British Comedy Guide

The Inbetweeners - Series 2 Page 7

Bournemouth.

Oh, I'm a little further West. Near Lyme Regis.

Quote: Matthew Stott @ April 13 2009, 9:47 PM BST

I get in two minds about this show. I like it, and it's funny, but I'm surprised at the love some heap on it. It doesn't feel special enough to get that kind of praise.

It's more than special enough. As Seefacts said, they're painfully real. More so than in any other sitcom I have ever seen. (Or perhaps more correctly, they're the characters I've been able to most 'understand' and perceive as real.) All others I can think of, even the most lauded of modern 'realistic' shows, are essentially grotesques. These guys are painfully accurate.

It does feel very real and by not chasing easy laughs it's all the funnier.

Quote: Aaron @ April 13 2009, 10:56 PM BST

It's more than special enough.

Well, not to me, evidently. And I like the show.

I don't know about this whole 'painfully real' thing either. I don't sit there in pain at the reality of it all as I watch! Still, a very good show.

Quote: Aaron @ April 13 2009, 10:56 PM BST

These guys are painfully accurate.

Come on, the stupid one is an over the top rendering of everyones stupid mate at school. The characters are still comic characters, and so exaggerated.

This isn't an attack on the show by the way, I really like it. I bought the first series on DVD and everything!

Neil is only a slight exaggeration. Not an "over the top rendering". Look towards Peep Show if you want to use that phrase. Maybe the show doesn't ring true to your experiences at school, but it does to mine.

Laughing out loud @ Jay's 'dead hand wank' experience.

Quote: Aaron @ April 16 2009, 8:36 PM BST

Not an "over the top rendering". Look towards Peep Show if you want to use that phrase.

I wouldn't say so, and why pick on Peep?

Hilarious.

Will is just impossible though. He wasn't this bad in series 1, was he? He has NO grasp on ... anything. Finding Charlotte in bed and still walking over and pulling the guy off her? So weird.

Quote: Matthew Stott @ April 16 2009, 10:08 PM BST

why pick on Peep?

The first supposedly "realistic" show which came to mind.

Quote: Aaron @ April 16 2009, 10:26 PM BST

The first supposedly "realistic" show which came to mind.

I'd say it's about as realistic as this show.

Best episode of the second series so far, very funny stuff.

"How much lego can you stick up your bum?" I laughed hard at that. Also at Jay's "sleeping beauty."

And when French boy ran after them. "What does he think is happening?"

Quote: Matthew Stott @ April 16 2009, 10:27 PM BST

I'd say it's about as realistic as this show.

Well that comes back to the point I made about school experiences then. Jay, Will and Simon are almost 100% people I know, and Neil is very similar to one or two others. And I see parts of myself in Will and Simon - although they're far more outgoing. So it's incredibly pin-point realistic to me.

This Forum is such a healthy thing, a good debate about what I consider a really good show. I think I lean far more towards Matthew's view on this one though. I've just watched the last two and as always I've smiled throughout, it always leaves me feeling happy afterward although I don't often laugh out loud. The situations, and dialogue are near enough to reality but just a little OTT which for me is its strength. I think the characters are all slight caricatures but in the best possible way. One over crude, one over dense, one swotty and another over introspective etc. I must stress this is not meant disparagingly, the dialogue although a little predictable, crackles and the pacing is brilliant. I look forward to it every week which alas I can't say about much. I think if I was 17 this would be a source of joy for me but in my late thirties it's something a little different but still a treat. The Peep Show discussion interests me, I tend to loosely divide comedies, essentially sitcoms into what I'd consider the real world, fantastical and somewhere in the middle. In the real world there are thing like: The Office, Curb, 30 Rock, Inbetweeners, Royle Family, Porridge etc and the Fantastical Father Ted, Blackadder, Ab Fab, Some Mothers, Catterick, Partridge, IT Crowd etc. In the middle are things like Peep Show, Spaced, Fawlty....d'you know what, even now looking at these classifications I realise they are bollocks and will probably open a can of comedy debate whoop ass....F**k it, I'll leave them anyway, it might be interesting. Although it might be suitable for an entirely different forum. apologies if so.

Quote: Lord Summerisle @ April 17 2009, 12:38 AM BST

the dialogue a little predictable

Seriously?

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