Peep Show

[Jamiesfuturewife]

Ive been very kind and leant out my peep show box set to people I feel need to catch up with this Amazin show!

[Jamiesfuturewife]

To get you all in the mood!

http://www.heatworld.com/Article/12183/Are+you+excited+about+the+return+of+Peep+Show%3f

[reeves4england]

OOH if that clip is anything to go by, it's good stuff

[axs]

men with ven. genius.

[Ben Wah Balls]

Nancy is Canadian. I do think peep show is the best sitcom of all time, if you look at the top 100 sitcoms list none of them are as good as peep show. Stuff like only fools and horses and fawlty towers is good but just isn't as funny as peep show and if you never laugh at peep show there's something wrong with your sense of humour. I just wish the series were longer and more frequent.

[A Gent Orange]

I just wish the series were longer and more frequent.

That is why British sitcoms remain so brilliantly true to their creators' original vision - a pair of writers (Bain and Armstrong) writing every single word plus some input from an experienced script editors. You don't get any of the sprawl of the US series where random, magical events happen every week to maintain the churn of 22 episodes.

No pool of writers and network chiefs ever create anything as dark as Black Books, Steptoe or Peep Show. Larry Sanders or Seinfield were the closest and both of those were kept under pretty tight reigns by their original writers.

Less us more with something as good as Peep Show and it is amazing that we've had so many series with no signs of any sharks being jumped.

[flammableBen]

That is why British sitcoms remain so brilliantly true to their creators' original vision - a pair of writers (Bain and Armstrong) writing every single word plus some input from an experienced script editors. You don't get any of the sprawl of the US series where random, magical events happen every week to maintain the churn of 22 episodes.

No pool of writers and network chiefs ever create anything as dark as Black Books, Steptoe or Peep Show. Larry Sanders or Seinfield were the closest and both of those were kept under pretty tight reigns by their original writers.

Less us more with something as good as Peep Show and it is amazing that we've had so many series with no signs of any sharks being jumped.

Exactly. Too many episodes and you end up with the written by committee feeling you get with stuff like friends.

Peep Show always surprises me (touch wood) that it's kept up a really good standard through five series. Every year I've been expecting to get a bit stale. If they'd squeezed 100+ episodes in the same five years, would I feel the same? Probably not, it's not only the episode count, it's the rate at which they'd have to chuck them out. You'd end up with Peep Show by numbers.

[Ben Wah Balls]

Yeah you're probably right but it's a shame that Bain and Amstrong can't be cloned so I don't have to wait so long between each series. I thought the first episode was superb. Easily the best comedy I've seen on tv in 2009.

[jonny72]

On the other hand you could argue that over here you end up with short run, shallow, over artistic comedy that never reaches prime time and only appeals to small groups rather than the entire population.

Some might say Friends was shit, but if it was why did over 50 million people watch the last episode? TV is brutal in the USA and if it isn't popular it gets dropped quickly.

The biggest problem I have with our comedy though is that the runs are so short they never get a chance to really develop the characters and long running story lines (and gags), which results in not much depth.

[A Gent Orange]

The biggest problem I have with our comedy though is that the runs are so short they never get a chance to really develop the characters and long running story lines (and gags), which results in not much depth.

That is a point and I think one that Stewart Lee always used to make but really a sitcom isn't about character development. If your characters learn anything you are writing a comedy drama or a dramedy  - like Cold Feet. Sitcom characters never develop because that ruins the central premise of so many shows. What if Mark worked out how to relate to women? If Jez developed a brain? If Fletch went straight (before someone says I know), Manny got some self-respect, Baldrick's scheme worked out?

Remember what happened when Niles and Daphne got together? Fraiser had to end as the dynamic collapsed. British sitcoms of the type being discussed need the characters to be trapped, to never learn, to never change.

But when it does work - ie Spaced - it works brilliantly but they have a life span, otherwise you get a long-running popular sitcom like My Family.

But yes, Peep Show was great tonight, as always.

[michael]

I thought it was a very weak start to season 6.

I am however looking forward to seeing the "how's it hangling?" bit, hopefully in S6E2.

I'm sure it will be just as funny in the context of the episode as it is in the trailer.

[Jamiesfuturewife]

I thought it was a very weak start to season 6.

Me too! but Im pretty confident it will get better

[reeves4england]

It'll be interesting to see where they go from here, what with the firm shutting down. It has the potential to provide plenty of comedy conflicts between the pair of them.

[Jamiesfuturewife]

and who the dad of the baby is!!

[Whits]

Another good one tonight, if you've got any of them on Twitter they update throughtout the show