PopcornTreeCt

Just throwing this out there on what kind of dialogue styles you like/dislike...

Like:

Friends -- I loved Chandler's snarky quips, Phoebe's bizarre statements and Ross' loud outbursts.

Curb Your Enthusiasm/Seinfeld -- Both share a similar style of comedy and dialogue... love it.

Happy Endings -- It's growing on me. I like all the pop culture references.


Dislike:

Gilmore Girls -- The monotone back and forth between the mother and daughter were grating on my nerves. I watched 2 episodes and that's all I could make it.

Buffy/Angel/(anything else by Whedon) -- couldn't stand the format.

Deadwood -- this one was hit or miss for me but mostly miss. I loved the show despite the dialogue.

DonnachaOne

I always loved Sorkin's snappy-banter-while-walking-the-halls in The West Wing and, to a lesser extent, Sports Night (less walking there).

Spaced had a wonderful habit of sounding like completely fine sitcom dialogue until they snuck in a punchline that underlined how ridiculous the setup was. It was also a great means to fit in remnants of Simon Pegg's old standup, like the "afraid of dogs and lightning" bit.

Superboy

I used to hate technobabble, but now I realize just how funny it is. It really started after Patrick Stewart was on the Tonight Show next to John Glenn, and he mentioned how stupid he felt sitting next to someone who really did go into space, when he just pretended

I can't stand the dialogue in Family Guy. It's just endless drivel that goes on and on and isn't funny in the least.

The dialogue in Angel has a totally different tone than Buffy, and was a serious improvement. The stu-stu-stuttering dialogue in Buffy got really old and was really just a way for them to pad episodes.

creekdipper

I'm kinda partial to English.

Although I do love whatever language they speak on Justified.

Navinabob

I like the fast witty banter of Sorkin's West Wing and on Whedon's list of shows (Buffy, Firefly, Angel). I'm enjoying more UK shows then US shows as of late party due to their quicker tone of dialog. As much as I like Friends back in the day, it is painful to watch right now after seeing how comedy should be done (IT Crowd, Inbetweeners, Black Books).

I have a friend who can't watch Doctor Who because the fast dialog it hard to follow (plus the accents don't help). I tried 2 Broke Girls and Whitney this year and got bored with the plodding beats, endless pauses for laughter, and reaction shots after each joke.

Ayre

I agree about Whedon and GG. I find both difficult to watch for different reasons.

I watch Happy Endings, but I think the dialog is too quirky for its own good. New Girl is the same way. With the standard "let's take turns talking" format it just comes off smarmy. "Look at me!! Look at me!! I am gonna say something clever".

Modern Family comes off pretty natural. They don't spend a lot of time sitting in front of a table exchanging quips and everything takes place in their daily lives. Everything has context.

I stopped watching The Middle ... they seem so happy about being unhappy.
Drone ... Drone ... Drone ... Commercial. Seriously, the entire family should buy a tank of nitrogen and some exit bags.

Raising Hope is a bit over the top, but their delivery is amazing. But it really doesn't have dialog ... more like setups.

I don't watch dramedies anymore. The are neither funny nor dramatic. A good drama has to affect you personally or it might as well be procedural. That's what happens with that GG monotone rapid fire dialog. Hey, if we talk fast enough maybe nobody will figure out that we aren't funny. They get emotional about little things and never tackle the big stuff. I think it's also called Light Drama. Like that horrific "Hart of Dixie".

A lot of the Syfy stuff (Eureka, Warehouse13) are that light drama where dialog is either silly or a plot setup and really has little meaing to their lives. Although Colin Ferguson has great delivery and has brought a lot of warmth to Eureka. So, I do think an actor can warm up cold dialog and the reverse is also true.

Whew!

celmendo

Really like the fast stuff like Thirtysomething, Gilmore Girls.
Any Whedon show
Things that seem to really have fun with the dialogue like Pushing Daises (any Bryan Fuller show)

Goat3001

I really like the banter on It's Always Sunny. Obviously sometimes it's way over the top but there is a subtlety to it when they start discussing plans or call themselves the gang... it's as if the characters know they're in a sitcom.

I really love Happy Endings in every way. The quick jabs and pop culture references are great.

Agree with this. The thing I disliked the most was that everyone, not just the mother and daughter, had the same monotone back and forth conversations. It was as if everyone was exactly the same.

Maxflier

Can't say that I have a favorite, but I couldn't stand the dialogue in Deadwood.

bluetoast

I love Deadwood's dialogue, especially Al.

SubZeri

Totally agree, this is painful to listen to. My wife loves this show so the re-runs and dvd's are in constant rotation.

The thing that drives me batty over this show and the dialog, is that it seems like every actor/actress is playing basically the same character.
They all speak and deliver their lines in the same style while trying to shoehorn in random & totally unrelated pop culture references and metaphors.

Also, the dialog seems unnatural and over-rehearsed in the sense that most of the lines come across as if the characters themselves (not just the actors) already knew what they were going to say before the other person on screen has even spoken....as if they have their reference to Shakespearean Tragedy locked and loaded before they even knew they'd need it.

I have no idea who writes the show, but the writing seems like it comes from someone who is looking for attention by trying to appear to be alot more cultured than they really are. Kind of like "Hey, this teenage birthday party scene would be a great time to show the world that I'm cultured enough to know who Joy Division is!"

andicus

Yeah, I was surprised to see it mentioned here as a dislike. It's the first thing I thought of when I saw the thread title.

the big train

I wouldn't say there's a style of dialogue I particularly enjoy, but I hate it when characters talk in speeches and constantly repeat words.

They do that so damn much on Grey's Anatomy that it drives me nuts. The same is probably true with Private Practice, but I wouldn't know. Sorkin did that a lot as well on all his shows, but he usually picked his spots better.

Nick Martin

I'd assume the thread's author didn't actually watch Angel, because this is absolutely true.

In fact, the tone was so different because Whedon was never as involved with the show as he was with Buffy and Firefly, that whenever Whedon DID appear to write an episode, it stuck out as being radically different in its dialogue because Whedon approached it with a Buffy sensibility in the lines.

I've never been as fond of the final season of the show as most because of this, and Whedon essentially made the show 'Buffy-lite'.

PopcornTreeCt

I watched a few episodes of Angel so I'm probably just misremembering. I found it too similar in style to Buffy.

stopgap

Original Law & Order, Sunny In Philly, Clark/Lex/Lionel (sp?) one on one scenes in Smallville.

Psych is pretty funny.

Firefly/Serenity (biased)

Someone mentioned Happy endings. I have to disagree on that big time. Just marathon'd season 1 and what of 2 is out there. Something isn't right on that show.

creekdipper

I have mixed reactions to improvised dialogue (Curb Your Enthusiasm, Friday Night Lights, etc.).

At times it can be great & sound incredibly natural. Other times it seems to flounder and drag on interminably while they appear to be searching for the next line.

Sometimes it degenerates into shouting mumblecore.

As long as the dialogue moves the story along and doesn't draw undue attention to itself (whether over- or under-scripted), I'm fine with it. At different times I like the fast-paced stuff, the more deliberate set-ups, techno-laden slang, philosophical musings, flowery prose, lowbrow jokes, etc....as long as the lines are delivered well and the story flows.

We're just too eclectic for our own good. However, I like to think that we're still picky about quality.

Ayre

Love the FNL improv, but it is edited very well.

In defense of GG dialog (which I hate), I believe it is based off of the screwball comedy movies (which I love) of the late 30's and early 40's. Most notably "His Girl Friday" actress, Rosalind Russell.

Nick Martin

The weird cutesy lines that were a staple of Buffy were almost nowhere to be found on Angel except if Whedon himself wrote the episode, and he actually wrote very few. There was an episode in season 3 where Angel and Co. went to a ballet, and it was the first episode Whedon wrote and directed himself (as opposed to sharing credit with someone else), and suddenly everyone in it was talking like Buffy characters and not Angel characters, if that makes sense. They used a lot of those Buffy-style one-liners and words like "wiggs" and it just stuck out like a sore thumb.

Angel also didn't have the forced catchphrases Firefly did, like "shiny" and "gorram". I cringe whenever I hear or read someone say those out of context.

Basically most fans seemed to have looked down on Angel because it was the least 'Whedon' of the Whedon shows in terms of his direct involvement. I looked at that as a bonus. It flourished because of writers like Tim Minear, its co-creator David Greenwalt and others.

SpanishTechno

I like The League's style. Tons of funny digs that don't come across as over-written sitcom jokes, with great reaction shots.

redsea

I actually liked the banter on Gilmore Girls, though Lauren Graham was much better at it than Alexis.

Love The West Wing walk and talk. Also love the dialogue on Firefly.

I'm also a fan of 70s comedies like The Bob Newhart show and Maude. Both Bob Newhart and Bea Arthur were very gifted with comedic timing.

adamblast

Sorkin and Deadwood taught me that there are exceptions to every rule, but I usually like dialog to be transparent, something you don't notice at all--not calling attention to some style or other.

PopcornTreeCt

On more recent shows I like the dialogue on The Newsroom and Girls.

Navinabob

Bunheads is another good example to add to the list with those two shows.

MLBFan24

24 - Kiefer Sutherland doing the interrogations. Scary stuff...haha