Series 4 and it still feels like a vanity project. Not-very-funny second tier comedian who can't act in an expertly made programme with very, very good actors. He stands out like a chip on a wedding dress.
The relationship between Mel and Rick has never worked or been believable. In the past I've criticised the lack of a sense of intimacy between them and levelled this mainly at Jack, but it isn't just his poor acting, the pairing is misconceived. Women like Mel - at least as played by Raquel Cassidy - marry stockbrokers and accountants. Not illiterate, penny-pinching stand-up comedians.
Rick isn't really a character anyway, just the bell-end of Jack Dee's ego. 7% c**t, 93% vacuum, he just isn't worth watching. You constantly want him to die or f**k off - not much good when he's the star.
It hasn't helped since he's tanked out a bit and started to look a lot like Damian Hirst - especially with those glasses he wore in the first episode. I suppose if you really like the way Hirst mugs to camera then this has made him more likeable.
The pig story didn't work at all. Every aspect of it felt forced and unconvincing. With a plot so contrived you better be funny, but the show wasn't funny at all. This week's shopping channel plot was better but the only funny bit for me was the montage sequence where he charged Magda a fiver for the brush. It was only funny because it was played without dialogue and that was probably the director's decision, not in the script.
Never mind Dan Arrowsmith, I think Jack Dee and Pete Sinclair are the luckiest men in show business, to make a living out of this slick failure.