Quote: David Chapman @ July 18 2008, 12:12 AM BSTIncidentally is the Dutch woman Simon Cadell's sister?
Yes
Lab Rats Page 15
I've just sat and re-watched last week's episode, and then this. I really don't know what to make of the show anymore. It is, as some people have mentioned, packed with gags. Some of them very good, some of them getting a chuckle (not Paul or Barry), and some really rather poor.
But it just doesn't gel.
I don't know what it is about the show. The premise is pretty good. Normally I'd really like something in a confined setting such as it is. There are good gags. But it just doesn't feel quite right. The only cast member who feels correct at the moment is Jo Enright (Cara), so perhaps that's it?
Brian and the Professor just don't look quite right. No offence intended if Tetsell or McGivern happen to read this, but their appearance doesn't work for me. In short, they look weird. And no, I don't really know what I mean either.
The Dean... God, where to start? The whole Dutch thing is painful. It all feels totally wrong. As good as Selina Cadell is, is there not a Dutch actress who could have played the part? Perhaps it's about the name/face. I dunno.
And Alex, well, up and down. Addison has some great moments, really gets the character across well. But for me, he doesn't look right. I feel like his visual appearance would better suit a kind of 'underling' character; a bit closer to Cara. At the moment he's pretty much in charge, and although it's clear that he's been thrown into the role and shouldn't rightly be there, it doesn't look right.
Bah, I dunno. Great jokes and I really want to like the show, but as yet I just can't. Hopefully it'll grow on me.
I thought that this episode was better than last week's...although I had had a couple of pints.
Quote: Aaron @ July 18 2008, 3:16 AM BSTI've just sat and re-watched last week's episode, and then this. I really don't know what to make of the show anymore. It is, as some people have mentioned, packed with gags. Some of them very good, some of them getting a chuckle (not Paul or Barry), and some really rather poor.
But it just doesn't gel.
I don't know what it is about the show. The premise is pretty good. Normally I'd really like something in a confined setting such as it is. There are good gags. But it just doesn't feel quite right. The only cast member who feels correct at the moment is Jo Enright (Cara), so perhaps that's it?
Brian and the Professor just don't look quite right. No offence intended if Tetsell or McGivern happen to read this, but their appearance doesn't work for me. In short, they look weird. And no, I don't really know what I mean either.
The Dean... God, where to start? The whole Dutch thing is painful. It all feels totally wrong. As good as Selina Cadell is, is there not a Dutch actress who could have played the part? Perhaps it's about the name/face. I dunno.
And Alex, well, up and down. Addison has some great moments, really gets the character across well. But for me, he doesn't look right. I feel like his visual appearance would better suit a kind of 'underling' character; a bit closer to Cara. At the moment he's pretty much in charge, and although it's clear that he's been thrown into the role and shouldn't rightly be there, it doesn't look right.Bah, I dunno. Great jokes and I really want to like the show, but as yet I just can't. Hopefully it'll grow on me.
I'm like you on this one, a bit perplexed. I really do think there's a decent comedy in there trying to get out but its just not quite there.
To me it feels like it hasn't been "glued together" properly. It's frustrating because I'm watching it, willing it to improve (because I think the BBC is right in commissioning audience comedies) but it doesn't.
I think there's a mixed bag of problems, but most importantly it's the script. It feels like someone's gone at it like an excited puppy with bags of enthusiasm, and glossed over really important things like feasability and story. For instance, the giant snail gag. I imagine when they wrote it they were in hysterics;
"And then, right, he plunges the growth serum into his leg and his leg gets all huge, and then he can't move and the giant snail is about to slime him, and then in the lab the fan connected to the giant lemon blows Jo against the wall, and then...." etc etc. And it all sounds really fun but in reality, really big sight gags have to be done very carefully indeed or they'll just look rubbish.
I asked my wife to watch it and give an opinion because she can watch things without the burden of a writer's eye and sum stuff up succinctly. And she did. She said "I thought the BBC were cutting back on children's tv?" Which kind of says it all doesn't it?
Perry, as a writer of some experience, is it your view that this is the result of a script that hasn't been worked on enough/polished or is it more likely to be the work of the production crew and largely not the writer's fault?
Sofa, as a writer with no experience at all when it comes to having sitcoms broadcast I can only humbly offer an educated guess that this is just one of those projects where everything hasn't quite come together as the makers envisaged. It only takes one or two things to completely f**k up a sitcom, and in this case I think it's a problematic script and poor casting.
But what do I know? The Telehraph loves it! http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2008/07/11/nosplit/bvtv11critic.xml
Mainly because I was made to feel guilty by the 'writers shouldn't be horrid to writers' vibe that came off last weeks posts, I watched again.
Worse. Worse. Worse.
And how silly to end on a 'whoops we nearly swore!' moment when in the previous programe [Mock the week] they were effing and blinding all over the shop.
And the twat in the fluffy pink jumper? Get thee to CBeebies!
Can I now please have my Tuesday evenings back?
Consider your Tuesday evenings your own. Thursday mind, I want you to watch again and come back with a more professional analysis.
It was so old-fashioned I thought it was the day before yesterday.
Glad to see you're paying attention at the back.
Or indeed the day before the day before yesterday.
You know that point where 'picky' becomes, well, a bit mental..?
I thought you thought that writers were allowed to be horrible to writers??
Fair do's.
Anyway, I can't stand around here all day chit-chatting, I've got sparkling dialogue to write.
[nb For the picky/mental among you, I'm actually sitting, not standing]
Quote: Perry Nium @ July 18 2008, 10:11 AM BSTBut what do I know? The Telehraph loves it! http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2008/07/11/nosplit/bvtv11critic.xml
Interesting that, I can't be bothered to count, but only about two of the comments on that article are positive.