Under One Roof

Unless if one really understand the Singapore slang and all that in this comedy series, then it's going to be hard to follow. Never realised there is an entry to this comedy I grew up watching!

With myself being a born and bred Singaporean, I remembered this was one of those classic local comedy series on our local television. Many times I will have to laugh and giggle at the antics. Especially the head of the house. Whenever Ah Teck wants to launch into his story-telling, I will pretend to 'cringe'. It's always one of those silly moments.

But really, showing some of the silly antics of a Singapore dysfunctional family of sorts can be fun and entertaining. If one knows the subtle meanings to whatever the cast are saying, then it's not bad. Guess maybe being a Singaporean myself, I know whatever they are trying to say.

I stumbled upon this show one night, expecting to watch the great Married With Children, not knowing that the channel had replaced Al Bundy with...with...with this garbage! It even goes beyond the "so bad it's funny" level...this is so bad, it almost made me cry.

I think it was a couple of years back when I couldn't sleep late one night and tuned into the multi-cultural channel in the Toronto area. I was extremely delighted to discover a wonderful sitcom called "Under One Roof". To understand its humor, you have to first get pass the Singaporean accents (could be a small challenge for westerners but no more difficult than any other foreign accents). A little understanding of eastern cultures will help you enjoy the show more but its not a prerequisite.

Upon repeated viewing, the characters grew on me. I especially like the father character "Ah Teck". Every time he goes into one of his lectures near the end of the show, I know we're in for a treat. They always start with: "A long time ago, in the Southern Province of China.....". There will be a great punchline each time, but there's always a moral to be learned as well. In fact, there was an episode where he was asked to market his stories in book form, which was hilarious.

The series also showcased the diverse cultures in Singapore, eg. the family (obviously of Chinese background) are best friends and neighbors with: Daisy, an lady of Indian decent; and Yusuf & wife, a Malay (Muslim) couple. All of them live in the same apartment building "Under One Roof". Aside from being a comedy, which I think it succeeds in, the show is also one of the few venues on TV for exploring Singaporean culture. I do hope readers of this post will give the show a try if you come across it.

Unfortunately, the show has not yet reached the mainstream audience. It gets bumped more than a billiard ball, I've only watched it on the multi-cultural channel at 2 or 3 am. If you find it on you local broadcast, it's worth setting up the VCR timer for.

It's not often you see a sitcom from Asia, usually they're American or English. However, Under One Roof turns out to be even funnier than many top-rating American shows.

The show is about a family living in an apartment in Singapore. They speak English but with a singaporian accent which takes some getting used to.

What makes Under One Roof funny is the array of varied characters who always have something witty to say in perfect sync with their personality. However something worth noting is the huge amount of Milo and other Nestlé products that appears in the show... there are tins of Milo, canned Milo, big drums of Milo, Milo chocolate bars... but the product placement doesn't spoil it, because the show doesn't take itself too seriously, and neither does the viewer.

This show is far funnier than alot of the comedy out there, so if it happens to be on where you live, It's worth watching.

I stumbled onto this show late one night while channel surfing and was mesmerized, like a deer in the headlights. One b-story of the episode involved a stick-thin asian guy fighting his plus-size wife to keep her from shaving off his mustache. (Insert obviously forced laugh here.) I have to agree that the jokes were on par with any American sitcom but the other user failed to indicate what decade that sitcom would be from. The quality of the humour is on par with such notable American sitcoms as "Perfect Strangers", "Charles in Charge", "Mr. Belvedere" or any such 80's laugh-track enhanced show. (I must admit that in my youth I was a fan of all these shows.) It doesn't have the quality of any current American sitcoms...maybe a Canadian one though. Watch it with your drunk friends and have a laugh.