Lesley Joseph as Dorian Green was the best thing about Birds of a Feather. She was like a filthier British version of Blanche from The Golden Girls (though she’s not as iconic as Blanche of course). The show would have been even more boring without her.
I used to watch Duckman on Teletoon late at night here in Canada, it was a really good show. Although the cliffhanger at the end of the series was kind of unsettling. SPOILER ALERT: Duckman was about to get remarried but then his wife, who was supposedly dead all this time, shows up at the wedding. And apparently his sil knew all along that she was alive, but didn't tell him. and then it says "TO BE CONTINUED...?". We never what see happens after that.
Garth Marenghi’s Dark Place. An excellent bit of comedy, which at first I hated. Just needed to understand the acting is meant to be crap and cheesy. Once you’re on the right wavelength, it’s terrific.
I personally didn't care for it. It was really just a one-joke concept, which wore thin very quickly. I only got as far as the third episode before I gave up on it.
Underrated has to be the brilliant Big Train in the early 2000s, with Simon pegg, Kevin Eldon amongst others. Lots of off-beat sketches. Worth a watch and even had some books spin offs if I remember correctly
An underrated and forgotten series is the Children's BBC thriller Running Scared from 1986. It is notable for featuring Kate Bush's Running Up That Hill as its theme song and being very edgy.
One seemingly forgotten gem, BBC series Mongrels 2010 to 2011. Puppet based pub beer garden fun, with some relatively famous faces cameoing (Terry Nutkins, Paul Ross... ) and very funny. Sadly got dumped and BBC3 went for a 9th series of the way past it Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps instead, the fools.
This Morning with Richard Not Judy. An excellent follow up to Fist of Fun that the BBC refuses to put out on DVD or sell back to Lee and Herring at a reasonable price. It was a parody of Richard and Judy and remarkably really stands up. The Beeb gave so little shits about it that they didn't notice all the stuff that wasn't remotely suitable for it's timeslot.
I was VERY VERY fortunate enough to be around online at the start of the Internet boom and the first commercial CD burners becoming available. I myself bought my first one within months of them being sensible prices. (and by sensible I mean under £500 in the 1990's.) Anyway.. Someone who's name has been lost to me over time, copied me the entire run of TMWRNJ onto a CD in mpeg format. Which I still own to this day. It's in a tiny window on my modern monitor. But still watchable.
It got a lot of stick for being "a pale Curb Your Enthusiasm rip-off" but I thought the Curb connection was tenuous at best and it stood up pretty well on it's own feet. Also I would LOVE a pistachio moped and I fancied Anna Crilly.
Shame really because Alex McQueen is always so good but everyone has to have a mis-step and this looks like it. The clip here had me thinking "Ah, I might as well just watch Catterick again".
Check out "Vic and Bob's House Of Fools". An excellent sitcom from Reeves and Mortimer ! It's a bit wacky, and it's got Matt Berry in it. As far as I know it's never been repeated on tv
Another animated series worth a look was the American cartoon series Daria. A spin off character from Beavis and Butthead, Daria was far more intelligent but highly cynical in her outlook. Another one l personally enjoyed in the early 2000s.
Daria is excellent! I recently rewatched it and it holds up well. Tracee Ellis Ross had been working on a spin-off focused on Jodie (it was originally supposed to be called ‘Daria and Jodie’ and feature them as co-leads, but then they decided to just focus on Jodie which I think makes more sense for a spin-off), but I recently read that the project was pulled by Comedy Central and won’t be going ahead now.
An underrated show in my opinion is the animated show King of the Hill, everyone raves about The Simpsons, South Park and Family Guy but I think this tops them all.
Yeah, I used to watch that on Friday nights when I wasn't out. One of those series I wished I'd paid more attention to at the time, but had other things to do.
Loved Lead Balloon, something that has me chuckling at the check-out is the Russian nanny describing when the circus came to her home town: "I think the bear not like to roller skate". A great sitcom-The Larry Sanders Show. "I was just going for the cheese". "Is that what they are calling it now". Another great- On the Busses-"Oh, c'mon Blakey".
Forgotten show: The Ghost Busters. Not the famous film franchise, but a 1975 US sitcom that got shown to UK kids in the 70s. Starring Larry Storch, Forrest Tucker, along with Bob Burns as the gorilla "Tracy". Probably quite dated now, but remembered for the theme tune. Good for under 5s.
An underrated series is The Secret Life of Us, an Australian drama from the early 2000s which had some comedic aspects. Excellent characters and grown up themes that are dealt with in a mature way, something that is not often seen on TV these days. Unfortunately it didnt have a larger audience in the UK due to being broadcast in the early hours on Channel 4.
@@RupertDavison I've never seen the American dub but heard it's not great. So it's possible that could be awful, but the original English one I think really holds up.
Not sure where these sit on the good/bad index, but a few 'forgotten' suggestions: 1. Glam Metal Detectives - a frenetic sketch show that spawned a mildly successful pop song. 2. Off The Hook - an overlooked hybrid of the Inbetweeners and Fresh Meat but not as good as either. 3. Uncle Jack - early 90s kids show about the adventures of the eponymous Uncle Jack played by 60s pop hero Paul Jones. And finally, one that was definitely terrible; Celeb starring Harry Enfield as a thinly veiled pastiche of Ozzy Osborne. Terrible.
On a bit of a roll tonight, but another one l liked was Friday/Saturday Night Armistice written by and starring Armando Iannucci, David Schneider and Peter Baynham. The highly topical nature of the series means reruns are unlikely.
We all have different tastes but I could not make it through two episodes of Green Wing. It looked like an attempt to parody really good British sitcoms and it failed on all accounts. I knew every joke and situation coming. I could probably give you the whole season based on the first episode alone. "Spank the Pony" ? That might have actually been more creative. JUst watching someone spank a pony. YOU did a great job as usual. See you next time.
For underrated (and excellent shows) I nominate Crime Story. It was an American crime show that ran from 1985 until 1987. It was from Michael Mann and was a stylish, violent and brilliantly acted saga that depicted the ascension of crime boss Ray Luca, and the cop, Mike Torello, who became obsessed with bringing him down. It pretty much failed because it was put up against Moonligting, a mind bogglingly overrated TV juggernaut whose success still baffles me. Crime Story was then dotted around the schedules until no one could keep track of it, and it was cancelled. A clear case of a network not knowing what to do with what they had.
Can I add a suggestion in the form of Mulberry? Quite possibly the weirdest prime time BBC1 show ever aired; two series of cheeky chappie Karl Howman (him off of Brushstrokes) appearing out of nowhere to earn his stripes as (seemingly) an apprentice to Death. At least I think that was what was going on - it was never fully explained. I watched the first series, but gave up not far into the second one as I just didn’t have the patience to stick with it. The cast was great. The concept and the script less so ….
Not sure if it has had a mention but Black Books is one that is probably a bit marmite, but I loved it. The grapes of wrath episode still makes me laugh after way too many watches. Really glad you stuck up for Let The Blood Run Free in another video Matron DCB was just brilliant.
I would like to nominate Mystery Science Theater 3000 for greatest show of all time. For the worst I nominate Superstar USA. A reality singing competition with the twist that they'd tell really bad singers that they were actually really good. A needlessly cruel experiment.
I'm just re-watching A touch of Cloth for maybe the third time. So funny! As long as you like the ZAZ style of comedy, of course. I don't see it mentioned much anywhere, even though it's another Charlie Brooker creation.
Some suggestions from me: Rubbish: Two pints of lager and a packet of crisps - The sitcom equivalent of the ‘funny bloke’ from work trying to be a stand up. Set the benchmark for BBC Three to be the home of shit comedy. Rubbish: Life on Mars (US) - taking an absolute stone cold classic and Americanising it badly. Then shitting on the source material in the worst possible way with a ludicrous ‘cancellation’ ending. Rubbish: The Big Bang Theory. A fun idea which became ‘let’s all laugh at autistic people being arseholes to each other.’ The level of popularity it reached is utterly staggering. Every time I see someone criticising Friends, it reminds me how funny that was by comparison to TBBT, and it actually had good comic actors. Underrated - The Micallef Pogram. Rarely shown outside of Australia, this is an absolute gem of a comedy series. The rotating room sketches alone are worth it being on here.
Forgotten show... Here's one I had forgotten about until recently, "Kröd Mändoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire", a British-American comedic sword and sorcery series from 2009. "The creator, Peter A. Knight, has said that the show's humor was inspired by The Simpsons, Get Smart, and Monty Python and the Holy Grail". It included several actors before they were famous, or at least much less so at the time, like Kevin Hart and Matt Lucas. It was only 6 episodes long with no additional series nor sequeal. I thought it was a silly, but fun little show.
There's a show I have been looking for and never find, 'Beast' staring Alexander Armstrong as an acerbic and apathetic veterinary surgeon (to humans and animals), I remember having a bit of a crush on the ditzy young female veterinary assistant. It was produced around the mid noughties, BBC I think, and I remember it being a better comedy, but similar in vain to 'The Brittas Empire'(mind you, coronary heart disease would be better) ; it might be rose-tinted specs, but I remember liking it- I wonder how it has stood up after 2 decades?
"The High Life" was good fun. Alan Cummings pre Hollywood. "Hyperdrive" is one i haven't heard mentioned since airing. Featuring Nick Frost temporarily ungrafted from Simon Pegg. Also Johnny Vegas in "Ideal" goes unmentioned. A series about life in a weed dealers flat.
"Oh Dear!" as the guys would oft say in The High Life. That's one I watch regularly because it's just the one series of it. Making it an easy one to binge in a night whilst digging a hole in Minecraft or somesuch thing. Hyperdrive is massively underrated. I also watch that all the way through regularly.
Definitely not as bad as some people here are making out. But then I still have a soft spot for the artist formerly known as George Dawes, so I might be biased. Still, it was meant to be a kid's show, not high art. Didn't the Jim Henson afghan hound tip them off?
I'll be in the minority, but I actually liked Pompidou. It was just daft, and I like a bit of daft now and again. The bit where he's trying on wigs in one episode had me howling. I hated Birds Of A Feather though, my ex watched it religiously and I could see every punchline coming a mile away. My ex lived in Chigwell btw, I think she thought the show was some badge of honour for the area, when it really wasn't.
smashing just sat down to a roast chicken dinner and this video always give me ideas of shows to check out, some ridiculous some amazing and some as you so pleasantly put just "meh"
Excellent: Coupling - some of the best, surprisingly weird, amazingly silly writing. People who called it "The UK Friends" clearly hadn't watched it, cos it was a million times better. Underrated: Absolute Power - One of my very very favourite shows. Stephen Fry perfectly cast as an absolute bastard, and brilliant character work by the supporting casts. The Bin Laden buying British Airways episode never ceases to make me howl. Awful: Citizen Khan - Always found it incredibly bizarre in that it seemed to be perpetuating unhealthy stereotypes, but was constantly marketed as challenging them. Whichever it was doing though, it just wasn't funny which is my biggest issue with it. If you use any of this, just call me Zee, I'd hate to make you struggle with trying to pronounce the username :)
Pompidou was amusing. Kind of Mr. Bean meets PG Wodehouse. Love that no one seems shocked that the dog is reading a book and smoking a cigeratte. Problem was it ran out of steam after about four episodes and they didn't seem to know what to do. Anybody else not loving the new rating system?
Lead Balloon got pretty bad reviews but I really enjoyed it. Although Dee's character often crossed the line and became genuinely horrible rather than likably grumpy.
Anyone who says they don’t like Lucas & Walliams needs to watch the shorts they did for Paramount in the late 90s. They should also watch Rock Profiles.
At one place where I worked back in the 90's people got a bit distracted in the afternoon by a tv discussion. Because half the office thought a certain BBC kids show was called Chigwell. The other half went for Chigley. I pointed out those in the former group were getting confused as Chigwell was the Birds of a Feather setting. I had to bring my big book of cult tv in on the monday morning to sort it all out. Never heard of Pompidou, but that title sequence puts me off. Matt Lucas did play Aleister Crowley in an episode of Legends of Tomorrow season six. And was quite good in the part. I liked him as Nardole in Dr. Who also. Started off as a comic character but got fleshed out well. Two I will call not great: The bbc tried three times for the early saturday night audience cult tv when Dr who wasn't on. It worked with Merlin. Although that ran out of steam in it's fifth season. But Robin Hood and Atlantis didn't work. Robin Hood was far too post modern. Jonas Armstrong in the lead did try. But did look a bit wimpy. The cross fade and location caption got annoying. Dead Ringers did a brilliant parody of that. And the humour was far too much we think this is really funny. Shows that do that never are. I only stuck with it because I thought Richard Armitage was really good as Guy. He probably should have been the lead. It tried to fix some of it's faults in season two. Jonas Armstrong beefing up a bit and it gave a reason why he couldn't kill the sheriff. But then in the third episode of season three the sheriff gave a 'we'll get through this speech' meant to be a parody/pastiche of Gordon Brown's one. And that was the straw that broke the camel's back. I decided to leave it for a bit because it clashed with Primeval. But I never got back to it. Atlantis had a rough first season because it tried too hard with the humour none of which landed. And Jason the lead character was a pretty dull and flimsy creation. It did get better in season two when it dropped the silly humour and turned into straight drama. But it didn't get a third. There are shows I would have stuck with if they'd gotten another season. But I didn't care about the fact they didn't, This was one such. ,
On the subject of Matt Lucas, yes, Little Britain was the drizzling squits, but Rock Profile wasn’t half bad and Come Fly With Me is also underrated, with Tommy the wannabe pilot being a particular highlight.
The one that left me cold was 'I deal' with Johnny Vegas, a sitcom about a drug dealer ffs! I had previously thought him quite funny but this steaming pile of crap caused me to reconsider and now I don't.
I just remembered this show I didn't like. Dawn French is one of my favourite people on TV but I did not enjoy "Roger & Val Have Just Got In. BBC Two 2010 - 2012.12 episodes (2 series) Bleak real-time sitcom about a married couple who have been married for over 20 years)" It's about a married couple at the end of a day they come home from work sit on the sofa and talk about how their day was. I found it boring the conversations weren't interesting enough to keep me entertained in the show. I'm glad it got cancelled and did not continue further. I'm not sure if you've mentioned these other ones below. Another show I liked when I was younger was Barbara an iTV sitcom from 1999 to 2003 I found it entertaining and funny and I would watch it when it was on. Another TV show that was terrible was K9 it was an Australian kids show it did get aired in the UK it had K9 from Doctor Who who regenerated into a new model and it was set in London England. Though it was terrible show. It's like a Doctor Who spin-off but can't really reference Doctor Who. Another show which I didn't like was the Battlestar Galactica reboot spin-off Caprica it was like a soap opera. It was about how the cylon robot was made & was about two families and one of their daughters died. I enjoyed the Battlestar Galactica reboot but sadly not this spin-off. Underrated. The Cleveland Show which is a spin-off of Family Guy. Its explained what the show is about in the opening credits. It had some good episodes there were some I didn't like. A lot of people said what was it supposed to be & marketed towards.
Celeb was a vehicle for Harry Enfield, with Amanda Holden. The cartoon strip in Private Eye was very clever and amusing. Stretching it to half an hour was far too long, and it was embarrassing to see Harry struggling with such thin and unfunny material. The only bit worth mentioning and remembering was Amanda Holden in a black pvc catsuit. Otherwise, dire, embarrassing fare.
For as nostalic kick, i loved Supernova. i normally find Rob Brydon annoying as fuck, but for some reason i loved this sitcom. Set in a reasearch station in Australia, it just tickled my funny bone.
As I'm sitting through my 3rd run of Wilfred I feel compelled to mention it. It was on BBC, has Elijah Wood as the protagonist (Ryan) and a man dressed as a dog (Wilfred), seen as all as a dog apart from by Ryan. Wilfred gets Ryan in to plenty of trouble. Its not that old, last series in 2014.
I mean... A show featuring Pippa Haywood AND Michelle Gomez in it, was always going to be a straight 10/10 show for me. I've never seen either of them be anything other than brilliant. Sure, they have been in shows that weren't all that good. But they themselves have still been good. I wouldn't say I watch Green Wing yearly like a few other series that I binge watch whilst playing video games. Because the episodes are long. So it can drag a bit watching it too often. It's a bi-yearly one for me.
One that was pretty excellent in my view was Monkey Dust. Shown on BBC 3 in the early 2000s. A dark, macabr yet hilarious slife of British life via different animated styles. Loved it.
My mum liked Birds of Feather and has watched it since it started. SHe still watches it today. I was never into it and have never seen a full episodes, only a few clips here and there. I had memories of seeing a show about a Hospital, but couldn't remember what it was as I only caught part of the episodes and didn't see a full one. Looking at the clips you showed of Green Wing, it looks like that was it.
A show I personally liked and feel was underrated was Time Gentlemen Please starring Al Murray as his pub landlord character. It aired on Sky One from 2000 to 2002 with 37 episodes between 2 series. Some of the jokes wouldnt fly in todays world but i felt it was a decent show at the time.
I remember when I was about 15 Transmission impossible, it was a sort of stupid sketch show with Trevor and simon on bbc2, it was on around 6.30 or 6.45ish, no one I mention it to remembers it, it was quite short about 15mins. I remember an old friend and I used to find it quite amusing Also I thought Stressed Eric a late night BBC 2 British cartoon was quite funny, again no one I mention it to remembers it. Happiness with Paul Whitehouse was great, very underrated Shane with Frank skinner on itv, he played a taxi driver, was god awful, they filmed a 2nd series but it was never aired.
Two comedies that were underrated one animated Stressed Eric and another being TLC from 2002. Haven't seen TLC since it first aired so don't know if it's still any good but enjoyed it at the time
Just thought of a comedy series that might divide people. Marion & Geoff is one of them shows like Marmite, you either loved it or hared it. I loved it and still do. Probably Rob Brydon's best work ever, sadly it was years ago and apart from "The Trip" it's the only thing i can stand watching him in.
It's the same, old story with some of these sitcoms. They start off kind of alright, but then, after the first couple of series, go off the boil as they run out of good plot ideas. Remarkably, the likes of, 'Birds of a Feather', seemed to go on for an eternity, having had god knows how many series of it made, not to mention an equally unwanted and pointless, 'comeback', that delved even deeper into the depths of mediocrity as far as, 'comfortable', situation comedies were concerned. Anything passed 2005, I haven't really got a clue about, as I stopped watching TV then. The Matt Lucas one is as to be expected from someone who's, 'comedy', is very one-dimensional to say the least. The same character recycled with only a different costume/setting to distinguish them. I seem to remember, 'stressed Eric', from the late 90's. Watching that clip of Duckman suddenly and inexplicably reminded me of it, for some odd reason. You may have already covered it, but I recall, 'Game On', being quite a good series, as least in it's first series, until they changed the actor who played one of the parts, that is. It was never quite the same afterwards.
One show I tried to like but hated was called butterflies or something It features a much brutalized wife who has fallen into clinical depression. This is funny? How about the original fourth wall breaking senseless work of genius Burns and Allen. George and Gracie could make anything funny. They had honed this show on vaudeville and radio and it never hit a wrong beat. In the final season George had a magical tv set that let him watch the show we are watching and then step into the show to cause chaos Burns and Allen is an all time classic.
For those of us in the know.. Or indeed anyone who watched TV as far back as the 1970's, Butterflies was written by the Queen of awful sitcoms Carla Lane. A woman I am loathe to go overboard on criticizing due to her being dead quite a few years now. Disrespect and all that. Nah balls to it.. Carla Lane wrote absolutely atrocious scouse-centric 'makes you want to top yourself TV' of the worst kind imaginable. Her wiki entry quotes "the television writer who dared to make women funny." When in fact she was singularly the worst example of a sitcom writer who produced shows without actual jokes in. It was all social commentary. 'Poor me.. poor me.. poor me...' television at it's worst.
Made in Canada is a brilliant send-up of Canadian television production. Please note that it is known as The Industry outside Canada. (I don't know if non-Canadians can access CBC Gem; seasons 3-5 are available there right now.)
Birds of a feather was fairly funny for the first two series but by series three the writers had started repeating themselves and characters became annoying and boring...
Absolutely effing awful dog shite of a TV show - Miranda Hidden gem - A Touch of Cloth (written by Charlie Brooker if memory serves) Very much in debt to Airplane and Naked Gun, but still, it was good fun.
Green Wing was very funny. Never understood why Birds of a Feather was so beloved though, it was awful & on forever. Then they brought it back. Like the original run wasn't long & punishment enough?
Not everything Matt Lucas was in was rubbish! Catterick was brilliant and funny. It probably also qualifies as underrated and forgotten but is probably the best thing Reeves & Mortimer have done.
Some of the worst things I've experienced in UK tv: Count Arthur Strong (Sweet Jesus....seriously sweet f*****g jesus) Mrs Brown's Boys Piglet Files Miranda Citizen Kahn
I'd recommend Vic&Bob's The Weekenders for underrated. A pilot for a sitcom that didn't happen and I believe it's the best and funniest thing they've ever done.
One I think was rubbish too was Ronnie Corbett in Sorry rubbish and Ronnie Barker in Clarence considering Ronnie Barker had more success in Porridge and Open all hours and also another rubbish sitcom was Oh Dr Beeching absolutely dire
That Dr Beeching one was nothing more of an attempt at a semi re-hash of 2 other successful Lloyd/Croft series, namely, 'Hi-de-Hi', and, 'It Ain't Half Hot Mum', using the same actors playing almost identical parts, with the only difference being the setting of a railway station. They did another intermediate series called, 'You Rang, M'Lord', which was equally as bad.
I think Walliams in small doses is fine, its just when he get over excited is when he becomes a pillock. As for Matt Lucas not funny, he does have a heart of gold but just not funny, when he became the host for bake off his ego got in the way.
Why not a list of shows made by the BBC and such that look like utter crap but are actually brilliant, such as The hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy which looks like total shite but we all know is a fantastic show
