Quote: Martin H @ November 7 2009, 6:25 PM GMTSomeone who worked on Campus posted this on another board:
Is there such a thing as another board? Outrageous!
Comedy Showcase 2009 Page 10
It felt really lazy to me - I thought that the writers thought "ooh, these characters worked in Green Wing" and so didn't develop anything new. You could immediately pick out Guy, Sue and Caroline without a moments thought. It's like when they wrote the finale of Green Wing - how do people who came up with such amazing, orginal ideas settle for such mediocre, cliched stuff?
I didn't like the characters off the back of this, they didn't make me interested in them. Some of the jokes were horrendous - you saw them coming at 50 paces and they still made you wince when they arrived. Oh, and the shots of the bloke smoking in the toilets - it was identical to Teachers.
Having said that, I like the idea of uni based sitcom - I have a massive script and a load of ideas about the very same thing and I think that it has got loads of potential.
Victoria Pile has just posted this on Twitter:
"Thanks you all for great Campus comments; it's early days though, plenty of room to develop. But we'll never improve on Andy's hair-do."
Campus was a bit of a mixed bag I thought - I agree with some of the previous comments: it was a bit muddled and all-over-the-place. I think they tried to cram too many plots into the space available. I'd welcome a full series though as I think, given a series, they could turn it into something that works.
(Although, of course, they should actually just make life much easier and bring back Green Wing instead!)
Here's a guide to all the Comedy Showcase pilots by the way: https://www.comedy.co.uk/guide/group/comedy_showcase_2009/
PhoneShop is up next. I've been lucky enough to already see this one. It's more of a traditional single-camera sitcom than Campus was (obviously - hard to be that zany!). Ricky Gervais has script edited PhoneShop - there's a couple of moments you can see his influence clearly take hold of the dialogue and character mannerisms. A few weaknesses in the script - but overall solid enough to go to a full series I thought (if they can find enough plot lines - it's quite a narrow focus).
Quote: Bryony Harper @ November 8 2009, 11:05 AM GMTHaving said that, I like the idea of uni based sitcom - I have a massive script and a load of ideas about the very same thing and I think that it has got loads of potential.
Ha, yes - infuriating but true, we had the same sort of concept (the synopsis could've been ours to be honest) and there's a huge amount you can do in the setting.
I had my doubts about Campus when I started watching it (mainly a bias because of the above 
) but I'm a huge fan of Green Wing and Smack the Pony, so I wanted to give it a go.
Really didn't make me laugh. I agree with Bryony's point actually - some of the characters were so familiar that it felt like the writers had incorporated old, unused Green Wing scenes. I wouldn't have minded that so much if it had been genuinely funny and original. But... I didnt think it was. Granted, it was dark, and tried to do something different to other comedies by mixing up the format and introducing the characters in an almost doco way. Just wish they'd gone for laughs instead of 'edge' a bit more.
One thing I would say is that there were some CLEVER lines amidst the cries of 'vagina!'. Can't remember them now though, which probably says something in itself.
Hoping that, if it gets a series, they get a chance to work on the characters and their relationships. At the moment they just don't seem to relate to each other (except the 2 in the admin office).
I wasn't impressed with Campus, but then I was never a huge Green Wing fan. The characters were weakly drawn rehashes of GW, and the surreal touches felt laboured and self-concious. I like the actor playing the Vice Chancellor, but he was hampered by a feeble script and just came across as nasty.
Also, I felt vaguely uncomfortable knowing that one of the actors in it had been intimate with John Lucas. 
?
Quote: zooo @ November 9 2009, 11:36 AM GMT?
*whispers* Andy Nyman... 
...oh.
I've found another connection between Green Wing and Campus, all be it a much more obscure one.
Joseph Millson, the actor who played the English professor, played the male lead in the same production of Much Ado About Nothing for which Tamsin Greig won her Olivier Award.
Quote: chipolata @ November 9 2009, 10:12 AM GMTAlso, I felt vaguely uncomfortable knowing that one of the actors in it had been intimate with John Lucas.
OMG, you're just, like, so childish?
Quote: zooo @ November 9 2009, 11:36 AM GMT?
Chip is referring to Joseph Millson, who was in my year at college. Or I was in his year. Whatever.
I was on the verge of acting in a play with him once, but he buggered off to France to play the lead in the college Romeo and Juliet. Tcha!
Quote: Renegade Carpark @ November 6 2009, 10:21 PM GMTJust watched the first half of this shit and it is shit.
How anyone can steal James Cotter's work and actually make it worse is f**king beyond me.
I wonder how long it took the writers to dream up this stuff? - 'I like vaginas and having a shit.'
Oh look, I've accidentally done it myself. Better give Channel 4 a ring then.
Shiiiiittttt!
I didn't see this show was it like Back to Class? (in it's setting and characters not how shit it was before anyone says it)
Quote: john lucas 101 @ November 9 2009, 2:17 PM GMTChip is referring to Joseph Millson, who was in my year at college. Or I was in his year. Whatever.
I was on the verge of acting in a play with him once, but he buggered off to France to play the lead in the college Romeo and Juliet. Tcha!
Ahhh! It all becomes clear.
Thank you Mr lucas. 
Quote: Mark @ November 8 2009, 5:19 PM GMTCampus was a bit of a mixed bag I thought - I agree with some of the previous comments: it was a bit muddled and all-over-the-place. I think they tried to cram too many plots into the space available. I'd welcome a full series though as I think, given a series, they could turn it into something that works.
(Although, of course, they should actually just make life much easier and bring back Green Wing instead!)
Here's a guide to all the Comedy Showcase pilots by the way: https://www.comedy.co.uk/guide/group/comedy_showcase_2009/
PhoneShop is up next. I've been lucky enough to already see this one. It's more of a traditional single-camera sitcom than Campus was (obviously - hard to be that zany!). Ricky Gervais has script edited PhoneShop - there's a couple of moments you can see his influence clearly take hold of the dialogue and character mannerisms. A few weaknesses in the script - but overall solid enough to go to a full series I thought (if they can find enough plot lines - it's quite a narrow focus).
I can't wait for The Increasingly Poor Decisions Of Todd Margaret! The rest...meh.
Quote: Mark @ November 8 2009, 5:19 PM GMT[
PhoneShop is up next. I've been lucky enough to already see this one. It's more of a traditional single-camera sitcom than Campus was (obviously - hard to be that zany!). Ricky Gervais has script edited PhoneShop - there's a couple of moments you can see his influence clearly take hold of the dialogue and character mannerisms. A few weaknesses in the script - but overall solid enough to go to a full series I thought (if they can find enough plot lines - it's quite a narrow focus).
That will be the phone filmed in Sutton High Street. Loads of people were saying why do we need another phone shop?