Vashirdfel
Simply A Masterpiece
Matialth
Good concept, poorly executed.
AnhartLinkin
This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.
maximum1969
Where to start? Poor writing, lame acting and direction. The worst excesses of 1970's "comedy" The jokes, so called, are over played and hammy. The direction suggests that the louder you say a line, the funnier it is!! When you remember that Monty Python was just being born, snd comedies like Dads Army were around, or Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads as two examples. This dross just does not compare. The characterisations just are not funny. Proof again that I.T.V. just couldn't do comedy! Other than Rising Damp perhaps. Avoid,unless you are brain dead, very lonely or think that the height of sophistication is drinking Special Brew lager out of a can with a curly straw.
crossbow0106
I can just imagine everyone sitting by the telly watching this first run then. Decades later, its amusing, but not a revelation. The characters are good, Reg Varney was a class comic actor and the supporting characters are fine. A few things do grate on you when you listen to more than 2 episodes at a time, namely Mum's piercing scream "Stan!" and the constant put downs about Olive. If memory serves, they tried to adapt this show for American television, a short lived series called "Lotsa Luck" starring Dom Deluise. I liked the show,but my context is not nostalgic, since they did not run this series in America. For many, this is revisiting an old friend. I especially liked that Bob Grant (Jack) and Stephen Lewis (Inspector Blake) co-wrote a number of the episodes, their episodes were some of the best later ones. So, in a nutshell, if you're watching for the first time, watch two episodes at a time and you'll enjoy it. For those who grew up with the show, add a grade or two from mine and enjoy watching the show again.
screenman
This was a series that was almost a perfect parody of working-class London. Reg Varney et al fitted their characters so well they could have walked into a bus terminal and never been questioned.I at first loathed the series. There was a bawdy, gross-out thread that seemed to just go beyond that of the 'Carry-On' franchise and smacked of simple bad-taste. And yet the plots were so believable, the characters so life-like, that I found myself enjoying it against my better judgement. A show that can overcome innate prejudice has to have something going for it.The series employed a great deal of location work with real buses on real (otherwise deserted) streets, which lifted it beyond the simple tedium of studio sitcom and added to its stamp of authenticity. A real bus garage was employed in the shooting.Thirty years on, we still have buses, but sadly no longer conductors. The operators are often (though not always) rude, sullen and defensive. Passengers are course, ignorant and badly-behaved. It would be hard work to remake the series today and still find any good humour.But this is still very watchable, if a bit nostalgic. it's a lot funnier than plenty of current 'comedy'.Even the spin-off movies are worth a look.
ShadeGrenade
British working class sitcoms were in vogue in the late '60's and early '70's, such as 'Steptoe & Son', 'Till Death Us Do Part', and, of course, this. Incredibly, the B.B.C. turned 'On The Buses' down even though the writers had devised the highly popular 'The Rag Trade'. London Weekend Television profited by their mistake.'On The Buses' boasted a terrific cast and ( for the most part ) very funny scripts. Viewers cheered as driver Stan Butler and conductor Jack Harper frequently got one over the pompous Inspector 'Blakey' Blake. All over the country, his catchphrase "I 'ate you, Butler" could be heard in workplaces and playgrounds. And as for the sexy 'clippies'...sorry, feminists, but they really did exist, I'm afraid. My favourite characters were the dowdy Olive and her grumpy husband Arthur. Even when the punchlines could be seen coming a mile off, they were usually delivered with panache and immaculate comic timing. Three movies were made, none as funny as the original, and a stage version in Canada in the late '80's. Its impossible to explain the show's appeal to young people, but it struck a chord with millions of viewers, and should not be dismissed lightly.
