Comedy > 10 GBP to 15 GBP Comedy > Parental Guidance

A comedy classic

Advantages: Guaranteed to laugh, nice presentation of DVDs
Disadvantages: Only 12 episodes

...you can always rely on Fawlty Towers to either be voted the best or at least the second best comedy of all time. It is a remarkable achievement for a show that only ever had 12 episodes & which was slated by a senior BBC executive for being dull & uninspiring before it went on air. The first episode in 1975 had just over one million viewers at a time when we only had three TV channels to choose from. By the third episode the viewing figures had ...
...BASIC IDEA / STORY Fawlty Towers was written by the ex Monty Python creator John Cleese & his then wife & actress Connie Booth. The whole idea was based on a visit to the Hotel Gleneagles in Torquay in May 1971 when John Cleese & the other members of the Month Python team were staying. The owner of the hotel was Donald Sinclair who had a dislike to the hotel guests & was often very rude to them. He complained when he saw Terry Gilliam using a knife ...

ScottishWestie 18.08.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Fawlty Towers - Complete Fawlty Towers (DVD)

Jacko - God's gift to women

Advantages: One of my favourite comedies of the 1980s
Disadvantages: Sexist comments run riot!

...before I left home was Brush Strokes. There is nothing ground-breaking about this sitcom, it is just gentle pleasant humour that leaves you smiling at the end (unless you are strongly feminist, that is - in which case you'd be throwing things at the TV). So when I found a copy of the first two series on sale in my local WH Smiths, I couldn't resist a trip down memory lane. And what a trip it was. The producer Sydney Lotterby has been responsible ...
...of the Summer Wine, Butterflies, The Liver Birds, Porridge, Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em, Yes Minister and One Foot in the Grave. The theme music I rarely take any notice of the theme music to a programme, unless it is particularly good or bad. In this case, it is fabulous. Sung by Dexy's Midnight Runners (famous for Come on Eileen), Because of You is a beautiful song that I can't stop singing once I've got it into my head and meant a brief return to ...

sunmeilan 23.01.2006 · Read full review
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Review of Brush Strokes (DVD)

"Where everybody knows your name..."

Advantages: Funny, some good performances
Disadvantages: Less is sometimes more...

...the beginning of every episode, Cheers is filmed in front of a live audience. It is perhaps because of this that the acting sometimes seems as if it is in a theatre; the actors talk very very loudly and clearly as if we are all a bit stupid. Then there is the laughter. I have never been a fan of sitcoms that come complete with laughter; it is almost as if the director thinks the audience is a bit daft and needs to be told when to laugh. This is clearly ...
...less of the 'theatre-style' approach. There are twenty-two episodes in the first series and four discs in all. The episodes are quite short - around twenty minutes each - but the fact that there are so many of them means that there is a lot of viewing to be done. This is a good thing to a certain extent, but there are times when I felt that the humour would have been of a better quality had there been fewer episodes. It seems to be an American thing ...

sunmeilan 12.02.2008 · Read full review
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Review of Cheers - Series 1 (Box Set) (DVD)

Bel Air's fresh prince is still at it

Advantages: More great comedy and fantastic family fun
Disadvantages: none

...Parsons and Tatyana Ali. The initial first show aired in September 1990 with this second series airing a year later, although not getting onto DVD until 2005. This 4 disc set contains 24 episodes, (out of the 148 form the entire series) with the same old faces and the same old attitudes, only a lot more comical. MAIN CHARACTERS Will Smith (himself)is still the street wise teenage kid, originally from the tough streets of West Philadelphia ...
...for his life, usual to the annoyance of his rich uncle and others around him. He has an eye for the ladies and really does think he is gods gift to them. Philip Banks (James Avery) is Will’s rich uncle, starting as a being a high flying lawyer, then as a Judge, with a very ‘large’ personality. His no nonsense attitude to teenage delinquents is put to the test when Will arrives on the scene and he sees it as a challenge to control the feisty ...

blissman70 04.03.2009 · Read full review
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Review of The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air - Series 2 (DVD)

The pioneer of observational comedy

Advantages: Hilarious observational comedy, great nostalgia value
Disadvantages: Some sketches a bit hit and miss

The Stanley Baxter Collection- Review -Introduction- For anyone around in the 1970s and early 80s, and in particular anyone who was a child then like myself, the name Stanley Baxter will hold special memories. Unlike many other comdians who had their own regular series, Baxter was known for his annual comedy extravaganzas which were eagerly anticipated my his many fans. After seeing just one of these one can appreciate why they were annual events ...
...in many ways. Thanks to the release of this DVD set, it is hoped that he will obtain the wider recognition that he deserves both with old fans and with a new generation of viewers. -Content- The 2 disc DVD set basically comprises excerpts from 6 of his annual (usually Christmas) shows and includes much of what he is best known for. One of his strengths was his ability to produce beautifully observed take-offs of various well known films and TV ...

cladach29 02.09.2006 · Read full review
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Review of The Stanley Baxter Collection Vol 1 (DVD)