Porridge

I quite enjoyed it. Thought the guy playing Fletch jnr did well.  That bit where he goes "three gnomes, or was it two" was classic Barker.. In fact did the original Fletcher pull the same trick, I dont remember it think I have seen every episode though.

What about Are You Being Served? Only caught 5 minutes and wasn't too impressed

The guy who played Fletch was good but a pale shadow compared to Ronnie Barker. You could see him attempting some of the same facial expressions and body language.

Are you being served the original was absolutely dire, surely the new one couldnt be worse. Porridge was a reasonable half hour diversion I thought, no one involved would say they were trying to better the original.

Just watched comedy connections on "Are you being served?"  Well it was made in 2003 and I keep googling the cast, well it seems the entire cast was alive when the doco was made and the entire lot are now dead

I watched them both. Both were vaguely passable and could have been A LOT worse, though I'm just not quite sure what the BBC's trying to achieve with these (apart from plugging DVD boxsets of the original etc)?

Apart from being set in the 80s and with a couple of different characters, Are You Being Served's primary aim seemed to be to show how close some of today's actors could get to the originals. Actually, I thought they were pretty decent on the whole, but... so what? Just don't know what it achieved.

Agree that the guy playing Fletch Jnr did well in what was an imnpossible task, and I think having Clement and Le Frenais back writing it helped too. But again... not quite sure WHY?

Far preferred both to Still Open All Hours. Haven't watched the Dad's Army film (and don't really intend too either) but I'd guess they're both a richer gravy than that, too.

you dont tamper with the classics.....

I enjoyed both. Pleasantly surprised.

My conspiracy theory mind says,  lets remake & update all these classics for one off shows, put them on at roughly the same time, wait for the reaction from the public & then  lets make a series or three of the one that appeals the most, the BBC  are not exactly churning out classic comedy hits at the moment are they, so I'm pretty sure this not a nostalgia exercise

Basil Fawlty, embittered and penniless after an acrimonious divorce, notices an advert for a job in a hotel in Barcelona...

They're also giving Goodnight Sweetheart the same treatment. Don't know if there are more.

Landmark classic comedy season will feature new versions of Till Death Us Do Part, Steptoe and Son, Hancock’s Half Hour, Porridge, Up Pompeii, Are You Being Served? and Keeping Up Appearances

Thought the two yesterday evening were shocking beyond words.

Canned over the top laughter just made it worse too.

Canned laughter was used in the originals, so apt to include it in these remakes.

I thought Porridge was decent enough if you forget it was a remake. Not watched the other one yet.

Porridge wasn't that bad. It could have been a great deal worse.

One noticeable thing though was that all the moments of charm and good humour were essentially a carbon copy of the original, which begs the question, why try and remake it?

Also the canned laughter is intrusive. It was present in the original, but it was better weighted and appropriate. Same goes for Blackadder and Upstart Crow. It's painful when it's inappropriate, or too strong such that it becomes noticeable and distracting.

I'd rather have watched a repeat of the original; there's no shame putting it on at primetime, it was that good.

Bring back Love thy Neighbour with Nigel Farage and Citizen Khan

Pity they couldn't get the original Grouty.  He is still acting at the tender age of 93.

I enjoyed this remake. Well written and acted by a number of the cast.
Could well see this becoming more than a one off.

On the subject of John Cleese, he's reportedly in talks with the BBC about returning in a sitcom which has already been written and specifically for him.

It's not about a hotel owner in Torquay is it?

Funnily enough Grouty was only in three episodes of Porridge. Fantastic scriptwriting (and acting) for even a bit part to have left such an impression on everyone.