The Most OVERated TV Shows of all Time

  • Thread starter Thread starter JustaServant
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
John_Lazarus said:
My choices for most overrated:
I Love Lucy. I’m sorry, I just don’t find Lucille Ball funny.đŸ€·
Click to expand...
I was going to add ILL in the ‘classic’ category, but I thought that might risk stoning.:eek:

Lucille Ball was a ‘B’ movie actress before television and rarely did comedy (although one of her first roles is in a Three Stooges short, as a bleached blonde!). Ball was very good at taking directions and THAT is why ILL and the first couple years of the Lucy Show were good. But when left to her own devices, she flopped. She was simply not AS talented as people think she was.
The real genius behind ILL was Desi Arnez and the writers. But the show hasn’t aged well IMHO. No doubt, Lucy had talent. But she became too sure of herself. Her ‘comeback’ in the early eighties is unbearable to watch.
 
BTW, for those interested, the Three Stooges short that featured Lucille Ball was ‘Three Little Pigskins’ from 1934. She was in her twenties and extremely skinny.
 
Personally I rather like the first several seasons of I Love Lucy – with Ricky, Fred, and Ethel. The late stuff is not so great, particularly after Lucy has ‘Little Ricky’. The Lucy Show, on the other hand, pales in comparison.

And if you don’t like I Love Lucy, then you definitely won’t like the movie The Long Long Trailer, that had Lucy and Ricky doing essentially the same characters only name Tracy and Nicky.

God bless

Tony
 
agp2176 said:
Oh yes – some of those older British comedies are so much fun. I love the way in Allo Allo Officer Crabtree always cracks me up when he says ‘Good moaning’ or refers to something being ‘up the drain po_op’ (don’t know if that word can be used here. Or LeClerc saying ‘It is I, LeClerc’

If you like it, I recommend, Open All Hours, To The Manor Born, The Darling Buds of May, and so many others. Truly great stuff

God bless

Tony
Click to expand...
and “Dad’s Army(the captain was so jealous of Sgt. Wilson!),” “Are You Being Served?,” “Waiting for God,” and “Keeping Up Appearances”(though the endings for the last were usually disappointing).
 
Young_Thinker said:
and “Dad’s Army(the captain was so jealous of Sgt. Wilson!),” “Are You Being Served?,” “Waiting for God,” and “Keeping Up Appearances”(though the endings for the last were usually disappointing).
Click to expand...
Are You Being Served is superb as was the sequel Grace and Favour. It (AYBS) hasn’t aged well though.

Interesting though is to place the character of Mr Humphreys (John Inman) in contrast to the preponderance of homosexual characters on TV today. Why was he not morally objectionable, but (gosh the only one I can think of since I don’t watch much TV) say Ellen Degeneris is – or say RuPaul. He was certainly over the top and everyone knew what he was about. Is it because it was what he was was implied and today its in your face and in living colour in front of you?

God bless

Tony
 
agp2176 said:
Are You Being Served is superb as was the sequel Grace and Favour. It (AYBS) hasn’t aged well though.

Interesting though is to place the character of Mr Humphreys (John Inman) in contrast to the preponderance of homosexual characters on TV today. Why was he not morally objectionable, but (gosh the only one I can think of since I don’t watch much TV) say Ellen Degeneris is – or say RuPaul. He was certainly over the top and everyone knew what he was about. Is it because it was what he was was implied and today its in your face and in living colour in front of you?

God bless

Tony
Click to expand...
That is curious. I have most of AYBS on DVD, and am 2/3rds of the way through Allo Allo. Both shows have homosexual characters that end up being the most likable characters on both shows. I suspect it has to do with the fact that neither had an agenda of forcing it upon the audience. A wink and a nudge were enough.
 
agp2176 said:
Are You Being Served is superb as was the sequel Grace and Favour. It (AYBS) hasn’t aged well though.

Interesting though is to place the character of Mr Humphreys (John Inman) in contrast to the preponderance of homosexual characters on TV today. Why was he not morally objectionable, but (gosh the only one I can think of since I don’t watch much TV) say Ellen Degeneris is – or say RuPaul. He was certainly over the top and everyone knew what he was about. Is it because it was what he was was implied and today its in your face and in living colour in front of you?

God bless
Tony
Click to expand...
I think so, not to mention that he was so flamboyant.
 
John_Lazarus said:
And I know I’m going to take real flak for this one
:stretcher:

I Love Lucy. I’m sorry, I just don’t find Lucille Ball funny.đŸ€·
Click to expand...
Here’s some flak :cool:

I so do not agree to this or the other post about it being all desi and not lucy!

:dts:
 
Young_Thinker said:
I think so, not to mention that he was so flamboyant.
Click to expand...
He was also an impeccable dresser (when not in costume/drag). Capt Peacock always wore a plain suit and regimental tie, and he and My Grainger always looked rather dowdy. Mr Lucas wore more “modern” clothing: suits and sport coats in those horrible 1970s colours (lots of earth tones). Mr Humphries always wore a well-tailored suit with a very sharp tie.

Mr Humphries may have been “obviously” homosexual, but there was an “out” (no pun intended) if you wanted: outside of double entendres and nudge-nudge-wink-wink, he never admitted to any actual preference for one gender or the other. One got the impression he might actually be an asexual momma’s boy who merely enjoyed the company of men and was given to “man-crushes”.

I watched a lot of AYBS? because it was one of my mom’s favourite shows. My dad enjoyed it a bit, because he was a men’s store clerk in the 1950s in Newfoundland (which was very British at the time): they had a WWII army officer as a floorwalker, calls of “Are you free, Mr X?”, all merchandise such as socks, gloves, etc behind the counters, tape measure around the neck, etc.

One of my favourite characters in that show was Young Mr Grace.
 
Anyone remember “Too close for Comfort” or “Salvage 1”?
 
John_Lazarus said:
He was also an impeccable dresser (when not in costume/drag). Capt Peacock always wore a plain suit and regimental tie, and he and My Grainger always looked rather dowdy. Mr Lucas wore more “modern” clothing: suits and sport coats in those horrible 1970s colours (lots of earth tones). Mr Humphries always wore a well-tailored suit with a very sharp tie.

Mr Humphries may have been “obviously” homosexual, but there was an “out” (no pun intended) if you wanted: outside of double entendres and nudge-nudge-wink-wink, he never admitted to any actual preference for one gender or the other. One got the impression he might actually be an asexual momma’s boy who merely enjoyed the company of men and was given to “man-crushes”.

I watched a lot of AYBS? because it was one of my mom’s favourite shows. My dad enjoyed it a bit, because he was a men’s store clerk in the 1950s in Newfoundland (which was very British at the time): they had a WWII army officer as a floorwalker, calls of “Are you free, Mr X?”, all merchandise such as socks, gloves, etc behind the counters, tape measure around the neck, etc.

One of my favourite characters in that show was Young Mr Grace.
Click to expand...
Yes, but I do not think that it was as good once Lucas, Grainger(with a seemingly half-dozen “replacements” for him), and Young Mr. Grace were no longer there.
 
Young_Thinker said:
Yes, but I do not think that it was as good once Lucas, Grainger(with a seemingly half-dozen “replacements” for him), and Young Mr. Grace were no longer there.
Click to expand...
I agree wholeheartedly – with the possible exception of Alfie Bass’ “Mr Goldberg”, who for a while was a good replacement for Mr. Grainger.
 
One I would like to add:
Law and Order (including it’s many spinoffs).
In the early years I could put up with the liberal agenda because it had some pretty good stories and had the presence of Michael Moriaty and Stephen Hill. But as the show aged the stories simply became vehicles for Dick Wolf to air his political and social point of view (I mean, dang, abortion clinics must be getting bombed once a week!:rolleyes:).
But this is epidemic in modern Hollyweird. They seem to have lost the ability to simply tell a good yarn. And L&O is a prime example.
It makes me wonder if anyone in Hollywood has ever read a book.
 
I watched Too Close for Comfort and remember it being somewhat funny.

I can`t believe nobody has said The Jeffersons yet, I watched that lately and it was just so unfunny.

I also watched a later season of Cheers, with Rebecca Howe instead of Diane Chambers and it was painful to watch. It was a show in its death throes that needed to be put out of its misery.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top