Funny Games
If there’s one thing guaranteed to enliven a dull sitcom (or even a great one), it’s a scene that locks two or more characters in combat across a table, playing a board or card game. Whether it’s ludo or Cluedo, poker or pontoon, the games people play in sitcoms allow writers to explore the competitiveness and pettiness of their characters in often hilarious detail. “Should there not be some cards in here?” One sitcom holds the record for the time its characters spend playing board games – Father Ted . With fathers Ted and Dougal having so much free time as priests, they spend much of it playing the likes of ludo, Cluedo, and snakes and ladders. (In the original Father Ted DVD commentary, writer Graham Linehan explained that he and co-writer Arthur Matthews ensured that Ted and Dougal played the most unskilled games.) When Ted thinks he’s finally about to play a game that challenges the old grey matter, chess, he has to concede to Dougal’s choice, Buckaroo. “ I th...