Series 6 - Fewer Laughs?

[adamclark83]

I was watching my series 6 DVD the other night and going through the episodes, I noticed that there seemed to be a fewer laughs, especially loud ones when something really funny happened. Why was this?

[Tiddles]

The audience was in bad mood? :shrug:

[frankdicer]

The audience was in bad mood? :shrug:
Maybe they'd just been clipped....and then shampooed

[Tiddles]

Or they all had boils on their thumbs? :D

[minki]

Maybe someone had knocked their knickers...or knicked their knockers.

[offthefloor]

oh my those responses are hilarious...though the real reason is the humor took a downturn after the death of arthur brough, many of the later episodes weren't as funny. although there were a few exceptions in my opinion, the writing just lacked the pop it had in the begining

[Dean]

The level of the sound of the laughter is determined by people like directors and sound editors - the quality of the scripts won't be a factor. If there was a change in the level of the laughter it will be a change for some technical reason.

[minki]

The level of the sound of the laughter is determined by people like directors and sound editors - the quality of the scripts won't be a factor. If there was a change in the level of the laughter it will be a change for some technical reason.

Good point, I didn't even think about that!

[sonosun]

I suppose we should all watch series 6 so that we may compare. I also suppose we need to watch other series too for comparison purposes.

[madeinengland]

Good excuse for more AYBS viewing!

Maybe the series 6 feeling is a combination of factors, because (as pointed out above) the acual level of laughter is a technically-controlled thing.

Many of the cast have talked, in interviews, of the sadness that AB's death brought to the team, and I'm sure to the viewers of the day (I still miss him when I'm re-watching episodes now). With that atmosphere, even the funniest scripts might not get the same reaction as they would have done earlier.

Fans of British sit-com will have experienced this before - in Dad's Army, the tragic death of Jimmy Beck (who played a central role as Walker) mid-way through a series led to a period of downcast audience response despite the scripts being of the usual high standard.

It may also be that knowing of AB's death makes it less easy for us to lose ourselves in the sitcom world of AYBS. For instance, evey time I see Mr Tebbs in S6 (even though I thought James Hayter did a great job and was very funny), I can't help thinking of him as AB's "replacement", rather than as a character in his own right. Again, going back to the James Beck example, the writers of Dad's Army (David Croft and Jimmy Perry) did try to draft a new actor in to "fill the gap", but the dynamic had changed and it wasn't a success.

Oh dear, I'm all depressed now- I need some AYBS to cheer me up!

[sonosun]

Good excuse for more AYBS viewing!

Maybe the series 6 feeling is a combination of factors, because (as pointed out above) the acual level of laughter is a technically-controlled thing.

Many of the cast have talked, in interviews, of the sadness that AB's death brought to the team, and I'm sure to the viewers of the day (I still miss him when I'm re-watching episodes now). With that atmosphere, even the funniest scripts might not get the same reaction as they would have done earlier.

Fans of British sit-com will have experienced this before - in Dad's Army, the tragic death of Jimmy Beck (who played a central role as Walker) mid-way through a series led to a period of downcast audience response despite the scripts being of the usual high standard.

It may also be that knowing of AB's death makes it less easy for us to lose ourselves in the sitcom world of AYBS. For instance, evey time I see Mr Tebbs in S6 (even though I thought James Hayter did a great job and was very funny), I can't help thinking of him as AB's "replacement", rather than as a character in his own right. Again, going back to the James Beck example, the writers of Dad's Army (David Croft and Jimmy Perry) did try to draft a new actor in to "fill the gap", but the dynamic had changed and it wasn't a success.

Oh dear, I'm all depressed now- I need some AYBS to cheer me up!

Well said madeinengland. :)

[John Inman Fan]

It's interesting, but it seems like most of the comedies have that effect in terms of petering out at the end in terms of funny bits.

The only exception I've seen is "The Golden Girls" which was a hit from the beginning to end and funny enough was one of John Inman's favorite shows as well. Can't blame him since he had a similar sense of humor!

Marlies