Hey I sent a sitcom to the BBC the other day, about 2 rag and bone men 9father and son) who don't get on. One of them calls the other a dirty old man alot.
 

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The ASDA of satire.
"Thoughtcrime was not a thing that could be concealed forever. You might dodge successfully for a while, even for years, but sooner or later they were bound to get you." Which is exactly what happened to Winston Smith. His rebellion was not one that was foolish and too outspoken. He silently tried to defeat the Party for his personal happiness, and in the end it cost him everything he had fought for, and his love for Julia. He had learned to love Big Brother, which was his ultimate fear when trying to live a life of individuality. The Party had defeated him.

1984
 

Don't think that's been done before! Sounds good, hope you get somewhere with it.
 

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Aaron
BSG Forums & DVDs Editor
(Half man, half Internet, half TV.)
(Loyal follower of The Magical Aura of Laura.)

 

Quote: sootyj @ March 29, 2008, 11:15 AM

Hey I sent a sitcom to the BBC the other day, about 2 rag and bone men 9father and son) who don't get on. One of them calls the other a dirty old man alot.

View original

Dammit, I've just finished a sitcom with exactly the same premise. My pitch is also that the guys who are going to play my characters shouldn't get on in real life. And the actor who plays the father should ideally be a gay alcoholic.
 

It'll never work.
 

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Genius.
 

This whole plagiarism area's a minefield, though, isn't it.

If I'd known about Morbo (see I've Googled it now) I wouldn't have sent that sketch into Tilt, and I wouldn't have scored my radio credit. (BTW I now have it on good authority that none of the BBC people had seen/heard of Morbo either and they're not worried about any similarities.)

So it seems the more you know about what's been done, the more difficult you make life for yourself. It's possible to worry too much about this stuff. Whatever setting and characters you choose, there's going to have been something similar done before in the millions of hours of comedy recorded since the dawn of time. As I've mentioned before, I wrote a whole sitcom episode once which turned out to be exactly like a Peep Show storyline which was broadcast a few weeks later.

So go ahead, write your rag-and-bone-men comedy. Chances are it won't be anything like Steptoe. Call them scrap merchants, or junkyard dealers, or whatever, and set it firmly in the modern day, and who knows what you might come up with. As someone else has pointed out to me, Ricky Gervais didn't hold back from writing The Office just because Colin's Sandwich had already been made.
 

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"'Reality,' sa molesworth 2, 'is so unspeakably sordid it make me shudder.'"

 

A cross between Empty and Steptoe and Son. Two joking misfit-ish types working at a scrap yard. Not a bad premise!
 

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Aaron
BSG Forums & DVDs Editor
(Half man, half Internet, half TV.)
(Loyal follower of The Magical Aura of Laura.)

 

You could always update the scrap yard motif to a recycling centre, politically more of an issue.
 

Great idea!
 

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"'Reality,' sa molesworth 2, 'is so unspeakably sordid it make me shudder.'"

 

Quote: Griff @ March 29, 2008, 11:48 AM

This whole plagiarism area's a minefield, though, isn't it.

If I'd known about Morbo (see I've Googled it now) I wouldn't have sent that sketch into Tilt, and I wouldn't have scored my radio credit. (BTW I now have it on good authority that none of the BBC people had seen/heard of Morbo either and they're not worried about any similarities.)

So it seems the more you know about what's been done, the more difficult you make life for yourself. It's possible to worry too much about this stuff. Whatever setting and characters you choose, there's going to have been something similar done before in the millions of hours of comedy recorded since the dawn of time. As I've mentioned before, I wrote a whole sitcom episode once which turned out to be exactly like a Peep Show storyline which was broadcast a few weeks later.

So go ahead, write your rag-and-bone-men comedy. Chances are it won't be anything like Steptoe. Call them scrap merchants, or junkyard dealers, or whatever, and set it firmly in the modern day, and who knows what you might come up with. As someone else has pointed out to me, Ricky Gervais didn't hold back from writing The Office just because Colin's Sandwich had already been made.

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I always say there's a finite number of good ideas in the world. Besides your skit was good, and I suspect atleast one of their crew is aware of Morbo, and it was good enough to beat the familiarity trap.

Anyway I've seen Garth Merenghi, and still submitted starpigs. If you couldn't do anything more than once then there'd be one GWB is a divvy joke ever.





My rag and bone men, actually belong to a world war 2 dad's army unit One of whom is a butcher, and another a pompous bank manager (who resents his senior cashier who went to public school). Except it's set in Russia, Vlads army.
 

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The ASDA of satire.
"Thoughtcrime was not a thing that could be concealed forever. You might dodge successfully for a while, even for years, but sooner or later they were bound to get you." Which is exactly what happened to Winston Smith. His rebellion was not one that was foolish and too outspoken. He silently tried to defeat the Party for his personal happiness, and in the end it cost him everything he had fought for, and his love for Julia. He had learned to love Big Brother, which was his ultimate fear when trying to live a life of individuality. The Party had defeated him.

1984
 

Is Marjory Doors struggling to understand the Indian woman any different than alan Partridge struggling to understand Michael the Geordie?
 

Very good point!
 

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Aaron
BSG Forums & DVDs Editor
(Half man, half Internet, half TV.)
(Loyal follower of The Magical Aura of Laura.)

 

Quote: catskillz @ March 31, 2008, 2:03 PM

Is Marjory Doors struggling to understand the Indian woman any different than alan Partridge struggling to understand Michael the Geordie?

View original

There is a difference I think. Alan Partridge features a character who is genuinely difficult to understand and so the joke is on Michael. In Little Britain Meera is perfectly understandable so the joke is about Marjorie's idiocy. In that sense you could argue that Alan Partridge is more offensive (but I would argue that neither show is).
 

I dunno about that. From what I've seen of Partridge (admittedly pretty little), Michael is HARDER to understand than Meera in Little Britain!
 

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Aaron
BSG Forums & DVDs Editor
(Half man, half Internet, half TV.)
(Loyal follower of The Magical Aura of Laura.)

 

Quote: Aaron @ March 31, 2008, 2:35 PM

I dunno about that. From what I've seen of Partridge (admittedly pretty little), Michael is HARDER to understand than Meera in Little Britain!

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That's what I wrote.
 

Little Britain is not racist at all. Jeeeez!!!
Margory Dawes is made out to be a right bitch for not understanding the indian lady. She also takes the piss out of large peeps. Seeing as she is a large lady herself it works well. She is made out to be vile so IMO it is not racist, sizeist at all.
 

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Sorry... NOT!