Tuesday, 2 December 2008

Baseline TV

Call it shameless plagiarism if you like - I prefer to think of it as (hem hem) creatively developing a good idea. The good idea is Bryan's Baseline Movie and Baseline Book - and my question is: What about your Baseline TV programme? For me (and Bryan I suspect) it's Frasier every time - when nothing will quite do, nothing else will do. Quite apart from being the greatest sitcom ever made, it manages to be at once smart and sharp and cosy and comforting - exactly what one needs for a Baseline TV programme. But there must be others? Over to you...
Posted by at

8 comments:

  1. Uncle Dick Madeley2 December 2008 at 10:26

    Yes, Frasier, along with Curb Your Enthusiasm, Arrested Development, Hancock, and Steptoe and Son. However, if we're talking about emotional comfort blankets, it's more likely to be Dad's Army, but for the actors, not the writing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Bryan Appleyard2 December 2008 at 10:39

    Frasier - oh, you said that.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Mark2 December 2008 at 10:59

    A nature/wildlife programme set in a sunny far-away place and preferably without creepy-crawlies, Dad's Army, the more comic episodes of Minder, Tom and Jerry, the West Wing (though that's cheating really as it's easier to watch on DVD).

    ReplyDelete
  4. mahlerman2 December 2008 at 11:36

    Easy...The Larry Sanders Show, all 89 episodes.

    ReplyDelete
  5. malty2 December 2008 at 11:40

    Edgar Reitz masterpiece Heimat, set in the Hunsruck. The breadth of this series is a joy to behold. The concept of Heimat (homeland) as it is understood in Germany hardly exists in Britain and we are the poorer for it. This television series covers a period from just after WW1 to the fall of the Berlin wall. Directed by Reitz with tender loving care and produced to an extremely high standard the series soars above the crowd. See it before you die.

    The Hunsruck is the bit roughly between the Luxembourg border and the Rhine.

    Agree about Frazier, fine American series, Steptoe for pathos, the actors weren't acting, it was real.
    Did I mention the Clangers and Capt Pugwash?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Nige2 December 2008 at 11:51

    And Bagpuss - there's always Bagpuss...

    ReplyDelete
  7. Brit2 December 2008 at 12:09

    If there's nothing else on, it's The Simpsons.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous2 December 2008 at 21:58

    South Park, two and a half men and the simpsons.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)