By the way, Andrew, I like how on the series 2 DVD commentary you try to discuss the writing process, but you all get sidetracked by the Subbuteo set! 
Very much enjoyed it!
Not Going Out - Series 3 Page 19
Quote: hotzappa11 @ February 3 2009, 12:55 PM GMTWhy, where he's gone?
He's off in the states doing 'Krod Mandoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire' - there's a thread on here about it somewhere.
Losing a producer / director is bound to affect the show.
I'm still confident that it'll have some corking episodes this series - I just hope I'm right.
Quote: Aaron @ February 1 2009, 1:05 PM GMTWith additional material by Simon Evans, Paul Kerensa, Dave Cohen, Oliver Dennis, Simon Griffiths, David Isaac and Liam Woodman.
Yes well, it didn't mention that at the begining. Did it? 
It had to have something like a wind-up because she actually saw him at it and wanted to get him back.
Hello, never written on here before but after watching a good twenty minutes of Not Going Out last Friday I feel I have to say something. I thought it was so bad I was almost sick. I don't know how anybody can see even the smallest grain of humour in that excuse for a comedy. The overall quality of the thing was just so breathtakingly low I don't know what anybody could ever see in it. The acting, the set, the script, the narrative, I could go on. This is BBC One prime time Friday night, you would never find a drama made in such a way with such a budget. I reckon you'd struggle to buy a fridge with the budget this thing has got, and it's on air because Lee Mack is supposed to be famous. If that script was sent in by a nobody it wouldn't have got through the BBC letterbox, never mind the comedy executives. Its a prime example of something being made because of who had written it, not how good it is, Lab Rats being another example, shocker. There is so much talent out there dieing to get a break and the BBC just turns to Lee Mack because he's a 'name'. The episode in question was the last one on BBC One with the running joke of a girl getting pregnant because her boyfriend had a little time to himself in the bath before her. What a crap joke, who even shares bath water these days anyway?
Veryveryveryveryveryveryvery dull. 
First of all welcome.
Have to say I respect your opinion but you are infact wrong! 
1)I don't think Lee Mack was particularly famous when the first series of NGO was shown.
2)Are you implying it has a big budget or a small one?
3)The fact that you have put Not Going Out and Lab Rats in the same sentence is bizarre.
4)He does not play her boyfriend.
5)They were not actually sharing bath water and she wasn't actually pregnant.
However, if you don't enjoy it then that is fair enough. You cannot please everybody all of the time!
Quote: woble @ February 5 2009, 8:27 PM GMT. . . I thought it was so bad I was almost sick . . .
Veryveryveryveryveryveryvery dull.
Dearohdearohdearohdearohdear - Do hope you're feeling better now and managing to keep everything down. Stay off solids - may I suggest soup?
I enjoy Not Going Out but you need to accept it for what it is. It is not trying to be The Likely Lads (my benchmark of traditional sitcom), it is taking the genre in a different direction, as, in very different ways, have most other successful sitcoms in recent years. Attempts to produce traditional sitcoms have been mostly disastrous - look at BBC One's current schedule for the evidence. But whereas other successful sitcoms have shied away from gags in favour of exploring other aspects of the sitcom tradition, NGO is possibly unique in going all out for laughs (or at least to do so without self-conscious absurdity). I find it a refreshing change to laugh out loud rather than smiling wryly or hiding my face behind a cushion.
I agree that both Sally and Miranda seem more comfortable in this series, but thought that the opening episode was not entirely successful. The premise was fine, but the twist was wholly predictable. In fact there was no other possible resolution. As the writer Lee failed to find a way out of the corner he had painted himself into.
It doesn't matter that they didn't actually share a bath or conceive, the concept of a joke about conceiving via having a bath is SOOOO weak and it seemed to underpin all of the episode that I could stomach to watch. This is prime time BBC One, Friday night, there should be the absolute creme of comedy talent being original, surpassing what's gone before and inventive. I'm only wanting to chuckle every now and then, and watching Lee Mack standing directly opposite his redundant cleaner while she stands stock still at him waiting to deliver their appalling lines leaves me breathless with horror. Is this the best that can be achieved? It's not, it's so wooden, SO wooden, SO dead, dull and stale. No wonder the girl didn't conceive.
Why is it bizarre to compare Not Going Out uurr and Lab Rats? Both BBC situation comedies, main BBC channels, written by the main actor, both getting ahead because said star has been in X, Y and Z and as a result seems to have a series commissioned without anyone actually casting an eye over the final script to see if it's any good.
How is it that comedy is so often wide of the mark in terms of quality? I may be on my own here but I think that basic... basic standards of quality are so often missed. Do TV companies think people will laugh at anything? Is this just me?
Is it?...is it? Oh dear. 
Quote: woble @ February 5 2009, 11:31 PM GMTThis is prime time BBC One, Friday night, there should be the absolute creme of comedy talent being original, surpassing what's gone before and inventive.
The thing is, for many of us, this is - comparative to the last 6 or 7 years of sitcoms at least - original and inventive. And in my book, surpassing most output too. Is it the lack of realism that you object to, or is it the humour itself? For example, you obviously don't think it's performed well, but that type of humour, do you take exception to that too?
Quote: Griff @ February 6 2009, 1:09 AM GMTNot Going Out is written by Andrew Collins, Lee Mack, Nick Stacey, Paul Kerensa, Simon Evans, Derren Litten, Simon Dean, Darin Henry, Daniel Peak, Dave Cohen, Oliver Dennis to name but a few, there are others too.
It's not a star-written vehicle by any means.
Be fair Griff, it really *is* a star-driven and largely star-written vehicle. Only Lee Mack has been credited on every single episode. If it didn't have Lee Mack it wouldn't exist.
I seem to recall reading that Lee Mack was originally asked to write his own show, then others with experience in the genre (initially the very talented Mr Andrew Collins) were brought in to help him form it into a proper sitcom from a string of gags, when it became apparent that he wasn't really well-versed enough in putting together a story-driven show like a sitcom is.
Of course some will argue that he still doesn't. (But not me.)
It's definitely a vehicle for Lee Mack. I love his stand-up and the same with Tim Vine's. I knew of both of them before NGO so I'd say they weren't unknowns, maybe to the mainstream.
NGO divides people, no doubt. But overall it is a success, third series and good ratings. Also, the writers know what they are doing and stick to it. It's not trying to be Gavin & Stacey. It's got an audience and is loyal to it. I admire it for that even though I prefer my sitcoms to be different. That's just different strokes.
Quote: ContainsNuts @ February 6 2009, 8:46 AM GMTIt's definitely a vehicle for Lee Mack. I love his stand-up and the same with Tim Vine's. I knew of both of them before NGO so I'd say they weren't unknowns, maybe to the mainstream.
NGO divides people, no doubt. But overall it is a success, third series and good ratings. Also, the writers know what they are doing and stick to it. It's not trying to be Gavin & Stacey. It's got an audience and is loyal to it. I admire it for that even though I prefer my sitcoms to be different. That's just different strokes.
Ditto that
- Looking forward to 9:30pm and then straight over to Plus One. (Finale tonight?)
I dunno, what ya gotta do?!
Yes, it was crude (hence the adult content warning before hand) and far fetched.
Yes, the acting leaves a lot to be desired (well, LM and TV).
But, and this is a big but, it's bloody funny!
I laughed. Often. Out loud. Nuff said.