Topic REMINDER -- WILL & GRACE from the General Chit-Chat forum.
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| Author | Topic: REMINDER -- WILL & GRACE |
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 Jenny_loves_
bernadette
Registered User
Registered:
6/6/2002
From:
London | posted: 5/13/2006 at 6:55:37 AM ET
ok - i just got a little scared as anonymous said he/she lived in england. Its not me! hehe. I've been reading the whole post and I must say i'm really suprised - i thought will and grace was really popular but so many of you don't seem to like it. I like when I see it but i don't go out of my way to tune in - its way too many gags a minute and tries to be a bit too clever for its own good. it makes my brain hurt with the effort of keeping up.
The sad thing is, i have to say, is so many brits - particularly teenagers, think this is just how americans are. We get an absolute TON of U.S sitcoms more so than dramas or anything else for that matter. channel 4 shows pretty much all of them; friends, the simpsons, everybody loves raymond, roseanne, just shoot me, frasier, cheers, mad about you, 8 simple rules, hope and faith(sooo appalling) and the list goes on.
But i guess you can say that while some brits might think americans are wise-cracking, cheesey self absorbed caricatures, people in america have this view of the english, particularly, being snobbish, rude, and cold-hearted from all the shows that get exported from here.
I've just been ranting pointlessly - sorry!
But back to the point, I'm really looking forward to Bernadette being on mainstream TV. and anyway, aren't we forgetting some of the appalling movies she's made that we let go because we love her to bits? Tulips and heartbeeps for example?
they say bernadette's wonderful..........and she is
xx Jenny xx
| Scottie
Registered User
Registered:
3/6/2006
From:
Edinburgh, Scotland | posted: 5/13/2006 at 7:04:06 AM ET
I couldn't agree more about the declining quality of televison - it is the same here. The TV stations these days seem to be aiming their broadcasts at the lowest common denominator and fill their schedules up with what I call "cheap" TV - mostly stupid reality shows about uninteresting people. I tend to stick to the quality dramas (both British and American), documentaries and the wonderful BBC4 arts channel.
It's interesting to read the vivid reactions to the Will and Grace episode featuring Bernadette. The last series is in full swing here in GB so I'm looking forward to the episode popping up in the not too distant future.
I'm actually quite a fan of the show and everyone in it - except for Grace - who is a tad irritating to say the least. I have to say (no offence intended) that I'm not really an enthusiastic viewer of American TV comedies in general but Will and Grace never fails to amuse me. I also think it is great that a sit-com, based on a Gay premiss, has been so successful - particularly after the untimely demise of "Ellen".
Perhaps this sounds naive and is pure conjecture of course - but the thought strikes me that maybe Bernadette saw it as a gentle and affectionate "nod" to her huge Gay following and if true is surely a nice thing.
as Bernadette says....just keep moving on.....
|  Sister Rose
Registered User
Registered:
5/4/2004
From:
NYC | posted: 5/13/2006 at 7:36:56 AM ET
I absolutely love this thread. It's called free speech and the fact that we are not censored - or more importantly do not feel as though we must censor ourselves just because we admire the object of our discussion - makes it even better.
I suppose that there is something for everyone out there on television, movies, internet, literature, theatre...whatever your genre - it's our individual choice to seek out what inspires us - whether just for laughs or for intellectual stimulation - just because something is low brow or high brow doesn't make it wrong, i.e. I can enjoy "Mamma Mia" on Broadway one evening and attend the Metropolitan Opera the next evening and enjoy it just as much. It's that thing that makes humans uniquely unique. It's the rare event when we all agree...and frankly it's okay when we do disagree.
http://sarahbsadventures.blogspot.com/
| Scottie
Registered User
Registered:
3/6/2006
From:
Edinburgh, Scotland | posted: 5/13/2006 at 8:42:50 AM ET
I forgot to say that Bernadette has now appeared in four of my favourite US TV comedy shows ... Frazier (just a voice-over but I'm still grateful), Ally McBeal, The Larry Sanders Show and now Will & Grace. So, as far as I am concerned she shows good taste. On my 'wish list' I would love to see her in Curb Your Enthusiasm which is one of the funniest show I've seen in years. I think she would be great alongside Larry David.
as Bernadette says....just keep moving on.....
| Jenny_loves_
bernadette
Registered User
Registered:
6/6/2002
From:
London | posted: 5/13/2006 at 10:51:01 AM ET
oh yes! I love Curb Your Enthusiasm! it's absolutely brilliant. And i forgot to mention that I do absolutely love Friends (up until series 5..I just stuck with it out of loyalty) and The simpsons even though it can be a bit sick sometimes. Apparently Roseanne was meant to be the most honest and true representation of the american working class - you can verify if thats true. I can vouch for, as I'm sure scottie will back me up, that only fools and horses (i believe you get that on BBC america) is SO accurate in it's portrayal of our working class. not sure if there are any fans of the show on here but I don't live too far from peckham!
they say bernadette's wonderful..........and she is
xx Jenny xx
| Karen
Registered User
Registered:
5/3/2002 | posted: 5/13/2006 at 11:19:07 AM ET
Jenny, don't get me started on Roseanne! It was not an honest and true representation of anything other than sitcomland and the mind of Roseanne Barr.
If you want a realistic depiction of American working class life, I would recommend some of the films of John Sayles. Robert Altman is very good also (when he chooses to look at that milieu).
| PATTY
Registered User
Registered:
3/1/2003
From:
tonawanda,n.y. | posted: 5/13/2006 at 5:41:34 PM ET
I think I"LL get started on Roseanne!! Years ago, I thought the show was gross and cheap, but after years of "living" I've watched the re-runs, and I'm finding it funnier than before! Perhaps my mind is warped, but there are good love interactions between family members that I maybe was too "uppity" to notice before. Anyway, in this serious and scary world we now live in, I sometimes don't want to be intellectually stimulated, I just need to laugh my ass off! I still think Roseanne has done public, gross things(National Anthem)), but I can appreciate her funny side.
The "Will and Grace" episode with Bernadette was one of the poorer shows, though I do generally enjoy it. I think they treat Gay living with sensitivity and fun! Bernadette's role was rather poorly scripted, and I didn't think the TV screen revealed her real, physical, beautiful self. TV is a harsh portrayer.
I guess that's why I loved "Spamalot" so much..it was so good to hear people laugh and appreciate the silliness of life and it's absurdaties. "Life is quite absurd, and death's the final word, you must always face the curtain with a bow"... " so always look on the bright side of life"...
I'll always love Bernadette, not because what she's in is good, but just because she is Bernadette, who will bring joy to my life forever!
To the loveliest lady of song!
You will keep on giving me joy forever...
|  Christine-NYC
Registered User
Registered:
3/23/2002
From:
New York City
Fav. BP Song: With So Little to be Sure Of
Fav. BP Show: Gypsy
Fav. BP Character: Marie (insert last name) lol There's a few
Fav. BP CD: Bernadette Peters Loves Rogers and Hammerstein
| posted: 5/13/2006 at 10:48:14 PM ET
I cannot think of one TV show that accurately depicts "Americans." We are such a diverse country.
I have never lived anywhere other than NY, but I don't imagine (at least I hope not) that most middle-American families are like the family depicted on "Roseanne."
I would say that the closest, right-on, sitcoms would be Seinfeld, Mad About You, and Everybody Loves Raymond. And Seinfeld is a stretch.
Oh, and probably Cheers.
We're so saturated in programs, people just assume that what they don't know/ the lifestyles with which they are not familiar, are matching what they see on television.
Do I think Newsrooms are run like FYI on "Murphy Brown"? Absolutely.
Are they run that way? lol Probably not.
I realize I have just gone on with a crazy rant. I apologize. I'm just killing time before "Saturday Night Live" airs.
And just to add my 25 cents (God knows 2 would not be enough), Bernadette has admitted (many times) that she does not use the internet. Even if she did, I imagine she would not spend that time searching fan boards about herself.
Also, I would THINK she would appreciate that her true fans are honest in their opinions of her work.
She should not have any regrets for taking that role. I think it was a horrible episode (based on the script and forced jokes), but it was a once in a lifetime opportunity; and I'm sure she can find plenty to do with that paycheck. Good for her. I would have done the same thing.
Just because she is Bernadette, does not mean the sun shines out of her....well, anyway. Not EVERYTHING she does or will do is going to be great. She's human. I love that about her. 
<3CMH<3
| Karen
Registered User
Registered:
5/3/2002 | posted: 5/13/2006 at 10:58:15 PM ET
Wow! Christine, that was a great post. Thanks a lot. Loved what you said--so true!
| Christine-NYC
Registered User
Registered:
3/23/2002
From:
New York City
Fav. BP Song: With So Little to be Sure Of
Fav. BP Show: Gypsy
Fav. BP Character: Marie (insert last name) lol There's a few
Fav. BP CD: Bernadette Peters Loves Rogers and Hammerstein
| posted: 5/13/2006 at 11:09:11 PM ET
Why, thank you I wasn't even sure if I made any sense. lol
<3CMH<3
| jmslsu01
Registered User
Registered:
6/9/2003
From:
northern VA | posted: 5/14/2006 at 1:47:49 PM ET
Jenny, the American shows that you see are usually written by Ivy League educated white men and feature white middle class characters. There are very few African American and Latino charactes on those shows, and rarely any Asian-Americans as well.
Just as the United Kingdom is much more diverse, ethnically and economically, than what the shows (and movies) we see in the States.
Unless you really do live with your spinster sisters and widowed mother in a small cottage because your brother inherited the manor and his evil wife kicked you out because the law passes homes only to the son and you sit around and needlepoint and wait for a dashing suitor with whom you have an "understanding" to come by in his barouche and discuss the weather and state of the roads.
If so, then I apologize for my ignorance. I'll be out on my porch, sipping mint julep, cursing damnyankees, bitching about the War of Northern Aggression, waiting for my first cousin/husband to come back from his KKK meeting, and fanning myself because no one here has heard of air conditioning.
Jenn
| Karen
Registered User
Registered:
5/3/2002 | posted: 5/14/2006 at 2:05:29 PM ET
But I really do live in a tenement with my mother and brother, waiting for the occasional gentlemen caller, ever since that business college thing didn't work out. Honest!
| Karen
Registered User
Registered:
5/3/2002 | posted: 5/14/2006 at 2:12:17 PM ET
When I'm not dancing a cakewalk and singing "Under the Bamboo Tree" with my little sister, that is.
| Scottie
Registered User
Registered:
3/6/2006
From:
Edinburgh, Scotland | posted: 5/14/2006 at 2:31:36 PM ET
Yes, and I am a cold and aloof British stereotype with a cut-glass accent, who looks down on the working classes, looks down on "johnny-foreigner", looks like Julie Andrews, and, oh yes, has no sense of humour at all.
All kidding aside, I've been wondering whether the tap dancing in the W&G episode was done in a joking sort of way - i.e. like the character couldn't dance at all or whether Bernadette really did tap dance as well as we all know she can?
as Bernadette says....just keep moving on.....
| Karen
Registered User
Registered:
5/3/2002 | posted: 5/14/2006 at 2:45:32 PM ET
The scene was weird because the character said something about how her accident caused her to lose the ability to dance, and she then broke out in a brief, confused little thing that I guess was supposed to be a tap dance, the joke presumably being that she COULD still dance really well. The problem for me was that the "dance" or whatever it was, was truly terrible and did not display the ability that it apparently was supposed to, so the joke did not work at all. Nevertheless, the laughtrack was howling and applauding so I guess we're not supposed to notice.
| Scottie
Registered User
Registered:
3/6/2006
From:
Edinburgh, Scotland | posted: 5/14/2006 at 3:29:38 PM ET
Thanks, Karen. Another thing I was wondering about, after I read the comments about her voice ... the thought occured to me that she might have made her voice low and croaky as a complete contrast to Megan's high-pitched shrill. And God! is it high-pitched!
Inspired ,(if that's the right word) by the wonderfully differing opinions regarding Bernadette's W&G appearance, I sat down last night and re-watched the Carol Burnett show where BP and CB play a song-writing duo.
I have to say that I have only recently seen this show for the first time (Ms Burnett's series was never broadcast here in the UK)... but it is such a charming show and one where Bernadette truly shines ... and a great BP song in the middle of it didn't exactly spoil the experience either! But I suppose time moves on and those sort of television shows move on with it. Such a shame!
as Bernadette says....just keep moving on.....
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