I wrote out a replying and accidentally pressed the reset quote button. A button I haven't even noticed before but now it's a button I hate very dearly. Damn that button. Damn it to hell!
Derek - Series 1 Page 12
Derek episode 2 - well, there were some funny moments and I personally thought it was better than episode 1. It's okay but it's certainly nothing to go mad over - the best bit about is Karl as I think he just steals the show with his character.
Yep, he's by far the best thing in it.
Quote: zooo @ February 8 2013, 7:43 PM GMTYep, he's by far the best thing in it.
Yes he is, but I do love Karl. I think he's a great chap! I loved him in An Idiot Abroad. 
Quote: sootyj @ February 8 2013, 2:11 PM GMTI think that bizarre "are you autistic?" "I don't care!" speech says it all.
I think that was the only mawkish part I actually liked. Not watched Ep 2 - don't think I'll bother, to be honest. I don't find it funny, moving or very interesting: the concept of it is fine by me, it just doesn't work, to my mind.
Quote: Sal Paradise @ February 7 2013, 7:45 PM GMTI think at this point we have to ask just how important was Steve Merchant to the brilliance of The Office and Extras? Derek feels like a crude imitation of a Gervais show, done by someone with far less wit, pathos and genuine human emotion. I wonder if Merchant is really the truly tactful artist of the pair and this is the end result when you leave Gervais to his own devices when it comes to writing.
Merchant co created Life's Too Short, which featured a midget being sick on his own penis and a whole load of other unfunny cheap material, so the jury is still out on him.
It'll be interesting to see now Merchant's new HBO sitcom goes, if it is funny and clever then we'll know he pulled the strings in their previous work.
I'm a big Gervais fan but for the past 4-5 years he seems to have lost the plot. Derek is just downright crap. There are moments in it (dramatically eating cake scene) where I howl with laughter at how awful and blind sided the whole thing is. But I'm not supposed to laugh.
I find Steve Merchant incredibly witty, especially during the podcasts/radio shows. I wasn't too sure about his recent standup show though. It was good but I had hoped for more. It will be interesting to see the HBO sitcom 
Quote: Lee @ February 10 2013, 5:23 PM GMTI find Steve Merchant incredibly witty, especially during the podcasts/radio shows. I wasn't too sure about his recent standup show though. It was good but I had hoped for more. It will be interesting to see the HBO sitcom
Yeah, I've listened to all the XFM shows / podcasts and always found him very quick witted and hilariously self deprecating. His stand up seemed a bit underdeveloped and featured too many visual gags.
With HBO behind him I can seem him getting plenty of nudges in the right direction unlike Ricky who seems to have free reign over everything.
Quote: Dr Sanchez @ February 10 2013, 5:28 PM GMTHis stand up seemed a bit underdeveloped and featured too many visual gags.
Yes much this!
Merchant and Gervais definitely stronger together. I imagine Merchant has a steadying influence during the writing process. Derek is an odd one. I can't decide whether it is mawkish and melodramatic in parts or whether it's just a very honest look at life. Some pretty one dimensional characters so far (the young girl on community service seemed to have been written by someone who has only ever read about teenagers in newspapers) but then maybe that's the point. I don't know.
Quote: Dr Sanchez @ February 10 2013, 5:19 PM GMTMerchant co created Life's Too Short, which featured a midget being sick on his own penis and a whole load of other unfunny cheap material, so the jury is still out on him.
It'll be interesting to see now Merchant's new HBO sitcom goes, if it is funny and clever then we'll know he pulled the strings in their previous work.
I'm a big Gervais fan but for the past 4-5 years he seems to have lost the plot. Derek is just downright crap. There are moments in it (dramatically eating cake scene) where I howl with laughter at how awful and blind sided the whole thing is. But I'm not supposed to laugh.
Life's Too Short is by no means a favourite for me, but it also had some pretty brilliant and funny scenes like the one with Liam Neeson. What I wonder is if the juvenile crap (midget puking on his own penis etc.) is more Gervais and the more nuanced conversational comedy is largely coming from Merchant. It's just a theory, because any of that tact, subtlety and wit that defined Office and Extras is completely missing from Derek, and it feels like someone clumsily trying to reproduce the effect of those shows.
Gervais, to me, is bit like a lot of bands. The first album - cracking, with several great singles on it, the second album - OK, but nowhere near as good. The third - a bit mediocre, and by the fourth album they've gone a bit shit and self-indulgent. Gervais is currently on album number 5 with Derek.
I think I worked out why other wise sane and rational people like this show.
Derek is usually in a chair or on all 4s, spends lots of the time licking back his hair and wears big cuddly jumpers.
He's getting mistaken for a cat.
The Office
Extras
XFM/Podcasts/Ricky Gervais Show
Idiot Abroad, and other Pilkington vehicles
Some of his stand-up, and some of his award ceremonies
A few of the scenes in his (admittedly mostly insipid) movies
A few great Life's Too Short scenes (especially Liam Neeson)
If he never makes another good thing again, the above is enough to make him a legend IMHO.
Of course Merchant had a lot of input, but I have heard Merchant say before that it was Gervais that gave him a break in the first place (when they did a free comeback XFM show a few years back), so everything he did comes back to Gervais faith in him back in the old XFM days.
On-screen, he's only really been great in The Office though. It's Merchant/Williamson (and to a lesser extent Jensen, Bunny, and the best celebs - Lindsay, Stewart etc.) who make that show so great.
I don't despise Derek, but it hasn't provided one single great moment in the opening 3 episodes (2 + pilot). It lacks the classic Gervais comedic character (Brent, Gareth, Lamb, Maggie, Barry - hell even the assistant in Life's Too Short).
The main woman is excellent in her serious role though. I know I'd seen her before in a Gervais thing, and recently remembered it was as the bossy production assistant in When the Whistle Blows.
Quote: SimonWing @ February 11 2013, 1:54 PM GMTWhen the Whistle Blows.
HE SHOULD HAVE MADE THIS!