The Armstrong & Miller Show Page 4

I'm not saying all comedy has to be 'new' and 'breaking new grounds' not at all, I'm a huge fan of Not Going Out and it doesn't get more mainstream and formulaic as that. But what I'm saying is, if someone is going to make a show which is just similar to all other shows out at the minute there has to be something in it that grabs you, like jokes perhaps. Especially with the sketch show format which many normal viewers, plus writers and critics are saying is a very tired format now and unless you are going to try something at least slightly original or at least funny with lots of gags then there's not much point in attempting it.

It was the same with Whitehouse and Enfield, two great comedians (well one great and one slightly good), they got back together for a new show, so you think "well if these two are getting back together they must have something good up their sleeves that needs to be done"...but it didn't it was just another poor sketch show with no point, no personality etc. And that's how I felt with Armstrong & Miller last night.

I don't know if you've read any of the samples of my sitcom scripts that I've posted on here in the past but I'm not trying anything 'edgy' or 'risque' with them, I'm not trying to break new grounds, I'm just trying to create something with a strong plot and lots of jokes and decent characters in a slightly original premise and plot. I would rather stick to that than to just say "f**k it...I'll write something in the exact style of Two Pints or GrownUps because then it'll get commissioned"...I'd rather never be commissioned than to have my name associated with something like that. Plus my sitcom script has had some positive feedback, and without blowing my own trumpet (which means I'm about to blow my own trumpet) one of those positive feedbacks was from Baby Cow.

That's my smug and self-satisfied rant over.

lol, well, when you clarify a bit on the sketch thing, yes. Good point. For me, it was pretty funny, but each to their own. Like you say though, there definitely needs to be a change if people are going to keep churning out sketch show after sketch show after sketch show.

(And no, I'm afraid I haven't read your stuff. Nothing personal, I just have a really short attention span. )

I agree with Aaron 3 posts above - although he could haveput it more succinctly.

It doesn't matter if it's new or cutting edge.

Comedy has to be funny.

Yeah, I'm not saying it's wrong that you found it funny, I was just surprised that some of the people that were quite harsh on Serafinowicz were in my opinion over-praising this show.

I was saying I didn't find PS funny but some of this was.

Quote: Martin Holmes @ October 27, 2007, 5:53 PM

Yeah, I'm not saying it's wrong that you found it funny, I was just surprised that some of the people that were quite harsh on Serafinowicz were in my opinion over-praising this show.

View original

I disliked them both

I don't particularly care whether it's new, or even whether it has much personality, I just want it to be funny and this wasn't.

Comedy has to be funny.
[/quote]

Hear hear!

I dont see how PS is trying anything new. It's just parodies and spoofs of modern day culture which have all been done many, many times over the years. I'm not saying that Armstrong and Miller were trying anything revolutionary, it was just straightforward sketch comedy.

However, it is certainly not easy to try something new in popular culture. Look at music for example, can you honestly name one young and exciting band who are truly doing something different.

The only original comedy I can thnk of in the 00's is The Office, but even then there had been several docusoap comedies already. What I'm trying to say is that so much has been done already over the last 50 years and it's becoming harder and harder to do something original.

Quote: Winterlight @ October 27, 2007, 8:15 PM

However, it is certainly not easy to try something new in popular culture. Look at music for example, can you honestly name one young and exciting band who are truly doing something different.

View original

There are hundreds, you just don't hear them on Radio 1.

The only original comedy I can thnk of in the 00's is The Office, but even then there had been several docusoap comedies already. What I'm trying to say is that so much has been done already over the last 50 years and it's becoming harder and harder to do something original.

The Office..original? Come one, it was good but it wasn't original, The Day Today and People Like Us already did the exact same thing. Most original thing of the 00's is/was Arrested Development.

Quote: Martin Holmes @ October 27, 2007, 9:50 PM

There are hundreds, you just don't hear them on Radio 1.

View original

Yes, thats a fair point and I know that. I like plenty of bands that won't ever get near the top 40.

Getting a TV show is a bit harder though than getting a recording contract. An original sounding band can easily get a release on an independent record label, but an original TV show will need to have something popular about it as well to attract the major stations.

This is getting ridiculously off topic and I accept part of the blame for this!

I would say that the Pilots was the best acted, scripted, lit, observed and realised sketch that I have seen in years. Superb! Tears running down my face; but then I'm a bit of an elderly git in comparison to some of the young bucks on here.

Also I think that the Peter S show has many good points too. My only regret is the repetition that seems to be mandatory with today's sketch show format. I Can never decide whether it's lazy writing or that research has shown that the average punter doesn't have the capacity to laugh at more than six funny concepts in any one series

I thoguth the pilots sketch was good, but they should have just kept it to one sketch in the show.

Quote: Blenkinsop @ October 27, 2007, 11:13 PM

My only regret is the repetition that seems to be mandatory with today's sketch show format. I Can never decide whether it's lazy writing or that research has shown that the average punter doesn't have the capacity to laugh at more than six funny concepts in any one series

View original

I think a big part of it is down to money and that sets and/or costumes have to be used more than once. The challenge I gues for any sketch show is to come up with characters who can be sustained over several sketches and I think that's where a lot of shows come unstuck.

I agree with Martin's point. And can accept that it wasn't exactly a new sketch show that made you think I must watch it every week like the brilliant Arrested Development. But it was subtle, which PS is not. I actually think PS is written for a teenage audience.

What I find really patronising though about the sketch shows I've seen recently, in the same way the BBC tell us what we should be watching, is the same character coming back later in the episode. 30 seconds/1 minute fine - I might look forward to them next week. But not showing them again four sketches later. And again two sketches after that. It's too much!

When will these people learn less is more?

I'd just like to make the point here that the editors are often more to blame in the arrangement of sketches than the writers. Of all of the many sketch shows I've seen recorded, I don't remember a single one which appeared EXACTLY as we saw it in the studio. Sketches swapped around, moved to later episodes, and indeed lots of different ones added in. TA&MS was a perfect example of this.