No wrong answers. Could be a game show, docu-series, fiction, sci-fi, anything that didn’t make it but should have.
It has its flaws, but I quote The IT crowd almost weekly
Good morning, that’s a nice tnetennba.
A fire? At a Sea Parks ?
I’m disabled.
Leg disabled!
And how did it happen, if you don’t mind me asking?
Acid.
I think that’s one of the best episodes in the history of TV.
Sir, the police are here.
They would like to speak to you about some irregularities in the pension fund.
I enjoyed it in the past, but lost all ability to after it became known what a piece of human shit Graham Linehan is.
Pretty much all of the cast have done better things without him which are more worth watching.
100% it sucks having to reccomend the show, after hearing what he did/is doing.
I first learnt about it via an HBomberguy talk (and wikipedia research to confirm)
Black Books was great.
The little book of calm!
best depiction of a choleric autist so far
Time team. That shit was amazing. It went on for like 20+ years and EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. it was fascinating. The closest thing we have now is josh gates’ expedition unknown, which is really hit and miss. Recently it’s been so picky about things they’re likely to hit on that some seasons only have 4-6 episodes. He tries to make the finds to be to big. Time team found all kinds of fantastic things because they were just looking for historical significance, not mountains of treasure. But they always found treasures of some kind. That was a really great, fascinating show.
I’m also a really big fan of top gear.
I feel like this about another C4 program of that era - Grand Designs.
Gone on for years now, but it just seeing how these people underestimate what they are getting into and will then just throw extra fuel on the pressure fire “just started renovating this massive listed barn that’s 90% falling down and has no actual foundations, time to have a baby! Oh and you’re also self employed and going to manage the project yourself and do some of the building yourself you say?”
"To sum it up, how financially crippled are you and how many mortgages do you now have 😂 " .
Kevin McCloud is basically taking the piss out of you for the whole show.
It will be weird when it’s not on anymore.
Now we’re going down to the bottom field where Barry and Lucia believe they’ve found a wall.
Yeah, but guess what? They found a wall! It always felt so much better than like supernatural shows where they’re like “we totally found evidence” yeah, sure ya did. “No, we did, see this spec of dust? That’s a ghost”. Alright, but did ya find a floor or nails? Show me the gpr.
You might be interested in the Time Team Classics channel on YouTube. (link)
It’s still going!
Time team?!? Or top gear? Cause I’ve seen the new top gear and it’s… Meh.
No, new Time Team!
It’s not the original crew (mostly) but still really good.
Seriously? I hadn’t seen anything newer than 2014 or so! Is it exclusively BBC? Cause usually I saw it on random public access and Amazon.
Time Team was for Channel 4, but since they cancelled it they’ve done occasional privateer episodes on YouTube.
Time team was Channel 4. Not sure how they sell it abroad.
The Young Ones!
Jam.
Dark and weird sketch comedy from Chris Morris (probably best known for the film Four Lions, and the already-mentioned TV series Brass Eye). Transgressive comedy from the past usually either feels tame or completely unacceptable as social mores drift over time, but this (for the most part) still manages to sit in the sweet spot.
Seems my brain just assumed that Brass Eye had already been mentioned… Double checked the thread, and it somehow hasn’t, despite the Paedogeddon episode being one of the most notorious pieces of British TV in history. If you’re going to watch just one piece of Morris’ TV work, it should be this episode.
Absolutely Fabulous is a great sitcom about a teenaged girl dealing with her narcissistic mother’s shenanigans. funny AND has some real moments.
Spaced (1999–2001).
I’m genuinely curious how well known or underrated this one is.
Along with the mighty boosh (which is very… different) it is required viewing.
I always felt Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace deserves more recognition.
I know writers who use subtext, and they’re all cowards.
Matthew Holness has continued to do Garth Marenghi stuff post-TV series. You can actually read some of the novels Garth Marenghi wrote, and they’re just as good (by which I mean awful, in excellent ways) as you’d expect them to be. He’s even on a book tour right now!
It’s actually a work of art how meticulously they achieve the low budget 80’s B-horror aesthetic; acting, direction, cinematography, editing… everything. The random jump cuts (cemetery shotgun, lol), amateur framing, disjointed voiceovers, walking to nowhere at the end of a scene, or entering a scene for far too long, a Tombstone blowing in the wind.
It’s extremely difficult to intentionally make it all so shit while being so fucking funny. Perfection. Oh, and no fucking canned laughter!
The reason they only did one series is that everything you describe is much more expensive than doing it properly. It was the most expensive show Channel 4 had ever done to that point.
It’s amazing and I think about it often!
Also has a special place as the start of both Richard Ayoade and Matt Berry’s careers! Came out in January 2004 and they wouldn’t be seen on the Mighty Boosh until later that same year in May.
Absolutely!!
Bottom
Red dwarf
Such an epic comedy!
I think Red Dwarf isn’t really underrated. It’s considered a highly successful cult classic.
Most people that I talk with about it, haven’t heard of it. I hadn’t heard of it until I started playing Elite Dangerous and one of the available voice packs for a voice assistant was (among many other) for Holy
Huh, mind-boggling.
The first six series of Red Dwarf are amazing and incredible classic television, and the rest of Red Dwarf also exists.
The misfits. A show about a group of working class juvenile delinquents who suddenly get random super powers.
Ughhhh my husband and I used to LOVE this show when it was airing.
Went off the rails a bit towards the end though.
I still shout “Save me Barry!” from time to time.
The four-episode Dirk Gently miniseries.
It was so much better, both as TV and as something in the spirit of Douglas Adams, than that mess of a Netflix series which followed it.
Charlie Brooker’s Screenwipe/Newswipe shows.
A lot of people missed those back in the day and they missed them as the origin of the voice of our generation: Philomena Cunk. I really miss her compatriot Barry Shitpeas.
Also Charlie Brooker’s police procedural sendup A Touch of Cloth starring John Hannah is similarly criminally underrated.
Just imho Brooker’s comedy is way better than his dark scifi of Black Mirror.
Touching, Cloth.
We’re going to lose face, Cloth.
I shall find this squad’s duty register, and have you cut from the same, Cloth.
“I want that report on my table first thing tomorrow morning, Cloth”
“But sir-”
“On my table, Cloth!”
Dead Set was a bit of fun too
Absolutely! Screen Wipe was outstanding. Black Mirror is fine
I really liked a sitcom called Detectorists (2014-2017) from and with Mackenzie Crook. Ran for three seasons. Not many people know about this show here in the Netherlands. I hoped it had stayed on for longer.
Great show
an absolute gem!
calm, beautiful, funny!
The Detectorists is one of those shows that those who love it, LOVE IT, and those who don’t have never heard of it.
It’s genuinely one of the loveliest, most beautiful TV shows I’ve ever watched. It’s a truly happy space to be in, with almost no mean-spirited jokes.
I’m so glad someone mentioned this show. It was lovely!
The young ones
Loved the bands on there!
That introduced me to Motorhead and then to full on grindcore
That’s what I love about summer.
Tea on the lawn.
Fuck me, good pull. Extremely underrated!
That’s what I love about summer.
Tea on the lawn.
Summer’s a bummer.
