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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 พ.ค. 2024
- My Family is one of Britain's most successful sitcoms and I think it says a lot about our national character.
/ stubagful
Interview with Fred Barron - gold.uktv.co.uk/my-family/art...
Kris Marshall explains why he left My Family - www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-n... - บันเทิง
![Woo-hoo!: How Blur Mocked Grunge & Destroyed Britpop ["Song 2"] | New British Canon](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Q29G7YDCq9Y/mqdefault.jpg)
Yes I did spend this video referring to 'series' as 'seasons' on purpose - given the show's American roots it felt appropriate
I too have "gone with the flow". "Seasons" makes things easier. However I console myself with the fact that streaming has made British terms WAY more understood in North America than during the 1980s which were my formative years. So it balances out.
In this instance, we will allow it.
I remember watching early ….seasons…of this when it was on telly and enjoyed how negative it was. It felt more grounded and cynical. Felt like home.
I dont say it, but I don't get annoyed by it anymore. Which is progress.
I used to avoid using 'seasons' but then accepted that the seasons make up a series
@lindalangart I thought I was over it, but this comment annoyed me. Oh well.
My biggest problem with this show is I openly hated the fact he was constantly moaning about being poor, while living in a house which was 10 times bigger than my council house I grew up in.
Watching it now would probably depress a lot of people. The boom years - let's have sitcoms where middle class people complain about having a mortgage to pay, 3 kids and boring desk job.
@@LLydarth Bit like the Simpsons really, not aged well in that regard. You telling me a poor broke guy like Homer whos working a minimum wage job with an unemployed wife can afford a three story home with garden, basement, attic, garage with two cars AND three kids?
@@mpg272727 There's a lot of similar examples from that time, like Friends in which a group of underemployed 20-somethings can somehow afford to live in enormous flats in one of the most desirable parts of Manhatten. Even more absurd now but it was frequently remarked upon as being ridiculous at the time. Part of it I imagine is the need to have large and interesting enough sets to frame the action while writing characters that still feel relatable.
I think that’s actually a pretty valuable lesson. No matter what someone has, they’re never happy with it
I grew up in a first storey two bed flat but had friends at school who lived in five or six bedroom houses with enormous gardens (one of them had a swimming pool) and *all* of their parents complained about money. My dad complained about money all the time, I’ve complained about money all my life, but he and I and probably you as well have a lot compared to the vast majority of the people in the world
@@ericlayton8888 I agree with all of that but I don't think it was the writers' intention. They were just presented as your average family. It reflects the smug we're-all-middle-class-now times it was made in. Ben's nihilistic rants are completely incongruous to the bland plots where nothing happens. The teenagers are spoilt, shallow stereotypes of Millenials.
Interesting fact. Robert Lindsay, who plays Ben, had begun to experience some success in movies. Then, one of his costars in one movie got mistreated by Harvey Weinstein and he stood up for her. In return, Weinstein ended Lindsay's big screen career.
If more people had the balls he did then weinsteins power wouldve faded and he'd have been behind bars decades earlier.
I know he cherishes every day Harvey remains behind bars too
@@SuperWolseyhe's getting out
Thats happened to a lot of actors and not just with W stein
@@TtotheCizzelhe's got at least the next 16 years in an LA prison. When the NY retrial happens, no doubt he'll be reconvicted on at least some of the charges, if not all.
As an Australian, i feel you on the 'no one remembers this show'.
But i do. And I love it.
The vengeful father performing forced surgery on a man he believes assaulted his daughter is the plot of Antonio Banderas film The Skin I Live In.
That's what I was thinking. Damn, that film is messed up! 😬
The Series' with Nick were easily it's golden years. In its latter days, it did feel more and more like a show the BBC just kept making on autopilot and forgot to cancel. And when they finally did, it got zero fanfare, the least episode not being any kind of finale.
It’s cause the show was cancelled without the cast and crew knowing to make a proper finale, the DVD has *Darts All Folks* rearranged from the original episode order to be the last one as it’s more of a finale than any of the other episodes in that series. Gabriel Thomson aka Michael talked about it on Facebook at the time. 👍🏻
Indeed extraordinary inferring David Lynch and a My Family episode.
I own a box set that contains season 1 to 7 for a reason, Nick leaves in 4 and makes the odd appearance in 5 then that was it. He got mentioned and joked about seasons following but it did eventually feel like they'd stopped making those like the character sas forgotten about by his own family members lol
@@gRinchY-op5vr an ideal final episode would have Nick make a return for it. At least that's what I hoped for. Who knows? Maybe they'll try a reunion someday?
ohhh true, noticed in the last few series quite a few jokes are stolen too
honestly there's no way this series would've worked without the two leads being as good actors as they are. Stage legends Robert Lindsay and Zoe Wanamaker in the same show, pretty much knocking it out the park even if the script was hit and miss (which got even more so as it went on).
edit: Gosh, if My Family is forgotten, imagine discussing MY HERO. Just as popular in its day, even less loved by the critics and even more forgotten.
edit 2: I don't think all British people are miserable and sniping all the time, but I think most British people either have some element of this to their character or have periods of their life that they fall into doing this. A lot of us have this sort of... Camus-esque reaction to life, but we also then deal with it in multiple different and conflicting ways.
Oh my Gosh, I would love a video analysing 'My Hero'; it was one of my favourite sitcoms when I was growing up. I know that recasting the main actor was always considered the reason for the show's demise, but I'd like to see someone discussing how changing its timeslot (thanks to Doctor Who, funnily enough) set off the chain of events leading to its cancellation.
@@totallytv2671I don't think that the time slot helped, but I do feel like the absence of Ardal O'Hanlon really left a massive hole in the show.
I don't necessarily think that the scripts were much worse, or that the replacement actor couldn't have worked, but his charisma had really been the keystone to making it work. Without him, the writing seemed more and more hacky and contrived, whereas O'Hanlon could deliver those ridiculous premises in a much more authentic way that plastered over the obvious deficiencies of the show as a whole.
For the benefit of any Americans: My Hero is basically Mork and Mindy, except it's a Superman parody and they have a terrifying baby who spouts one liners.
@@casanovafunkenstein5090 Yes, that's all true. I just thought that Ardal left because the time slot change caused a drop in ratings, and he could tell that it was only a matter of time before it ended. But recasting is always difficult to deal with, especially when it involves a main character. And since the actors had very different performance styles, it affected the whole dynamic of the show.
And your summary of the show was very accurate!
Even Anthony Head was in two episodes of My Family as Ben’s brother *Richard Harper* ! 😱
I did wonder how they could get two really serious actors on - Wannemaker is no cheap bit-part-player!
That ending segment of inadvertently needing chaos and misery reminded me of a quote I saw scrawled on the side of a deconsecrated church:
"There's a dark part of you that enjoys the bad things that happen to you,
And until you realize that, the patterns will repeat."
Sounds like something an abusive cult would scream at people they're trying to break.
@@disgruntleddude6105it's an apt descriptor of self destructive behaviour, speaking as someone that routinely engages in it. I fuck myself over, get angry with myself for fucking myself over, so I fuck myself over, etc
That has to be the single handed dum*est quote I've ever heard ..then again what do u expect fro a church lol
British TV at its best tends to be very rooted geographically and socially. Even fictional places - wetherfield, Walford, Sunhill, Dibley you know exactly who, where and what it’s about.
My family is sort of a vague middle class London that’s presented as relatable to everyone.
Don't forget Royston Vasey
It was something you watched because it was on.
I remember watching it as a child. I don't remember it being so bleak.
@@LilySaintSin They've taken a few bits from hundreds of hours.
I watched it when I was younger with my family, and I guess because I was a kid and British I never noticed just how depressing it is, guess that was the appeal tho.
Many sitcoms are far more miserable, including: Bread, Outnumbered, Peep Show, This Way Up, Steptoe & Son as well as Til Death Us Do Part & all its sequels.
They should release a version without the laugh track
It's not very depressing at all it's more chirpy than say one foot in the grave.
Same here. I loved this show as a kid and I never realised how bleak it was, must have just been the norm to me or maybe it just went over my head
I feel like the reason why it doesn't get called a classic is because there's no big real big moments. Like batman and robin in Only Fools and Horses, the runaway balloon in Dads Army, the puddle in Vicar of Dibley or the Witch Finder in Black Adder.
Agreed! While I enjoy it, most of the best moments are when Nick is involved like when he scared Ben with the Chainsaw, but beyond him being in the show, you’re right, there’s no memorable moments that the audience remembered, if people were still watching at that point, although there is a great one with Nicola Bryant called *Ben Behaving Badly* which was a nice little nod to Men Behaving Badly.
@@CJFS00s Oh there's defiantly memorable moments, but they are just small moments that lack escalation. Like in Dad's Army there's an episode where Pike smuggles a radio onto a base, if it was written like My Family then it would be about them trying to hide it, but in Dad's Army the episode is about the entire group trying to prevent their home town from getting drone striked.
The one episode I’ll always remember is the one where they get lost/locked in the modern apartment complex
The Christmas trees though 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄.
I think in time it might. You knew w when we become the boomers 😉 or it will end up like 2 point 4 kids, fond memories, but vague ones
Brotherhood of the Cockerell was the best episode.
Speaking of Kris Marshall and Death in Paradise, I think it's worth mentioning the spinoff that he stars in, Beyond Paradise. A third series has been confirmed I believe and I'm not surprised, it's fantastic cozy telly and he really is quite good in the role.
Me and my parents actually stumble across them filming for the 2nd season, and it was pretty interesting watching him try and perfect fumbling with the car keys. Like. I never realised that was something that actors had to do. I just thought the fumbling was natural. Just goes to show how good he is at acting.
Even though the script isn't good. But that's what being a good actor can do for you: you can improve a lot of the things you're in (though this does have its limits. There's a trope called 'took the bad film seriously' for a reason)
When My Family was airing, whoever wrote Pick of the Day for the Daily Mail's TV guide Weekend chose it every week so they could give it a low rating & ask why it's still being made.
The one thing The Daily Mail ever did right.
Obviously they had a lgbt character what would u expect from the daily mail n they're ev*l morals
I don't remember anyone ever liking it. I remember everyone saying "it's mediocre but the son is good." That was it, just one character that people liked.
Perfect way to put it.
I really liked it as a kid. I loved Ben and Nick but it was definitely Nick who made the show for me.
Nick tuning the family piano has to be one of my favourite TV moments of all time
The Christmas trees in the lounge is a scene I always remember. Legendary.
The depressing sound of the C note being hit constantly for the duration of the credits 😂
I loved "My Family" & went to Pinewood Studios many times to watch it being recorded live. The chemistry between Zoe & Rob was incredible on set & when Kris was in the show it was at its best.
I love Ben's character it appeals to my sarcastic & deadpan sense of humour that I grew up with like Basil Fawlty & comedian Jack Dee.
It had a good run.
And yet there's still more love shown among this family than in most American sitcoms.
Yes, I feel like they did genuinely care about each other.
Agreed. The chemistry makes this show work so well.
I used to love My Family...but you're right, I basically haven't thought about it since it ended.
I think about Nick occasionally
Cuckoo with Greg Davies was also a good comedy about a miserable middle class father (he played a solicitor). That ran for 5 years!😅😅😅
Loved Cuckoo, Davies and Samberg were great together, but I needed some time to warm to Lautner.
@@alfje5492 he turned out to be OK actually
For me 2point4 Children was a similar kind of show, I think people forgot how surreal and dark it could get at times.
Don't get me wrong - I don't think North America can't do really dark comedy. But it simply didn't pre-2000. We in UK did.... Because we knew we were an ex empire. The USA has done "UK darkness" very well since 2000. Married with Children was NOT it.
It was very popular at the time, so I don't know why it's almost forgotten.
I must admit I forgot all about it until I saw this comment, yet I remember watching regularly when I was young.
I think both series get forgotten in part because of each other. They are just shoved in the same 'family sitcom' box (along with loads of American shows). Most UK sitcoms that get remembered have a unique setting or setup. (Ab fab, Blackadder, Only Fools, Dibley, Porridge).
In addition to the revolving cast of stereotypes in My Family, it also suffered from being set in a middle class family (when TV was starting to see that as old fashioned, as seen with shows like Shameless and Royal Family).
It also suffered from being written by 25 writers (each writing individual episodes or some as writing duos), this means that characters are inconsistent and never develope.
@@retrogiftsuk4812 2point4children is about a working-class family & was very popular throughout the 90s. However, it's far less remembered & repeated far less often than My Family.
As an American I never heard of this one, but the closest American equivalent I can think of is Married with Children. That also features a family and focuses on a miserable burnout of a father, in this case one whose best days are behind him and is resigned to mostly slog his way through life throwing and receiving barbs from his wife and propping up his idiot kids. I think the main difference would be that there’s a level of deliberate exaggeration in Married with Children that’s beyond what I’m seeing the clips you showed, so that if it’s a mirror to American family life it’s one of those warped funhouse mirrors.
Yeah I've seen a bit of married with children and that always felt very over the top, whereas there's this grim vibe in my family that makes you go "Jesus these people feel like they genuinely hate each other".
My family kinda starts morphing into married with children in it's later years. The grimness of the first few seasons gets toned down, especially in the Christmas specials.
@@StubagfulI feel that our UK humour is intrinsically darker than US comedies. Married with Children is in NO way as dark as its UK counterparts. I have never watched a mainstream US comedy that made me close to wanting to turn off because it's too raw.
There is actually a UK adaptation of Married with Children, Married for Life starring Russ Abbot. There's some episodes on TH-cam if you want to see it.
@@Stubagful _whereas there's this grim vibe in my family_
Quotation marks, Stuart! Quotation marks!
The creator is American so that’s probably why.
I adored this show growing up, and despite watching it and only fools just as much as eachother, I can remember most episodes of only fools and cant remember a single thing that happened in my family.
The only thing I remember was being disappointed when Nick left, the actors carried that show.
I remember alot of Nicks antics, his and Ben's comedic clashes, Ben and Susan's squabbles...thats about it. The 3 of them were hilarious together and it fell apart after season 4/5, yet continued up to 10 seasons somehow
This show used to come on late night in Canada, can't remember the network. They also ran Keeping up with Appearances, Are You Being Served, Father Ted, Fawlty Towers and of course Black Adder. Loved all of them! They largely informed my notion of British people when I was young, lol. Can't believe I forgot it existed until I saw your thumbnail. Gonna have to find this somewhere to rewatch.
I feel like, in addition to your honest and fantastic points, why this series has been buried in the comedy memory is because it doesn't have a strong "the one with" episode.
You know "the one with", everyone does. The one with the giant kitten. The one with Motorhead and University Challenge. The one with the giant maggots. So many people, no matter how long it has been since a repeat of that episode, will at least remember it. I remember watching My Family and liking it, but I have no other details than that.
For me it does, the one where Ben goes to Dental school, or the one with Nick working at the Supermarket or the one where they went on The Weakest Link, but yeah there’s a lot of filler to the point where Robert Lindsay and Zoë Wanamaker critiqued the writing in 2007/2008!
For some reason I immediately think of the one where Abby gets married and she confesses to being in love with Johnny Depp at the altar. That’s actually the only thing I remember about the entire episode though so I see what you mean
Seeing the thumbnail for this video I just had a "oh, so that's what it's called" moment. I rarely recall watching this show, I kinda feel that this is one of those shows that we only ever really had on when my parents never managed to pay for the cable bill, and this show was on the small handful of channels that we still got for free on the cable box or on Freeview box that would have still been yanked from one the bedroom TVs.
I also faintly remember this show airing more frequently when I lived with my grandparents, I'm not sure if she was ever really engaged, but we all generally hung out in the office, my grandfather and I generally on the PC and my grandmother absorbed in a crossword, reading or knitting, right before BBC news at 9 fired up for perusal before we hit the hay. I feel that this was generally a show which came in a fun era, my grandparents living in a decent area had cable a good few years before we did, I remember when we finally got it, virgin media bought telewest out a few years later and there was generally a huge explosion of American content available to us vs the 4.5 channels we used to get on TV, and so a lot of shows like this just generally fell by the way side when you could tune over to comedy central and have a good laugh at alan harpers expense.
It's a very real reflection of British life from what I have experienced. I have no problem in realising the older I get the more like Ben I am becoming.
The episode “I Second That Emulsion” with Nick tuning the piano throughout the episode had me in stitches with the payoff at the end.
Felt like this was on DAILY for my entire childhood & adolescence. Every night, on one of the channels (terrestrial and satellite), somewhere. Then one day, it simply evaporated, as if it never was.
I'm really proud of nick he went on to become a fantastic crime scene detective.
oh my fucking god is that the lady Cassandra O'Brien
Yes.
Fun Fact: If you watch the My Family episode called *2039 A Christmas Odyssey* Susan makes a Doctor Who reference by saying she “moisturises* and winks to camera twice! 😂
@@CJFS00s that's great
@@CJFS00sthat sound amazing, off I go to find the clip!
It also helped that the two leads were Robert Lindsay and Zoe Wanamaker.
Seeing this video on my recommeneded was the first time I'd thought about My Family in like 15 years - watched it all the time as a kid but moved on and forgot all about it
The dynamic between Susan and Ben is a lot like Victor and Margret in One Foot in the Grave. Only difference is Victor rages about the world and when hes confronted with a problem with Margret hes fearlessly devoted. Look at the caravan episode. He loves that thing and tries to trash it for Margrets sake. Also, when she falls ill he drops all his silly obsession with it and goes to her side.
Apparently the cast and the writers hated each other on this. There was huge tension between them constantly. The writer Paul Rose (he generally goes by the name Mr Biffo online) joined the writing team at one point and was dead excited to meet Richard Lyndhurst. When he was introduced to him Lyndhurst just snarled "Oh, have they told what a bastard I am?" (or something along those lines) and stalked off.
I watched this show for the first time when I was 6 years old and immediately fell in love with it, recording episodes on VHS and then begging for them all on DVD, I ended up with 2 copies of the series 1 dvd as I watched it so much I wore out the disc. This show was pure gold and I can still recite most episodes by heart. Thinking about it now though, I’m was probably too young for such a misanthropic world view that this show preached.
As a very cynical and negative person who rarely displays outward enthusiasm about anything even when I feel enthusiastic on the inside, and doesn't really display emotion at all despite feeling it on the inside to a very small amount, I very strongly associate with the characters of My Family despite not having a family myself and I deeply enjoy and laugh hard at the cynical humour in the show and I love how it has zero schmaltz or happiness to it at all, on the rare occasion it gets serious for a single moment it gets downright depressing like how Susan is at first glad her slobbish son, Nick, has moved out because of his slovenly behaviour, and his unkempt bedroom and appearance and poor hygiene but slowly comes to miss his antics and there's a scene where she is in his old bedroom reminiscing about the past wishing he was still there and hadn't left yet recognising he is no longer the child she once doted on and he had to leave the nest but it still doesn't make it any easier on her.
"Is the negative view of My Family so normal in Britain that nobody noticed?"
YES. Even when it comes to American sitcoms, I prefer the negative cynical ones like Curb Your Enthusiasm, and Arrested Development, and I want to start watching It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia one day. I guess the main difference is in America those kinds of sitcoms are explicitly exclusively for adults whereas My Family is for families...
"Why doesn't Ben and Susan divorce?"
Because they love each other very deeply and the ways they express their love for each other is extremely British and sarcastic yet simultaneously sincere? Obviously?
As somebody who has spent half a decade unemployed and discovered how boring and miserable it is, I definitely don't want to retire and stop working one day when I do finally manage to get a job.
I love My Family, I got the whole collection on DVD I seen it all 3 times now...
I never thought in my 21 years on this planet I’d see a video on my family, I grew up watching this show in the mid-late 00’s & used to love it (mostly for Ben) going back to it, the later seasons with Rodger & Abbey are big misses for me, i completely forgot this show ran for so so long
It's amazing how this show shares parallels with the show After You've Gone.
The pursuit of not needing to deal with the chaos while knowing that's exactly what the character needs in their life
I remember coming home from school and often putting these two shows on and loving most, if not all, the episodes and not really understanding the ture weight of the situations at hand but loving them anyway
So really good video keep up the good work
I remember being at school and telling a schoolfriend about Modern Family and he thought I was talking about this show. I remember My Family being on all the time but I only ever watched a handful of episodes.
I'm not entirely sure i agree with your conclusion, mainly because critical darlings like Peep Show and The Office are also cynical reflections of repressed people and have lasted in the public legacy.
I think the real issue with My Family is sitcoms, whether they are cynical or idealistic, need to want you to stay with the characters in a sort of parasocial relationship. People always want Gavin and Stacy back because they genuinely want to know what they're up to these days, as if they're old friends who moved away. Crappy 70s sitcoms from back in the day are still loved by those who watched them (On the Buses etc) because they hung out with them every week. Same goes for other shows like Father Ted, Miranda, the Royal Family, Inbetweeners, Vicar of Dibley etc. The issue with My Family is there's no real affection or empathy with the characters, which even very purposefully cynical shows like Peep Show build up. The central marriage is little more than a hollow series of boomer "i hate my spouse" jokes straight out of a newspaper comic, the kids are all replaced season by season. Nobody was watching it and genuinely interested in the Abi/Roger storyline, for example.
I wasn't aware that 'My Family' had US-influence in its roots, but I'm entirely unsurprised!
It was so formulaic in the way it fell into that "sitcom genre" in the way that US sitcoms do. The way episodes are structured, the setting, the way particular types of scenes are inserted, the roles particular characters play. I think British sitcoms don't historically tend to fall into such formulaic tropes, each has more of it's own authorial sense, written as it's own thing rather than being written "as a sitcom" quite so much, if you get what I mean?
I always saw 'My Family' as being successful (and funny) because of the quality of the actors, which is also what tends to distinguish US sitcoms. If all the writing is much-of-a-muchness, the delivery is what distinguishes success from failure. If it wasn't envisioned by an American, I'd have assumed it was written by a Brit with a love for US sitcoms.
(Compare it to 'Outnumbered' which is ostensibly a very similar setting/concept/tone. The episodes of 'Outnumbered' are more idiosyncratic, less predictable, _much_ less formulaically "setup-tension-punchline" than 'My Family'.)
This is the first video of yours I've seen, and I really enjoyed it. I haven't watched a show made past around 2012 or so, but I like media analysis a lot. There are two really underrated British shows I love, I've only met one person who has seen both, Teachers and The Book Group, and I'd be interested on hearing your thoughts on them after having watched several of your other videos.
I hold My Family up in the same pantheon as One Foot In the Grave. Both of them have unlikeable protagonists, who end up being justified in their reactions to things that happen around them. Victor Meldrew and Ben Harper are the stand-ins for every person exasperated with the stupidity of others.
please talk about keeping up appearances, i feel like you could write a 2 hour video on the relationship between hyacinth and Richard Bucket. oh... i mean "bouquet"
No, Bucket. She doesn't question the spelling, only the pronunciation.
@@MuchWhittering I know, but I can't do that in text
Keeping up appearances was the BEST!
For me my family felt pretty much real this is how my family is like.
( 1:45 ) Not Going Out is the longest running one now I think.
This show brings back a lot of childhood memories for me. Also get those feelings every time i see Kris Marshall on Death/Beyond Paradise.
Wow I really appreciated this indepth analysis. I'm an american about your age, in the PNW, and I grew up watching this show with my own family at dinner all the time for years as a young teen. We watched lots of BBC shows, like the others you mention, and doctor who which is why I found your channel years ago. With My Family, you hit every point so well. It was cynical, which is why my mom liked it- she was always like that, but to the point of abusive unfortunately, and was very controlling, while my dad was very quiet. So watching this show was like getting to see my dad's internal monologue on the outside. There were a lot of different ways the two characters reflected either of my parents, it was odd. I wouldn't say we were like the kids though, but all kids do go through these various life events that the show covered. And Ben and Susan handled them just as poorly as my parents did. And we laughed at the show a lot. But so much of it hit too close to home. So you are absolutely right. Its why we don't rewatch it, but have looked back at some Vicar, or Faulty Towers or Blackadder, whatever, because those were more removed from our everyday.
Anyway, really enjoyed this video and looking back on it. I do actually have the DVD's that my mom bought back then so we could rewatch episodes at that time, since we did love it, despite its darkness. Robert Lindsay is amazing, we had recognized him from Hornblower series, lol. We're some weird americans I guess. :) I honestly think that the studios were wrong though- Americans can be very cynical too and I think many would eat this kind of show up, especially nowadays.
Check out Robert Lindsay’s other sitcoms. He’s always good in what he does.
Just wrote a comment myself about the parallels I saw with my abusive family and sitcoms. My parents also loved them, this one included. Funny someone else sees the connection
I watched and loved My Family in the US. The issue is that it aired at odd hours on PBS (not a channel known for sitcoms). It came on in between the afternoon kids shows and before the news and prime time. I don’t think our broadcasters gave it a chance
I know two things about this show:
1. I've seen some of the Christmas specials when they were played on the ABC here in Australia, pretty funny
2. The mother makes a joke about moisturizing in an episode since she voiced Lady Cassandra in Doctor Who
Used to watch right after Eastenders on Fridays
The last bit of this is one of the best last bits I've seen. The bit where he starts swearing.
I remember my father always would watch this. Quite fond of it myself though.
I still like those early ones. It kinda fizzles out after Nick leaves
@@StubagfulYeah for me Alfie was a *poor* replacement for Nick.
Frasier had an episode where Martin couldn't say "I love you" to Frasier. It's not just a British thing.
Yeah it's definitely more of a generational thing
I used to watch this all the time as a kid back in the 2000's and I really liked it. It's no Blackadder or anything like that, but it's still pretty good. Thanks for the nostalgia.
I loved growing up watching this show with my family.
Between this and Episodes it's really interesting getting to see your takes on sitcoms I watched ae a teen. I kinda forgot about them until you did but I remember quite liking them, and maybe it's because they reflect this kind of cynical attitude about the world in a way a lot of comedies don't.
I've got a lot.more on my list. Would quite like to do Green Wing and Peep Show. I also watch Nighty Night every few years, I have a morbid fascination with that show
Oh I'd love to see a Green Wing one! That's kind of the other side of the coin, thinking about it- it's also about a lot of fucked up and cynical things but plays them in a much more detached, surreal way.
@@Stubagful Oh, I love Peep Show. Surprised you've not covered that already actually.
Oddly I grew up watching re-runs of My Family, and always enjoy watching it XD. Ben Harper is my spirit animal at times, a kind of resigned to his fate depression I can really relate to
I haven’t watched the show in years, but I remember thinking that Nick was neurodivergent coded. I’m dyspraxic, autistic, and have ADHD, and I could see traits of myself and other ND people I know in his character:
*Jumping from special interest to special interest
*Being generally clumsy
*Getting fired from every job he has due to perceived incompetence (which is more than likely a lack of executive functioning skills)
*People assuming he’s an idiot when he has moments of brilliance that show he’s actually very intelligent
…etc
Tbh looking back I was thinking the same thing. I just didn't wanna make a point of it in the video cause I can't speak authoritatively on the topic
I feel like a lot of classic sitcom idiot characters are actually pretty neurodivergent coded in hindsight (if exaggeratedly so, being sitcom characters and all.) Dougal in Father Ted also jumps from special interest to special interest in a way that's very familiar to me, not to mention his habit of forgetting large important events but remembering really minor insignificant details like what colour jumper someone was wearing.
You know what, looking back I realise he is pretty much what a neurodivergent person who's been failed by their peers both in the school system and their home looks like
@@rambletashI have always felt like Munch in 2 pints of lager and a packet of crisps is a bit like that
I thought this, I can actually relate to him to some extent. I have a master’s degree and I’m reasonably intelligent but I’ve always struggled with keeping a job and being successful at getting a decent one in the first place. I have been a serial job hopper in the past because I struggled with following instructions and workplace bullying. I do actually work in a supermarket now funnily enough, but I’m a team leader. I’m earning more than I ever have before and I’ve stayed in that job for a year so far which I haven’t managed before, I think I succeed more at that because I don’t have to follow instructions, I just follow my own common sense and give instructions to others to follow. And I’m in some level of authority and I’ve developed enough confidence to stick up for myself so it’s difficult for people to bully me now. My partner is also suspected ADHD and he always comes up with wild career ideas and schemes and jumps between different ideas all the time so Nick reminds me of him a little bit too. Again, my partner is an intelligent and competent person, just probably not neurotypical
id love to see a video on Royale Family. That comedy got so depressing because of how Flanderized the characters got
I found it got funnier. 'Flanderization' isn't always a negative thing. That being said, I do wonder how Barb put up with Jim in the later episodes.
Series 1 of Royle Family is absolutely classic. Every episode is quality. The tone and style shifts after that, I think when Henry Normal was no longer involved. Dave becomes an actual retard by series 3. Jim stays funny throughout. But series 1 feels real, it gets dafter as it goes on but there's still some funny episodes.
@@TheGerkuman Like the episode when barb acctually has a breakdown and walks out of the house, when denese turns up.
Oh my god it’s the 12th AND 13th Doctor Who Kris Marshall!!
Oops, slipped into a different reality for a second
i remember it, mainly because the nick character looked just like one of our mates - we used to tell people he was the actor, funny
This popped up all of a sudden in my feed because months ago I was looking for a video essay done on my family and couldn’t find anything
I love this show always seen it as a successor to 2 point 4 children but i love my family one of my favourite shows
i love my family, my fav ep is prob the weakest link one, i just realised susans american boss is also cpatain holister from red dwarf
John Barrowman appeared in an episode, while Daniela Denby-Ashe popped up in Torchwood.
Also, Robert Lindsay was a candidate for the Doctor in the nineties. Not a bad choice, he kind of resembles Patrick Troughton.
I think the brilliance of this show is that for a certain generation it was comical reality. Same was as modern family. It’s the idea of the new labour era generation who have attained a level of success though it’s still not as easy as they thought. A underlying love between the parents that’s hidden beneath a healthy comical contempt. Kids who love there parents but don’t know how to show it etc etc. maybe my household was just screwed up but this felt like my house 😅😅
Long running sitcoms are no indicator of quality. As Time Goes By lasted for 67 episodes. The Upper Hand lasted for 94 episodes. Last of the Summer Wine lasted for 295 episodes.
I've watched each and every one of those episodes and not one of those shows had more than 12 episodes worth of ideas.
I saw Kris Marshall in the film Deathwatch and I half expected him to go “full Nick” in it.
Killed by zombies while having a sneaky tommy tank as I recall.
Not a bad film!
I watched this on BBC America. Loved it.
The only good thing about the show was kris marshall, and he jumped ship at the earliest opportunity (admittedly going on to star in Love Actually, which is like jumping off the Titanic, smashing through the floor of a lifeboat, plummeting 2000 fathoms, and beating the Titanic itself to the seabed.
This was a great video thanks for doing it.
Oh man, this brought back some memories. Forgot this show even existed.
Loved watching this with my dad
I don't know about you all, but it very much reminds me of "Married... With Children".
3:39 YO! CAPTAIN HOLLISTER!
I am from NZ and my family loved watching this. It is really different, it has an American premise but has the same sort of Britishness as waiting for god or keeping up Appearances had. I love British comedies.
Honestly one of my fav shows I used to watch it on the bus on iplayer to college and honestly my fav ep is the son will come out as it’s very similar to my experience of coming out
My Family is why I wanted Kris to be the Doctor
It is pretty much impossible to talk about a British show without a random tangent about what Doctor Who actors have been in it.
This show was my bread and butter for so many years i still revisit it sometimes
I remember watching this and mt hero growing up, i miss the gold old days
There are times where the actor playing the father in this series bears a passing resemblance to Tommy Lee Jones.
I remember this show vaguely as a kid, never watched it as an adult, might have to give it a go - is it easily available anywhere in the UK?
I bought the dvd box set. It's also on iPlayer
Really fun to see someone talk about my family
I love the show and watch it now and again. I also think it was ahead of it's time too. The Michael coming out episode was really well done.
Oooh, i saw My Family growing up. I remember enjoying the early ones and the later ones were certainly episodes of a show that was on tv. And that opinion still held when I rewatched it. But it's no more depressing than keeping up appearances
@stubagful so how you feel about Inside No.9 ending in season 9?
😮😮😢😢🎉🎉🎉
My parents, specifically my dad, recently were rewatching most of this. Tbh, it never seemed that depressing to me when I saw it on. It fits in quite nicely amongst the other TV shows we have where nobody is all that happy, and even when things are going well, something goes wrong. I think that's something prevalent even in our kids shows. It's like, rather than things getting better by the end of the episode, they return to a rather bland, maybe miserable status quo. The trotters are still broke and playing with the law. The inbetweeners are still looser teenagers suffering through A-levels. Faulty Towers is still barely fit for function as a hotel, if that. Strange hill high is still a miserable mess of a highschool. And even when the status quo isn't miserable or depressing, it's still returned to: Shawn the sheep still lives in the barn under the watchful eye of the dog and less watchful eye of the farmer. The tellytubbies still go to sleep in their beds. Everyone in Gavin and Stacey is still a bit of a weird mess of a person with complicated relationships with some of the other characters. East Enders is still full of interpersonal drama and general messy chaos. And even when the plot does move forwards somewhat, there's still a sort of status quo in the tone. Because you just know that delboy is gonna squander all that money from the pocket watch and go back to being broke. The characters in Gavin and Stacey are a bit of a jolly mess. Shawn is still gonna have to hide the evidence if his shenanigans from the farmer eventually.
I think it's comfort in the status quo that stops it being too miserable. Like, sure. All these stories are varying amounts of fun or miserable, but as much as they won't get better, they also won't get worse. And that's comforting I guess.
Eh. I wouldn't necessarily say that cynicism is the national character of all of the UK. As someone from Liverpool I feel like us scousers can be quite optimistic.
And I think that repressed trait isn’t really characteristic of younger generations. I don’t I know anyone who’s afraid to be open about their feelings and saying “I love you”. I think for all the talk about Britain being miserable even are darker comedies have an uplifting under tone. Vicar of Dibley, Only Fools, Spaced etc. We’re just not as overt. I don’t think we lack it.
I mean.. you live in Liverpool. You have to hope things get better.
When you’re not nicking stuff, yeah
I can only speak for myself, and my own family, but it's nothing so philosophical as that. It was just much less funny after Nick left and got worse and worse with every new character bing shoehorned in.Don't know if it were the final series, but the last one I saw any of l couldn't even hear the "jokes"because the laugh track was so loud that it honestly fely as though they were trying to hide them.
Unsurprisingly, they did air this on BBC America, and I do remember thinking it was this sort of uncanny valley American family sitcom.
I grew up in an emotionally and occasionally physically abusive household during England in the late 90s and 2000s. They way I describe the way it felt was like I was living in a sitcom, where all this questionable behaviour and dysfunction was just seen as funny. Doesn’t help my parents loved sitcoms and one of the only times we reliably all connected was when we watched them as a family.
I mean fawlty towers is incredibly bleak… so I don’t know why this would shock you about My family.
2:19 I can agree with that.
I still hear quotes from this show regularly. Also, from experience, this is both how people tend to behave (not constantly introspective) and how parents also tend to behave on the "not bringing up that they may have failed" point.
American here. I am very nostalgic for this show. We got it on BBC America in the early 2000s. I was a big Harry Potter kid and such, we read the books when they first came to the states and all that, and I saw the actress who played Madame Hooch was in this show, so I wanted to watch this show. And I loved it. I thought it was hilarious. I did a rewatch of the first few series a couple of years back and still really enjoyed it. I don't know if I liked it because of my tastes or if my tastes are what they are because I liked that, but I tend to enjoy de-romanticized tropes. The perfect relationship, the perfect neighbor, the consequence-free wacky hijinx, all that light and fluffy storytelling common to sitcoms, rom-coms, and other forms of light comedy, I tend to enjoy them more when they're portrayed a little more cynically. Comedies where people are working and struggling at things that seem to magically just happen in other forms of light media.
I think it went on for as long as it did due to the ratings, people watched it. I think they rerun it during COVID and it again received good ratings
Ben Harper is one of those guys whose only happy when they’re miserable
Great analysis (subbed!). For me, I think it has to be the only sitcom I've ever watched in which none of the characters struck me as particularly likeable. I didn't hate any of them, but it all just felt very 'beige' to me. To this day, it still gives me that horrible 'Sunday blues' feeling.