Yus, My Dear (1976) London Weekend Sitcom

The short-lived TV magazine The Box had a big feature about Doctor In The House, saying that between them the writers were pretty much responsible for all television comedy in the seventies. I remember it quoted Graham Chapman saying it was a really useful series for him as it didn't take very long to write, as he had a load of stories and anecdotes from his medical training he could use, and it paid well, so if he wanted a bit of extra cash he'd volunteer to do a few more. He said he wrote quite a few, while John Cleese would only appear when a big bill had arrived.

I remember it also said Bernard McKenna, who was the script editor, once had to rewrite a script by Gail Renard as it needed changing, but he didn't want a credit, so he got credited as Brenda Crankman, which was an anagram of his name. And he said it always used to be cited as the first ever sitcom written by two women.

I love posts like these. Gives me a chance to post these:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fj9oWfGPU28

(22.50 to 23.37)

I sat through Heil Honey with a friend and we were a little disappointed that it wasn't as bad as what history likes to imply, in the same way the gaming community like to say E.T. was the worst game ever and brought down the gaming industry in America, but the game itself was nothing but mundane and the crash was a result of a lot of negligence by publishers to produce anything worthwhile.

The biggest problem with Heil Honey is it's a premise of a sketch dragged out across a whole half hour. Like almost any SNL sketch, it ends a long time after the actual joke has been executed. I could've easily seen something like this done on Dead Ringers, but like a lot of sketches, it simply didn't have enough substance to justify a full show. I have no idea how they ended up writing even more.

But, of course, it's more fun to say "SITCOM ABOUT HITLER, IT'S THE WORST THING EVER!"

LWT's Bottle Boys is oft labelled the worst sitcom ever.

I however, nominate an even worse candidate:

Name three from the 1970s.

When "On the Buses" is listed as one of the better ones you know you're in trouble.

I will give you that the Doctor series and Please Sir weren't bad, but they were both 1960s in origin, devised before they effectively went bust and Murdoch turned the company into a populist dung-pile. And The Fosters was a cheap knock-off of a US series.

To be fair they were hardly alone in this. Granada and ATV's efforts were pretty poor during this period for the most part as well. Yorkshire and especially Thames were the ones making the future classics, with even the weaker ones being mostly watchable 40+ years later.

The Doctor series
Agony
Please Sir

You clearly haven't read my other post.

I think On The Buses is considered a classic. It was certainly hugely popular and long lasting. It just seems a bit of it's time and dated today

Those two might have started, just, in the 60s but they were mostly made and shown in the 70s. That's picking hairs


The only two I can think of that fit that description are Rising Damp and Bless This House. Apart from those and some of the LWT ones I can't think of any other ITV sitcoms from the 70s that are that are still considered classics and are watched today

Shelley started in the late 70s and is still watchable today.

It's not Splitting hairs at all. The LWT of the early years was a *very* different company from the one of late 1970 onwards which went massively downmarket in order to actually make money.

But even the early years produced absolute stinkers like Curry and Chips. Of course, On the Buses was 1960s also.

Programmes like Man About The House and sequels or Only When I Laugh might not be in the same league as Fawlty Towers but nor are they anywhere near the horror of Romany Jones or Don't Drink the Water.

The fact that the only truly 1970s LWT comedy that wasn't a buy-in from Norman Lear, and is mentioned in this thread as being good, was an obscure show few people remember says a lot.

Thames of course.