BBC retro comedy night. Why?

[SlinkyVagabond]

So, watched the reboot of Are You Being Served-amazingly enough managed to be crapper than the original. And now Porridge. Oh bloody dear, why oh why?

I really liked are you being served it was silly but very warm and fuzzy Porridge isnt really doing it though.

Apparently they're doing a Sircom season. Yet to come:
Til Death Us Do Part
Good night Sweetheart
Keeping Up Appearances
Tried watching AYBS earlier, had to give up!

Ah I quite enjoyed the nostalgia. And they were no worse than some current comedy.

Think goodnight sweetheart is a series? Looking forward to it. Porridge wasn't but great loved new Fletch's mannerisms to his grandad I loved Ronnie Barker

Gawd Almighty there were some really crap sitcoms back then. Why rehash them

As long as they don't bring back:

So Haunt Me
Three Up Two Down
Last of the Summer Wine
Babes in the Wood
Alf Garnett (can't remember the name of the actual programme)
Bread (She.Is.A.Taaaart)
The Mistress
Going Straight
Love Thy Neighbour

They were bad enough first time round

I thought are you being served was rubbish apart from reference to a Mac computer you could have lifted the script from orginal. At least porridge was up to date and had a new story, was annoying with all canned laughter mind. Did seem waste of set and all for a one off!

I thought are you being served was awful, mind you I can't stand Sherrie Hewson in anything so that didn't help, didn't bother with Porridge after that, maybe that was better.

Its 60 yrs of croft &perry I think that is why the are doing the reboot.

I stumbled on this by accident.
If I'd read about it in advance I'd have thought it a terrible idea, but, oddly, I thought it worked really well. OK, I only saw the last 10mins of 'Are You Being Served', but I thought the Porridge episode was excellent - really well written, copying all the characters yet bringing it totally up to date. Very clever.

I love original Porridge, will give that a go

I enjoyed them both and thought they were cleverly written.

I know they were corny but they made us laugh.

Nostalgia, that's why.

I hated AYBS when it was first on - I saw more of it than I wanted because my DM thought it was wonderful. Tonight's episode seemed to be more or less down to those standards.

AYBS was basically an exercise in other people playing the original parts. I thought the original was funny-when I was 11.
Porridge was better, not hysterical, but ok. Wasn't croft and Perry though-Ian le frenais and his writing partner, whose name escapes.

What's this? The BBC are remaking them or rerunning them?!

You know what comedy I loved that I now watch and just wonder why 'Allo, 'Allo, the who thing with the two maids and the female German solider appearing in suspenders frequently just irritates me. Though I must admit I still like the daftness of the Englishman pretending to be a French policeman (I was pissing by the window) and the English airmen.

There were many comedies I didn't like back then anyway.

AYBS was filmed in front of a live audience, so not canned. I thought it was pretty lame and the new actors not a patch on the old guard - John Inman, Mollie sugden etc. Didn't bother with Porridge - never appealed first time around. Sherrie Hewson also annoys me!!

Wouldn't it be easier to rerun rather than recreate?

Sherrie Hewson generally annoys me but I thought she nailed Mrs Slocombe. And Roy Barraclough was good as Mr Grainger. I enjoyed it in a nostalgic sort of way but wouldn't want a whole series of it. Porridge I missed the start of but found it a bit weird how the prison officers had different names but were close imitations of the originals.

Sherrie Hewson was fab as Mrs Slocombe she did Molly Sugden proud I thought A whole series would be meh I think but i enjoyed the nostalgia and I liked Mr Humphreys they got the campness just right.

I enjoyed Porridge. They made the right decision in updating it but paying homage to the original series, and I particularly liked that it was based on a similar premise - i.e. that the way to get through a prison sentence is to look for little victories. If they're looking at extending any of these into a full series, so far that seems a strong candidate.

What was most irritating about the new AYBS was the endless stream of innuendos. I know the original had lots of references to the famous Pussy, and inside leg, but this one was trying much too hard (ooh, there's one!) And that one about "seamen on the floor" would never have been included. It might have been more fun if they'd used an original script with a new cast, to see how it stood up ( is that one??)

Tbf new youngMr Grace paused and looked stunned at seamen on the floor i laughed to point out how daft it was

The trouble about the seamen on the floor thing is that it simply didn't work as a double entendre. For something like that to work, the phrase has to be a natural one, not something that's been twisted in order to produce an effect. And the reality is that if you want to say something about a number of naval personnel, you would just say something like "a lot of sailors" not "a lot of seamen on the floor".

It waa just a silly hommage imo throw as much nostalgia into 30 minutes as possible.

If I were talking about naval personnel I 100% definitely would say "seamen on the floor" - can't let a chance like that go begging