American comedy > British comedy

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

I'm making this post on numerous forums because I want to see people's reactions. I enjoy a good debate, me.

So one thing that English folks have been saying for years - and Americans too for that matter (or to fit in with my other thread... United Statesians) - is that American TV is dumb, lowest-common denominator shit with laugh tracks at parts that aren't funny.

The thing being, English comedy can't really stand up to American comedy for precisely one reason - season lengths.

Seasons - or series in this country - tend to average 6 or 7 episodes in the UK. In the US, comedy show series tend to be 19 to 25 episodes each year.

If we were to use just The Simpsons as an example - most people tend to agree that Simpsons got properly good at season 2 and I'm going to arbitrarily select season 8 as the last properly good one (which honestly I think is true).

Even conservatively estimating the season lengths at 22 episodes apiece (and I've got the box sets so I know they're more often over than under) we're talking about 154 episodes of brilliant comedy.

Now let's measure that up against British comedy. To get 154 episodes' worth of great British comedy, you would need to use:
All of The Young Ones (12)
All of Blackadder (27 including specials)
All of Fawlty Towers (12)
All of Father Ted (25)
All of The Office (13)
All of The IT Crowd (24)
All of Brass Eye (7)
All of The Day Today (6)
All of The Thick Of It (23)
All of Garth Marenghi's Darkplace (6)
= 155

And that's only up against The Simpsons alone.

And the thing is, it's not just about quantity. The Simpsons was rock-solid for something like 95% of the episodes during that period, which is a phenomenal run of great writing even taking into account writer changes, because at the time the characters could cope.

Some people like to play the 'quality over quantity' argument here, but you can't tell me for a second that The Office's 13 episodes are good enough on their own to outstrip 7 consecutive years churning out 22 great episodes per year of Simpsons.

Therefore: American comedy is better than British comedy because even if it isn't as good as some of the British shows, it's nearly as good and there is way, WAY more of it. So even if there are way more shitty American shows than good American shows, America only needs to have a handful of great shows to just outstrip British comedy altogether.

American comedy > British comedy.

DISCUSS

[Jiren]

Quality over quantity

Any episode of blackadder 2 - 4 (1 is awful) trumps any episode of The simpsons, to me

I'm not dismissing Simpsons (Season 2 - 9 are amazing), It's just our best comedy shows are just that damn good

[Bo Rida]

The Simpsons at it's best> Most comedies
Quality > Quantity
British > American

Well sort of, really they're just different, there's a fair few American comedies I enjoy.

[DiBiase is Good]

There are other shows you could take into consideration.
Only Fools and Horses - 60+ episodes
One Foot in the Grave - 40 + episodes
Dad's Army - 80 Episodes
Monty Python - 40+ episodes
Drop the Dead Donkey - 60 episodes
Men behaving Badly - 40+ episodes

Most of those shows remained consistently very good throughout their run.
Also, you have to factor in length of some shows. BBC shows usually last 29 minutes others last 22 minutes. Which may not seem like much but it adds up.
There are some great American comedies around but quantity is not a factor for me. The Simpsons was consistently brilliant for about 8 years. Although there were more episodes, you could argue that Fools and Horses was consistently brilliant for 8 years. And several episodes were 50 minutes and longer.

[Red Impact]

It's just a different kind of comedy. I think some subjects work best with the more overt American humor (Wipeout, That 70's Show), and others work better with the more subtle British humor (IT Crowd, Red Dwarf).

[Zombie Mod]

comedy is subjective, some people find ricky gervais funny... i cant stand him.

just because a show has more shows doesnt mean its automatically better, i'd take porridge & dads army over friends & sienfeld any day.

[dav]

If you're comparing US comedy to British comedy, why don't you chose a show that remained good instead of degenerating into crap? Whose Line is it Anyway would be a much better comparison as it was developed on both sides of the Atlantic.

[Deleted]

Nov 18, 2012 16:26:10 GMT -5 Red Impact said:

and others work better with the more subtle British humor (IT Crowd, Red Dwarf).

Those shows are far from subtle.

[Bobeddy]

Another factor you have to consider in the quantity over quality debate is an issue that seems to always come up when discussing long running shows; how characters become caricatures of their original selves as the show progresses.

Like Lisa being the smart, under-appreciated child to Lisa becoming the preachy mouthpiece for the issue of the week. Or in Friends, Joey being a bit dim to Joey being just outright dumb.

This happens in British shows too, but as they tend to not run as long the effects aren't as extreme.

Nov 18, 2012 16:43:53 GMT -5 dav said:

If you're comparing US comedy to British comedy, why don't you chose a show that remained good instead of degenerating into crap? Whose Line is it Anyway would be a much better comparison as it was developed on both sides of the Atlantic.

Another good example is The Office.
Personally, I'm not a fan of either version and I know that a lot of fans for one version don't like the other.

Though I think it says a lot that the people I know who like the UK Office say how much they liked it, while nearly everyone I know that watches the US one (including a LOT of people on this forum) say how they used to like it but stopped being good after some big event/character leaving.

[FinalGwen]

Take out all the ad breaks from your shows, and ours seem a bit longer in comparison.

[Red Impact]

Nov 18, 2012 16:56:37 GMT -5 @subtlemocking said:

Nov 18, 2012 16:26:10 GMT -5 Red Impact said:

and others work better with the more subtle British humor (IT Crowd, Red Dwarf).

Those shows are far from subtle.

When compared to other British comedy, maybe. Compared to American Shows, I'd say they are.

[Deleted]

If we were to use just The Simpsons as an example - most people tend to agree that Simpsons got properly good at season 2 and I'm going to arbitrarily select season 8 as the last properly good one (which honestly I think is true).

If you're gonna use this as a real argument, at least think of examples besides The Simpsons. The rule of thumb is that U.S. sitcoms stop being funny after three seasons (give or take), which is like 35-40 episodes (give or take). The Simpsons is the exception rather than the rule for several reasons, one of which is that it's a cartoon.

[Marvelously Mediocre]

I completely agree. Even though I love shows like Inbetweeners, IT Crowd and OFAH there is just so much more American content out there with a new episode almost every week for about 9 months. Just of the top of my head there's How I Met Your Mother, The Big Bang Theory, Simpsons, Family Guy, American Dad, 2 Broke Girls, Community, Louie, Futurama and Two and a Half Men that I watch every week whereas if there's a new series of a british tv show starting it's already finished by the team I've gotten into it. Yes of those shows I've mentioned some of them can be terrible but even in a terrible season there's at least 7 or 8 decent episodes which is more than an entire British series.

Of course there's the quality over quantity argument but the american sitcom style still entertains me, even in a 22 episode season.

[KobashiChop]

Nov 18, 2012 16:57:20 GMT -5 Bobeddy said:

Another factor you have to consider in the quantity over quality debate is an issue that seems to always come up when discussing long running shows; how characters become caricatures of their original selves as the show progresses.

Like Lisa being the smart, under-appreciated child to Lisa becoming the preachy mouthpiece for the issue of the week. Or in Friends, Joey being a bit dim to Joey being just outright dumb.

This happens in British shows too, but as they tend to not run as long the effects aren't as extreme.

Nov 18, 2012 16:43:53 GMT -5 dav said:

If you're comparing US comedy to British comedy, why don't you chose a show that remained good instead of degenerating into crap? Whose Line is it Anyway would be a much better comparison as it was developed on both sides of the Atlantic.

Another good example is The Office.
Personally, I'm not a fan of either version and I know that a lot of fans for one version don't like the other.

Though I think it says a lot that the people I know who like the UK Office say how much they liked it, while nearly everyone I know that watches the US one (including a LOT of people on this forum) say how they used to like it but stopped being good after some big event/character leaving.

The problem with the American one is that its original premise ran out of steam, and they had to branch out into surrealism. The introduction of Erin seems to coincide nicely with that. She herself hasnt been the main reason the show went downhill, but the style really changed.

[Red Impact]

www.cracked.com/article_18696_the-lifespan-every-tv-show-ever-5Bcomic5D.html

Good a place as any to share this

[Deleted]

I'd take shorter seasons of most US comedies as every one has completely fallen off after the 3rd or 4th season anyways.

Really, most British comedies I watch know when to end it. I hate sitcoms that just go on and on and on. Brit-coms tell the story they want and end it on a high note instead of letting it drag on and running the show into the ground.

[Bobeddy]

Nov 18, 2012 17:57:08 GMT -5 @personman01 said:

I'd take shorter seasons of most US comedies as every one has completely fallen off after the 3rd or 4th season anyways.

Really, most British comedies I watch know when to end it. I hate sitcoms that just go on and on and on. Brit-coms tell the story they want and end it on a high note instead of letting it drag on and running the show into the ground.

People always go on about how Arrested Development got cancelled too early, and while I agree to some degree and look forward to the new season, I was happy with the run the show got.

[Deleted]

Nov 18, 2012 18:07:39 GMT -5 Bobeddy said:

Nov 18, 2012 17:57:08 GMT -5 @personman01 said:

I'd take shorter seasons of most US comedies as every one has completely fallen off after the 3rd or 4th season anyways.

Really, most British comedies I watch know when to end it. I hate sitcoms that just go on and on and on. Brit-coms tell the story they want and end it on a high note instead of letting it drag on and running the show into the ground.

People always go on about how Arrested Development got cancelled too early, and while I agree to some degree and look forward to the new season, I was happy with the run the show got.

I agree - they could have handled one more season, but not much more than that.

The real problem with that show (at the time of airing at least) was that it was always on the cusp of cancellation and everyone was intensely fearful of it happening mid season of any season due to Fox's track record.

But over all yeah - they had an appropriate amount of time to tell their story.

[Cela]

Really depends. But both sides aren't without terrible figureheads.

Ricky Gervais has truly sullied British comedy, but he's not an indication of the whole.

[Cyno]

There's some Britcoms I like, but I generally prefer American comedy. But I think this has more to do with cultural upbringing and how it shaped my sense of humor more than one style being superior to another.