T.W.
Friday 4th February 2011 2:28am [Edited]
15,786 posts
Having started this thread, I felt that the decent* thing to do was to actually watch and report on the first episode...
Apart from a few touches to make the overall production look a little bit more polished, nothing has really changed. The characters are still very two-dimensional and inconsistent, with nothing about them which makes them either sympathetic or interesting to watch. And my God this episode crawled along at a snail's pace! I never realised just how long 28 minutes can actually feel. Although, paradoxically, plot-wise there was meant to be a lot going on, with 3 or 4 "storylines" competing for my lack of attention.
At one point I could actually hear the script screaming, as if in the throes of a psychotic breakdown. Desperately trying to pull itself together, it randomly threw in every stock device in the sitcom textbook, but none of them worked successfully and it was left weeping on the floor as the end-credits rolled. By this I don't mean that the script wasn't technically competent, just that it could never really get going, because the concept of the show fundamentally doesn't work. In fact, this show doesn't really have a cogent premise whatsoever. It's never really known exactly what it is, so it tries to be everything, and ends up being nothing.
As with every episode of series 1 (and the pilot, Admin) this one just didn't gel. I can applaud the makers for trying to steer clear of being just another knob gag-obsessed youth sitcom, but it falls woefully short of creating a credible and interesting world of its own. I'm scratching my head as to who this show is actually meant to appeal to. I'm further scratching my head as to why it's been taken to a second series when it's so fatally flawed. Maybe it's sheer bloody-mindedness on the part of the BBC? In some ways I'd quite admire that, if it wasn't for the fact that a second series of this means that some other show didn't get a go.
The gags were generally woeful and nothing you haven't heard a thousand times before. Compared with the first series, it appears that the cast have been told to try and tone down their performances (though this memo didn't appear to have quite reached the actors playing Asif and Gloria). However, the more naturalistic performances are wasted without any witty or original dialogue to serve them. There's not simply laboured banter and stilted gags going on here, but whole sections of dialogue/plot which simply pass in one ear and out the other without registering. I really tried to concentrate but my mind kept wandering, as there really was nothing of interest to hold my attention.
The one positive thing I can say about this show is to praise the actor (Steve John Shepherd) playing solicitor Charlie. He's not got anything much of merit to work with, but his performance suggests an actor with genuine comic potential. It would be nice to see him in something other than this, as he's easily the best thing in this otherwise terribly weak show.
(*or vindictive, depending on your point of view)
