Frasier

[JuniperWoolf]

Well THAT would be much better. The characters are solid, but the few episodes that I saw from the first season were pretty annoying.

[TurquoiseSunset]

In a lot of British TV comedy sexual innuendo is practically de rigueur, as is seen here in the series 'Allo 'Allo, that ran for quite a while some years ago.

I loved 'Allo 'Allo. It was so ridiculous. I will never forget, "Leesten very closely, for I will say zis only vonce..." I also liked Keeping Up Appearances, Faulty Towers and Black Adder...and Brittas Empire come to think of it, but only because of Brittas. And there was this one cartoon about two podiatrists that I really liked as well.

Anyway, as for American comedy I currently like Mordern Family. I think it's brilliant. I also like BB Theory, but not as much as MF.

Hm, this has gone a bit off topic...

Edit: Back to Frasier. My favourite character was Niles. He just made the show for me.

[Emil Miller]

I loved 'Allo 'Allo. It was so ridiculous. I will never forget, "Leesten very closely, for I will say zis only vonce..." I also liked Keeping Up Appearances, Faulty Towers and Black Adder...and Brittas Empire come to think of it, but only because of Brittas. And there was this one cartoon about two podiatrists that I really liked as well.

Anyway, as for American comedy I currently like Mordern Family. I think it's brilliant. I also like BB Theory, but not as much as MF.

Hm, this has gone a bit off topic...

Edit: Back to Frasier. My favourite character was Niles. He just made the show for me.

Like much of British TV comedy 'Allo 'Allo was ridiculous but that's what made it funny. It's the TV equivalent of English seaside postcards, full of double entendres and vulgarity. It appeared on the London stage for a season and did very good business. A colleague of mine went to see it and said that there was a party of French people sitting behind him and they didn't laugh once throughout the entire performance.
Keeping up Appearances was also very funny. Unlike 'Allo 'Allo, the characters were closer to reality than caricatures: especially Onslow of whom there are many such individuals in the UK.

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

I think you're right about that. But it was a remote war for you.

Even WWII was not as central, metaphorically and actually, to the US - which was recognised even at the time. The handbook for GIs coming to Britain said, "Back home you were in a country at war. Here in Britain you are in a war zone."

My American wife was astonished when she went to the Imperial War Museum and saw pictures of London during the Blitz. As she said, "Jesus, it was 9/11 every night."

The first world war had a much bigger impact outside of the USA. For many countries it was like an entire generation of boys had been wiped out. In Canada, 1% of the population at large was killed in the war, with casualty levels comparable to the US's during the war, despite a much smaller population. The countries on the continent suffered even heavier losses.

Oh, we definitely don't have the personal connection that Europe has to these wars. Our only real connection is the soldiers that went over there, and they came in late, and they weren't fighting for their own home. I think, for Americans, the idea of our homeland being attacked on a large scale is completely novel. The idea itself is completely ludicrous, meant only for popular video games.

[TurquoiseSunset]

Like much of British TV comedy 'Allo 'Allo was ridiculous but that's what made it funny. It's the TV equivalent of English seaside postcards, full of double entendres and vulgarity. It appeared on the London stage for a season and did very good business. A colleague of mine went to see it and said that there was a party of French people sitting behind him and they didn't laugh once throughout the entire performance.
Keeping up Appearances was also very funny. Unlike 'Allo 'Allo, the characters were closer to reality than caricatures: especially Onslow of whom there are many such individuals in the UK.

Yes, the ridiculousness makes the show...without it the show would have been boring and forgetable.

And it's true what you say about Keeping up With Appearances too.

[CarpeNixta]

I don't remember much of Cheers (was too young then), but I love Frasier.
I also loved Seinfield, recently I watch The Big Bang Theory and Modern Family