This sitcom is just not funny

[TheRebel]

So I’ve been off work sick for nearly 2 weeks and I’ve watched everything good on TV. Now I’m trawling through looking for anything to watch and I decided to give the BBC sitcom “Mum” a go, it’s supposed to be BAFTA award winning but it’s just awful. Every episode seems to be the various members of this woman’s family come to her house, look down on her and say horrible things to her and she gives them the side eye and says “ok” and looks a bit sad.

l like 'Mum' and liked 'The Royle Family' too.

Another comedy I like is '8 Simple Rules', an American comedy starring John Ritter.

Episodes are on youtube.

Did they say they'd already been to 8 garden centres? and when Cathy looked at the dead plant on the window sill she said they'd have to go again? An afternoon in each others' company, maybe a cup of tea, all under the pretence of just looking at garden furniture with no one thinking anything of it?

It's true that some of the characters are overly annoying, stupid and grotesque but yes, as a PP said, then they hit you with something unexpected like Dave's parents missing their son and being brusque with each other but showing caring ways, Pauline helping with the knitting, Kelly's mother telling her she's wonderful, only the once though and Cathy dropping all the paperwork from her folder, picking it up and dropping it again because she was all flustered.

I like the nuances and think both Lesley and Peter are fantastic.

You'd never think there are only 8 years between Lesley and Karl who plays Reg would you.

On the other hand Hold The Sunset is one of the worst comedies I've ever seen.

Damed on channel 4 . And 4 OD . Is very good and funny .
Witness on iPlayer. 3 series on iPlayer.

I had high hopes for Hold the sunset - watched 2 and gave up. really dire.
i doubt it will get another commission, but i know nothing.

They are still making Still Open All Hours, so maybe Hold the Sunset will run for decades. Tripe.

Ooh, I've only watched one ep of series 2 of Mum! I keep forgetting about it and I loved series 1.

I think it's brilliant - most of the characters patronisingly think they are helping "poor old" Mum (is her name Cathy?) - actually her and Michael are the only ones with their heads screwed on. Kelly is so annoying, but also very sad - when her mum turned up and was an absolute cow to her under the guise of "only joking" and Kelly went along with it while looking humiliated I teared up a bit TBH and it explained a lot of the character's obvious insecurity.

I loved Him and Her too and I think it had the same sort of theme. Paul and Laura very obviously thought they were much better than slobby lazy Becky and Steve - but it turned out they were the dysfunctional fuck ups whereas Becky and Steve were imperfect but built on a strong foundation.

Blurryface: yes we know Cathy works as a special needs assistant.

I felt like there is an unsaid understanding that Kelly (the girlfriend) would have been the type of child Cathy would have looked out for at school.

The making inappropriate comments, overstepping boundaries and naivety combined with her own mum saying she's 'thick' etc that. (Also why she's so understanding of the unusual behaviour - I loved when Kelly had conversation with the foxes and had turned the house upside down).

This is why it has the bittersweetness - all the unsaid elements are what I like.

Blurry face : is that eyesight? Or do you like 21 Pilots - I've been humming that very song today funnily enough - my daughter is a big fan and I quite like them now too.

Mum is beautiful.

When Pauline said to her stepdaughter, you've dropped a stitch as she was knitting, and quietly leant over to help her was lovely.

Because that is life. No one is truly hideous. We are all shades.

It must be very hard to act Kelly when you think about it.

The Kelly and her mum thing is something I won’t forget

I watched the first episode of Mum and couldn't get into it at all. I know sometimes you need to see a few episodes to get into a new show, but I just didn't have the energy for this one.

I'm unimpressed with Hold The Sunset too. But I'm sticking with it for the time being, purely because it has such a great cast.

Comedies I've liked from the last few years are Motherland, Chewing Gum, House Of Fools, Toast Of London, Fleabag, Episodes, Catastrophe and Cuckoo.

I'd file Not Going Out alongside Benidorm. They were great in the early days, but thanks to some bad decisions and cast departures they've really gone downhill. Although I was pleasantly surprised by the latest episode of Not Going Out. It was much more enjoyable with the kids being absent.

aReapectable, yes I'm rather a fan of Twenty One Pilots. I don't recall Cathy being a special needs assistant, though I'm usually half asleep by the time it's on to be fair. It would explain her endless patience with Kelly and her daft son. I like how all the characters have nuance to them.

Can't get into Mum, she sort of makes me cringe with her niceness.
On the other hand This Country is probably one of the cleverest things I've seen on TV in ages

So I just had to watch Hold The Sunset after so many people said it was awful, and I was not disappointed!

Totally agree. I can't bear that dim blonde, the stupid son or the doormat-ed-ness of Mum. Lesley Manville is a great actress and no idea what she's doing in this. It's like a parody of family life, one Mike Leigh does so well but this writer doesn't.

Bring back Motherland. Now that WAS funny.

Try Brooklyn 99 if you have netflix

Mum is an unusual brilliantly written sitcom but due to its depth and subtlety I can see it won’t appeal to most. If you’ve watched it from the very start it makes much more sense too.

Mum is one of the best things on TV. If you don't like it I think you're just not getting it.

That sounds awful

I love Mum! And last night I saw the best acting I've seen in years by Peter Mullen. Just stunning.

Sitcoms like Mum are why many of us women working in television have been campaigning for change. Too much is written and directed entirely by men and therefore gives this continual male gaze on everything. There is no reason why a series like this or for instance My Fat Teenage Diary should be entirely written and directed by men. Some companies have an entire output where in twenty years they have virtually never employed women in these key roles. They are changing a bit and are now including female characters which they probably think they are being cool by writing, but its often not from a female perspective.

Anyway, complaints sent in to the channels will help change things. If we continue to watch, we continue to perpetuate the myth that we all prefer male written and directed programmes. At the moment many series have no women directing on them and often no female writers either. So that needs to change. ITV's new output was announced recently causing a huge backlash as it was all male writers. Please help us change this so that you can have more realistic characters.

I love Mum. It's very gentle humour. I do laugh out loud to it sometimes. Perhaps as I'm in my 50's I "get" it?

I HATE Mrs Brown's boys. I think it's so not funny but everyone's else loves it. Guess everyone's idea of comedy is different. Would suit for us to be the same.

Motherland is worth watching. Booo to those dissing Not Going Out ..it's bloody hilarious. The one when they have a ferry to catch .. hysterical. X