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Post by šrincess šµuvstarr on Dec 17, 2021 17:30:29 GMT
Next time I think I'd like a 1960s or 1970s Christmas special. One that is set in that period too. Perhaps you can suggest one? Why don't you join the site and share your thoughts? It's anonymous, so no one will know you, so you don't have to be shy. There are many, but a few leap to mind: The Good Life, Silly But it's Fun, 1977, is delightful Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? 1974 xmas special Any Porridge Xmas special Safari Horror: The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, Nightmare in the Park, 1976. You can find this on YouTube but you may want to watch all three series of this outstanding 70s comedy series (based on the books by the equally outstanding David Nobbs) I was looking at Steptoe and Son, which I've seen before and think is very well written. But it's tragic really isn't it, maybe that's why it works.
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Post by samdawson on Dec 17, 2021 18:09:22 GMT
Thank you, and I'm glad you are back. Thank you, Princess. Personally I never enjoyed Steptoe and Son. As a boy I found it just too joyless, something compounded later by finding out what unhappy and unsatisfied lives its stars lived (Till Death Us do Part was, if anything, worse). Thankfully there were many alternatives that explored class, claustrophobia and thwarted ambition, but which allowed their protagonists and viewers some hope and laughter
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Post by šrincess šµuvstarr on Dec 17, 2021 20:23:56 GMT
Well tonight's is not Steptoe and Son. It's an old one, so get those chuckle muscles ready as I'm sure it will be fun. It's a bit early to watch, as I like to be in bed when I do, I'll let you know when I'm ready.
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Post by šrincess šµuvstarr on Dec 17, 2021 21:37:04 GMT
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Post by šrincess šµuvstarr on Dec 17, 2021 21:38:19 GMT
Here is tonight's. I have to watch on phone as tablet isn't working again. It's from 1961. From season one. It's set in a small factory that makes clothes. Reg Varney, who went on to play Butler in dem bones favourite comedy in all of recorded history On the Buses is in it as the shop foreman. Let's give it a go! I know you are thinking "will they go on strike?" As they did all the time back then, but I've no idea, we will have to see!
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Post by šrincess šµuvstarr on Dec 17, 2021 21:46:25 GMT
It is a bit wobbly. It's like watching underwater.
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Post by šrincess šµuvstarr on Dec 17, 2021 22:19:44 GMT
Well they nearly went on strike. I thought that was fun. I might watch some more of that at some point.
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Post by šrincess šµuvstarr on Dec 18, 2021 0:28:48 GMT
Did you see the famous Carry On actress in this one too? She didn't have a line of dialogue.
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Post by pulphack on Dec 18, 2021 7:19:13 GMT
It always seems to me that Steptoe was Galton&Simpson channelling Pinter and Beckett through the lens of Hancock. Its got more in common with Endgame than The Rag Trade, after all.
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Post by šrincess šµuvstarr on Dec 18, 2021 12:42:43 GMT
There is a later colour series of The Rag Trade from the 1970s. I wonder how different the humour is. Are they like the Carry On movies, where there is a big change in style from the early ones, a style that became cruder and less funny as the series moved into its last few films. I've never seen Carry on Emmanuelle, not because I'm a prude, but because it seems to have been so bad that no one ever repeats it. I remember in Kenneth Williams diaries that he moans about it, but he moaned about them all, although he did like the young female co-star.
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Post by šrincess šµuvstarr on Dec 18, 2021 13:15:00 GMT
The 1970s seemed a bad period for British cinema, maybe its worst ever. In the 1930s they used to have a quota system to try to prop up the British film industry which led to many B-movies being produced to fill the quota, but I don't think the problems in the 1920s and 1930s were ever as bad as the 1970s. By the end of that decade sex comedies were mainstream, and even Hammer films was struggling, it ended up producing lots of TV crossovers to the big screen to keep going, like dem bones favourite ever sitcom On the Buses. The problem seems to have begun in the 1960s, and some of these movies didn't seem to make sense, just being excuses to show female flesh. There is a Charles Hawtrey one from the very end of that decade called Zeta One, that looks like one of the worst movies ever made. And it has a good cast. All these poor actors, often at the end of successful careers, forced into this rubbish. At least TV was making good programming, nowadays I don't see the terrestrial channels investing in a lot of drama compared to then. They prefer celebrity shows, though I often don't know who these celebrities are. There is a new type of celebrity called "the influencer" that have no skills or talent at all, they just influence. Which means playing a game, or wearing clothes. And not doing it any better than the people watching.
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Post by šrincess šµuvstarr on Dec 18, 2021 13:30:45 GMT
Charles Hawtrey was in films with a famous British comedian of the 1930s and 1940s, Will Hay. I have a foreign friend who can't understand him or his comedy at all. I'll share a clip. Can you understand it? I think it's often clever comedy.
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Post by ripper on Dec 18, 2021 21:05:32 GMT
I remember Hallelujah when it was first broadcast, though I can't say I was a fan. I believe this Christmas special was the last episode. I preferred Hird's earlier In Loving Memory.
The Steptoe and Son Christmas specials are not bad. There's at least one each of On the Buses and Love thy Neighbour. The Good Life has already been mentioned--can't recall how many Christmas episodes there were, but I remember the one where the two couples drink a bit too much and there's some flirting between Gerry and Barbara, and Tom and Margot. The Bottom Christmas special is highly recommended, as is the Rising Damp one.
On YT just type in 'british sitcom christmas specials' and there are quite a few.
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Post by ripper on Dec 18, 2021 21:34:49 GMT
The 1970s seemed a bad period for British cinema, maybe its worst ever. In the 1930s they used to have a quota system to try to prop up the British film industry which led to many B-movies being produced to fill the quota, but I don't think the problems in the 1920s and 1930s were ever as bad as the 1970s. By the end of that decade sex comedies were mainstream, and even Hammer films was struggling, it ended up producing lots of TV crossovers to the big screen to keep going, like dem bones favourite ever sitcom On the Buses. The problem seems to have begun in the 1960s, and some of these movies didn't seem to make sense, just being excuses to show female flesh. There is a Charles Hawtrey one from the very end of that decade called Zeta One, that looks like one of the worst movies ever made. And it has a good cast. All these poor actors, often at the end of successful careers, forced into this rubbish. At least TV was making good programming, nowadays I don't see the terrestrial channels investing in a lot of drama compared to then. They prefer celebrity shows, though I often don't know who these celebrities are. There is a new type of celebrity called "the influencer" that have no skills or talent at all, they just influence. Which means playing a game, or wearing clothes. And not doing it any better than the people watching. Hawtrey's drinking got the better of him, and after he was dropped from the 'Carry ons' following Abroad, work dried up. I think the series was the worse for his absence. The last Carry on I saw was England. It was shown one New Year's Eve after Big Ben's midnight chimes in the 80s, and I was looking forward to seeing it--should have gone to bed instead as it was awful. Never seen Emanuelle. Agree about TV drama being better in the 70s. Celebrity programmes or talent shows hold no interest for me at all. There were talent shows in the 70s--New Faces and Opportunity Knocks--but they were confined to an hour a week. And don't get me started on that Strictly Come Dancing. The original Come Dancing usually on really late at night and sometimes hosted by Terry Wogan I would watch occasionally, but this new incarnation's popularity just baffles me.
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Post by šrincess šµuvstarr on Dec 18, 2021 22:38:18 GMT
I won't watch anything tonight, as my tablet is no more, and it isn't quite the same watching on my phone. But I will watch more soon, so stay tuned! Perhaps you can recommend, don't be shy!
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