Godot Taxis
Tuesday 5th June 2007 5:21am [Edited]
5,741 posts
You're certainly right that we will never agree on the quality of this show.
However I'm not deaf or blind and I am aware that this show has been extremely favourably reviewed and has many supporters. In fact a few pro reviewers have said that it's not very funny, but they still found it charming and likeable. The success of this show is something that anyone who wants to write sitcom for the BBC will have to consider seriously.
Regarding its reputation in the long term:– I watched the first series of the office when it was broadcast – and got it. I also liked and rated This Life when it was first shown and universally panned. I like to believe that I've got a good eye and ear for trends and can spot quality when I see it. That may not be true, but at the moment I think that a show so thinly written will not endure long term. I think that by the time the second series is airing and G & S has been hammered to death on mainstream channels, the critical backlash will begin and it will go down like the second series of Nighty Night did.
My only beef with this show is the writing. I think the script is an actor's script, rather than a writer's one, and that at a textural level it is thinner than a lampshade.
I take on board the previous poster's point about the acting and characterisation, but do not think this distinguishes the show particularly. I can't see how it is any more original for example than the recent 'Pulling' which was also about two people getting married and presented in a naturalistic style.
I didn't like that show either because it seemed mean-spirited, but the opening credit sequence of the first episode is funnier than the whole of Gavin & Stacey (in my opinion). I'll post a clip if people haven't seen it.