There are some good individual lines, but the 'whole' of the show just doesn't gel. I'm not really buying into their situations, the setting, or anything of the programme as a whole.
Loving Hugh Bonneville though, he's not in comedy enough.
Twenty Twelve - Series 1 Page 6
I enjoyed it but trapping them on the coach for the whole episode was both limiting and predictable. That said, the translation of Bonneville's Portugese speech into English made me laugh out loud.
Quote: chipolata @ March 21 2011, 10:39 PM GMTI enjoyed it but trapping them on the coach for the whole episode was both limiting and predictable. That said, the translation of Bonneville's Portugese speech into English made me laugh out loud.
You make it sound like someone sat down and said "let's have an episode set in a coach", surely what you're actually saying is you didn't like the plot?
Quote: Tim Azure @ March 22 2011, 8:51 AM GMTYou make it sound like someone sat down and said "let's have an episode set in a coach", surely what you're actually saying is you didn't like the plot?
You let me worry about what I'm saying.
Found myself looking at my watch at least twice during this. A few chuckles but otherwise pretty lame.
There are some decent characters and moments, but there doesn't seem to be much going on.
Yet by default it's the best new sitcom of 2011 so far.
I haven't got into this yet. Too reminiscent of People Like Us. I expect keeping to hear Chris Langham.
Better than Broken News, though. That was bog awful. At least if you're going to take an influence, you might as well take your own.
Quote: chipolata @ March 22 2011, 11:19 AM GMTYet by default it's the best new sitcom of 2011 so far.
Not for me.
Well I thought the second episode was much improved. It passed the "remembering things about later and laughing about them" test.
Quote: italophile @ March 20 2011, 12:19 PM GMTWell, having seen "The Games" and the first ep of "Twenty Twelve", it's exactly the same format. The unfortunate aspect is Morton and Plowman's introduction to the format by "The Games" people. The standard defence for this sort of thing is, "Well, I'd (we'd) had the idea floating around for a long time". The evidence is that they hadn't.
The fundamental difference between the two, based on the first ep, is that it looks like Morton has gone with his essentially one-joke characters, the ones that will work a treat within the confines of a one-off ep of, say, "People Like Us". Whether they have the legs for a series is another matter.
The problem is what is a concept worth; if anything? Hollywood studios are notorious for releasing movies with the same basic idea and they never sue/get money from the competing studios (i.e. Deep Impact vs. Armageddon, Down Periscope vs. McHale's Navy, Paul Blart: Mall Cop vs. Observe and Report).
I think the reason you see Americans officially "remaking" other programs is the original series is used as part of the pitch and sometimes the original scripts are used to some degree or another. In this case 2012 is basically People Like Us does the Olympics and I doubt you'll see any familiar lines from The Games.
Quote: MTpromises @ March 22 2011, 9:10 PM GMTThe problem is what is a concept worth; if anything? Hollywood studios are notorious for releasing movies with the same basic idea and they never sue/get money from the competing studios (i.e. Deep Impact vs. Armageddon, Down Periscope vs. McHale's Navy, Paul Blart: Mall Cop vs. Observe and Report).
A large part of this duplication is probably down to memes. Ideas might grow out of the same set of influences, hence the reason why two sets of people ocassionally come up with the same project.
Meh, it's on record that Plowman and Morton had no notion of either the concept or format till shown DVDs of "The Games" at least five years ago. They loved the concept and format. There was talk of Morton writing for the Australian producers. The only similarity between "People Like Us" and either Olympic series is the mockumentary style and neither set of creatives would claim to hold the patent on that.
Anyway, the second ep of "Twenty Twelve" underlined the problem with Morton's approach. One-joke caricatures stretched to breaking point and more to come. It worked a treat in one-off eps of "People Like Us". The characters couldn't wear out their welcome.
Quote: italophile @ March 24 2011, 7:07 AM GMTMeh, it's on record that Plowman and Morton had no notion of either the concept or format till shown DVDs of "The Games" at least five years ago. They loved the concept and format. There was talk of Morton writing for the Australian producers. The only similarity between "People Like Us" and either Olympic series is the mockumentary style and neither set of creatives would claim to hold the patent on that.
Anyway, the second ep of "Twenty Twelve" underlined the problem with Morton's approach. One-joke caricatures stretched to breaking point and more to come. It worked a treat in one-off eps of "People Like Us". The characters couldn't wear out their welcome.
But then again the characters in fly-on-the-walls tend to be a bit one dimensional anyway. It's more of a 'carbon copy' of a fly-on-a-wall rather than looking like a parody. Meh.
Quote: chipolata @ March 22 2011, 9:43 AM GMTYou let me worry about what I'm saying.
