'm not sure that I agree entirely, but on our side it doesn't hurt to have actors as great as Crowden, Cleese, Prunella Scales(Mrs Fawlty), Cole, Jason, Dench,etc,working in sit-coms. Makes telly-watching a pleasure.

Subject: RE: BS: NonMusic: BritWit - Waiting for God
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 15 Nov 00 - 11:42 PM

I gotta stop writing five paragraph posts!

Subject: RE: BS: NonMusic: BritWit - Waiting for God
From: kendall
Date: 15 Nov 00 - 09:57 PM

Buster Keaton was great in his day, before sound that is.

Subject: RE: BS: NonMusic: BritWit - Waiting for God
From: Greyeyes
Date: 15 Nov 00 - 07:47 PM

Yes LtS, I think of her more as a serious actress. Anyone who has had a monologue written for them by Alan Bennett must be exceptional.

Alan Bennett not knighted yet? Has he turned one down, or is our honours system even more pointless and devalued than most of us think?

Subject: RE: BS: NonMusic: BritWit - Waiting for God
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 15 Nov 00 - 07:25 PM

I remember Stephanie in Tenko - great actress and brilliant performer.. She should have an Alan Bennett Talking Head to her credit too.....

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: NonMusic: BritWit - Waiting for God
From: Greyeyes
Date: 15 Nov 00 - 05:41 PM

Vive La Difference indeed. It amazes most of us Brits that stuff like Benny Hill and Are You Being Served are popular in the States. They are really not very highly thought of over here. Waiting for God, which started this thread, has not been screened on UK terrestrial TV for some time, and is not generally considered amongst the sit com greats.

Subject: RE: BS: NonMusic: BritWit - Waiting for God
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 15 Nov 00 - 05:33 PM

Gotta disagree with you Kendall. 'course part of it is getting to know the cast of characters and either liking them or hating them. Everyone in Seinfeld is astonishingly dis-functional.....BUT THEY KNOW IT!!! To me that's where the humour lies. It really is an unusual concept. The vast majority of series base their humour on the concept of US ALONE knowing how screwed up, the people we are watching are.

As an example, I'll use "Third Rock From The Sun", a very popular series that Heather loves and I find totally boring. Except for one character, Jane Curtin's, the rest of the cast see themselves as behaving normally, and in my opinion, the writing is way over the top. To me that isn't funny....UNLESS the writing is of "Mary Tyler Moore" calibre...which is unusual these days.

Now that I think about it, the other American series(es) that I think are funny also have that combination of (most of the) characters KNOWING they're screwed up, plus good writing. I'd include Frazier, The Simpsons, and King of the Hill.

A show that tries but absolutely flops in that department is Friends. To make shallow morons (or shallow smart people) funny... They gotta know they're shallow, but not be able to do anything about it.

Perhaps the funniest half hours in the history of TV were the "AB FAB" episodes. Unbelievably good writing, and two of the least sympathetic characters in WORLD history, let alone TV. But as I expected, the vast majority of our friends HATED it!

Hey, Vive La difference!

Rick

Subject: RE: BS: NonMusic: BritWit - Waiting for God
From: Matt_R
Date: 15 Nov 00 - 04:28 PM

Tell that to Buster Keaton, kendall. You've obviously never heard of physical humor.

Subject: RE: BS: NonMusic: BritWit - Waiting for God
From: kendall
Date: 15 Nov 00 - 04:19 PM

The main problem with todays programs is, all the writers are under 30 years old! I tried to watch Seinfeld a number of times, but,when that odd looking galoot started falling all over himself...well..funny things are said..not done.

Subject: RE: BS: NonMusic: BritWit - Waiting for God
From: GUEST,D_hand
Date: 15 Nov 00 - 11:26 AM

Does anyone remember how brilliant Stephanie Cole was in 'TENKO'?

Subject: RE: BS: NonMusic: BritWit - Waiting for God
From: GUEST,celticblues5
Date: 15 Nov 00 - 09:51 AM

We had a discussion on this just a few months ago. You should be able to find it with a forum search. It was great fun reading everyone's comments & getting that frisson of kinship when someone mentioned a beloved show.

I suppose that, if we absolutely had to, we could turn this to music by discussing the theme songs of the various shows. One of my current favorites is the song for the American show, "Norm" - a terrible show, but a fun lyric - "Too bad that you're/not as smart/as you thought that you were in the first place" - ha!

Subject: RE: BS: NonMusic: BritWit - Waiting for God
From: Terry K
Date: 15 Nov 00 - 02:23 AM

We simply can't let this thread die without mentioning Only Fools and Horses can we?

Cheers, Terry

Subject: RE: BS: NonMusic: BritWit - Waiting for God
From: GUEST
Date: 14 Nov 00 - 07:35 PM

My votes go to Absolutely Fabulous and As Time Goes by....

Subject: RE: BS: NonMusic: BritWit - Waiting for God
From: Matt_R
Date: 14 Nov 00 - 06:09 PM

Because it was FUNNY!

Subject: RE: BS: NonMusic: BritWit - Waiting for God
From: kendall
Date: 14 Nov 00 - 06:07 PM

Seinfeld is a program about nothing. Why is it so popular?

Subject: RE: BS: NonMusic: BritWit - Waiting for God
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 14 Nov 00 - 06:02 PM

Ahhhh, "Rising Damp"! Man, talk about a great ensemble cast and brilliant writing.

Waiting For God is excellent, but in my opinion they ALL pale next to the amazingly life-like "Yes Minister". If I hadn't seen every wonderfully written episode at least five times, I probably wouldn't treat politics (including the current mess) as a complete joke.

From my experience the Brit Crap is superior to the Canadian and American crap. The very best of American sit-coms (writing and cast) Seinfeld and Frasier, are pretty sharp though.

Rick

Subject: RE: BS: NonMusic: BritWit - Waiting for God
From: GUEST,Matt_R
Date: 14 Nov 00 - 12:25 PM

Well, I think you can be intelligent with a smart-ass comment flying out of your mouth every 2 seconds. But then again I guess if she didn't, it wouldn't be much of a comedy.

Subject: RE: BS: NonMusic: BritWit - Waiting for God
From: JulieF
Date: 14 Nov 00 - 12:18 PM

Matt

Forgive me but I think you've missed the point. The program is about how we treat old people and how we expect them to behave. Diana is an intellegent woman who is belligerent because of how people treat her, Tom copes by descent into fantasy.

When I grow old I hope people will treat me as an intelligent person ( as I am quite) and if they foist bingo and other such delights of communal living I might get a little bit belligerent as well.

All the best

Julie

Subject: RE: BS: NonMusic: BritWit - Waiting for God
From: GUEST,Matt_R
Date: 14 Nov 00 - 12:11 PM

What a wonderful world isn't it, when women aspire to be rude sarcastic and rotten later in their life. Wherever they're at, I'm making damn sure I'm as far away from them as possible. Just what the world needs, more jerks.

Subject: RE: BS: NonMusic: BritWit - Waiting for God
From: Mrrzy
Date: 14 Nov 00 - 11:50 AM

Don't forget Stephanie Cole's other great sitcom - Keeping Mum. I thimy MY Mom can't decide whom to grow up to be, the Stephanie on Keeping Mum or the one on Waiting for God!

But thanks for the reassurance that they are both still alive and kicking. They will eventually be sadly missed, I'm glad it's not yet!

Subject: RE: BS: NonMusic: BritWit - Waiting for God
From: Naemanson
Date: 13 Nov 00 - 10:55 PM

I have a friend who works in a retirement home (and he's no idiot Baines). When my daughters told him they want to be like Diana he said they'd have to get in line. It appears he works in a house full of her sisters! He isn't happy about it.

Subject: RE: BS: NonMusic: BritWit - Waiting for God
From: Morticia
Date: 13 Nov 00 - 06:57 PM

Jane

Subject: RE: BS: NonMusic: BritWit - Waiting for God
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 13 Nov 00 - 06:19 PM

I want to be Diana Trent when (if) I grow up..... I work with a budding idiot Baines (who turned up in something serious this week, but was still 'the idiot Baines'....), all I need now is my Tom. What was the name of Baines's enamorata, played by Janine Duvitsky? I've a candidate for her too.....

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: NonMusic: BritWit - Waiting for God
From: Greyeyes
Date: 13 Nov 00 - 05:25 PM

Difficult to measure an individual's role in a group. Ringo may appear to have played a minor role in the Beatles, but without him they wouldn't have been the Beatles. Without Terry Gilliam they wouldn't have been Python.

Subject: RE: BS: NonMusic: BritWit - Waiting for God
From: Greyeyes
Date: 13 Nov 00 - 05:23 PM

I frequently have dicussions over here about how suprior US sitcoms are to ours for the reasons I've mentioned. We only see the best of yours and little of the crap, you only see the best of ours, and little of the crap.

Subject: RE: BS: NonMusic: BritWit - Waiting for God
From: kendall
Date: 13 Nov 00 - 04:03 PM

OK, you win..even though that American played a minor role

Subject: RE: BS: NonMusic: BritWit - Waiting for God
From: Greyeyes
Date: 13 Nov 00 - 04:00 PM

Who of course had an American member.

Subject: RE: BS: NonMusic: BritWit - Waiting for God
From: kendall
Date: 13 Nov 00 - 03:54 PM

And, of course, the best of all time...MONTY PYTHON

Subject: RE: BS: NonMusic: BritWit - Waiting for God
From: Naemanson
Date: 13 Nov 00 - 02:51 PM

My daughters (19 and 16 years old) are each hoping to live out their waning days as virtual images of Diana Trent. I see myself as achieving Tom's status within the next year or so!

Subject: RE: BS: NonMusic: BritWit - Waiting for God
From: Greyeyes
Date: 13 Nov 00 - 02:00 PM

American of garbage? Well I know what I meant.

Subject: RE: BS: NonMusic: BritWit - Waiting for God
From: Greyeyes
Date: 13 Nov 00 - 01:54 PM

You have to bear in mind that along with the classics you have mentioned we also produce large quantities of apalling sitcoms which, fortunately for you, never make it to US TV. Personally I love Frazier and many UK critics consider it superior to any sitcoms currently being made in Britain.

Generally speaking we produce two or three classic series every 10 years or so, I suspect the same is true on your side of the great herring pond, but your perception is distorted by the plethora American of garbage you see, and the fact that you only see the best of our stuff.

Subject: RE: BS: NonMusic: BritWit - Waiting for God
From: GUEST,Matt_R
Date: 13 Nov 00 - 01:49 PM

Yes, Graham is alive and well.

Subject: RE: BS: NonMusic: BritWit - Waiting for God
From: kendall
Date: 13 Nov 00 - 01:43 PM

This is one area where the British are superior. Sit Coms. Waiting for God, Rumpole, Faulty Towers, Keeping Up Appearences etc. Excellent TV. We havn't produced a good sit com since Barney Miller.

Subject: RE: BS: NonMusic: BritWit - Waiting for God
From: Micca
Date: 13 Nov 00 - 01:31 PM

Yeah, Graham Crowden was in something on TV in the UK as recently as last week( it may have been recorded) and I hope I would have noticed his demise, he was wonderful as the paranoid but devious doctor. in "a Very peculiar practice " too...

Subject: RE: BS: NonMusic: BritWit - Waiting for God
From: Giac
Date: 13 Nov 00 - 01:05 PM

One of my favorites! Waiting For God runs on our local PBS affiliate on Saturday nights. I'd be soooo happy to achieve Diana-dom. Stephanie Cole played the part to perfection. I'm glad to know she's still around.

Subject: RE: BS: NonMusic: BritWit - Waiting for God
From: Morticia
Date: 13 Nov 00 - 12:49 PM

Stephanie Cole certainly is as I saw her in Camden quite recently, dunno about Graham Crowden, I've an idea he's no longer with us but I wouldn't want to swear to it. My daughter is absolutely convinced I will achieve Diana Trentdom in later life and promises me faithfully that she will find me an Idiot Baines to play with before she bangs me up in an retirement home.....isn't she sweet?

Subject: NonMusic: BritWit - Waiting for God
From: Mrrzy
Date: 13 Nov 00 - 10:13 AM

(Think of this as a study break from the political threads)

Does anyone know if Stephanie Cole and Graham Crowden are still alive? I've spent 2 days searching the Internet; I can find things they were doing as recently as 1998, but nothing since, and I can't find any obituaries or anything, so I think they are...

Anyway, thank you all, and if anyone can drift this into a musical thread, I'll be all happy.