Godot Taxis
Wednesday 6th October 2010 11:25pm [Edited]
5,741 posts
Quote: Tim Walker @ October 2 2010, 10:14 PM BST
'There has been a spate of top-notch dramas on television recently. After Shane Meadows' brilliant This Is England '86 on Channel 4, there is still Downton Abbey on ITV and Whites on the BBC.
They could scarcely be more different, and yet they all have qualities in common - most notably, the pre-eminence of character. The head chef, the sous chef, the restaurant manager and the apprentice in Whites are totally convincing and recognisable creations. It also happens to be very funny, but the humour is so understated and truthful that the line between seriousness and laughter has all but disappeared. Whites is a perfect example of the modern sitcom, whose lineage can be traced back to the gag-free honesty of The Office.'
- David Chater previewing Whites in Saturday's The Times' Playlist magazine.
This is either a) the deluded ramblings of a diseased mind, b) written for a bet, or c) the most subtle piss-take in the history of TV criticism.
When TV critics don't understand TV it's really scary. Like a surgeon telling you your appendix is in your neck. 'gag-free honesty of The Office'? The Office is full of jokes - and good ones. And there is nothing radical about their delivery either - they are set up, fed and punched.
Walker is right, this must be a piss take. Even a Times journalist can't be this ignorant.
Quote: Lee Henman @ October 6 2010, 2:51 PM BST
BIB:
Clumsiest man I've ever met in my life. Yesterday he slipped on some cooking oil and threw four dozen eggs in the air. It's like being in a silent movie.
ROLAND LAUGHS.
BIB: (CNT'D)
I need help in the kitchen, Roland! Sarah says I'm working too hard.
ROLAND:
How is Sarah?
BIB:
Wouldn't know, would I? Barely see her these days. It's last thing at night and first thing in the morning, just the back of her head resting on the pillow. Might not even be her, she might've escaped! For all I know it could be just cushions and a wig!
ROLAND:
You know me and Rebecca went through a similar thing. Never saw each other, and when we did it was just bicker, bicker, bicker. We became strangers. But you know what? We worked through it, yeah? (HE PLACES HIS HAND WISELY ON BIB'S SHOULDER) Always remember. This too shall pass.
BIB:
(BEAT) Rebecca divorced you and moved to Jersey.
ROLAND:
Ipso Facto, problem solved.
There's nothing wrong with that writing. For me, anyway.
Sorry Lee but that reads like first semester script-writing course dialogue to me. The humour here is okay to keep the engine ticking while you bring home the big gags - but there are no big gags. Anyway you can't laugh when you're wondering why something was made and that must be the dominant emotion most viewers experience.
The whole thing feels completely artificial and as far away from a labour of love as is imaginable. There aren't really any characters at all, and the inexperience of the writers is shown in the sous chef/skooz relationship which is unpleasant to watch.
