Not Going Out - Series 2 Page 16

Yes, this weeks episode was very good. Episodes with children in can be particularly awful (too saccharine usually) but I thought the writers pulled this off really well (similar to the first series when a teenage kid was staying in Lee's flat).

Tim and Lee work so well together and there was some great banter last night. Okay, you can see some gags coming (the baby was never going to have swallowed the ball) but there are always nice twists that you don't spot.

Lucy and Guy are not the strongest characters but are relevant to the plot, while I think i've actually warmed to Tim more than series 1. Wasn't unhappy about Miranda Hart not being in last night's show. There isn't anything she could have added to the episode.

And for me, it was just as silly and as good as the IT Crowd. Yes, both are OTT but isn't most comedy (and come to think of it, isn't most reality TV OTT?). Both are funny and have made Friday nights watchable.

Phew! That's all.

this was a brilliant episode. my wife doesn't usually get comedy very well but she was nearly crying with laughter. i like the way that when they pay off a gag they will have a succession of pay-offs - gag, gag, gag. the whole series has been good. tim and lee work really well. i can't remember a british sitcom where you have two wise-cracking characters bouncing off each other.

i switched over to IT Crowd and hardly laughed at all. i think it seemed poor because NGO had been so good.

I've got to disagree slightly with the consensus here. Liked lots of things about it, getting kitted out for Subutteo, Tim and Lee together cracking one-liners. But the structure was dull (oh no, gets a phone call, baby already at Lee's. Can you mind it? Would Larry David write something as predictable?) Lee at the hospital in his coat I thought was boring and unrealistic and just what is Lucy and Guy's relationship based on, a few one-liners? The characters do not grow because there are too many shots at a laugh. It needs to tone down one and bring up the other.

If there was a serious situation you have to react like it, like normal people, and then maybe inject a slight joke to lighten the mood. Not throw in a load of gags about it. It makes it unbelievable. I want to care for sitcom characters like I care for ones in Frasier, Cheers, Arrested Development, Friends, Seinfeld, but there's nothing to cling onto with these cardboard cut-outs.

David - I think you've not quite grasped the idea - Not Going Out isn't trying to be a realistic portrait of the life of an ice cream salesman - it's just an excuse for some really good jokes. It's not a comedy drama - its an all-out sitcom.

In real life Lee of course wouldn't have been able to wander around the hospital like that or just start using their machines. The fact is isn't realistic doesn't make it dull in my book; the Mr Whippy on his coat joke was ace!

Definately the best episode yet. Loved the line at the end when Tim said the baby hadn't swallowed the ball and Lee replied 'well maybe he swallowed everything and we're all inside his stomach'! (or something like that...)
It really comes into its own with the banter between Lee and Tim.
Superb.

Stan

Yes, I loved that line too.

Definitely the strongest episode of the series and it's no coincidence that the cleaner didn't appear and Lucy and Guy were only fleetingly on screen too.

I agree with Mark's earlier comments that it's an all-out sitcom but I do think that there could still be more to it. If there is a 3rd series then I hope that they axe 2 or 3 characters and make sure that any future supporting characters serve more of a purpose on screen.

One of my favourite bits was when Lee in his Mr Whippy shirt was running out of the hospital and that patient shouted to him and he said "I'm not a Doctor!" and she said "I know..I want an ice lolly". Superb

Quote: Mark @ September 29, 2007, 11:08 AM

David - I think you've not quite grasped the idea - Not Going Out isn't trying to be a realistic portrait of the life of an ice cream salesman - it's just an excuse for some really good jokes. It's not a comedy drama - its an all-out sitcom.

In real life Lee of course wouldn't have been able to wander around the hospital like that or just start using their machines. The fact is isn't realistic doesn't make it dull in my book; the Mr Whippy on his coat joke was ace!

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Isn't trying to be a portrait of an ice-cream salesman??? What are you talking about? I know exactly what's it's trying to be, but good sitcoms have characters who show development which makes them even funnier because you know what they're like.

NGO is good, throwaway fun, no doubt. But it's still more like The Sketch Show with a bit of a plot.

Your definition of a "good" sitcom seems to be from a writer's perspective though. Original, clever, structured, well-developed, and so on. Mark, myself - and crucially, the vast, vast majority of both the target and actual audience - define it as just something that's funny. Which, judging by the ratings, it most certainly is.

Hello there! I'm new to all this and this is my first post so I'm hoping it'll work!

I'm loving the new series of Not Going Out. Last nights episode was absolutely hilarious and definatly the best so far this series. I was also fortunate enough to go to the read through for this episode so I've been looking forward to it since the series started.

I also very much enjoyed the second episode 'Gay' although I appear to be in the minority as there have been a few on here who weren't so keen, although I totally agree that it can take a few viewings of an episode to really appreciate it.

I quite like the character of Barbara the cleaner, she's preditacble most of the time but makes me smile all the same. I've taken some time to warm to Lucy and Guy but I now enjoy the fact that they are there for Lee and Tim to play off as opposed to enjoying them as characters.

As for Lee and Tim, the chemistry between their characters really makes this programme in my opinion. I watch it and believe that they are truly like their characters-which Im guessing they're not!

This is by far my favourite sitcom-EVER! I look forward to Fridays because I know this will be on. I don't want the series to end!

Only caught a couple of this series episodes, the baby one was pretty good; though I do think some seem to be going a little over the top in their enthusiasm for it, it was funny, but far from a perfect half hour of comedy. Not keen on the new woman, though she isnt any worse than the one in the first series. Liked all the bits in the hospital, especially when theyre scanning the baby, and the choc ice line. I think its an enjoyable enough series, it can be occasionally very funny and Mack is a great lead, but its never grabbed me enough to make it a must see. Still, its by far the best mainstream comedy Ive seen over the last few years, My Family, etc really do pale when compared to it.

Quote: David H @ September 29, 2007, 1:03 PM

What are you talking about? I know exactly what's it's trying to be, but good sitcoms have characters who show development which makes them even funnier because you know what they're like.

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I see we're not going to agree on this one. Personally I think we do now know enough about Lee and Tim to take it to that next level of laughter.

I don't NGO out is designed to be that kind of sitcom though hence why it isn't meeting your expectations - don't forget the Friday night audience is normally a bit more transient than other nights - e.g. there's no opportunity to build up a strong backstory as people miss episodes. It's not a coincidence that most Friday night comedies like My Family, Not Going Out, After You've Gone, The IT Crowd and Green Green Grass deliberately don't go deep into their characters.

Quote: SM186 @ September 29, 2007, 3:32 PM

Hello there! I'm new to all this and this is my first post so I'm hoping it'll work!

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Welcome to the site SM186. Thanks for sharing your view.

Quote: Martin Holmes @ September 29, 2007, 11:56 AM

One of my favourite bits was when Lee in his Mr Whippy shirt was running out of the hospital and that patient shouted to him and he said "I'm not a Doctor!" and she said "I know..I want an ice lolly". Superb

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Quote: Matthew Stott @ September 29, 2007, 4:14 PM

Liked all the bits in the hospital, especially when theyre scanning the baby, and the choc ice line.

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Yeah - what is it about those two ice lolly and choc ice lines?!? On paper they don't look funny but they were absolutely brilliant on screen. Had me proper laughing!

This was a very good episode I thought

It's not a series about the harsh realities of life of an ice cream vendor?!? Well, that's been the last episode for me, then! Talk about false advertising...

Anyway, last episode. An avalanche of gags, but at times it felt more like two stand-up comedians trying to top each other rather than two people in a sort-of real situation. Some great gags, some not so much(though having become a dad with a wee one of 10 1/2 months does reduce your sense of baby-bashing humour quite severely, so I'm probably biased and shocked. The ultrasound was an insanely clever idea though).

Lucy and Guy, however, don't work for me. She's a cypher and he's creepy - and gets creepier by the episode. Are we supposed to feel this way or should we like him as an 'antidote' to Lee's immaturity? In any case, every scene between them lies there like a dead fish lying there dead. Sally Bretton doesn't yet have a handle on her character, and I don't know if it's because she's just not very good or (as I suspect) if it's because the character hasn't been developed well enough (or the development hasn't yet shown up in the scripts, something which does tend to happen at times - good ideas in the series bible not being implemented in the actual writing. I'm not saying this is what's going on here, just that it could be a possible reason for the weakness of the character).

Series 3: just put Tim and Lee together in the flat and have them encounter a vast number of attractive yet unobtainable women, and this series can run until doomsday, or until Lee is stuck for words (i.e. right about the same time, I reckon).