Entertainment columnist Eugene Smith talks about sitcoms this month.

   

Every few years the media mourns the death of the British sitcom. Depending on the age of the commentator, a golden age of comedy will be identified and contrasted with today’s woeful offerings.

This laziness permeates most writings on popular culture, with some journalists unable to accept that there has always been a mixture of quality and dross.

In the seventies we had Dad’s Army, and we also had On The Buses (incredibly popular but jaw-droppingly awful).

Today Stan Butler has been replaced by Mrs Brown, while Inside No. 9 inherits Walmington-on-Sea’s Home Guard’s crown as the most consistently brilliant contemporary comedy.

Since the news from home and abroad is so grim I thought it would be worth spending the next few months looking at various current forms of comedy.

I’m ignoring panel shows, as with the notable exception of the excellent Would I Lie To You? the current batch are uniformly one-note, and that note is “unfunny”, with the BBC being the only people who still consider Paul Merton amusing.

Apart from Paul himself (and if you doubt what I’m saying, try reading his autobiography).

A common fallacy is to sneer at American sitcoms for being rubbish. “Oh, they don't get irony” is trotted out by people who would squawk indignantly at such stereotyping against any other nation.

That this nonsense is still being peddled after Frasier is remarkable.

Sentimentality  is another accusation leveled at US shows, and of course some were (in fact the worst offender was M*A*S*H - discuss).

But Britain can hold her own in the mawkish stakes, the nation’s favourite(™) Only Fools and Horses being exhibit A.

Sometime around the fourth series they flicked off the “funny” switch and filled the void with enough saccharine banality to stock a dozen branches of Hallmark.

There’s a frustrating lack of consistency in some homegrown shows, as demonstrated by the various Alan Partridge shows. And to be fair, Frasier went off the boil during the middle of its run, but rallied by its end.  And, of course, it’s back, featuring Rodney from Only Fools and Horses. Small world. Some big laughs. Next time, stand-up…