Risso Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 The Office (UK) for me. When I watched Breaking Bad for the first time, I thought it had overtaken The Office in my favourites, but then I came to re-watch BB and the shock/cliff-hanger parts that made it great, has obviously lost all their effect on second viewing. In my life, I've probably watched The Office series 1, 2 and specials about 10 times. It has genuine laugh-out-loud funny parts, cringe moments, drama and romance, all crammed into a really small series but written and performed brilliantly. It's still at the top of my list. I tend to agree. The sheer genius of it is it how it encapsulates British working life so perfectly, yet still remains extremely funny. It deserves to be considered amongst the all time comedy classics, but probably won't because of Ricky Gervais who annoys a lot of people, and most things he's done since have just reprised the David Brent role. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maqroll Posted March 17, 2015 Author Share Posted March 17, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted March 17, 2015 VT Supporter Share Posted March 17, 2015 The Office (UK) for me. When I watched Breaking Bad for the first time, I thought it had overtaken The Office in my favourites, but then I came to re-watch BB and the shock/cliff-hanger parts that made it great, has obviously lost all their effect on second viewing. In my life, I've probably watched The Office series 1, 2 and specials about 10 times. It has genuine laugh-out-loud funny parts, cringe moments, drama and romance, all crammed into a really small series but written and performed brilliantly. It's still at the top of my list. I tend to agree. The sheer genius of it is it how it encapsulates British working life so perfectly, yet still remains extremely funny. It deserves to be considered amongst the all time comedy classics, but probably won't because of Ricky Gervais who annoys a lot of people, and most things he's done since have just reprised the David Brent role. I massively disagree with your last sentence. Brent is unique. I don't think gervais' other characters are anything like Brent, apart from in appearance obviously. Regarding the rest of your post, I agree. But the thing I find most fascinating about the way it perfectly captures working life is that, as far as I know, neither Gervais or Merchant ever worked in that sort of environment. So find it amazing that they replicated it so well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ED Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 The Office (UK) for me. When I watched Breaking Bad for the first time, I thought it had overtaken The Office in my favourites, but then I came to re-watch BB and the shock/cliff-hanger parts that made it great, has obviously lost all their effect on second viewing. In my life, I've probably watched The Office series 1, 2 and specials about 10 times. It has genuine laugh-out-loud funny parts, cringe moments, drama and romance, all crammed into a really small series but written and performed brilliantly. It's still at the top of my list. I tend to agree. The sheer genius of it is it how it encapsulates British working life so perfectly, yet still remains extremely funny. It deserves to be considered amongst the all time comedy classics, but probably won't because of Ricky Gervais who annoys a lot of people, and most things he's done since have just reprised the David Brent role. I massively disagree with your last sentence. Brent is unique. I don't think gervais' other characters are anything like Brent, apart from in appearance obviously. Regarding the rest of your post, I agree. But the thing I find most fascinating about the way it perfectly captures working life is that, as far as I know, neither Gervais or Merchant ever worked in that sort of environment. So find it amazing that they replicated it so well. I think Gervais worked in various offices in his thirties before he was famous Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Risso Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 The Office (UK) for me. When I watched Breaking Bad for the first time, I thought it had overtaken The Office in my favourites, but then I came to re-watch BB and the shock/cliff-hanger parts that made it great, has obviously lost all their effect on second viewing. In my life, I've probably watched The Office series 1, 2 and specials about 10 times. It has genuine laugh-out-loud funny parts, cringe moments, drama and romance, all crammed into a really small series but written and performed brilliantly. It's still at the top of my list. I tend to agree. The sheer genius of it is it how it encapsulates British working life so perfectly, yet still remains extremely funny. It deserves to be considered amongst the all time comedy classics, but probably won't because of Ricky Gervais who annoys a lot of people, and most things he's done since have just reprised the David Brent role. I massively disagree with your last sentence. Brent is unique. I don't think gervais' other characters are anything like Brent, apart from in appearance obviously. Regarding the rest of your post, I agree. But the thing I find most fascinating about the way it perfectly captures working life is that, as far as I know, neither Gervais or Merchant ever worked in that sort of environment. So find it amazing that they replicated it so well. I think most of his characters share very similar traits. Andy Millman in Extras was more self aware, but still it was based on the same character failings ie causing offence by saying something stupid. Not that I think it's a bad thing at all as I love The Office and Extras, but if somebody doesn't like Gervais, I don't think they'll like much that he does. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted March 17, 2015 VT Supporter Share Posted March 17, 2015 The Office (UK) for me. When I watched Breaking Bad for the first time, I thought it had overtaken The Office in my favourites, but then I came to re-watch BB and the shock/cliff-hanger parts that made it great, has obviously lost all their effect on second viewing. In my life, I've probably watched The Office series 1, 2 and specials about 10 times. It has genuine laugh-out-loud funny parts, cringe moments, drama and romance, all crammed into a really small series but written and performed brilliantly. It's still at the top of my list. I tend to agree. The sheer genius of it is it how it encapsulates British working life so perfectly, yet still remains extremely funny. It deserves to be considered amongst the all time comedy classics, but probably won't because of Ricky Gervais who annoys a lot of people, and most things he's done since have just reprised the David Brent role. I massively disagree with your last sentence. Brent is unique. I don't think gervais' other characters are anything like Brent, apart from in appearance obviously. Regarding the rest of your post, I agree. But the thing I find most fascinating about the way it perfectly captures working life is that, as far as I know, neither Gervais or Merchant ever worked in that sort of environment. So find it amazing that they replicated it so well. I think Gervais worked in various offices in his thirties before he was famous Did he? My bad then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted March 17, 2015 VT Supporter Share Posted March 17, 2015 The Office (UK) for me. When I watched Breaking Bad for the first time, I thought it had overtaken The Office in my favourites, but then I came to re-watch BB and the shock/cliff-hanger parts that made it great, has obviously lost all their effect on second viewing. In my life, I've probably watched The Office series 1, 2 and specials about 10 times. It has genuine laugh-out-loud funny parts, cringe moments, drama and romance, all crammed into a really small series but written and performed brilliantly. It's still at the top of my list. I tend to agree. The sheer genius of it is it how it encapsulates British working life so perfectly, yet still remains extremely funny. It deserves to be considered amongst the all time comedy classics, but probably won't because of Ricky Gervais who annoys a lot of people, and most things he's done since have just reprised the David Brent role. I massively disagree with your last sentence. Brent is unique. I don't think gervais' other characters are anything like Brent, apart from in appearance obviously. Regarding the rest of your post, I agree. But the thing I find most fascinating about the way it perfectly captures working life is that, as far as I know, neither Gervais or Merchant ever worked in that sort of environment. So find it amazing that they replicated it so well. I think most of his characters share very similar traits. Andy Millman in Extras was more self aware, but still it was based on the same character failings ie causing offence by saying something stupid. Not that I think it's a bad thing at all as I love The Office and Extras, but if somebody doesn't like Gervais, I don't think they'll like much that he does. Well i don't disagree with that. If you don't like Gervais you won't like his comedy. But I think Millman is massively different than Brent. The humour in the two shows is the same, but it's Merchant and Jensen who provide the Brent role in those shows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete101 Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 1: MOTD when we win 2: GoT 3: Jericho Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maqroll Posted March 17, 2015 Author Share Posted March 17, 2015 The Simpsons and Family Guy when they were good were belly splitting funny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maqroll Posted March 17, 2015 Author Share Posted March 17, 2015 Also the writing and dialogue on 30 Rock was so sharp and fast paced, that the laughs just kept piling up until the commercial break. Compare the writing on 30 Rock to something like Friends, and it is striking just how terrible most sitcoms were/are. It takes a great one to put those others in their proper place. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marka Ragnos Posted March 17, 2015 VT Supporter Share Posted March 17, 2015 (edited) You're all wrong. All In The Family -- modeled after English Til Death Do Us Part, actually, but much improved. Every episode changed American society in a small way -- and certainly changed television. Edited March 17, 2015 by Plastic Man Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maqroll Posted March 17, 2015 Author Share Posted March 17, 2015 Great show. I grew up watching it with my dad, that and Barney Miller, lol. Archie Bunker is probably the greatest American sitcom character of all time. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marka Ragnos Posted March 18, 2015 VT Supporter Share Posted March 18, 2015 (edited) Of the choices listed, I would pick Curb Your Enthusiasm. The Wire (26 votes [25.49%]) - First two seasons good. Totally laughably stupid when it tried to do East Coast working class. Breaking Bad (20 votes [19.61%]) - Liked the first two episodes, then fakeness of it all lost me. The Sopranos (13 votes [12.75%]) - Complete fantasy on so many levels. Too many caricatures. Game of Thrones (5 votes [4.90%]) - Too slow. Mad Men (0 votes [0.00%]) - Never watched a single episode. Have no interest. Doctor Who (Contemporary) (1 votes [0.98%]) - Can't stand on so many levels I don't even know where to start. Twin Peaks (1 votes [0.98%]) - Good, but milked a good thing too long. Would rather just watch Blue Velvet and get it over with. Deadwood (0 votes [0.00%]) - Way too cool for its own good. Again, always struck me as unrealistic. Curb Your Enthusiasm (0 votes [0.00%]) - Awesome. Innovative in its lack of script use. The Office (UK) (4 votes [3.92%]) - Better than that American version by far, of course. Choices I would have added: Trigger Happy TV The Americans Inspector Morse/Lewis series - a great institution with ups and downs Edited March 18, 2015 by Plastic Man Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted March 18, 2015 VT Supporter Share Posted March 18, 2015 Of the choices listed, I would pick Curb Your Enthusiasm. The Wire (26 votes [25.49%]) - First two seasons good. Totally laughably stupid when it tried to do East Coast working class. Breaking Bad (20 votes [19.61%]) - Liked the first two episodes, then fakeness of it all lost me. The Sopranos (13 votes [12.75%]) - Complete fantasy on so many levels. Too many caricatures. Game of Thrones (5 votes [4.90%]) - Too slow. Just when I was starting to like you 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marka Ragnos Posted March 18, 2015 VT Supporter Share Posted March 18, 2015 (edited) Of the choices listed, I would pick Curb Your Enthusiasm. The Wire (26 votes [25.49%]) - First two seasons good. Totally laughably stupid when it tried to do East Coast working class. Breaking Bad (20 votes [19.61%]) - Liked the first two episodes, then fakeness of it all lost me. The Sopranos (13 votes [12.75%]) - Complete fantasy on so many levels. Too many caricatures. Game of Thrones (5 votes [4.90%]) - Too slow. Just when I was starting to like you Hey, I WOULD love to see those four shows combined. In one two-hour special. Can you see it? A cancer-stricken Tony Soprano at his dragon castle with a meth lab and street distribution network? See? Let's call it Game of Bad Sopranos. Edited March 18, 2015 by Plastic Man Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dAVe80 Posted March 19, 2015 Share Posted March 19, 2015 Of the choices listed, I would pick Curb Your Enthusiasm. The Wire (26 votes [25.49%]) - First two seasons good. Totally laughably stupid when it tried to do East Coast working class. Breaking Bad (20 votes [19.61%]) - Liked the first two episodes, then fakeness of it all lost me. The Sopranos (13 votes [12.75%]) - Complete fantasy on so many levels. Too many caricatures. Game of Thrones (5 votes [4.90%]) - Too slow. Just when I was starting to like you Hey, I WOULD love to see those four shows combined. In one two-hour special. Can you see it? A cancer-stricken Tony Soprano at his dragon castle with a meth lab and street distribution network? See? Let's call it Game of Bad Sopranos. This just goes to show how people's attention span has...... Ooh look a squirrle! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lapal_fan Posted March 19, 2015 Share Posted March 19, 2015 I'm telling you, it's the **** Simpsons! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ender4 Posted March 20, 2015 Share Posted March 20, 2015 Breaking Bad - S1,4&5 only Lost - S1, 4-6 only Heroes - S1 only 24 - S1-4 only so overall it might be Game of Thrones but as that hasn't finished yet... I'm going with Battlestar Galactica. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villarule123 Posted March 20, 2015 VT Supporter Share Posted March 20, 2015 Lost season 6 was **** awful. Almost ruined the show for me. If they ended it at season 4 it would probably be my favourite. Season 5 was still good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ikantcpell Posted March 20, 2015 Share Posted March 20, 2015 Dallas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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