The one good thing that the perpetually miserable RoryR contributed to this board was introducing me to the genius that is Still Game. The first six series of the show are brilliant, but I cannae say the same thing about the series from the last few years, which have their moments, but are fatigued in their execution. Even the lighting of the new shows are blah...
...but those episodes from 2002-2007 are among the best sitcoms ever produced. Screw Seinfeld!
Still Game will probably never appear in the US on those "afternoon tea time" programming blocks of "safe" PBS fare like As Time Goes By, Last of the Summer Wine, and Keeping Up Appearances. Still Game has far too much profanity, too much Glaswegian accent, and is far too coarse in general.
To Jim Phelps - Your observations in this instance are entirely accurate, and just about what I would have said myself. The episode "Swottin'" from the early series, where Bobby in The Clansman Bar organises a quiz night, was a super piece of comedy writing and presentation. The more recent efforts have been a bit laboured, the ideas no longer fresh...
Thanks to Still Game, I have begun a foolhardy search for Tennents lager in my neck of the woods, to say nothing of Fusiliers...
Some months back, I read that upon first release, Still Game was not popular south of the Scottish border. The English were far too uptight to appreciate it. Imagine that...
