OK, to set the scene...i am back home in Earley (just outside Reading), the show was filmed in Wembley, it's a 45 min drive and i expect they are still filming as i type this!
Back to the beginning...First of all, London - what is with all the cars? Left at 4.10pm expecting to have time to get something to eat first...arrived at 6.35pm after sitting in traffic for hours. The sooner they whack up car tax and petrol the better!
Anyway - greeted by a gay man...how very showbiz! (i could tell he was gay because a) he greeted me and my wife by saying "hi sexy people, tickets please" and b) because he told a joke to the bloke behind us in the que that involved them shagging him) Went in - no food, no drink....place was a bit cheap looking but lots of cool gear around. Had front row seats!
The highlight (for me) then occurs as Adam Chase (Friends) and Ash Atalla (The Office) stand in front of me to discuss the opening (i say stand, obviously ash was sitting - i could have slipped a script into the back of his chair he was that close!)
Then it went downhill - the show is a mix of sit com and scfi so there was a LOT of waiting around while they did stuff that CGI would sort out later. There was also a large amount of re-shoots...they did every scene at least 3 times with, at times, 10 mins between shots.
It was also a bit heavy on the slapstick and seemed VERY low on funny dialogue (considering Adam wrote it - i was tempted to yell out "could this BE any more boring" but thought better) For example, one scene involved a man falling over which took about 25 mins, 4 re-shoots, ages while they lugged a crash mat on and off...i just sat there wishing it was 1995 and Adam was producing Friends were they would have banged through 20 gags by now.
By 10pm (3hrs in and 15 mins after we should all have left) they had prob shot about 7 mins of footage in front of us. There was 3 mins they had planned to shot off site and there was 5 mins they scrapped and decided they would do another time as it didn't need the audience)..so still plenty of time left...but AT LEAST half the audience had left! We gave it 10 more minutes, during which they shot about 20 secs and then we cut loose!
In summary - glad i went, very interesting....would never go again. Well, maybe i would, i think a pilot with a writer and directer (yanks) new to working in the UK and a new production company was never going to run as slick as something from the 6th season of Seinfeld.
What was interesting was the laughs...first of all - we WEREN'T asked to laugh, "have fun" is all they said...no LUAGH boards or anything like that. The stand up guy (who earnt his money tonight keeping people in the building!) made everyone feel very jokey so it was easy to laugh at things that wouldn't raise a smile when i watch it on TV...but there were also "jokes" that fell 100% flat and it was also the case that many jokes that got a laugh on the 1st take got nothing by the 4th...i assume there MUST be some jiggery pokery that goes on there.
Anyway, glad i went, wished it had been better, don't think I'll like the show (too slap stick), sad it didn't have the dialogue of Adam's most famous work and very confident my own stuff is as good (i genuinely sat there thinking...if they laugh at this they'll love what i have for them
Best gag of the night - about queing to buy the latest Harry Potter and realising no one in the que was under 30 and the guy behind you was a disappointed paedophile....and that was the warm up guys gag! Typical joke from the show.....Dr to his "clone" who has memory issues "do you remember what i told you" "yes" "good, what was it" "you said, do you remember what i told you"