I think this show is not funny.
Roger & Val Have Just Got In - Series 1 Page 7
I don't find it funny.
Maybe the odd line might make me smirk a bit but nothing that amusing about it.
It was on in the background for what felt like an hour. It bores me too much, only had it on because there was some shit on BBC1 so turned over.
Quote: David Carmon @ August 21 2010, 1:30 AM BSTI don't find it funny.
Maybe the odd line might make me smirk a bit but nothing that amusing about it.
It was on in the background for what felt like an hour.
Indeed.
I felt it was trying to be something it was not. May have worked with an older couple as well.
The odd line here and there, particularly about the curtain hooks made me think of Bob and Margaret.
That would be a good one to put on instead.
I'm just not getting how you guys aren't finding it funny. My boyfriend and I watch it together and just roll on the flooring laughing at it. We do so many of the same things and I think the show is really geared towards people who have been in long-term relationships.
I do recognise a lot of the stuff they do and say in my parents, actually. It is brilliantly observed and very realistic. I just don't laugh at it! A few smiles, that's all.
Haven't seen this yet, I'm planning to catch up on it later. One thing I will say though is that a sitcom's only purpose is to make us laugh. Well-observed slices of life, great performances, slick writing aside - if it's not funny it's failed.
I hope it makes me laugh - I adore Dawn French. I'll report back later.
I was listening to Ade Edmondson being interviewed by Lee Mack on the radio; they were talking about programmes that are called sitcoms which are not funny, "just... interesting". I think this is the kind of thing they had in mind.
Quote: matt insley @ August 22 2010, 7:55 AM BSTI'm just not getting how you guys aren't finding it funny. My boyfriend and I watch it together and just roll on the flooring laughing at it. We do so many of the same things and I think the show is really geared towards people who have been in long-term relationships.
I've done and do similar kinds of things. I also recognise certain aspects in family members. Still not funny. Reasonably realistic, yes; funny, no.
"Discuss the staging difficulties inherent in a production of BBC's 'Roger and Val Have Just Got In'".
"Do it on the radio."
I like listening to the audio with the picture mimimised while surfing other sites. Perfect for multi-tasking. Though I'm glad I peeked at the end for the "aha" moment (reminiscent of Victor and Margaret's lingering sadness over the loss of their child years before).
Well if so many don't find it funny then don't think of it as a sitcom, because I don't think it is. It's more of a drama with gently funny bits in, it's influnced by people such as Mike Leigh it seems, but it's still its own thing. It reminds me of the stuff we saw more of on TV in the 1970s, and personally I've always liked that slow paced exploratory slice of life stuff. See it as this and not a 'sitcom', because I don't think it's trying to compete with sitcoms or do what sitcoms do.
Having said that, I find this as funny as some sitcoms on at the moment. It's certainly much better viewing than most.
This show is a little gem, with some of the best writing I've seen/heard in a long time. Plus, Dawn French & Alfred Molina give a pair of truly great performances. Loved the bit in tonight's episode with the couple contemplating how best to escape from their own house (a metaphor for escaping their own semi-tragic lives).
I appreciate that this kind of show will never reach a large audience and many people won't find it at all funny, but this is the sort of programme that the BBC is there for (something done with love, which wouldn't have stood a chance of being commissioned elsewhere). Congratulations to all involved in it. 
I'd agree with a lot of that.
It is a well made show, & has a touch of quality about it.
Just the sort of thing the BBC should be striving for.
There's enough room on the BBC to keep everyone who pays the licence fee happy
The whole thing with the child is too macbre and creepy imo.