Thursday, November 27, 2003
I was reminded the other day of some sitcom ideas I came up with ages ago and was going to submit to BBC 1. If I had had a blog then I would have put them on it. But I didn't. So I'm sticking them here now. One from the vaults.
Steal away, lazy television executives! Steal away!
Sit Com Ideas
Quick Save: Ian Save runs a supermarket, he has worked his way up from the shop floor and is working class. Ian Quick is upper middle class and has been demoted from high management level due to various errors and now has to work under Ian Quick. Ian Save is hyperactive, Ian Quick procrastinates. Ian Save is profligate, Ian Quick is thrifty. They are the original odd couple. They both try to undermine each other whilst making themselves look good. Each one’s scheme always backfires, often due to the other’s scheme. Every now and again they realize that they’re not so different after all and there is a moment of pathos, broken by Ian Save farting, burping or doing something else crude.
Idea for Christmas special: both get drunk at the supermarket party and spend most of the episode trying to get at each other. Episode ends with them burying the hatchet. (Perhaps a comedy kiss under the mistletoe) The truce is of course over by the start of the next episode.
Monkey Business: Two bickering brothers run a pet shop specializing in apes. Sometimes the monkeys seem more sensible than the humans. This one writes itself.
Jack the Lad: About a boy called Jack. He gets into scrapes.
Oil and Water: The Oils and the Waters are neighbours. One runs a bottled water factory, the other an oil refinery. Ian Oil and Ian Water are great rivals but never mix. Ian Oil’s eldest daughter, Sandra, is going out with Ian Water’s son, Steve. This causes problems. Last episode of series: both families go to see the school production of Romeo and Juliet, the leads being played by Steve and Sandra. The fathers realize that their lives reflect the story and are humbled. Both tell their children that it’s OK for Steve and Sandra to see each other. The moment of pathos doesn’t last long though as both Dads have a go at each other later, possibly shaking their fists. (NB Ian Oil’s youngest son is cheeky and provides much comic relief as well as the words of wisdom only a child can give: pointing out his parents’ hypocrisies etc. His best friend is Katie Water, the youngest Water child. She provides much the same role for that family.)
Davy Jones’ Locker: Davy Jones works in a leisure centre. All the action is seen from a camera inside his locker.
Cash and Carry: Ian Cash is poor. Ian Carry has no arms. They run a Cash and Carry. Hilarity ensues. Possibly when someone asks Ian Carry to give them a hand with some stuff to their car.
Sea Bass: The humourous adventures of a cruise ship funk band.
Teddy Boys: Effeminate men, Nigel and Nathan (NOT homosexual though, just camp. Is James Dreyfus available?) who run a soft toy shop. They bicker all the time in the manner of an old gay couple. However, both are in love with the woman who runs the shop next door. (Possibly a florists.) They are not as different as they like to think. At the end of the series Nigel gets a job offer to a rival shop for better money. He ends up turning it down because he can’t face leaving. There is a moment where they both look at each other, recognizing their mutual need and affection. Nathan then makes a bitchy, camp comment which Nigel responds to and they both look relieved that the awkward moment is over.
Rough and Ready: You know how this one goes.
Some other ones I couldn’t be bothered writing up/didn’t get past the title:
Hammer and Tongs
Over the Moon/Man in the Moon
Afraid Knot
Ready or Not (Knot)
Heat Wave
Cold Snap
|
Steal away, lazy television executives! Steal away!
Sit Com Ideas
Quick Save: Ian Save runs a supermarket, he has worked his way up from the shop floor and is working class. Ian Quick is upper middle class and has been demoted from high management level due to various errors and now has to work under Ian Quick. Ian Save is hyperactive, Ian Quick procrastinates. Ian Save is profligate, Ian Quick is thrifty. They are the original odd couple. They both try to undermine each other whilst making themselves look good. Each one’s scheme always backfires, often due to the other’s scheme. Every now and again they realize that they’re not so different after all and there is a moment of pathos, broken by Ian Save farting, burping or doing something else crude.
Idea for Christmas special: both get drunk at the supermarket party and spend most of the episode trying to get at each other. Episode ends with them burying the hatchet. (Perhaps a comedy kiss under the mistletoe) The truce is of course over by the start of the next episode.
Monkey Business: Two bickering brothers run a pet shop specializing in apes. Sometimes the monkeys seem more sensible than the humans. This one writes itself.
Jack the Lad: About a boy called Jack. He gets into scrapes.
Oil and Water: The Oils and the Waters are neighbours. One runs a bottled water factory, the other an oil refinery. Ian Oil and Ian Water are great rivals but never mix. Ian Oil’s eldest daughter, Sandra, is going out with Ian Water’s son, Steve. This causes problems. Last episode of series: both families go to see the school production of Romeo and Juliet, the leads being played by Steve and Sandra. The fathers realize that their lives reflect the story and are humbled. Both tell their children that it’s OK for Steve and Sandra to see each other. The moment of pathos doesn’t last long though as both Dads have a go at each other later, possibly shaking their fists. (NB Ian Oil’s youngest son is cheeky and provides much comic relief as well as the words of wisdom only a child can give: pointing out his parents’ hypocrisies etc. His best friend is Katie Water, the youngest Water child. She provides much the same role for that family.)
Davy Jones’ Locker: Davy Jones works in a leisure centre. All the action is seen from a camera inside his locker.
Cash and Carry: Ian Cash is poor. Ian Carry has no arms. They run a Cash and Carry. Hilarity ensues. Possibly when someone asks Ian Carry to give them a hand with some stuff to their car.
Sea Bass: The humourous adventures of a cruise ship funk band.
Teddy Boys: Effeminate men, Nigel and Nathan (NOT homosexual though, just camp. Is James Dreyfus available?) who run a soft toy shop. They bicker all the time in the manner of an old gay couple. However, both are in love with the woman who runs the shop next door. (Possibly a florists.) They are not as different as they like to think. At the end of the series Nigel gets a job offer to a rival shop for better money. He ends up turning it down because he can’t face leaving. There is a moment where they both look at each other, recognizing their mutual need and affection. Nathan then makes a bitchy, camp comment which Nigel responds to and they both look relieved that the awkward moment is over.
Rough and Ready: You know how this one goes.
Some other ones I couldn’t be bothered writing up/didn’t get past the title:
Hammer and Tongs
Over the Moon/Man in the Moon
Afraid Knot
Ready or Not (Knot)
Heat Wave
Cold Snap
|
