Coupling - NO SPOILERS PLEASE!!!!

[digitalwanderer]

If you look at the best US comedies, they are very polished and clever often written by large teams of writers. If you look at the UK comedies, they tend to have a real element of sharpness or tradegy, often the vision of one or two writers. It seems to me that Americans like their comedies to be funny and have a feel-good factor. The British don't mind bad things happening in their comedies, and having some real unattractive characters.

Very insiteful, also very accurate.

Just finishing up getting the first US episode now, I'll let ya know what I think in a few....

 

[digitalwanderer]

OMG, I'm only a third of the way threw the first episode and I'm already at the point where I'm forcing myself to watch it!

This is baaaaad! :?

I hate it when they try and make something good "mainstream" or "accessible" and then they wonder why it bombs!

Question: Why the heck are british TV seasons only 6 shows long? Here in the US a sitcom usually gets around 24 shows a season, when I got into "That 70s Show" I downloaded the first 5 seasons and it was 120 or some shows....and they just started season 7.

The first four seasons of "Coupling" is barely one season of US sitcoms!

OMG, Susan and Steve are just meeting in the ladies room and it is just GOD AWFUL!!! I don't know if I can make it thru a whole episode. :?

 

[Beafy]

I agree that the pilot episode seemed a bit forced (although I still laugh my ass off everytime I hear the "swallow" joke) - but that's true for most pilots. There are lots of very funny moments though, but for me personally the constant bombardment with sex jokes got a little tedious after a couple of episodes...
I watched the first three seasons back to back though, perhaps I should have spread them out a little bit more...

 

[Gerry]

Question: Why the heck are british TV seasons only 6 shows long? Here in the US a sitcom usually gets around 24 shows a season, when I got into "That 70s Show" I downloaded the first 5 seasons and it was 120 or some shows....and they just started season 7.

Most UK sitcoms are written by a small team of writers, sometimes by a single writer. US sitcoms have a big team of writers to keep things going over a 21 show season. There have been some comedies that tried for longer runs (I can only think of Time Gentleman Please) but it was pretty uneven stuff.

This goes for most of our TV to be honest; except for the likes of frickin' Heartbeat which seems to go for ever (you'll definitely need to be UK based to recognise that pile o' shite).

 

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

This goes for most of our TV to be honest; except for the likes of frickin' Heartbeat which seems to go for ever (you'll definitely need to be UK based to recognise that pile o' shite).

Nahh, British TV has been atrocious recently - it's all dominated by low cost reality TV rubbish. The only UK things I've been watching recently are probably Spooks and Horizon. Everything else worth watching is US quality stuff like CSI, Nip/Tuck, Six Feet Under, Sopranos, Enterprise, Farscape.

 

[digitalwanderer]

Well considering you just listed every show that either me or my wife watch regularly on US tv I think I'd best put Spooks and Horizons on my list too.

What are they?

 

[ChryZ]

[randomflashback]LESBIANSPANKINFERNO![/randomflashback]

 

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

Well considering you just listed every show that either me or my wife watch regularly on US tv I think I'd best put Spooks and Horizons on my list too.

What are they?

Horizon is actually a documentary series.

Spooks is about a MI5 group. Think about a sort of gritty, nasty version of a spy story, but quite stylishly done.

 

[digitalwanderer]

[randomflashback]LESBIANSPANKINFERNO![/randomflashback]

Oh man, I just finished watching that one and I was laughing out loud LOUD during the whole dinner scene!

The one with Jeff and the girl who only speaks Israeli is on right now about half over.

EDITED BITS: "Now let's see that again....but this time, imagine you're Israeli"

 

[Gerry]

Nahh, British TV has been atrocious recently - it's all dominated by low cost reality TV rubbish. The only UK things I've been watching recently are probably Spooks and Horizon. Everything else worth watching is US quality stuff like CSI, Nip/Tuck, Six Feet Under, Sopranos, Enterprise, Farscape.

Wasn't talking about quality, only quantity. We don't have many shows which have more than six episodes in a series, and those that do tend to be very formulaic (Heartbeat, Casualty, etc). We simply don't have the depth of creative talent (or money) to come up with something as watchable and popularist as Nip/Tuck.

American television has it's fair share of crud to be honest, we're just lucky that we tend to only get to see the best stuff (and with less adverts! ).

 

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

American television has it's fair share of crud to be honest, we're just lucky that we tend to only get to see the best stuff (and with less adverts! ).

Oh, there's no doubt we only see the cherry-picked best of US TV here, but it's still a shame that we don't have any UK productions that compare to it favourably, especially at the moment when we are drowning in reality-tv crud. Which is mostly an American import too, I guess.

 

[Sage]

I like My Hero

 

[Druga Runda]

anyone watching Green Wing,



looks like english version of Scrubbs...

it's totally crazy

 

[Simon F]

The one with Jeff and the girl who only speaks Israeli is on right now about half over.

EDITED BITS: "Now let's see that again....but this time, imagine you're Israeli"

Oh Yes! It's ones like that and the "split screen" episode which remind me of a Bach canon. Utterly brilliant.

Most UK sitcoms are written by a small team of writers, sometimes by a single writer.

One exception to this is "My Family" which, IIRC, is written by a fairly large team. I think it's still quite quirky and entertaining.

 

[Druga Runda]

Most UK sitcoms are written by a small team of writers, sometimes by a single writer.

One exception to this is "My Family" which, IIRC, is written by a fairly large team. I think it's still quite quirky and entertaining.

I would say - it was, but the last year is a dissapointment, doesn't work that well when the oldest son is gone and the rest has grown up whatever, their charachters are shallow and unfunny. Just Mr & Miss Harper have some life in that series left. - but the previous years were very good.

 

[Sage]

Oh Yes! It's ones like that and the "split screen" episode which remind me of a Bach canon. Utterly brilliant.

you mean the one in season 4 where they are on the phone?

***THE*** best show I've EVER seen!

 

[_xxx_]

I really loved it, though they killed it here after a few episodes

 

[digitalwanderer]

Oh Yes! It's ones like that and the "split screen" episode which remind me of a Bach canon. Utterly brilliant.

you mean the one in season 4 where they are on the phone?

***THE*** best show I've EVER seen!

I think he means "Split", the third season opener where they almost break up and the camera split screens and follows 'em both where they go seperately....BRILLIANT show!

I'm just finishing up the third show of the third season now, and I damn near blacked out laughing so hard! (I started coughing, I'm sick right now. )

Jeff slays me, period. 8)

 

[London Geezer]

The thing about Coupling is that it's funny and extremely CLEVER. Most of the boys' jokes, especially Jeff's, are so geeky i sometimes wonder if everyone understands them.
The girls, especially Jane and Sally are hilarious most of the time, Jane is one of my favourite characters in a sitcom EVER.

 

[ChryZ]

Jeff : My advice is to get them off right after your shoes and before your trousers... that's the sock gap. Miss it and suddenly you're a naked man in socks. No self-respecting woman with let a naked man in socks do the squelchy with her.

More quotes, just read a few and I am laughing so hard, me work mates must think I'm crazy