Top 10 comedies that should've quit sooner

[Spudiator]

All too often when TV shows are successful, the creators just don’t know when to let it end gracefully. There was a very good reason Fawlty Towers only ran for 2 series, because John Cleese, who (alongside his then-wife Connie Booth) created and wrote it, didn’t want it to become stagnant, and it’s also one of the main reasons Fawlty Towers still remains funny to this day. So many other great comedies could’ve been held in such high regards if only they’d known when to stop. The order of the list is based on the significance of the show at its peak and how much it has fallen from grace because of carrying on too long.

10. My Family (2000-?)

Though not always the most consistently funny sitcom the BBC has ever created, it did have its moments, Kris Marshall in particular playing Nick Harper rarely ever failed to amuse me, sadly I believe it was his leaving the show that began its downfall. I’m not a big fan of sitcoms that carry on after members of the core cast are replaced or written out (with very occasional exceptions), it makes it difficult to retain the level of humour, and My Family was just never as funny without Nick. After that the show began to wane a little for me, though evidently the BBC disagree because the show is still ongoing. I still catch an episode on occasion when I see one on the schedule, but it’s just not what it once was.

[madhair60]

Only Fools for #1 or bust.

No wait, The Simpsons for #1. Egad!

[Beeth]

I'm inclined to agree with you on this; show's never really been the same since Nick's departure. I believe they tried to compensate at point by bringing in lodger Alfie as a pseudo-replacement for him, but then he disappeared from the show recently without so much as a reference to his leaving, which was odd.

What annoys me about the show nowadays is the alarming frequency with which certain core characters will not appear within an episode at all. On more than one occasion I have seen episodes, usually focusing on Ben, in which Susan doesn't make an appearance at all for whatever reason. IIRC it has happened the other way around as well.

[Mambo's Here! Look Busy!]

*shudders* My Family was never funny!

Also, whats with everyone doing "top/bottom 10" threads? You'd think it was near the end of the year!

[The Tikal who had no Toes]

Did anyone actually find My Family funny? And Little Britain should be on here, definitely.

[Devo DrakeFox]

Simpsons ought to be #1, with South Park and Family Guy right behind.

[Juliett. Bravo. Alfa.]

In an attempt to be funny. I posted the below:

Topic Name - The 1 Comedy that should not be...

Post: Two and a Half Men.

Yes.

I have deleted the above thread because it was a poor attempt at satire. What with all the list 10 things threads that pop up.

But you all know that Two and a Half Men is dire.

Little Britain - yes. The rest Im not sure on.

Trouble is the first series is made with love for 2 years and then the second series is [censored]ted out in 6 months. Also see - That Mitchell and Webb look.

[Spudiator]

Nov 23, 2010 13:58:29 GMT The Tikal who had no Toes said:

Did anyone actually find My Family funny? And Little Britain should be on here, definitely.

I was tempted to start the list with Little Britain, but the idea of it was to focus on comedies that were at some point funny and successful, and Little Britain was never more than mildly amusing (even that only lasted for the first series), the writing was on the wall when the second series came out as was still using all the exact same jokes.

[madhair60]

My Family was funny when Nick was in it. Those who say otherwise never saw it.

[Spudiator]

Nov 23, 2010 17:50:49 GMT madhair60 said:

My Funny

Best typo ever!

[Alex]

The reason this topic exists is that the new season of Scrubs has just started and it should be right down at number 1.

[madhair60]

Nov 23, 2010 19:56:05 GMT Spudiator said:

Nov 23, 2010 17:50:49 GMT madhair60 said:

My Funny

Best typo ever!

No, the best one was when Sin typo'd "Rap" as "Rape". Several times. Really changed the meaning of his post.

[Balls]

Nov 23, 2010 14:01:53 GMT Devo DrakeFox said:

Simpsons ought to be #1, with South Park and Family Guy right behind.

The [censored] are you talking about?

South Park has had two bad seasons (12 and 14), one of which is the current one. There's nothing to say it can't be rescued.

The Simpsons may have [censored]ed up for a lot of seasons, but then season 18 onwards saw some of the show's best episodes.

Still, I suppose there's some truth in those two being shadows of their former selves, but Family Guy? Seriously, Family Guy is as good as it's ever been and has barely varied in quality at all for several seasons.

[Arch_one_zero_one]

I agree with you on South Park, although I'd include 13 too really. It was patchy, but no less patchy than 12 was.
Patchy is fine though, it's only if the show continues like the current season that I'd prefer it to end, I haven't enjoyed it at all, bar 1 or 2 episodes.

[Spudiator]

9. Married… With Children (1987-1997)
I don’t expect everyone to agree with this entry, I’d be surprised if everyone on the forum had even heard of it in all honestly, in recent years it seems to have become forgotten and slipped into obscurity to an extent. In the show’s early run it was capable of being pretty funny, but the worst thing that ever happened was bringing in Ted McGinley as Marcy’s new husband after David Garrison chose to leave the show the year before, apart from being a poor actor, McGinley’s presence in the show did seem to coincide with the plots getting more and more obscure (sitcoms trying to be “zany” so rarely ever work). Series 6 was the worst example of this, with Peggy and Marcy’s pregnancies and Bud becoming a rapper and calling himself “Grand Master B” (all of which were eventually written out along with half the series as a dream of Al’s because Katey Sagal’s real-life pregnancy ended with her baby being stillborn), as well as being flown to England to end a curse on a village (with a surprising cameo from Bill Oddie), though they then followed this the following series with the Bundys adopting another child, who was then written out without explanation because the viewers didn’t like him. Towards the end it became hard to remember that the show was ever even funny because it had become so unbelievably bad!

[madhair60]

"Aaaaaal, let's have seeeeex."

"Duh, no Peg."

*Audience laughter*

*Al reaches over and flushes toilet*

*More audience laughter*

[Alex]

Honestly, I never watched all that much of Married With Children - if I remember correctly, it was only ever shown here on (then) obscure satellite and cable channels. Can't remember if it was even on Sky.

What I did watch though, I just never really found funny. I guess it's the kind of humour that doesn't travel across the Atlantic, or something.

Either way, I barely saw it and my opinion of what I saw was poor. This post totally contributed. Yes.

[Nam]

T'was on Sky One. I used to watch it when I was much younger and found it good, though I've not seen it in ages, and I can barely remember much about it =/

[Spudiator]

It was actually on ITV once upon a time, though that was many, many years ago (before Sky even became widespread). Anyway...

8. Men Behaving Badly (1992-1998)
As previously mentioned, I’m not a big fan of when sitcoms try to change the core cast. I think Men Behaving Badly got away with it though because the change came so early in the run, Harry Enfield just didn’t seem suited to sitcom acting, and Neil Morrissey suited the role he was given so much better. It’s also worth noting that the show never really found its feet until ITV ditched it and BBC took over the show, in its ITV run the comedy seemed a little too tame and might never have found true success, but BBC took a gamble on it, made the humour a little more risqué and suddenly they had another winner on their hands. I’ve always believed the show turned a corner for the worse when they finally had Tony and Deborah get together, but in spite of that they still managed to come up with another very good series after that, and a half-decent Christmas special. If they had left it there it would’ve been fine, but then in 1998 they had to try and finish it off for good, and ended up ruining the memories. The final trilogy wasn’t well written, wasn’t all that funny, and struck me as a desperate attempt to draw a conclusion to a show that should’ve just been left well alone.

[Alex]

Probably a bit unfair to criticise a show for attempting to give its fans a resolute conclusion. Even if the end result wasn't that great, you could be certain that if they hadn't done it, pretty much everyone who liked the show would have wished that they did.

Most conclusions to most on-going material tends to suck on the basis that generally, it wasn't created with that conclusion in mind. It was just something they put together to put an end to it years later. Knowing how difficult it can be to hit the perfect note in that regard, I'm generally inclined to forgive anything that was good beforehand for a poor conclusion.

Now, if they'd had that poor conclusion and then went on to try and make more (see: OFAH and Scrubs), then you're pretty much justified in saying it went on too long. I think it's a good thing that Men Behaving Badly never strayed into that trap.

[madhair60]

Only Fools and Horses' (first) conclusion? Poor!?

Get off my forum.

[Alex]

I actually more meant that they concluded and continued to make more. I was tired when I wrote that, so it probably doesn't make any sense.

Although, saying that, I wouldn't call it the best conclusion ever. It would be one of the better ones though - probably because it didn't actually try and tie up every loose end - which generally becomes one big unsatisfying mess.

[Spudiator]

7. Scrubs (2001-2010)
Series 8 of Scrubs was a serious downturn from previous series’, which had always managed a great mixture of sentimental, funny and well written. In spite of this though it was still watchable, if not AS watchable as it had been prior. Where Scrubs really pushed it too far though was trying to go for a ninth series, the humour wasn’t funny any more, the new characters didn’t have the same chemistry as the original core cast, and the whole premise (demolishing Sacred Heart and relocating to a university with J.D., Turk, Dr Cox and Dr Kelso all taking teaching roles) just seemed a bit far-fetched to me. The way they ended series 8, in spite of the fact that the series as a whole was weaker than any previous, would’ve been a perfect send-off if they’d just left it at that, If they’d even done series 9 as a spin-off rather than trying to tag it as part of the main run it might’ve been ok (it would've still sucked, but at least it would've sucked in its own right instead of tainting the main series), but they just handled it awfully.

[Balls]

Nov 25, 2010 21:48:45 GMT Alex said:

Although, saying that, I wouldn't call it the best conclusion ever.

It was pretty damn good. Del was always saying that they'll become millionaires and then they did. It was perfect.

[ShayMay]

Nov 26, 2010 8:33:51 GMT Spudiator said:

If they’d even done series 9 as a spin-off rather than trying to tag it as part of the main run it might’ve been ok (it would've still sucked, but at least it would've sucked in its own right instead of tainting the main series)

Actually, series 9 was always intended to be a spin-off by Bill Lawrence. However, the network wouldn't allow it.
That's why he added the Med School subtitle, to try and keep it as far as possible from the main series.