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Did anyone else catch the fantastic series 2 opener tonight? I've grown to love this comedy alot more than the office, and the theme of selling out/ integrity gives it a real wallop; Andy backstage on the set of his sitcom, visibly dying inside was awesome. PLus the whole skewering of light entertainment. And fantastic lines like "I love him cuz he's desperate!"
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For a moment I thought Keith Chegwin was going to veer too close to Les Dennis in the first series, but the sinister, shadowy way he expounded his prejudices was excellent.
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I also liked the cut to plebs in the front row of the studio audience wearing t-shirts with shit slogans from shit comedies. Gervaise doesn't seem to care who he insults, which is great.
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"And I suppose then it's then a case of whether you're giver or receiver - and looking at you I'd say..."
Did anyone hang around to watch Mitchell and Webb? Though it didn't attempt the heights (or, maybe, depths) of Peep Show it had many more laughs than most sketch programmes. I particularly liked the doubting SS men and the send-up of What Not To Wear which then went behind the scenes to show 'Mitchell' unable to control his urge to black up (a dead-on jab at the increasingly feeble Little Britain, I thought).
There were also a couple of comments on modern tv comedy that were handled with a lightness of touch you didn't really get in Extras.
Webb: "What are you doing?" Mitchell: *sitting slumped, gazing into a camera* "Recording the background for the dvd menu. Every now an again I scratch my face - then they loop it."
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Extras was great, even better if possible than series one, though I thought they could have used Orlando more, but I did enjoy his Depp hatred..
Mitchell and Webb was good in places, the SS skit was lovely, as was the DVD menu Ben mentioned.
I even stuck around for Mock The Week, which wasn't great.
Did anyone catch Japanorama later on in the evening ? Otaku rocks !
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Yeah. Mitchell and Webb were terrific, too. Like you say, the Nazis having a crisis of confidence were top. As were the mismatched superheros.
Plus... Webb: "What are you doing?" Mitchell: *sitting slumped, gazing into a camera* "Recording the background for the dvd menu. Every now an again I scratch my face - then they loop it." Webb: "Who watches that?"
quote:Originally posted by Black Mask: Keith Chegwin was fantastic.
He can't go wrong with that role really, can he. His usual audience of GMTV viewers would be nodding their heads going, "Too right, Cheggers mate, Jews and queers. They're bloody everywhere. Glad someone's finally said it on TV." While the rest of us go, "Oh, nice one! Great parody!"
Was good though.
Was a bit disappointed with Mitchell & Webb really. Most of it was a direct lift from the radio series, including word for word sketches in a couple of cases. Perfect for radio, didn't gain anything from having visuals. Aaaaand, right, they've got a catchphrase ("Ooh, and that's a bad miss!") which = crap comedy. It's probably their only catchphrase though, so I suppose that's ok.
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I didn't bother with Mitchell & Webb as the trailer didn't really raise a laugh. I thought it might make me angry that there's no more Peep Show.
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A couple of things annoy me about Extras - I mean, it's a bit rich for Gervais to build a second series around the premise of having to compromise your work when it's fairly clear that he received kid-glove treatment and full creative control with The Office and, indeed, Extras.
Is he trying to say that My Family, My Hero and Goodnight Sweetheart could have been searingly innovative comedy had it not been for The Suits?
Also: it already feels like the A-listers=bastards, Z-listers=tragic thing is getting a bit formulaic. And if Bloom thinks that a gentle send-up of himself excuses his miserable involvement POTC he can think a-fucking-gain.
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quote:Originally posted by ben: A couple of things annoy me about Extras - I mean, it's a bit rich for Gervais to build a second series around the premise of having to compromise your work when it's fairly clear that he received kid-glove treatment and full creative control with The Office and, indeed, Extras.
Is he trying to say that My Family, My Hero and Goodnight Sweetheart could have been searingly innovative comedy had it not been for The Suits?
Also: it already feels like the A-listers=bastards, Z-listers=tragic thing is getting a bit formulaic. And if Bloom thinks that a gentle send-up of himself excuses his miserable involvement POTC he can think a-fucking-gain.
I think he's trying to keep up the central characters 'tragic' quality, much like he did with Brent in The Office, these shows try and generate empathy for the central character by making their life less than perfect, I don't think that if the series in the show went well people would enjoy the show as much, you watch to see the struggle, you really watch to see them fail all the time knowing that at the end they'll get one small thing right (Like Brent's date and Dawn and Tim in the final episode) which makes the struggle all worthwhile..
I hope he doesn't hook the Andy and Maggie characters up, that'd spoil it badly for me..
I have no idea if he's trying to say anything about My Hero though, but for a shit show it's run 6 series so somebody must like it...
quote:Originally posted by ben: it's a bit rich for Gervais to build a second series around the premise of having to compromise your work when it's fairly clear that he received kid-glove treatment and full creative control with The Office and, indeed, Extras.
I don't think this is a valid criticism at all. This is realistically the only position from which Gervais can criticise the process of compromising interference. Having demonstrated just how effective an auteured show can be, and what a writer can do when left to their own devices he's surely free to attack the process of turning everything into mediocrity through a production line attitude that saps the writer's spirit and churns out endless turd.
If he wasn't in this position you would attack him saying
"Oh so if The Office had been his vision it would have been a ground-breaking, mega-selling worldwide phenomenon, would it?"
or
"Seems a bit churlish for Gervais to attack a system that he's already done quite well out of."
So you can get him coming and going, if you're so inclined. But you know, he could be talking about other people who go through this process, he's probably seen it happen to others and you could view this series as speaking out on their behalf, because he's demonstrated what can happen when people are given free reign. What's more, it's something that extends beyond sitcoms: it can be mapped onto any process whereby someone attempts to do something different, something they're passionate about and has their ideas trampled by people trying to make it the same as everything else. I really enjoyed this aspect of the show, that seemed to be saying "Don't let people beat you round the head with their power and experience".
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alternatively it could be seen as saying "try not to compromise your integrity, though you'll probably have to if you want to get anywhere"
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It's been said that the process of critical reading tells us as much about the critic as it does the original text. What do you think that interpretation says about you, Martin?
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quote:Originally posted by Vogon Poetess: I didn't bother with Mitchell & Webb as the trailer didn't really raise a laugh. I thought it might make me angry that there's no more Peep Show.
Mitchell and Webb are working on a new Series of Peep Show at the minute apparently. It's due to hit our screens in early 2007! Posts: 44
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I thought the Mitchell and Webb show was a little patchy in places but when it hit the mark it was very good. My favourite sketch was the one right near the end - 'The Surprising Adventures of Sir Digby Chicken Caesar'.
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quote:Originally posted by Thorn Davis: Having demonstrated just how effective an auteured show can be, and what a writer can do when left to their own devices he's surely free to attack the process of turning everything into mediocrity through a production line attitude that saps the writer's spirit and churns out endless turd.
Well, of course he is - so long as it's entertaining and amusing rather than a self-indulgent whinge. Writers writing about writers is usually quite fertile self-indulgent whinge territory, so he's going to have to pull off quite a balancing act.
The trouble with the opening episode was that you didn't really get any hint that the script he'd started with was 'brilliant' at all, so there was no sense that some sort of masterpiece was being sabotaged - just, maybe, the normal argy-bargy of a script being transformed from words into a commercially successful programme.
The Andy Milman character of the first series was a near-total loser on the make ('not an extra - a background artist') - this series, there doesn't seem to be any distance between Andy and Gervais himself, which doesn't really bode well.
quote:Originally posted by Thorn Davis: If he wasn't in this position you would attack him saying
[...] So you can get him coming and going, if you're so inclined.
As it happens, I'm not. I'd rather just enjoy the programme, actually. I just think he's slipping from a comedy of self-loathing (= lol £) to a comedy of loathing, which is pretty well-trodden ground.
quote:Originally posted by Thorn Davis: I really enjoyed this aspect of the show, that seemed to be saying "Don't let people beat you round the head with their power and experience".
Well, how trite. I think I prefered it when the nub of Gervais's comedy was that everyone's pretty much a wanker - but the biggest laughs come from recognising the wankerish aspects of ourselves (eg. Brent's excruciating appraisal meetings with Neil - recognisable to anyone who's flailed around helplessly when brought to heel for slacking).
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quote:Originally posted by Darryn.R: I'd like to think Bowie, for years I really thought he wrote a song about
"Sausages, Someone stole my sausages. A little fat Italian on a moped stole my sausages"
But he didn't, it was some impressionist doing an impression of him...
quote:Originally posted by Darryn.R: How low do you think they can take the Andy charcter before it stops being bitter sweet comedy and turns into farce ?
Perhaps we'll get progressively less of the Andy behind the scenes stuff, to be replaced with more of When The Whistle Blows until that becomes a programme in its own right - on BBC1 - with Barry taking the lead role.
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When the Whistle Blows is utter shit, though. Even without the tampering of the BBC it would've been a dreadful old sack of shite. That's the joke, right?
The Bowie thing, when he zoned out as Andy was talking to him, and started singing "Stupid little fat loser..."
I laughed my head off. That was absolutely top. A Delboy-through-the-bar moment for the future.
quote:Originally posted by Black Mask: When the Whistle Blows is utter shit, though. Even without the tampering of the BBC it would've been a dreadful old sack of shite. That's the joke, right?
I reckon it's moving towards that. I wonder whether that's actually going to be the punchline. Or maybe that was all just a plot device to set up a character who's in a shit sitcom and knows it's shit, and from there it's just about his life. I did like the way it kept shifting between him resenting his recognisability, and then trying to exploit it. Being all like 'I don't need approval from others' and then actively seeking it out. Though the guys in the pub didn't seem to me to be the sort of people who would watch 'When The Whistle Blows'. They seemed more like they'd be fans of The Young Ones, or The Mighty Boosh.
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quote:Originally posted by mart: I did like "NumberWang" afterwards.
Yes, Mitchell & Webb was a huge improvement on last week I thought. The bored TV presenters doing, "A programme about people in hospital and that" was top. As were all the other sketches I've completely forgotten already.
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