Titus Season 3 (2001)

Horrible, heinous, brutal stuff happens to everyone. So if something tragic happens in your life, go ahead, take some time and grieve. *DING* Time's up! Movin' on.

Christopher Titus is working on regaining his reputation and getting his finances in order for his failing hot rod business. That is the overarching plot, but it is actually largely unimportant and mostly forgotten later in the season. The show continued with its dark subject matter, moving on to episodes focused on child abuse, murder, severe mental illness and hate crimes against LGBT. The latter actually won the show a GLAAD award since even though the characters were crass about it, it still put forth that gays deserve equal rights. Pretty radical stuff for 2001 TV. The latter half of the season is probably the best, both in laughs and subject matter as the severe mental illness of Titus' mother affects almost everything in the show. The black comedy was in fine form with hilarity mixed with a sincerity that comes from Titus having actually gone through real life situations that inspired the show.

The show was hitting a stride despite the networks' continued objections to the crude content that caused a few episodes to air out of order and mixed with a plot about a disturbance on a plane in THAT year caused a delayed airing that further threw the schedule out of whack and a meeting with executives that Christopher has talked about several times caused the show to be cancelled. As Titus puts it, "Call your boss an idiot enough times and they will fire you." The silver lining is the show went out before it became too formulaic like other shows that also have heavy use of cutaway jokes and flashbacks, but the theatrical play filming was still fairly unique. Like the other seasons, it can feel a little dated now, but still worth the time to watch.

Buyer's Guide:
Only available on out of print DVD box sets that at least have some decent extras.

4 taking out 4 armed guards with a pair of tweezers out of 5

Titus Seasons 1 & 2 (2000-2001)

"The Los Angeles Times states "63% of American families are now considered dysfunctional." That means we're the majority. We're normal. It's the people that had the mom, dad, brother, sister, little white picket fence, those people are the freaks."

Christopher Titus comes from a family that would be considered "dysfunctional". The half hour episodes would open with Titus in a black and white room talking directly to the audience and often relay some quote or story that is thematically part of the plot of the episode which are pulled almost verbatim from his one man comedy show Normal Rockwell Is Bleeding which was itself based on his real life. He grew up with his father who was a hard drinking, smoking, womanizing, 5-time divorcee who perpetually berates and belittles Titus and his idiot, stoner brother Dave in what he sees as a tough love approach to parenting. His mother was a violent, alcoholic, manic-depressive schizophrenic who was in and out of mental hospitals. As an adult he now runs his own hot-rod body shop with his brother and his best friend Tommy who is anxious and effeminate, which means he is constantly the butt of gay jokes despite being heterosexual. Titus is often only managing this craziness with the help of his girlfriend, Erin, who also comes from a dysfunctional family of alcoholic thieves and drug dealers, but has managed to grow into a somewhat normal person. The episodes would then end in the black and white "neutral space" where Titus would reiterate what he said before but now with the meaning skewed and turned on its side.

The show would often take on subject matter that other shows would fear to tread except in a special episode with a viewer discretion disclaimer. Titus would revel in it and crack fun at them while still treating the subject matter with respect whether it was sexual harassment, substance abuse, murder, suicide, etc. This puts the show squarely in the section of black comedy and it was actually part of the show's downfall. The battle with censors and the network over content was constant with Titus relaying one story about how he had to read the script for an episode page by page to an executive on the phone to convince him how it could be funny that they have to convince his father to resume drinking rather than quit because sobriety made him boring and listless. The shows were also different in shooting style as it was shot in real time in front of a studio audience on a set like a play usually in just one location. The laugh track is actually the audience members. Flashbacks and the neutral space interruptions were also played for the audience so it was seen almost exactly as it would be on air. Episodes were mostly self-contained with no overarching story with only a few bits of continuity which was only really thrown out of whack when the network would push episodes out of order for fear of its controversial plot. With its mostly untread material on network TV, its sharp and witty comedic timing and very non politically correct characters, there was nothing quite like it at the time. While it may feel a little dated now, the show still holds up on repeat viewings.

Buyer's Guide:
The DVD sets are now out of print and only available second hand which is a shame as this would be perfect for binge viewing on Netflix or other streaming service. There is a decent amount of bonus content on the discs if one does manage to grab a set.

4½ Don't be a wussy out of 5

The Royle Family: The Complete Collection (2013)

A fly on the wall style comedy about a stereotypical Manchester family who spend their lives on the sofa watching crap on television. They’re average Joes; common as shit, with a sideboard full of useless tatt and a TV remote held together with some quick-fix insulating tape. Until you warm to the flawed characters, or recognise something of your own family in them, it’s hard to see how it could possibly be entertaining. It may take more than one episode for that to happen. Waiting a week for one instalment is the worst way to experience anything episodic, but happily the series has ended, so you can binge.

The head of the family, Jim Royle (Ricky Tomlinson), is the star. His every second outburst is some kind of sarcastic, critical reproach or joke at someone else’s expense. When not making friends that way, he’s scratching himself or picking his nose. Jim unashamedly does all the things publicly that most men do privately (expect that!). There’s a little bit of Jim in everyone.

His long-suffering wife Barbara (Sue Johnston) is cook and cleaner. She likes to gossip but has a heart of gold beneath the outer shell. Somehow she and Jim mustered up the enthusiasm to have two children: twenty-something layabout Denise (Caroline Aherne) and her dogsbody brother Anthony (Ralf Little). He gets less screen time than the others, but he’s my second favourite character.

Outside of the core family, a small number of friends and neighbours pop in when they need something. It’s a small cast but you’ll be hard-pressed to find a better written set of characters in a sitcom. They share mannerisms and exhibit inherited traits like a real family who spend all their time together would.

In the three years that the weekly show ran, the camera never left the house interior. We were given glimpses of the outside world but it wasn't until the specials came along that the exterior was explored. When it happens that first time, have your hankies at the ready because it’s one of the most unforgettable and emotionally powerful TV moments I've ever witnessed. Really.

20 episodes, most of which are approx 30 minutes each, and 5 specials that run longer. Everything up to and including the 2006 special is quality, but everything afterwards was less successful. There was an attempt to wed absurdest comedy into the mix, which really didn't work.

3½ bacon-butties (made by Anthony) out of 5

Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere (2004)

Max (Peter Kay) and Padddy (Patrick McGuinness) got their own series. Ding dang doo! The pair were last seen as bouncers on the door of the Phoenix Club in Phoenix Nights (2001-02) and had appeared in That Peter Kay Thing (1999) prior to that. If you're new to Peter Kay's world, don't worry, it's not necessary to have seen either of the previous series to enjoy Road to Nowhere.

Max sees himself as a tough but sensitive intellectual. He reads the newspaper.

Paddy sees himself as a rock hard Love God.  He reads Razzle.

The two friends live and travel around in a shoddy motorhome that has a Mr T bobblehead on the dash. Why? Why not!

The reality of their 'Easy Rider' lifestyle is simply two gobshites in a cramped space. The comedy is split between that and the scrapes they get into when they stop the vehicle and venture out into the real world.

If the show had maintained the quality of the first two episodes, it'd be a classic, but the four that followed weren't quite as good. It's still hilarious most of the time, I don't mean to imply otherwise. What made it special was that it'd occasionally drop a sensitive moment on you when you least expect it.

6 episodes, approx 25 minutes each.

3 cherry bakewells out of 5

Blackadder: The Specials (1988 - 1999)

I'm not going to go into every detail about this volume, because it's the weakest entry in the series and will be of very little interest to most people. It's damn expensive to buy singly, so, for the completists who already own Series I–IV, if you must have it your best option is to double-dip and get The Complete Collection Box Set for a fraction of the price.

Firstly, Blackadder's Christmas Carol. It's the Dickens classic given a comedy makeover, featuring some of the best comedic talent in Britain at the time. It's longer than a typical episode. It was a joy to see Robbie Coltrane doing comedy again. He's good at it. What more can I say? Stuff it in your gift sock.

The Cavalier Years is an interesting addition. It's set in 1648, during the English Civil War. It's very similar to Blackadder II. If you picture Lord Edmund with a shaggy-perm wig you'll be close to the mark. It was part of Comic Relief's Red Nose Day in 1988 and is sadly only half the length of a regular episode. It's good that it's a standalone because, while it could've certainly worked as a series, it's much too similar to what came before.

The remainder of the disc is less than impressive. I'll mention Blackadder: Back and Forth because it's presented as the 'final episode in the saga,' but the less said about it the better because it's a piss-poor effort. Rowan Atkinson tries his best but it feels as if everyone else is merely going through the motions for old-times sake. It was a disappointing end to an otherwise great series.

2½ buggered giddy aunts out of 5

Blackadder Goes Forth (1989)

In some ways it's business as usual, but in other ways the fourth incarnation is very different. I can't say why without going into spoiler territory, but I'm confident you'll come to the same kind of conclusions if you watch it.

It's set in 1917. Edmund and his companions occupy a WWI trench on the Western Front. They're all a little stir crazy. Edmund being Edmund means he'd rather be elsewhere doing other things, anything, and so spends the entire time trying to achieve that seemingly impossible goal.

It's a kind of reunion of past cast members, each given a military rank. Besides Captain Blackader there's Private S. Baldrick (Tony Robinson); Lieutenant George (Hugh Laurie); Captain Darling (Tim McInnerny); General Melchett (Stephen Fry); and a few more cameos. Fry gets some of the best lines. I'm amazed he managed to deliver many of them without breaking down into hysterics.

While Blackadder II remains my personal favourite, there's no doubt that IV has better production. The sets are more believable and the costumes are beautifully made. It feels less like a comedy sketch show with a tacked on plot and more like an actual sit-com with real, lasting consequences. The actors fit their roles perfectly. The individual episodes are better scripted and the satire is arguably more relevant to our time. The last episode in particular deserves high praise.

6 episodes, approx 30 minutes each.

4 of the best, trousers down out of 5

Blackadder the Third (1987)

The third incarnation of Blackadder jumped forward to the years leading up to the British Regency period (sometime in the late 18th or early 19th Century), making Edmund the personal butler of the Prince of Wales.

The cast was lessened considerably, to just four regulars, and to compensate the dialogue was given even more importance. There seems to have been a conscious effort to make almost every word of Edmund's have some hilarious snide or sarcastic humour attached to it. He really is an acerbic git.

Baldrick is as important to the show's structure as Blackadder himself, so it's no surprise to see him return.

We finally get to see Mrs Miggins, who, no disrespect to actress Helen Atkinson-Wood, was the only new addition that felt de trop. The character simply didn't get anything noteworthy to do.

The final regular is the son of King George III, the Prince Regent who's also called George, played by Hugh Laurie. Laurie is a natural born comedian. He's utterly believable as the epitome of the thick-as-shit, silver spoon-fed toff; he even managed to make Baldrick look relatively smart.

The Royal setting again enabled critique of the upper class and the monarchy, both of whom deserve all they get. Hurrah!

6 episodes, approx 30 minutes each.

3½ turnips out of 5

Blackadder II (1986)

After the disappointing first series, I'm surprised that Blackadder II ever got the green light, but it did and I'm very glad. Ben Elton joined Richard Curtis on writing duties, which helped matters considerably. Ben was no stranger to cheap alternative comedy having worked on The Young Ones a few years before. The BBC put restrictions on the production, but the two men managed to turn them to their advantage.

It's set in England during the Elizabethan era (1558–1603). The new Blackadder is a descendent of the original Black Adder. That means he can have different characteristics and a different personality. Elizabethan Edmund is a lot more confident and much less of a wet handkerchief. He also has to be more cunning because he's still attached to the Royal Court, and the Queen will have his head if she finds out about his antics. She's impulsive like that.

Both Percy (Tim McInnerny) and Baldrick (Tony Robinson) returned, but there was no Brian Blessed (Boo!). His absence was softened by having some new cast members who brought a new dynamic to the show.

Miranda Richardson played Queen Elizabeth. For two decades now whenever someone mentions Queen Elizabeth she’s the first thing I think of.

The Lord Chamberlain, Melchett, is played by the awesome Stephen Fry.

Patsy Byrne played the bewildering Nursie, the Queen's former nanny.

And finally, cameos from a small number of other famous British comedians kept things interesting. You'll find out who they were if (or when) you watch it.

6 episodes, approx 30 minutes each.

3½ devil's dumplings out of 5

The Black Adder (1983)

The first incarnation of The Black Adder isn't very good, but the ones that followed it definitely are. I wouldn't argue with anyone that says it ought to be skipped entirely in favour of the superior Blackadder II (1986). The only niggle I would have is that the viewer will miss out on Brian Blessed being awesome. The man with the giant's voice gets all the best scenes, and he chews them up fervently. If someone was to make a compilation consisting of just those moments, then that person would be your friend.

It's an alternative history comedy set during the Middle Ages (the years 1485 – 1498) in which Richard III is succeeded by Richard IV after the Battle of Bosworth Field. His son, Edmund Plantagenet, is the Black Adder (Rowan Atkinson), a weasely, snivelling little prick who wants desperately to be King but doesn't have the stones to go about it in the correct manner.

The character does get bolder and more viscously sarcastic as the series nears its end, but the forced, exaggerated facial expressions don't get any less irritating; it's like watching an early ancestor of Mr Bean, only worse.

William Shakespeare gets a writing credit on every episode. I suspect he'd have approved, given the nature of some of the comedy.

6 episodes, approx 30 mins each.

2 Hessian underthings out of 5

The Book Group: The Complete First Series (2002)

Clare Pettengill (Anne Dudek) is a neurotic single woman from Cincinnati. After moving to Glasgow she finds herself alone and friendless. In a desperate attempt to connect with someone she starts a book group, but the people that turn up at the meeting aren't the kind of people she was hoping for.

There are seven members in all. Each one embodies a specific trait that acts like a peg to hang the wry sitcom humour on. There’s the pretentious twat, the giggly bint, the track-suited sports fan, etc. The awkwardness attached to meeting new people eventually gives way to the awkwardness attached in getting closer to people and finding out about their troubled private lives. The burgeoning openness helps the stereotypes break free of their rigid pigeonhole.

What’s strange is that the series was written and directed by an American woman (Annie Griffin) while living in Scotland but it’s not solely from her perspective. I expected it to be an outsider’s view of a unique culture, but it mocks both cultures and their idioms effortlessly. Annie seems to have understood her environment better than most would in her situation.

The little things help keep it interesting. There are some universal truths to make everyone smile, but I suspect a British audience will laugh at things that an American audience overlook, and certainly vice versa.

As the series progresses it becomes less about book discussion and more about the individuals and their developing bond. It’s a shame it’s so short, because it’s really quite enjoyable in a time-wasting kind of way.

6 episodes, approx 24 minutes each (139 minutes in total).

3 slices of Vicky Sponge out of 5

ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT - Season Three [2005]

"You know, 

your average American male is in a perpetual state of adolescence, 

you know, arrested development."

After two years of struggling in the ratings, the critically acclaimed but sadly neglected Mitch Hurwitz sitcom Arrested Development was ready to close shop at the FOX network.  Normally the network would cancel a show with such low ratings after 10 episodes or so but they saw the brilliance and passion put into the series and allowed to tread water for a total of three years, so for once, we can't really blame the network for letting it go underwater.  

The third season continues it's attack of rapid fire jokes, blink and you'll miss them punchlines and twisted characters galore.  With knowledge of being cancelled the writers were able to sneak in as many in-jokes and nods to the loyal fans as they possibly could without ever worrying about having to attract new viewers.  However it didn't stop them from sarcastically pleading the viewer, even though they knew it well past too late, to "tell your friends about this show".  Graced with some wonderful guest stars (including Charlize Theron in probably the funniest thing I think I've seen her ever do) the regular cast are firing on all cylinders which would eventually allow them all to move onto bigger more successful projects but never quite as good as this series.  This season contains perhaps one of the funniest scenes I have ever seen on television, causing me to hyper-ventilate, that has to do with a mole and a jet pack.  One cast member I should mention is Micheal Cera who is constantly criticized for playing the same awkward kid role over and over but this is the first time he does it and where it works best as he's put into these awful situations.  

I can go on and on about how fantastic and witty this show was but it's best you just go out and check it out for yourself from the very beginning.  

13 episodes. 22 minutes each.

Buyer's Guide:
Available in DVD box sets and on iTunes, Netflix and Amazon.

 4 Wee Britains out of 5

ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT - Season Two [2004]

"It's called taking advantage.

It's what gets you ahead in life."

After the perfect execution of the debut season of the criminally underwatched sitcom Arrested Development, Mitch Hurwitz & co. had a lot to live up to.  Four episodes shorter than the previous season, the laughs are as strong as ever and the serialized storyline is even more confusing if you miss an episode or two. 

This time around, George Bluth Sr. is a wanted fugitive, secretly hiding in the Bluth family attic, known only to Michael who has every right to just turn him in but won't for various complicated reasons.  Several other plotlines are introduced into the mix that spiderweb into a manic mess of chaos that always seems to meet up at the end of the season.  The plotting of the season might not be as tightly wound as the first year but some of the jokes are the funniest things I've ever seen.  It rewards viewers with multiple viewings, as I'm still catching things I've never noticed before, including many in-jokes that are a direct "fuck you" to the way the Fox network was treating the program.  The plots seem to have a more outlandish style than before, by including a flesh-eating seal, a "wolf" on the loose in L.A. and even David Cross in a surreal version of Mrs. Doubtfire.  

It also continues it's trend of wonderfully funny guest stars to support the strong ensemble cast, including Henry Winkler (who actually jumps over a shark in one ep), Liza Minelli, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Martin Short, Carl Weathers, J.K. Simmons and even The Blue Man Group.

With every critic and their dog calling the show brilliant, funny, clever and "the best sitcom of the 2000's", it's hard to come up with anything that hasn't been said before but the fact is they're all correct and I'll gladly beat the dead horse and agree with everything that's been said before.  The series is not for everybody but I shouldn't have to tell you that anymore.  As Maeby Fünke says in an episode, shortly after Fox tried pair the show with Family Guy, only to have it fail even more, " Why are we even going after this idiot demographic?"

18 episodes. 22 minutes each.

Buyer's Guide:
Available in DVD box sets and on iTunes, Netflix and Amazon.

4 Lucille and the Loose Seals out of 5

ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT - Season One [2003]

"Now the story of a wealthy family who lost everything

and the one son who had no choice but to keep them all together."

With the help of Ron Howard as both executive producer and narrator, Mitch Hurwitz, co-creator of The Ellen Show, was able to turn Arrested Development into one of the most consistently funny and refreshingly well written sitcoms to grace American television sets.  It centers around widowed father Michael Bluth (Jason Bateman) as he struggles to hold his abysmally dysfunctional socialite family and their once wealthy business together, after their father and CEO George Bluth (Jeffrey Tambor) is sent to prison.  

Shot like a hand-held documentary series, with frequent flashbacks and archival photographs, the series keeps a frantic, yet pleasing pace, while depending on the wonderfully assembled ensemble cast to glue it all together.  It's rare that such a large cast works so well together but this group hasn't a weak link in the bunch.  Every single interaction and combination of characters makes for hilarious and interesting moments while constantly driving the plot forward.  Like Seinfeld, each episode begins with multiple unrelated plots that all seem to cleverly meet up in the end, usually resulting in complete disaster.  

Unlike most sitcoms, Arrested Development is told in a serialized episodic format, so it's best you watch it from the first episode, which seemed to frustrate several viewers who wanted their shows to be forgotten minutes after it was over.  AD never panders to those unable to think outside the idiot box and instead asks for your close attention and memory to understand several of it's "blink and you'll miss them" jokes.  As a fancy way to wrap things up in a short epilogue format, it tags on a "false" preview of the next episode, which did nothing but infuriate dullards who just didn't seem to understand what it really was and needed their humor spoon fed to them.  

Normally it takes a half a season or full year for a series to find it's groove but Arrested Development knew exactly what it was doing from the first episode and makes it all the more stronger in the long run.  Sadly, the series struggled to find a proper audience and became that "I heard it's good but never seen it" series, which is quite frankly infuriating when Chuck Lorre sitcoms are shat out like hotcakes for years on end.  

22 episodes.  22 minutes each.

Buyer's Guide:

Available in DVD box sets and on iTunes, Netflix and Amazon.

5 Families With Low Self Esteem out of 5

My Name is Earl: Season One (2006)

Earl Hickey was an opportunist. He'd take any opportunity that came his way and not give a damn about consequences. If you left your car door unlocked, he'd take your car. Earl was that kind of guy.

After a particularly hard day he's floored by an epiphany, which sets him on a path of reparation trying to right his wrongs in a way that he believes Karma would find appropriate. Nothing ever goes according to plan, but he struggles on, aware that Karma is watching his every move, because he believes that once he's cancelled out his misdeeds his life will improve.

That's the basis for the entire series. Each week Earl tackles a new wrong from his past that he feels should be put right. It's a concept that's perfect for an episodic comedy, but it needed a sympathetic and likeable loser to make it work. They found it in Jason Lee. He's the perfect loser.

Earl's friends and family are equally important to the show's dynamic, and there again the casting team lucked out. Everyone is entirely suited to their role.

My Name is Earl is light-hearted entertainment with real heart and real laughs. Most of us should be able to relate to his plight on some level.

24 episodes, approx 20 minutes each.

3½ roadmaps to a better life out of 5

The Mighty Boosh: Series Two (2006)

The Boosh changed location for the second series but remained just as weird and unique as before. The two leads, Vince Noir (Noel Fielding) and Howard Moon (Julian Barratt), no longer work at the Zoo. Instead, they're shacked up in a North East London flat, which they share with the shaman Naboo the Enigma, and his familiar Bollo, the talking Ape, both of whom were also in Series One.

Despite their musical differences, Howard and Vince form a band. They somehow make their quest for recognition and stardom the catalyst for bizarre storylines involving singing, dancing, and failed romancing.

The show appears to have had a cash injection, enabling the guys to build more elaborate sets that facilitate ever more elaborate scripts. By the final episode all the stops are out and they are deep in the Boosh.

Both Noel and Julian play multiple parts, as does Rich Fulcher (who played Bob Fossil in S1); they're so damn good at it that at times I wasn't sure if it was or wasn't them beneath the make-up. The moronic Moon was a stroke of genius.

Only 6 episodes this time, approx 28 minutes each.

3 mangina lights out of 5

The Mighty Boosh: Series One (2005)

The Mighty Boosh is an alternative British comedy series that's just plain weird. I can't even think of an easy comparison to make this review go quicker. The show primarily revolves around two main characters, Howard Moon (Julian Barratt) and Vince Noir (Noel Fielding), both of whom are zookeepers at England's shittiest Zoo, The Zooniverse, a dilapidated, mostly empty, crappy little hovel.

Howard resembles the guy from your local supermarket who hovers in the bread aisle. He agonises over every decision, loves jazz funk and wants desperately to sleep with Mrs Gideon, the Reptile House lady. He has no chance.

Vince resembles a Dr Doolittle and Rod Stewart love child. He has perfect hair, a love of electro pop and a laid back attitude to life. The less he tries the more he succeeds. Mrs Gideon, the Reptile House lady, wants to sleep with him.

When not feeding animals or chilling in their homely hut, the pair stumble into ridiculous adventures that rarely make any rational sense.

There are recurring characters who help fuel the madness: the aforementioned Mrs Gideon; the resident shaman Naboo, who likes his hookah; the zoo manager, Bob Fossil, who's 51 cards short of a full deck; and the zoo owner, Dixon Bainbridge, with his upstaging moustache. Most of them play some part in the drama, even if it's just to take a kick in the balls.

There's no one definable element that makes Boosh entertaining. It's the mix of well-crafted characters, the clever insults, the off-the-wall events, the ridiculous conceits, and the dancing animals that separate it from the crowd.

8 episodes, approx 28 minutes each.

3½ human persons who buff and squirt out of 5

Red Dwarf X (2012)

It’s been three years since the Red Dwarf crew last left a streak of brown across the blackness of space, so it's great to see them back with a welcome tenth series (the mini-series Back to Earth is considered Series IX). I can happily say it feels like they never left. The four guys slip back into character with ease.

The first episode is a little shaky, but episode two picks up the pace and things quickly fall into place. The gags come quick and fast, like they should.

Doug Naylor is once again on writing duties for all six episodes, dropping in references to past exploits that will please long-time fans. He finds the perfect balance between the show’s sit-com origins and the comedy drama that it toyed with in later years; it's a bit of both this time. For those that don’t know, Naylor is one half of the original team that created the series back in 1988. The other was Rob Grant. It wouldn't feel the same without at least one of them being present.

Howard Goodall returns to music duties. He composed the music for the series from its very beginning until series VII, so it’s a joy to have him back.

6 episodes, approx 29 minutes each.

3½ hey-ho, pip and dandy out of 5

Men Behaving Badly: Series 3 (1994)

The further misadventures of flatmates Gary (Martin Clunes) and Tony (Neil Morrissey), which is based on a Simon Nye novel of the same name.

It's business as usual for the guys that never grow up. Getting a channel change and a post-watershed slot meant the jokes could get cruder and consequently funnier. The writers are also getting better at what they do. In fact, everything begins to gel much more cohesively this time. The cast are clearly enjoying themselves more; you can see Caroline Quentin struggling not to burst into laughter more than once.

Topics covered in Series 3 include sexual-inferiority, insomnia, a relationship-saving holiday, and the dirtiest of words: Marriage. *shudder*

It's a British sitcom that hits and misses. When it hits, about 60% of the time, it's classic stuff.

6 episodes, approx 25 mins each.

3½ beers, Tupperware pouches and a face like an ass out of 5

BOTTOM - The Complete Series [1991-1995]

“You get born, you keep your head down and then you die.
…if you’re lucky.”

After taking some time off from working together on 1986's Filthy, Rich & Catflap, actor/writers Adrian Edmonson & Rik Mayall team-up once again to create the classic 90's BBC alternative comedy series Bottom for 3 series of 6 episodes each.

Showcasing the same sort of creative enthusiasm as they did in The Young Ones, Mayall & Edmonson seem right at home with their special trademark violent slapstick and gross-out humour.  While The Young Ones dealt with political & social issues and Filthy, Rich & Catflap took jabs at fame and celebrities, Bottom is simply just 2 middle-aged Hammersmith losers trying to get by with no morals or sense of a sanitary lifestyle whatsoever.  It doesn't offer much to think about but belts out the funny like nobody's business.

With Mayall & Edmonson's usual director Ben Elton out of the picture, things seem a bit different this time around but all is not lost as he's been replaced by Red Dwarf’s Ed Bye and Fawlty Towers' Bob Spiers to tame the bug-eyed alt. comedians down to a little bit of sense.  The arrival of their old The Young Ones' co-star Christopher Ryan and Steve O'Donnell as two of their equally pathetic friends is always a welcome addition to the episode.   The first 2 series were mostly set in the front room of their building and the third series seemed to have a bit more of a budget and allowed them take the series to different settings without ever sacrificing the quality of the writing. 

It's not quite the anarchic comedy of The Young Ones, but it’s certainly better than Filthy, Rich & Catflip and has staying power that begs for more. 

18 episodes.  30 minutes each.  

Buyer’s Guide:
The complete series is widely available on DVD in complete series sets.

3½ Souped up trick ‘r treating cattle prods out of 5

Everybody Loves Raymond: Season 1 (1996)

Comedian Ray Romano heads this traditional sitcom about sportswriter Ray Barone and his colorful family life in Long Island, New York. The title is coined in the pilot by jealous brother Robert (fellow comedian Brad Garrett) from a place of envy and sarcasm. Ray's wife Debra (Patricia Heaton) is a fleshed-out representation of a genuine homemaker who must handle three young children and the daily intrusions of her in-laws who live right across the street. The source of most of the conflict and comedy generate from Ray's parents (the oil & water pairing of Doris Roberts and Peter Boyle) who infest every facet of their son's life.

Like most great comedy it comes from truth as the writers add a spin on their daily happenings. To date I have seen every episode of Everybody Loves Raymond and it is interesting to see the transformations from season one to nine. Romano, not an actor, struggles in certain dramatic situations but with the aid of a strong supporting cast and a role written as close to his real life as possible, he succeeds. Early on his profession is exploited too much with a collective who's-who of sports guest stars. As the series progresses it becomes obvious that home is where the laughs reside as they do in my favorite season 1 episode "The Game" when the family attempts a board game because the cable is out.

As creator Phil Rosenthal has commented, the writers take responsibility and portray a sitcom suitable for the family but this certainly does not add any water-downed stigma. Everybody Loves Raymond creates comedy from colorful family life and while the show would continue to grow greater, this is where the laughs started.

Buyer's Guide:
Available as a 5 disc boxset containing episodes 1-22

3 chin touches out of 5