Old sitcoms which are so bad they should never be repeated

[Cartman]

The forgotten programmes thread got me thinking about this and we have mentioned one or two stinkers on there. Any that stand out as being so awful that they should be wiped?

Here's a few of my suggestions

Bottle Boys with Robin Askwith. Might have just about worked in about 1972, but by 1984, when it was on, this kind of stuff was well past its sell by.
Love thy Neighbour. A very very poor imitation of Till death do us Part. Rather than satirize racism, as Till Death cleverly, and funnily did, it was just an excuse to call each other silly names. Not only was it crude, but also totally unfunny.
Mind your Language. Just stupid and banal.
Virtually anything by Carla Lane, just not funny imo
I don't like The Vicar of Dibley, irritating and unfunny
Big Top with Amanda Holden, embarrassingly bad
Terry and June. Nuff said.
Sorry with Ronnie Corbett, cringingly bad

There will probably be more

[Del Boy]

I'm a bit sad and like the odd episode of sitcoms such as Terry & June and find them entertaining rather than funny. So many duff sitcoms over the years will no doubt find their way onto this thread. Here's a few I can think of for now. 

May to December - Awful and yet ran for a few series. 
Mrs Browns Boys - Crass stereotyping and totally overrated. I'm certain this wouldn't have a good chance of being commissioned in the golden age of tv.
Vicar Of Dibley - I just didn't get on with this one. Only gave it a chance because Roger Lloyd Pack was in it.

[Cartman]

My Family, with Robert Lindsay and Zoe Wanamaker

One, at about the same time, with Adam Faith, I can't remember what it was called, but it was terrible.

The Upper Hand, I always thought this was cringingly bad.

[Cartman]

I've just remembered the name of the Adam Faith one, it was called The House that Jack built. It was abysmal.

[Cartman]

Curry and Chips with Spike Milligan, and another one he did called The Melting Pot. This last one was pulled after only the first one was shown because it was so bad and the rest of the series was never shown.

[Arthur Pringle]

There are a few on at the moment on Forces TV including possibly the worst sitcom ever made ( well, I think so ) 'No Place Like Home', every episode is the same- the father complaining that he can't get any peace in his own home because his grown up kids won't leave, his wife endlessly making breakfast, the nosy wife next door interrupting her with gossip, her husband coming round for Albanian sherry. None of which is remotely funny or interesting, it's absolutely dire.

'After Henry' is also on Forces TV at the moment, posh Prunella Scales works in a bookshop that never has any customers & lives with her grown up daughter & interfering mother. Cue lots of sighing but not many laughs.

Of the ones you listed Cartman I actually like 'Mind Your Language', 'Terry And June' & 'Sorry'. 'Love Thy Neighbour' regardless of the racist language just isn't that good as Jack Smethurst & Rudolph Walker just aren't very gifted comic actors. Carla Lane did write episodes of 'Bless This House' which I like though I'm not that struck on 'The Liver Birds', 'Butterflies' or 'Bread'.

'Vicar Of Dibley' I've only seen clips of, not something I'd watch at all.

'May To December', young attractive woman falls in love with fat, bald, middle aged solicitor,  as funny as it sounds.

'As Times Goes By', more posh people's first world problems.

I think there are more naff sitcoms than good ones & too many set in cosy homes with characters arguing over domestic problems.

One popular sitcom I've never liked is 'Birds Of A Feather'.

[Nightfly]

I think I'm pretty much in agreement with all of the above and I too have never seen the appeal of any of Carla Lane's stuff.

I thought Mind Your Language was quite good at the time, but looking back now it was pretty dire, particularly the way they took every international stereotype and built the entire series around it. In a strange twist, I heard that the actor who played the Sikh character bought the format so he could tour a stage play version when it was plain that the series would never be repeated.

One sitcom I never had time for, even when it was first shown was Love Thy Neighbour. However many times Vince Powell has defended it and cited Eddie Booth as the figure of fun, it still only seemed to succeed in introducing some horrible names to the playgrounds and no doubt the bars of Britain in the 70s. I watched a couple of episodes on Youtube a year or so back just to see if they were as bad as I remembered and wished I hadn't.

A few others from the era where old established sitcom writers tried to tap into the changing times and failed miserably were Mixed Blessings (about an interracial couple, but still going down the cheap cliche route) and Miss Jones and Son about an unmarried mother. Even having Paula Wilcox as the star didn't save it.

The cosy family sitcoms of the 80s were an instant turn off for me. Was Keep it in the Family the one where the central character drew comic strips for a living and drew them all with a glove puppet on his hand ? If it was, then that was the only thing I can recall from it.

[Cartman]

I don't think Jack Smethurst got a lot of work after Love thy Neighbour finished. The only other things I ever saw him in were A Kind of Loving (the 1962 film) and a bit in Coronation Street, probably late 90s, not long before I stopped watching it.

[John Steed]

Oct 15, 2021 10:50:12 GMT Del Boy said:

I'm a bit sad and like the odd episode of sitcoms such as Terry & June and find them entertaining rather than funny. So many duff sitcoms over the years will no doubt find their way onto this thread. Here's a few I can think of for now. 

May to December - Awful and yet ran for a few series. 
Mrs Browns Boys - Crass stereotyping and totally overrated. I'm certain this wouldn't have a good chance of being commissioned in the golden age of tv.
Vicar Of Dibley - I just didn't get on with this one. Only gave it a chance because Roger Lloyd Pack was in it.

I agree with you mainly there Derek although I didn't mind Vicar of Dibley at the time. I thought Mrs Browns Boys was pretty dire though! 


Steed

[Gene Hunt]

Oct 15, 2021 19:45:43 GMT Cartman said:

I don't think Jack Smethurst got a lot of work after Love thy Neighbour finished. The only other things I ever saw him in were A Kind of Loving (the 1962 film) and a bit in Coronation Street, probably late 90s, not long before I stopped watching it.

He was also in For The Love Of Ada and a brief cameo in the Man About The House film with Rudolph Walker.

Gene.