Thursday, October 19, 2006

write a comedy next time

it's a sign of how bloody woeful 'extras' is that when the final episode of the second series ends and they announce that next week they'll be screening the new series of the Catherine Tate show, you think, 'Ooh! Catherine Tate'. Jesus.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'd have to say that despite this series of 'extras' being quite poor the unconventional nature of it still makes it way more appealing and watchable than the tiresome and predictable 'Catherine Tate Show'.

Was that actually just Ricky Gervais on the Jonathan Ross show at the beginning of last nights episode? Thats a bit naff is'nt it? Also I don't like the way Maggie was made dumber and dumber during this series.

'Mitchell and Webb' for what its worth were ok though. I liked the 'New Fuerher' sketch. Still not as as good as 'Peep Show' was though. Then 'Mock the Week' is a straight take from Radio 4 I think and should have been left there. That sort of format is much better on the older medium.

Nat Uraleza said...

Why woeful?

Why?

You don't like?

I thought you liked.

I think I am having trouble remembering what you like and don't like, in terms of music, movies and TV. It's all so RANDOM....

Jonathan said...

To be fair, I've only seen two episodes from this series - the first and the last. The first wasn't funny at all but it was OK. The one last night had me cringing in (the wrong kind of) embarrasment. The script has become totally subservient to the cameos and the cameos increasingly erratic. If you look at last night's jokes they veered from the pointless to the desperately unrealistic. Contrast how exact Gervais's eye was in 'The Office' with the following scenes:

1. The kid in hospital - the speaking at his funeral stuff was utterly unrealistic, as was Andy's reaction to the request to visit to him. I'm sure if I've seen that 'I've lost my mobile' gag a couple of times before.

2. The wanking joke - hopeless, like they had to fill in a five minute hole in the script (although I laughed at the bit where Andy caught Barry doing the same thing).

3. The De Niro bit - just hilariously unlikely and not funny. Even if you buy that he would see Gervais's character, it's absurd to think that he would then stand De Niro up.

4. The Robert Lindsay bit - unngh. The bit where he tells the kid to fuck off? What?

5. Maggie's increasing dumbness - Why? The best character in the show is reduced to a kind of late Simpsons-era Homer Simpson.

6. The ridiculous scene with the frank parents - is this observational comedy? No, there was nothing recognisable there.

7. The whole Jonathan Ross thing was sickly, and only ever so slightly funny if you know (and are impressed by the fact that) Ross and Gervais are friends in real life too, or find Ross appealing. Given that Millman is supposedly hilarious on Ross's show, why does no-one point out that, conversely, his sitcom is prime-time shit?

I just thought that the whole thing was hilariously bad - significantly less funny, for example, than an episode of 'My Family'...

Was very surprised how bad it was. I thought the first series was promising and had a couple of very funny episodes, so bewildered as to how it has got bad so quickly.

Perhaps this series, like the first, was just really uneven, and I just happened to miss the good shows between the dross. Dunno.

'Mitchell and Webb' has been quite funny, yeah, although not a patch on 'Peep Show'. It's a lot funnier than, say, 'Little Britain', though.

Yeah, 'Mock The Week' is a radio show through and through. Incidentally, have you heard any of the new Andrew Collins panel show on R4? It's called 'Banter' and was quite funny this week. Richard Herring's one of the team captains. Quite good.

Nat Uraleza said...

Was that a comment or a post inside a post.

Jonathan, sigh.....

When are you coming back and what am I supposed to do without you?

Jonathan said...

It was my attempt at a quick comment :-(

I won't be back 'til Sunday I'm afraid - am currently sitting in my hotel room in Exeter waiting for Vic to turn up on the 8.14 train. Want to go for a drink!!!

Will be back on Sunday. Here are your instructions in the meantime:

1. Buy a Guardian.
2. Go to the pub.
3. Get yourself several drinks.
4. Do the crossword, start drinking, and wait for me!

Anonymous said...

The first wasn't funny at all but it was OK.

It was heartbreaking. It reminded me of the enduring tension that plagued Tony Hancock's career. Hancock was constantly striving to distill the humour found within the human condition and was always stymied by the public's desire for a quick catchphrase and familiar kiss off. Certainly, like everybody who hears it, I fall about in hysterics when Kenneth Williams' 'Snide' character is knocking on the canopy of Test Pilot Hancock's new wonder jet and giving it all the "Don't be like that" and "Stop messin' about" but it was agony to Hancock to be swept along on a tide, out of his control, in the opposite direction to that he wished to take. Didn't you get that when Andy Millman was forced to don the silly wig, pull the silly face and utter the silly catchphrase to the lowest common denominator audience who lapped it up?

Also, while I think Chris Martin is a bit of a pillock but I had to say hats off to him for his cameo. And Sir Ian - living for pleasure alone - Mckellen's episode was actually, really, "properly" funny.

Anonymous said...

McKellen was fantastic...