British Comedy Guide

After You've Gone - Series 1 Page 3

Quote: Mark @ January 12, 2007, 11:25 PM

p.s. Dear After You've Gone - Getting a parking ticket isn't funny. Sorry.

Oh come on. That scene was hilarious. If you didn't find that funny, there must be something wrong with you.

As someone else said, a good start to 2007. Only problem is, how can they possibly improve on the side splittingly funny first episode? This show is so funny it should come with a government health warning.

Warning: watching After You've Gone may result in death from excessive laughing.

Hi Baumski

I missed this on Friday but do I gather from your glowing tribute that I missed a modern classic in the making? Whistling nnocently

I guess there's only so much mirth I can take in one night.

I absolutely loved it...love nicholas lyndhurst anyway.......think he is very funny. But this was good - the second episode sounds funny!

I think Nick Lyndhurst was good as always. And Celia Imrie was reliably good. She is probably the character with the most comedic potential. The kids were good too. But I think the writing was a bit shaky. The only good line was when Molly said, "I wish I was dead," and Diane says, "You should never say that! It's I wish I WERE dead!"

But the writers Ian Brown and James Hendrie are flippin' awful in whatever they write. When they write for My Family, even if it's an early episode, it's guranteed to be unwatchable. And Home Again! My word, that was utter drivel too! No wonder it hasn't come back. I think they should put Ian Brown and James Hendie in a sack and dump them somewhere off the British coast so they'll never be able to get back to Television Centre!

I must say that nearly all the funny lines or funny scenes have Alex (Ryan) in them. Episode Two he is hilarious and wears one of the funniest costumes in television history. Just you wait til Friday it is knicker wetting funny.

I thought it was OK, but not something I'll go out of my way to watch like I did last year with Not Going Out. Incidentally, I've only seen bits of My Family, when it started my son liked it so I assumed I wouldn't. Home again, I watched because I hoped it would be good but couldn't believe it wasn't so tuned in week on week in amazement. Rather controversially, I don't remember According to Bex as being awful. Maybe that is because I like Jessica Stevenson. Or there's something wrong with me.

Watching this was very much like getting into a time machine and going back to the seventies or eighties. It felt very safe and non-threatening, like Three Up, Two Down or Home To Roost, which is one reason why Friday night sitcoms on BBC - which all seem to be panned - get very good figures. They're comfort viewing.

The big problem I had with it is that line by line it just wasn't funny enough. Fred Barron is very passionate about the table writing system, and talks enthusiastically about how his team of writers go through each script and make sure every line is a zinger. All I can say is that if they were the zingers, I'd hate to see the lines that didn't make it.

I quite liked it. It was better than Home Again.

Thought the relationship between Nicholas Lyndhurst and Celia Imrie was very good, which shows what good actors can bring to a script.

Dan

Quote: swerytd @ January 15, 2007, 10:35 AM

I quite liked it. It was better than Home Again.

Wouldn't have been hard. I don't remember a single thing about the comedy in it. The direction alone made that show utterly unwatchable.

After You've Gone I found quite watchable unlike According To Bex and Home Again (which was watchable in parts). Will defo give the rest a watch.

Thought the second episode last night was very disappointing for 3 important reasons.

1, Not enough laughs. I chuckled 3 or 4 times in the half hour.

2, Completely unbelievable storylines. Both of the storylines (Nick Lyndhurst and Celia Imrie kissing in the restaurant and the fancy dress party) were absolutely ludicrous.

3, Weak characters. All of the characters are cliches and the son is a blatant rip-off of Kris Marshall's character in My Family.

I think that the writers of this show should go back and watch some classic shows such as Fools and Horses and Porridge. They would probably see that if you create genuinely believable characters like Delboy or Fletcher then you can push them into unusual situations and get away with it. If both the characters and the storylines are unbelievable then people might lose interest much faster. Especially if the jokes aren't there.

Yeah, it wasn't too bad, but nowhere near as good as episode 1. Hopefully it'll pick up again next week, as this (IMO) looks to be quite a promising show.

And yes, they do need to work on the characterisations a bit.

This post has been removed on request of the author

i enjoyed last night, its easy watching - you dont have to think. I loved the bit with the costumes...I do agree that the son is Nick from My Family. But who cares...its better than any rubbish that ITV has.

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