Quote: Aaron @ August 24 2013, 10:41 PM BSTGood slapstick family-friendly fun, in my book.
My family (three generations) watched it at Christmas and we all thought it was absolute rubbish.
2nd series Job Lot, Vicious, Badults why? Page 3
Quote: Aaron @ August 24 2013, 10:36 PM BSTNot sure which two you're referring to. I didn't care much for The Job Lot at all. Badults is very silly and rather fun. Vicious is terribly witty and makes me laugh a lot.
The amount of story and strength of character varies between each show, and some are better and worse than others, but all I ultimately want from comedy is to be amused. And all three programmes, but particularly Badults and Vicious, did that.
Aaron, if you love 'sillyness' and 'fun' so much, I think you would be able to do it yourself in your own company? Everything they do in the shows are easy, just shout loud, insult and be 'silly' (any one can be silly in a room), then you won't even have to watch it! You can have endless fun!
Quote: james bream @ August 23 2013, 8:57 PM BSTWhy have the worst sitcoms of the past 5 years been given a 2nd series?
The Job Lot ok had a couple of ok jokes, 4/10 as background comedy, probably needs canned laughter, although I hate that it would actually benefit this programme.
Who is the audience? Probably doleys, real doleys, not jobseekers, people who watch Jeremy Kyle to feel better about their lives, that's who.Vicious wouldn't look out of place in the 70s but what is it about? SHITE that's what, unrealistic shite badly written. I can only imagine the audience is a bunch of middle class 70yr olds whom have their butlers shop at Waitrose.
BADULTS, WTF? Is daddy the director at the BBC? Audience? I have no idea, ironically neither do they.
A commissioner's job must be the easiest in the world, you literally can make an awful decision, leading to a show that nobody watches and is an insult to comedy writers yet because of course - 'comedy is subjective' - you could put a dog wearing hats on TV and it's ok. Clearly Badults has been renewed out of stubborness, 'I made a mistake but going to continue to try to show some balls in my job'. Imagine if you were a builder and you did a shoddy job on a house and instead of any repercussions you just carry on doing a shoddy job on the next house because well, every thing is fine.
Quote: curtis patrick @ August 25 2013, 3:10 PM BSTAaron, if you love 'sillyness' and 'fun' so much, I think you would be able to do it yourself in your own company? Everything they do in the shows are easy, just shout loud, insult and be 'silly' (any one can be silly in a room), then you won't even have to watch it! You can have endless fun!
And if you like deadpan realist comedy so much, then it's far easier to get that by going and sitting in your local restaurant or coffee shop than by putting on escapist television.
Quote: Tony Cowards @ August 25 2013, 1:06 PM BSTMy family (three generations) watched it at Christmas and we all thought it was absolute rubbish.
Must be a right barrel of laughs round your gaff. 
Pleased that Vicious is coming back. I really enjoyed the first series and I am pleased that it is going to be given more time to develop. Shows today get cancelled all too easily, even when they are good. Well done ITV.
It seems as though many long-running shows we now love really didn't "find their feet" until Series 2 or 3. I hate to see promising shows - Vicious, Job Lot -- cancelled after one series because they didn't gather universal rave reviews and the highest ratings.
They deserve a chance to grow.
As an aside, over this side, when those who are obsessed with grammar and punctuation talk about possessives for words ending in "s", they refer to an s with an apostrophe as "the British way"! (As opposed to the "American" way -- vicious's)
Quote: Ben700 @ August 25 2013, 12:49 PM BSTDon't particularly care much for The Job Lot or Vicious but I am glad they are each being given a second series because I hate the climate we live in now where everything seems to dropped after 1 series unless it's been a smash hit.
Good on ITV I say.
Besides no one is making you watch them, so why would it bother you?
WHY WOULD IT BOTHER YOU? Because I pay for it like everyone else that's why. These are terrible programmes and shouldn't be on prime time, there are much better programmes out there but ITV, BBC are stuck in some 70s sitcom mode and don't seem to open their doors to new comedy.
Quote: james bream @ August 26 2013, 12:48 PM BSTITV, BBC are stuck in some 70s sitcom mode and don't seem to open their doors to new comedy.
If only! There might be some true sitcom classics around if they did.
Quote: Ben700 @ August 26 2013, 1:03 PM BST...one of the four BBC TV Channels...
Eight. And that's just in England.
I don't expect Vicious will be on until late 2014 due Ian McKellen been busy.
Quote: Ben700 @ August 25 2013, 12:49 PM BSTBesides no one is making you watch them, so why would it bother you?
Exactly the kind of 'accepting' and 'it passes half an hour' attitude that is wrong with modern comedy.
Quote: curtis patrick @ August 26 2013, 2:56 PM BSTExactly the kind of 'accepting' and 'it passes half an hour' attitude that is wrong with modern comedy.
Perhaps true on the part of executives, but for audiences the real appointment-to-view hits have always been few and far between.
Quote: Aaron @ August 26 2013, 3:00 PM BSTPerhaps true on the part of executives, but for audiences the real appointment-to-view hits have always been few and far between.
Tastes are always going to vary on comedy but people can agree on good characters and story lines. Vicious I did not laugh a single bit at, however I did only watch 1 episode. The Job Lot has its moments but Badults I thought was badly acted. As a live performance I am sure it's very funny but I don't think it's a sitcom it's more panto.
That all being said, they must have the audiences to get a 2nd series.
I was very surprised that Badults or Vicious got a 2nd series as critics gave them such a bad review. The Job Lot I thought had its place but again it didn't receive great reviews.
Quote: Lee Dilley @ August 27 2013, 1:58 AM BSTBadults I thought was badly acted .../
Badults was acted* perfectly for that style of comedy. Ian McKellan couldn't have done it better,
Quote: Lee Dilley @ August 27 2013, 1:58 AM BSTTastes are always going to vary on comedy but people can agree on good characters and story lines.../
But Badults doesn't use storylines in the conventional sitcom manner. It does things its own way, and that includes mocking the genre.
*I think 'acting' isn't the best word to describe what they're doing. They're performing their sitcom, like a stand-up or (of course) a sketch troupe would perform their piece.
Totally agree with the people above who say these shows should indeed be given a chance to find their feet.
If everything that didn't work first time was cut we'd never have half the classic sitcoms we now treasure. Blackadder and Only Fools And Horses two very big examples of shows that started weakly and needed more than one series to find their sweet spot.
The number of times BCG has talked to writers who have explained that it isn't until you've made a series and seen it go out that you get the proper audience feedback you need.
Hmm, perhaps on one or two that you fancy something about to click with viewers later, just as with OFAH yes, but I think there are many more sitcoms which have been given the nod for a 2nd series and clearly not delivered! The 'weak' starters that got great are rare. BTW, certainly never saw Blackadder 1 as weak. 
Each to their own.
And you have to be hard on some, because if your policy was to be kind to all new shows and let them have a 2nd series just on hope that they get better, then when would the new shows ever get their chance? It's tough on writers but they should know the competition's fierce and I thought pilots were supposed to be their trial run!? TV surely can't afford to give out a whole series as a trial run, as it seems some sitcoms are given. If they're wishy washy, too unfunny or middling or don't get viewers, it should be 'Bye bye, next!'
Vicious shouldn't be one of them because it got 3m viewers and it was strong in what it was, just a lot of folk didn't like what it was. Even moreso for The Wright Way, a scandal it got axed. It turned up with a very strong world and got pilloried for it! It's the clearly half baked, poodling along ones with weak characters and weak comedy that should be given short shrift because they very rarely suddenly turn great. The BBC commissioners are just incompetent clowns.
Quote: curtis patrick @ August 26 2013, 2:56 PM BSTExactly the kind of 'accepting' and 'it passes half an hour' attitude that is wrong with modern comedy.
I totally agree with you, why should we let our once high sitcom standard drop just because the current crop of writers aren't any good? They should be told they're rubbish, not welcomed to the clique because they're modern and trendy and then just lower our expectations and expect the viewers to! That's what's happened. TV comedy's now run like a cosy little club and no one's work is scrutinised and judged accordingly until it's had its run and bored everyone else stupid for two years. It's wrong. While the non-trendy ones like Elton get quickly decommissioned with glee! 
Quote: Mark @ August 27 2013, 1:12 PM BSTTotally agree with the people above who say these shows should indeed be given a chance to find their feet.
If everything that didn't work first time was cut we'd never have half the classic sitcoms we now treasure. Blackadder and Only Fools And Horses two very big examples of shows that started weakly and needed more than one series to find their sweet spot.
First episodes maybe but not a whole series? OFAH, Blackadder, Porridge and more than likely The Office didn't go down well on the pilot but by the end of the series people got it. Badults? really? Ok I understand it's not easy to write comedy and well pat on the back for that but don't give them a second series, they already had 6 chances with the 1st series.
The Job Lot, Vicious, what are they working on for the 2nd? They don't have decent characters, they are stock situations with stereotypical characters. Yes some jokes are funny but if you throw enough darts at a board one is going to hit.
Best new sitcom is Family Tree. At least it has a bit of heart and realism.