XPost: rec.arts.tv.uk.comedy, alt.comedy.british
From: ronnie@blugman.freeserve.co.uk
"Ian Salsbury" wrote in message
news:cudh4a$iug$1@news7.svr.pol.co.uk...
>
> Quite often the writers/actors want to leave the show on a high and go and
> do something else. Typecasting is a part of it as well. There are loads of
> great British comedies that stopped whilst still incredibly popular -
Fawlty
> Towers, The Young Ones, Phoenix Nights, Father Ted ( it had already been
> anounced to be the last series before the death of Dermot Morgan ), Black
> Adder etc. Contrast that with shows that went on past their sell by date -
> Red Dwarf springs to mind. If you leave something go whilst it`s on a high
> people will remember it more fondly.
I absolutely agree. Situation comedies are just not sustainable quite simply
because you either a) run out of ideas with that situation (it gets boring)
or b) you have to change the situation (people moan that it's too
different). Some of the comedy greats of the past, where even the most
ludicrous basic situations were used, started to wear thin after a while.
Father Ted being a good point in case: Is there anything more outrageously
ridiculous for a sit-com idea as three priests sent to live together on a
small island because they are either money launderers, complete idiots or
raving alcoholic perverts? But by the end of the third series, even that was
starting to get a little humdrum and having to push outside its format.
A lot of people complain that British comedies are generally only made in
series of 6 episodes at a time, and rarely see a 4th series, but ultimately
I think that's what makes them so memorable. They stopped while they were
fresh and new. Those that people now look on as tired and old are those that
just ambled on for series after series never really going anywhere. Allo
Allo, The Brittas Empire, Red Dwarf, My Family, Are You Being Served?, etc.
all continued for just too long, becoming pale shadows of some former (if
only moderate at times) greatness.
And what do all those shows also have in common? Cast members abandoning a
sinking ship. True, in Red Dwarf's case some were wooed back, but that did
not recapture the humour. With My Family, the departure of Kris Marshall
left an otherwise dreary programme completely foundering in the back waters
of patheticness.
When I see just how unsustainable the short British comedies are with their
6 a year format, when I look at most American offerings with their 24-26 a
year formats (often, therefore, a single season containing more installments
than an entire run of a British show) I find that it's no wonder that there
is a huge amount of padding and dross between the occasional sparkling
moments. I have to confess, I stuck with Friends to the bitter end. But just
somehow, it never really recovered from the atrocity of the third season. It
was old BEFORE it continued for another 7 years. I'm not saying that I found
it all to be total crap (otherwise I wouldn't have collected them all -
though, admittedly, always at Christmas when they were BOGOF sales!), as
with any comedy there is always a good moment here and there, but the
storylines towards the end just tended towards the absolutely inevitable
(with the finale being the most predictable installment of any programme
ever, and I include Hi-De-Hi in that!).
So to get back to the original question, I think the reason why some actors
leave shows (as it is usually the actors choice rather than the producer's)
is because they recognise that stagnation occurs very quickly. It's the
sensible ones who leave, while the ones who stay are generally clinging onto
something that they can't see has already gone!
Ronnie
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* Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)
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