Programmes that have aged poorly and programmes that have aged well?

I’ve always loved Richard Briers. It makes me feel so much better knowing he hated Tom as well. It always sat off with me that he had played this role.

Horrifying?

That seems extreme.

So people think we are meant to take everything that is said in a comedy as if it is a righteous thing to say? Very often the opposite is true.

It wasn't sophisticated stuff, but horrifying is way over the top.

Whilst I think John Cleese is clearly very clever and inventive I now suspect there's more than a bit of him in Basil Fawlty!!

I mean...he's been married many, many times for a start.

@almondflakeOh Dr Beeching was brilliant. But never seen it repeated, it’s set in the 50’s.

Im like that but about Metroland by John Betjeman. At one point he mentions some event at a station "in 29" and stuff about the 90s and you have to remember he's talking about the 1890s and 1929

not a comedy but am watching programs made by Jack Hargreaves about country life as he remembers it....of course its double history now because the programs themselves were made between 1960 and 1986

I never liked it....not keen on Monty Python either. I did like Marty Feldman and Antony Newley in Gurney Slade.

When Fawlty Towers was first on, I remember the reception was very much on the side of Basil and against 'nagging, hen-pecking, frumpy, overbearing' Sybil. Also, his bullying of Manuel was largely seen as funny and again, the view was that Basil was justified because Manuel was an idiot. When I re-watched it I was struck by how brilliant Sybil is in keeping everything afloat and pitied her having to deal with the appalling Basil. And I couldn't watch some bits where Basil belittles and bullies Manuel.

Sybil also spent a lot of time supporting her friend with her personal/marital problems. She was actually a lovely woman.

Maybe because the women were very attractive biological females?
That seems to be a crime in some quarters nowadays!!

Brilliant. What a take-down

They were friends though, rather than a couple.

Great thread! Some points that occur to me:

• Yes, it's sobering to see that in the past actors who weren't immaculate physical specimens were allowed to exist and work! Dodgy teeth, frizzy hair etc etc. It really reinforces how distorted things have become in recent years.

• When Fawlty Towers was first on, I remember the reception was very much on the side of Basil and against 'nagging, hen-pecking, frumpy, overbearing' Sybil. Also, his bullying of Manuel was largely seen as funny and again, the view was that Basil was justified because Manuel was an idiot. When I re-watched it I was struck by how brilliant Sybil is in keeping everything afloat and pitied her having to deal with the appalling Basil. And I couldn't watch some bits where Basil belittles and bullies Manuel.

• I'm just old enough to have seen a few Till Death Us Do Parts, and I hated it. I know that Johnny Speight intended to satirise Alf Garnett's horrible attitudes, but I think it backfired badly and lots of people actually took it at face value.
• Great to read pps' reassessment of The Good Life! I thought I was the only one who found the Goods insufferable.

I don’t think Friends has aged particularly well, although I expect a lot of people will disagree.

I think the classic series of Doctor Who has aged fairly well, on the whole. And “of their time” moments are a few and far between. There are a some episode, for example, where a white British actor plays a Chinese character, which simply wouldn’t happen today; however, it wasn’t unusual then, and the serial itself, if you can get over that, is really excellent.

I’ve been down a bit of a Mind Your Language rabbit hole since reading this thread and I’ve found that the show was massively popular in Pakistan and India. It was shown in both those countries for years after its initial run, which is how someone as relatively young as Malala is familiar with it. In India, they liked it so much that they made their own version of it.

I wonder what people would make of Nighty Night with Julia Davis today?

I absolutely loved it (have it on DVD) although the jokes & humour are really below the belt. Her other works, Human Remains & Hunderby were also brilliant. Her style of comedy probably isn't allowed today as there were jokes on Cancer, disabilities (Rebecca Front was brilliant as the ever polite Cath); facial tics; lesbians, murder, sexual harassment, false rape, etc and of course the monstrous Jill Tyrell, who seemed to have no limits. Even in 2004, some people felt that it was totally inappropriate.

Also Morecambe and Wise.

There definitely wasn't any strict rules re showing couples in bed on TV at the time Faulty Towers was filmed. Robin's Nest and Upstairs Downstairs were filmed in the 70's and both showed unmarried couples in bed together.

I think the movie Double Jeopardy, is great. I think it stands the test of time. I highly recommend (love it when that guy in the library tries to hit on her!).

Keeping up appearances has aged perfectly. The characters are so well done that you could imagine them just slotting into modern day life.

Except for Rose - I always thought the actress really overdid that role and it was too panto.

Why? God knows! It was something like, this show contains language and attitudes that may not be acceptable today and some may find offensive. Totally unnecessary IMO, maybe the women were too slim, glamorous and beautiful...?!

I rewatched At Elmo's Fire at the weekend. I don't think it's aged well at all, especially the men's treatment of the women. But again, it was representative of its time. You can't expect things that were made 40 years ago to portray the values that are considered acceptable today, times have changed but that's no reason to cancel them.

Richard Herring had a whole comedy thing about Goodnight Sweetheart which was broadly along the lines of all the things he could have done for humanity and the course of history with this weird time portal and he basically just used it to have an affair.

I agree that some things have got better but some worse. I'm Gen Z & I think my generation as a whole are bored & turned off by graphic sexual content after too much porn exposure and sexual stuff in media. I don't mind some sexual content but not the amount we have now, it's not fair on the actors, frankly. Violence ditto.

There are plenty of good shows that don't have that, though.

Yes, my mother put The Good Life on a while ago and it started with Tom calling Barbara a bitch. Poor Barbara - she didn't deserve him.
I get it wasn't trying to make out Tom was nice- I thunk she had just remembered it as a soft show from when she was a child, I suppose Tom etc went over her head then.

I'm not convinced there's so few good new programs now, but I do think we are a bit low on comedy. I liked Derry Girls though, for one.