Dean. reviews some American comedies

[PartyGirlUK]

Until recently I'd only watched the American sitcoms that were heavily promoted in the UK. Over the past few months I've watched 50 odd episodes of Seinfeld (seasons 3,4 and some of 5), season 1 of Curb Your Enthusiasm, and most of season 1 of Arrested Development. I may watch some more if you make some suggestions in this thread.

Firstly, Seinfeld. The most famous of American sitcoms, almost universally loved and praised, yet never really made it in England. I had watched a couple of episodes and never thought much of it. Well now I've watched a lot, and revised my opinion. It's a good show. I've watched about 15-20 hours worth of Seinfeld, and it never really dragged. It had some moment of genius, and had me loling every few episodes. I don't think it reached these peaks enough to merit as high regard as it's held in though. It has some flaws. Kramer is a terrible character. There's something wrong with a show when one of the 4 main characters makes you want to punch him in the face repeatedly every time you seem him on screen. I mean, the guy just does silly physical movements and pulls stupid faces and says ridiculous stuff and it's supposed to be funny? He's much better doing his KKK routine. Kramer reminds me of the character 'Phoebe' from friends, it's like the scriptwriters just thought 'Hey, it's a sitcom, gotta have one kooky character in!', but just made him sooooo fkn annoying. Seinfeld can't act. He's pretty good doing everyday Jerry, but when he actually has to show any kind of emotion it's just risible. George, is great. Very, very funny character brilliantly played. JLD plays Elaine excellently, and it's a believable, non-annoying character.

One thing that's difficult for me to adjust to is American sitcoms typically have 24 episode series, so each show takes at most 2 weeks to write, rehearse, film, edit etc. British sitcoms often run for 6 episodes, so it's only to be expected that the average quality will be higher. Given this, Seinfeld does pretty well. It's entertaining, lots of hot chicks in it, some belly laughs, some neat observations of life. Seinfeld gets 6.5/10.

Next, Arrested Development. I've heard very good things about this show, mainly via these forums. I enjoy watching it. It's very fast paced, lots of characters and stories, lots of gags. Again, I'm not quite sure it's worthy of all the praise it gets. A.D is an inconsistent comedy, it tries out lots of jokes, many of which miss, but those that hit, strike gold. Some of the characters are hilarious, in particular Gob and the gay 'actor'. Some, in particularly Buster are much weaker and dont add much to the show. It'll typically get at least one good laugh from me per episode. Because of the fast pace, and the decently high success rate of the jokes, it doesn't drag. Also, plenty of hot chicks is a plus too! So overall it's a good show, worthy of 7.5/10

Finally, Curb Your Enthusiasm. I didnt expect too much from this, being as it came from the writer of Seinfeld. But it's amazing. Wow. It's ironic that Jerry played himself in Seinfeld whereas LD didn't take the character based on him, because he's such a better actor. The writing is magnificent. He has this way of touching on insecurities and foibles that plenty of us have, but won't admit having. The general level of acting is excellent. It reminds me a lot of the office, in the style of filming and the flaws that the main character has. I really love the cringe-inducing scenes such as when LD goes to apologise to the black doctor for his un-PC comment, then has to recap the comment to a room full of black people. Or the incest-survivor scenes, so beautifully but together that it didn't even come across as crass as it would have in any other writer's hands. Each show is a treat to watch. CYE gets 10/10.

[nyc999]

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Curb Your Enthusiasm...The writing is magnificent.

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Show is excellent, although most of it is improvised. They create very loose storylines to set-up scenes and let the actors take it from there.

[PartyGirlUK]

Didn't know that thanks. The dialogue does seem extremely realistic, so whether that is due to great writing or improvising, I'm impressed.

[Gildwulf]

Switch arrested development and Curb and that's about how I feel.

[ahnuld]

Wanted to start a thread about it but this one is more appropriate.

It's always sunny in Philadelphia: Fairly new show (only 2 seasons) that I believe is shown on FX in the states, and on wednesday nights at 10:40 on showcase in Canada. Centers around 4 main characters who are friends and run an Irish bar in philly. Its really a charatcer driven show so it might take a few episodes before you find it truly funny, but its some of the best writing on TV. The show wasnt doing great after season one so Danny Devito decided to get involved and save the show. He then became one of the major characters, playing the father of 2 of the friends. Anyone who enjoyed Arrested Development would love this show. While it isnt as good as A.D its the best comedy on television today.

[Yeti]

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Show is excellent, although most of it is improvised.

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I think it is less improvised than you would imagine. But yeah, obviously there is some.

[ViolentGandhi]

I actually like "Sunny in Philadelphia" a lot better than Arrested Development, even though I love A.D.

[PartyGirlUK]

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Show is excellent, although most of it is improvised.

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I think it is less improvised than you would imagine. But yeah, obviously there is some.

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British version of the Office was almost 0% improvised, despite appearing to be so.

[kidcolin]

While Curb has some real gem moments and I can't deny Larry David's brilliance, I think the show suffers from repetitiveness. You see the jokes coming from a mile away. I've just never bought into it the way some others have.

Dean,

Buster doesn't add much to the show? I think many, many would disagree with you there. He's pure gold.

Also, I see what you're saying with Kramer.. but that's largely his appeal. I mean, if you think he's a terrible character, then yeah, it's pretty likely you think the show is overrated.

[ahnuld]

Buster is a very people's favorite character. Not mine though. I loved jobe.