British Comedy Guide

Miranda - Series 3 Page 16

Quote: enigmatic @ January 2 2013, 5:15 PM GMT

with her apparent mental age of eleven. Attractive or not, would you or anyone else you know consider asking Miranda Hart's character on a date after five minutes in her company?

Nobody treats Miranda like the overgrown child she is apart from her mother (and it's supposed to be her chief character flaw) except at comically opportune moments. It's my big beef with the show. I can't suspend disbelief in the character interactions unless I try to imagine it's all going on inside Miranda's head.

That is all very true and accurate...though I'd say it's not so much a mental age of eleven but a 'giddy goofy' disposition that is played totally over the top to the point of being cartoonish...we know she is overegging in every way but that's the nature of the sitcom, as opposed to say The Good Life or Rising Damp, don't know if they are the best examples but I'm thinking of ones that don't have so much of the outlandish slapstick.

Plenty of sitcoms have done the OTT stuff...Basil Fawlty comes to mind, does it matter if we know that wouldn't happen in a real hotel? Does that make it less funny? It's down to personal taste like everything else.

Quote: Shandonbelle @ January 2 2013, 6:03 PM GMT

Plenty of sitcoms have done the OTT stuff...Basil Fawlty comes to mind, does it matter if we know that wouldn't happen in a real hotel? Does that make it less funny? It's down to personal taste like everything else.

The character of Basil was OTT...but "Miranda" borders on surrealism.

Quote: zooo @ January 2 2013, 11:14 AM GMT

Not to bring the discussion down (or rather, keep it down) to looks. But did you really think that photographer/journalist character was somehow out of her league looks-wise?

OK, it's a bit more realistic than with the other male-model-like guys she's been out with (and who fell in love with her or wanted to shag her), I give you that. But then enigmatic says a good thing about that relationship:

Quote: enigmatic @ January 2 2013, 5:15 PM GMT

The situation in which 'unattractive' males find themselves with attractive females is more common IRL as well as TV, and unattractive male leads tend to struggle a lot more in love when the entire premise of the show is based on them being odd-looking.
But I don't think it's purely looks that make Miranda an unattractive proposition: it's more to do with her apparent mental age of eleven. Attractive or not, would you or anyone else you know consider asking Miranda Hart's character on a date after five minutes in her company?

That.

If I wanted to go out with a mental case like Miranda, she'd have to be the bestest looking girl in the world.

They have very carefully shown that Gary is quite a geeky, shy weirdo too, though. They haven't just taken some complete normal hearthrob type character and shoved them together.
It's all perfectly believable in my opinion. They're very similar.

I think that more and more it's becoming a bit of a 'been there done that' kind of a show that's still trying to wring laughs out of similar set ups to series one when it was still novel. That and the fact that it seems to be primarily aimed more towards a female jolly hockey sticks and pranks in the dorm type female audience than the public en masse. There are a few moments and catchphrases that have come out of it ("bear with, bear with" for instance) but by and large it's the same tired old premise, glances to camera and pratfalls week in week out.

Quote: Aldeem @ January 2 2013, 6:40 PM GMT

I think that more and more it's becoming a bit of a 'been there done that' kind of a show that's still trying to wring laughs out of similar set ups to series one when it was still novel. That and the fact that it seems to be primarily aimed more towards a female jolly hockey sticks and pranks in the dorm type female audience than the public en masse.

I would have thought 10 million viewers suggested the 'en-masse' rather enjoy it.

I'm a heterosexual man and I don't think it's believable. There was this good looking and charming American fella once who desperately wanted to get intimate with her...despite knowing her girlfriends who are all goodlooking and not as loopey as Miranda. Why should I believe this? It was complete unrealistic if you ask me.

Quote: zooo @ January 2 2013, 6:43 PM GMT

I would have thought 10 million viewers suggested the 'en-masse' rather enjoy it.

There's eff all on the other 142 channels! :)

He was bloody gorgeous. *remembers...*

A very funny second episode indeed. Perhaps they leant a little heavy on 'Miranda dressed odd and turns/opens door so someone sees' a bit much this ep, but it's a very fun show. I for one was happy to see that the other café bloke has gone missing.

Quote: Aldeem @ January 2 2013, 6:46 PM GMT

There's eff all on the other 142 channels! :)

Crap excuse. It's popular, that's all.

Quote: Matthew Stott @ January 2 2013, 7:08 PM GMT

Crap excuse. It's popular, that's all.

And not even accurate.
There was a Gary Barlow special and a couple of blockbuster movies against it.
10 million is brilliant

And Justin Bieber sells millions of albums.

Miranda is a popular show...there's no doubt about that. And it does deserve its popularity a lot more than that Irish drag show. But that doesn't make it a great sitcom.

Something can't factually be a great sitcom. There are only opinions.

To me, and many others Miranda is a great sitcom. To some people it's not. Either opinion is fine!

I don't know how we got onto the subject, but my wife told me as a spin off from when I suggested to her that Miranda was perhaps becoming a bit tired and predictable, that One Direction have sold more records than The Beatles. Puts it into perspective ("too much f***ing perspective" to quote from one of my favourite comedy movies)

Quote: Gordon Bennett @ January 2 2013, 7:15 PM GMT

And Justin Bieber sells millions of albums.

Miranda is a popular show...there's no doubt about that. And it does deserve it's popularity a lot more than that irish drag show. But that doesn't make it a great sitcom.

Comedy is subjective and all that. It's no Seinfeld, but it's a lot of fun.

Quote: zooo @ January 2 2013, 7:22 PM GMT

Something can't factually be a great sitcom. There are only opinions.

Del Boy would say: "Now you're gettin' philantropical". :D

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