Quote: Sinon @ March 7 2013, 11:06 AM GMT"A prayer is just a posh moan"
Oh yes, that was the best line!
Derek - Series 1 Page 22
I thought this episode was really good and exellent for the last episode. I thought it was sad I must admit, I cried a bit.
Karl: I've only won something in my life a ball of spunk lol
That moment where Derek runs up to his Dad, I knew exactly what Gervais was thinking. "Look at my mong run".
This show feels very much like a millionaire's piss-take.
Quote: PurpleRonnie @ March 7 2013, 11:06 AM GMTAbsolutely right TBone he has created shite for years, The Office and Extras were utter shite. Tell me what have you created recently?
Perhaps I should clarify my position. I think The Office (which WAS years ago by the way) was fantastic. Subtle, engaging, genuinely funny without ramming it down people's throats. With the possible exception of the 'dance scene', the comedy appeared to occur naturally as a result of good characterisation, amusing situations and well written dialogue.
I thought Extras (which was ALSO years ago) was good too and possessed many of the qualities mentioned above. However, in my opinion the cracks were beginning to show. The 'Maggie' character, although well acted and likeable, was a modern day Stan Laurel and said the most outrageously unrealistic and stupid things in order to drop Andy Milman into humiliating situations which to me smacks of lazy writing. I wouldn't mind so much but Gervais's sitcoms are set more or less in the real world so it sticks out like a sore thumb. Dougal in Father Ted is a post-modern Stan Laurel too but more of a parody than a carbon copy, that's why it works; there's a knowingness about the writing of his character that makes it funny and the audience knows he is destined to say or do the wrong thing almost supernaturally. Father Ted is also set in a surreal comic world which also allows the Dougal character to work. Watching Extras I always found myself thinking 'no-one, no matter how stupid or ditsy would say that.' The fact that Maggie appeared intelligent in scenes when she wasn't dropping Andy in the shit made her an inconsistent character. I also didn't like the way celebrities were parachuted in to each episode, it should have stood on its own two feet more.
Life's Too Short was truly appalling in my opinion and it's as if the faults in Extras had been growing and blossoming in the minds of Merchant and Gervais and as a result these problems pervaded the entire series. The accountant character and the personal assistant character were more exaggerated versions of the Maggie character (and Andy Milman's agent too) and were just completely implausible and annoying. Not only that but almost everyone Warwick came across was unrealistically, bafflingly, rude, cruel and hostile. More lazy writing that created unearned moments of tension and humiliation.
So, in my mind, Derek is the culmination of a slow decline in the quality of Gervais's creations and is, in my opinion, undeserving of the fawning, sycophantic praise it is receiving on Twitter, this forum and other media.
On this forum it has received mostly negative comments. I haven't seen anyone saying anything fawning or sycophantic.
I really think people should be allowed to express that they liked something without being told they're arse kissing. (And besides, whose arse? Ricky won't read this.) 
Thoroughly enjoyed this series. The final ep was a bit short on laughs and big on sentimentality but it had the desired effect and made me blub. I hated the Kev character at first but I thought it was very clever to show his vulnerable side at the end of series 1. Now in series 2 they can make him even more disgusting because we know deep down he's a vulnerable, troubled soul and will forgive him. Nice introduction of Derek's Dad as a series cliffhanger - although I was surprised Hannah's boyfriend Tom didn't feature. I assumed there'd be a tying up of that story somehow.
All in all though, great series with lots of laughs, a lot of heart and a positive message that kindness conquers all. Roll on series 2.
I just meant - if he was sure of a second series I think it would have been better that as he drove by - father and son got a look at each other. The father pathetic and Derrick troubled.
Quote: zooo @ March 7 2013, 12:01 PM GMTI really think people should be allowed to express that they liked something without being told they're arse kissing.
Quote: Stephen Goodlad @ March 7 2013, 12:30 PM GMTI just meant - if he was sure of a second series I think it would have been better that as he drove by - father and son got a look at each other. The father pathetic and Derrick troubled.
I did think that's what was going to happen - brake lights, little pause and drive away... I felt slightly annoyed when he got out.
I think it's safe to say if Ricky Gervais hadn't written and starred in Derek everyone would love it. If people are so angered by him why not write your own sitcom/drama or whatever category you want argue Derek falls into or if you can't be arsed with that why not just change the channel?
Quote: PurpleRonnie @ March 7 2013, 2:29 PM GMTI think it's safe to say if Ricky Gervais hadn't written and starred in Derek everyone would love it. If people are so angered by him why not write your own sitcom/drama or whatever category you want argue Derek falls into or if you can't be arsed with that why not just change the channel?
It's also safe to say that Gervais's involvement in this project drew more attention to it than if someone different would have made it.
Safe to say... Ermmm
What makes you think that? Maybe if he hadn't written and directed it it would never had been made?
The point was if someone else had written it. My point is that a lot of people just don't get Ricky Gervais.
Exactly Gervais involvement brought a lot of attention, hype and expectation it also brought out the critics simply because it's Gervais.
Quote: PurpleRonnie @ March 7 2013, 2:44 PM GMTThe point was if someone else had written it. My point is that a lot of people just don't get Ricky Gervais.
Exactly Gervais involvement brought a lot of attention, hype and expectation it also brought out the critics simply because it's Gervais.
A lot of people DO get Gervais too, though. They just don't like his stuff.
You know this one threw me a little.
The scene where Derek says he doesn't want to see his dad was actually a quite brilliant bit of writing. He captured a guy with probable autism, whose a bit repressed emotionally. Desperately trying to say how angry he is with his dad, but just not having the emotional vocabulary to say it. Very real, very effective but odd to see it there.
KP was very funny, but then he is. And I'd love to see him doing anything; football results, reading the weather he's just a funny guy.