Tittybangbang

I just found this older series online and love it! It's rude and crude. But, if you're middle aged or older and grew up before all the PC stuff became the norm, you'll probably love it! Some skits are 10's. Some are 4-5's. So, I'm giving it an average rating of 7 Stars! Keep in mind that there are some dogs in the mix.

With the quick-fire sketch show format of "The Fast Show" (1994), the risqué crudity of "The Catherine Tate Show" (2004), and the random absurdity of "Little Britain" (2003), clearly BBC3 were convinced they were onto a winner with this new all-female production.

Except, er, somewhere someone forgot to put the jokes in. Painfully unfunny, so far the programme has desperately relied on the repetition of catchphrases which weren't amusing in the first place. Maybe the quality will improve as the series progresses, but at the moment I'm not sure I've got the will to stick with it.

Some of the characters may have potential, and there were occasional flashes of inspiration; however these were more often due to skillful camera-work and editing of the scenes than any dialogue in the actual sketch that was taking place. Overall, if for some reason you crave an all-female sketch show, stick with "Smack the Pony" (1999); this was very weak indeed.

Comedy is the hardest thing to get right and yet the thing the public hunger for the most. The end result: Lots of comedies that aren't very good, but are often watched and discussed a lot despite their mediocrity (Catherine Tate anybody?) The success of Little Britain was bound to bring forth a whole host of rip-offs of which TBB is just the first and -- when you think about it -- a welcome first step towards being the last.

The problem with this show is that the first episode got reasonable reviews from the critics and why not? Some of the acting is first class and lead Lucy Montgomery (the thin one) is a great mimic -- you can hardly recognise her from one sketch to the next, but I don't want to spend time with these characters. Middle class people from Primrose Hill can laugh at council house clowns and slimy perverts in smelly bed-sits, but I don't want to. I have actually had to live with some of these people and they are not so funny in real life!

Catchphrases equal desperation. Something from 1950's radio where you couldn't see the people and needed vocal references. This is more than catchphrases, this is the just another case of the same gag being done over and over again against slightly different backdrops. They come on -- show their dysfunction -- shout their catchphrase (often more than once) and then the screen fades to black. And then we start over. No wonder people still want to watch the Two Ronnies twenty years after they were made -- at least they only did the gag once!

All TV is an education. Even bad TV. I have learnt something from watching this. This is an extenuation of what I see in real life. Women getting away with acting badly. A man having sex with a corpse wouldn't have got past the BBC blue pencil, but a woman? Hell that is OK, just as long as it is clearly fake. They even put it on-line so children can watch it any time of the day or night.

We shouldn't knock this show too much, we need to get over our Little Britain period and try and find something that is really funny (and clever-funny would be a change), because comedy is about tons of failure for ounces of success. Like mining gold for real.

I found the whole Tittybangbang series quite brilliant. Both Lucy Montgomery and Debbie Chezen are at least equal to French and Saunders in my opinion. Some of the characters were a little unsavoury and I would love to see the BBC produce a second series but without the forensic detective who has sex with corpses, that was very OTT and not necessary. I was equally pleased to see that the lion tamer remained in the pilot only and I really see no point in the half naked womens sewing circle.

Other than that the Italian Maid was my favourite and The Darts Team were brilliant, also Mr Peacock, who although a bit lacking in good taste, was a very funny character. The show deserved better reviews than it received and I sincerely hope that there will be a second series.

I feel the above comments are overly harsh, there are some genuinely funny sketch's present in both series ie the Darts women, the Geordy girls,women/man as the fisher woman, the pee man, the seepage woman, need I go on?!. O.k there are bits that craze you, but that happens in most comic series. The above comments should not be used as a definitive guide to the program as they are judging comedy on the BBC to that of live, or pioneering material. Its a comedy show on the BBC it is meant to appeal to a wide audience and that may compromise its originality, but compared to the comedy out there at the moment i.e Katherine Tate and two pints of lager its good! Watch it and judge for yourselves!!