…and now for something completely different. – John Cleese
Yesterday I shared my favorite TV dramas with you, and today I’d like to do the same with my favorite TV comedies; at the end there’s a bonus list of my two favorite documentary series, which obviously wasn’t long enough for a column of its own. Just as I did yesterday I’ve embedded videos of each show, with one exception (as you’ll see below). Like yesterday’s, this list is arranged alphabetically.
1) The Addams Family Charles Addams had been doing his macabre cartoons for The New Yorker for over twenty years when a television producer decided they would make a clever television show. Unlike the characters in the rival show The Munsters, the Addams family (named for the cartoonist) were not comical takeoffs on Universal movie monsters, but rather oddballs who were just plain weird rather than monstrous; that weirdness allowed them to get away with a great deal that other contemporary shows could not. For example, Mr. and Mrs. Addams were the very first TV couple who were not only sexually interested in one another on-camera, but passionately interested. It’s been one of my favorites since I first encountered it in afternoon reruns in the mid-1970s.
2) The Adventures of Pete and Pete Like the Addams family, the Wrigleys are just a little bent, but unlike the Addams most of their neighbors (many played by unexpected celebrities like Iggy Pop or Patty Hearst) are equally strange. The show was originally a series of one-minute shorts which aired between shows on children’s cable network Nickelodeon in 1989 (here are the first two, “What Would You Do for a Dollar?” and “Freeze Tag”); they proved so popular the creators were asked to create a series of 30-minute specials and later a whole series. The stories, especially in the first two regular seasons, achieve a rare mixture of hilarity and poignant sweetness that isn’t quite like anything else.
3) Bewitched There were quite a few fantasy situation comedies in the 1960s, but this was the best and most enduring of them; I was five years old when it finally went off the air, and it’s been in nigh-constant syndication ever since. The lovely Elizabeth Montgomery played a witch married to a mortal, and the friction between the two worlds (most often in the person of her interfering mother) created an endless number of comical situations which rarely fail to amuse and are often hilarious. One of the show’s greatest strengths was its masterful use of character actors appearing as witches and other magical beings, animals or monsters in human form, or even historical personages summoned into the present by errant spells.
4) The Bullwinkle Show This show was originally named Rocky and His Friends, but after Rocky’s sidekick Bullwinkle became the more popular character, the title was changed for the fourth season and used for all the seasons in syndication. The show aired in the evenings, and like the classic Warner Brothers theatrical cartoons was intended for adults. But for some reason I’ve never quite understood Americans collectively decided in the mid-1960s that cartoons were “kid stuff”, and that attitude persisted until the advent of The Simpsons in 1989. Bullwinkle’s producer, Jay Ward, was among the first to prove that by use of crude, limited animation held up by funny scripts and talented voice actors, a quality cartoon could be produced at a very reasonable cost; though it’s doubtful that any television show has ever been animated more crudely, it’s equally doubtful that any has ever been as funny, clever and sly.
5) Fawlty Towers John Cleese stars as Basil Fawlty, a rude, incompetent and self-important innkeeper whose schemes to improve his business, keep the riff-raff out and stay out of trouble with his shrewish wife lead to twelve of the funniest half-hours ever committed to videotape. There aren’t many shows that can make me laugh so hard I literally cry, but this is one.
6) The Good Life This British sitcom premiered the same year (1975) as Fawlty Towers, but they’re not very much alike; though this series (which was broadcast in the US as The Good Neighbors) is very funny, its humor is cuter and more gentle than the manic hilarity of Fawlty. The story follows an engineer who decides to get out of the rat race by quitting his job and taking up farming…in the upscale London suburb of Surbiton, much to the consternation of his good-natured but snobbish neighbors.
7) Green Acres No, I’m not obsessed with shows about successful men who quit the rat race to become farmers; honestly I’m not. Besides, the hero of this show is a lawyer, and instead of farming in the suburbs he moves to a very weird rural town whose inhabitants make the eccentric population of Pete & Pete’s Wellsville look like models of sanity in comparison. Even the laws of nature here seem to work in a more surreal fashion, and on more than one occasion characters are able to read credits, hear incidental music and otherwise break the fourth wall.
8) Making Fiends This is a web cartoon created by the astonishingly talented Amy Winfrey; it’s absolutely one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen while still being 100% “clean” and incredibly charming. She did six half-hour shows for Nickelodeon in 2008, but the originals are still online and pack more laughs into a few minutes than most sitcoms can generate in several episodes.
9) Monty Python’s Flying Circus As with Star Trek and Twilight Zone yesterday, I honestly don’t think I can say anything useful about this landmark series in the space I have to work with. The influence of this bizarre, zany, irreverent, erudite and wholly original sketch comedy show on everything that has come after it is incalculable; even our use of the word “spam” to mean junk email derives from a Python sketch depicting a diner in which Spam (the meat) is served with every single dish whether one wants it or not.
10) Red Dwarf Imagine a science fiction show that totally succeeds as a comedy, or a hilarious comedy which is better science fiction than the majority of shows in that genre, and you’ve got Red Dwarf. A perennial loser is placed in stasis for violating ship’s rules and emerges 3,000,000 years later to find the entire crew was killed in a radiation accident soon after he was frozen; his only companions are the ship’s computer, a hologram simulation of the dead bunkmate he couldn’t stand, and a humanoid creature who evolved from the ship’s cat. Hijinks ensue.
My Favorite TV Documentaries
1) Connections Veteran journalist James Burke examines the interdependence of technology by demonstrating how each new discovery leads to wholly unpredictable effects that trigger change in apparently-unrelated areas; in each episode he takes one ancient or medieval development (such as the stirrup or the water wheel) and demonstrates how it set off a series of interlinked events leading to the development of a major technological device of the modern world (such as computers or nuclear weapons). Sound interesting? You can watch the first episode, “The Trigger Effect”, in its entirety right here.
2) Cosmos Three decades of cable TV networks wholly dedicated to documentaries still haven’t produced a science show as interesting or entertaining as Carl Sagan’s 1980 magnum opus, which is why it’s still highly regarded today despite the fact that a little (though not much) of its science is now dated. In a way this show and Connections were inspirations for this blog, because both of them showed me it was possible to be informative and entertaining at the same time. I also have Cosmos to thank for introducing me to the music of Vangelis, one of my favorite musicians.
Today’s puzzle: One of today’s series and three of yesterday’s feature main characters who appear in every episode (or nearly so), despite the fact that they’re already dead by the end of the first episode. How many more can you think of?
One Year Ago Today
In “A Decent Boldness” we make the acquaintance of Aella, an Amazon of the mythic past who finds herself stranded on the far side of the world, broke and unable to speak the language, and has to figure out how she’s going to survive.
Fawlty Towers, The Good Life, and Monty Python were all made by the BBC; a golden age of comedy, perhaps. Have you seen Dad’s Army from the same period? Its gentle humour, class and role reversal might not appeal across the pond. Connections is also a BBC series from the same time.
I have seen and enjoyed Dad’s Army, but as an American a lot of the jokes went over my head.
I guessed it wouldn’t travel. Captain Mainwaring is after all Captain “Mannering”, and if you don’t get that, you won’t get much more. “You stupid boy” and all that.
Again, we agree on many of these. Monty Python, Red Dwarf. I would add Black Adder, and “A Bit of Frye and Laurie” too. “Morecambe and Wise” had their funny moments, too.
I found out about Addams Family by seeing the movies first. I’ve never seen Bewitched.
I totally agree with you about “Connections” and “Cosmos”. Brilliant.
Second on Blackadder, which is ridiculously funny (and cunning).
I’ve seen only a few episodes of Blackadder (the Elizabethan one). I loved Jeeves and Wooster, but the later series weren’t nearly as funny as the first; if they had been that one would definitely be in this list as well.
A course I took in high school actually used _Connections_, and a similar series called _The Ascent of Man_, as the basis for a look at history through a scientist’s worldview. Probably my second-favorite course of high school. (Top spot still has to go to the junior year course on detective stories, sci-fi, and fantasy. Got straight A’s, and was actually asked to teach for a week at the end of the year. Seemed I knew _The Lord of the Rings_ better than the teacher… 🙂
Maggie, have you seen the sister series to Connections, #2 and 3, and _The Day the Universe Changed_?
I’ve seen The Day the Universe Changed, but only heard of Connections 2 & 3. Should I add them to my wish list, do you think?
It’s funny, when I was a kid I watched the Addams Family, but I never “got” that it was a fetishistic show until later. Probably I was just too young, though I realized later that Morticia Addams is a role model for some women.
Meanwhile “The Good Life” introduced me to the concept of the sexual possibilities of clothing when I was relatively young. (The episode where that Tory ice-queen lady gets talked into wearing black stockings for her husband. That really impressed me as a kid. Probably because she starts out saying she thinks he’s some sort of pervert, and ends up getting them to please him.)
I’ve often joked that I want a bumper sticker that says “WWMD” (“What Would Morticia Do?”) 😀
Yes, I should point out that I found Charles Addams comic strips terrifying as a child!
I just saw Red Dwarf last year. It’s so wildly inventive and funny (and occasionally touching). The first two and last two seasons aren’t quite as good as the middle four. But it has one of the best casts ever assembled.
OT – but what did you think about Craig Charles’ argument that rape defendants should have confidentiality?
If it could be accomplished, I think ALL people accused of crimes should have confidentiality until convicted. The state uses accusations to shame people and to try them in the court of public opinion; witness the “naming and shaming” sites for whores’ clients and the obligatory “perp walk” the police force anyone arrested for a high-profile crime to endure. Even if the person is exonerated that humiliation never goes away, so the state can use it as an extrajudicial punishment inflicted with no due process whatsoever on the whim of a prosecutor or even of ordinary cops (if they decide to call the media before an arrest). This is not justice; it’s blatant, simian savagery more characteristic of the Middle Ages than an advanced technological society, and I’ve often thought any advanced alien race who witnessed it would be so horrified they might feel justified in wiping us out.
Or at least in not contacting us until we learn better. I wonder if it might be things like that, rather than the absence of warp drive or the eating of meat (yes, I’ve seen that suggested) that keeps the community of the galaxy from inviting us to join?
I remember watching Red Dwarf (as well as the execreble Colin Baker episodes of Doctor Who) with you over the course of several months during the period of chaos of ‘95. We both slowly grew into fans of the series, after being initially unimpressed by the earlier episodes. I also remember both of us laughing very loudly during the episode “Backwards”, which was one of the show’s best episodes, along with the rather dark “Back to Reality”.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen you laugh as hard as you laughed at “Backwards”. 😀
“We’ve got to stop him!”
!!MEOW!!“”
“Don’t say a word!”
What’s the email address you use for accepting questions
It’s maggiemcneill@earthlink.net.
Green Acres, The Beverley Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction, Hogan’s Heroes, and Batman (yes, Batman) all take place in the same story universe. There may be others I missed.
I never really cared for Monty Python’s Flying Circus. Based on that and the one or two bits of things like Absolutely Fabulous and such that I saw, my attitude towards British humour (see what I did?) can pretty much be summed up as “I don’t get it.” Not saying it sucks or anything like that, just that it isn’t my cup of tea.
Except Red Dwarf, which I’m delighted to see on your list. Ah, but you left out the ending theme!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTEpiFcn0wI&fmt=18
Red Dwarf featured a character who was already dead: Rimmer, who now only survives as a hologram. Dark Shadows has a vampire, Barnaby Collins. The blind monk (don’t remember his name) from Kung Fu appeared in almost every episode, and his death is the reason Kane is in the Old West. That leaves one I’m missing, so I’m going to guess it’s one of the British shows.
I might have to give The Avengers and the original Skins a look.
I knew all the others, but Batman? Do tell! 🙂
The other dead character is Merlyn Temple, Caleb’s older sister in American Gothic, who is murdered in the first 15 minutes of episode one and is thereafter a ghost. However, I was hoping people would name OTHER series rather than the ones I featured, such as the Captain in The Ghost and Mrs. Muir.
It’s true.
As did _The Green Hornet_. There was a crossover episode between it and _Batman_. And if the television series worked from the same mythology as the original radio show, Rick Reed (the Green Hornet) was the grand-nephew of The Lone Ranger.
Ah yes, you’re right! Excellent! 🙂
I can’t believe I forgot The Green Hornet! And yes, that he’s the grand-nephew of the Lone Ranger has been a part of his mythos, AFAIR, from the beginning.
Laura, if you’re reading this, please help me remember to add some ginko biloba to my shopping list. I won’t remember it on my own.
Now for the all-important TV-linked multiverse question…
How does Detective Munch fit into it…?
I don’t know. He’s appeared in something like ten different shows, and I guess one or more of them are linked to The Beverley Hillbillies or some such.
There’s a link between Star Trek: TOS and Knight Rider.
Burgess Meredith as the Penguin also appeared in one episode of The Monkees, so that one connects as well.
As the Penguin? Very cool.
Laura, this is your spot to shine. You know this show as well as anyone.
I watched Head with her while I was on nutmeg. Very interesting.
Some years ago I binged Monty Python’s Flying Circus and decided that Gilliam’s animations, on the whole, contribute negative value.
Okay, I’ve to share this quote with you on Roman views about individual liberty and the rule of the law. I didn’t learn it in a documentary, but I’m pretty sure I was listening to one at the same time.
Legum servi sumus ut liberi esse possimus.
we are slaves to the law so that we may be free
This quote was by a famous orator during the time of Julius Ceaser and illustrates the Roman attitude toward government and individual liberty. They weren’t really a libertarian paradise.
I never considered them to be very libertarian.
During my three years at the White House – I did tours of the White House occasionally (not the regular tours though – the ones I did took people to parts of it that were not included on the tourist version) and I learned from a Secret Service agent a lot of trivia about the Oval Office.
For instance this, over the doors in the Oval Office …
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-n5N7EZEzXGU/TxlwAbCXcbI/AAAAAAAADJU/sNIp4H5P-HA/s1600/oval+office+fasces.jpg
is a bundle of birch rods bound tightly together – the Roman symbol for “unity”. I don’t really equate strong “unity” with libertarianism.
LOL – there was another trivial fact about the Oval Office – I believe it had a bust of Lincoln right outside it at the time I was there and when the light was cast on it just right it supposedly would reveal the profile of either Nixon or Kennedy … ghost stories and shit! LOL
Not only is it not libertarian, you know what those bundles were called? Fasces. It’s where our word “fascist” comes from.
Yeah, Maggie just tweeted some article trying to make the Roman Empire into some kind of well,
http://www.thefreemanonline.org/features/the-fall-of-rome-and-modern-parallels/
It was this article. I had to tease her a little bit.
Has anyone ever alleged that Rome was a libertarian paradise?
No Dick Van Dyke Show? No Hogan’s Heroes? Your list makes me sad.
The Dick Van Dyke Show would definitely be in my next ten, as would The Odd Couple and Jeeves and Wooster. But I never liked Hogan’s Heroes all that much.
How can you not be totally impressed by Mary Tyler Moore in a closet full of walnuts? That episode stays in my memory even today!
I was totally impressed by that one, and by many others. As I said, it’s in the next tier down.
Sweet mother of pearl we have a lot in common for TV shows. A couple of comments on the Addams Family: they were (are?) the perfect “anti-family”. They’re not dysfunctional- they love each other and they hold their family in the highest regard. The parents teach their children right from wrong- just so happens the lessons are complete opposites of societal norms. The other thing about the family: they *never* lie. No matter how bizarre or macabre they act, they gleefully tell you anything with no skeletons left in the closet (except for the literal ones). Glad to see you know about their Creator Chaz Addams. He was quite the character in and of himself.
“The Adventures of Pete and Pete” and Rocky and Bullwinkle on the same list as Monty Python and Fawlty Towers? Maggie, my respect for you has always been high from the first time I read your blog, but you just earned several bonus points in my book. Now if only the third season of ‘Pete & Pete’ had been released on DVD. That season really turned up the wackiness!
Want a copy of that third season? If so, email me. 😉
By the way, you might (emphasize might) like Lexx. It’s too… odd for me to give it a whole recommendation (I liked it, but I’m an outlier). I found it to be like some of the quirkier episodes of Doctor Who except for more sex talk and the Doctor never shows up.
Caveat Emptor but as the pilot is available for free on Amazon (digitally) last time I checked you don’t really lose anything.
I saw the first episode of Lexx on the Sci-fi Channel years ago; I was not impressed. 🙁
My feelings about Lexx are that it has some really hot babes, and an occasionally interesting visual style. Other than that it didn’t do anything for me, and since I can find hot babes and interesting visual style in other stuff I like better, I didn’t stick around for Lexx.
Of course it’s possible that right after I gave up on it, it got really good. But then again maybe not.
The first episode of Lexx on the SciFi channel was actually partway through the second season. It really sucked as a way to get any understanding of the characters or the plot. Watching it from the beginning made a lot more sense.
Ah, well now that clears a few things up. Watching from the beginning is a good idea with most shows, especially since the 1990s when every show on TV decided it has to be part soap opera.
Yeah, this is why I was very hesitant to suggest it. Even I wouldn’t recommend the later seasons.
I’ve read a lot on the internet about how much people love Red Dwarf, but when I watched the first episode on Youtube, I thought it was pretty mediocre. Does it get a lot better as it goes along?
My favourite British show, other than Fawlty Towers is probably Coupling. That show was brilliant (written by the same guy currently in charge of Doctor Who). There was an American version that only lasted half a season. It was pretty awful. But the strange thing is they used the exact same scripts, with only a few minor changes. I blame the casting.
Shows with dead regular characters:
• Buffy/Angel is a gimme.
• Dexter gets advice from his father’s ghost.
• Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) are detectives; Hopkirk dies in the first ep, and only Randall can see/hear his ghost. An invisible/intangible detective has obvious possibilities, but the first ep is a stinker; all I remember of it is Hopkirk crying warnings at people who cannot hear him. (One expects a detective to be less stupid.) Is the remake any better?