THE YOUNG ONES

THE YOUNG ONES (1982-84) is another British show picked up by an American broadcaster (Comedy Central), to popular effect. The simple foundation of four college students living in a dump, left the show open to many asides. In fact, with it's musical interludes and unexplained asides with minor characters, THE YOUNG ONES bears elements of a variety show - or at least the imprint of THE BENNY HILL SHOW. The classic characters of Neil the dim Hippy, Rick the clueless nerd, Vyvyan the sadomasochistic Punk and Mike the unflappable con-artist are all too dumb to live, and supplemented by many of British comedy's finest stars in cameo appearances. The surrealistic bent of the humor, inside jokes between the characters, subliminal images, portals to other dimensions and number of episodes where everyone dies at the end can be a bit odd for the stateside audience; but that's part of the charm. "BASTARD!", "Brilliant!" and "heavy" are the catch-phrases, but if you’re not British, watching with subtitles isn’t a bad idea. A great primer for a variety of British styles of humor, this influential series only lasted two seasons!