I really can't see this doing well at the moment! They could at least wait until the boys and girls are home first before mocking it. Bad move for BBC Three if you ask me.
If it's anything like Gary: Tank Commander it's going to be shite anyway.
Bluestone 42 - Series 1
Good to know that you are approaching it with an open mind.
The trailer is awful.
I think it looks rather good. Tons of funny actors in it.
Quote: dennispennis123 @ February 21 2013, 4:49 PM GMTThe trailer is awful.
That. And comedy drama? The trailer looks very sitcommy and not remotely drama. Comedy-drama is becoming a grossly misused term.
Didn't think the trailer was up to much but I'll reserve judgement till I've watched a couple of episodes.
Reading between the lines of the promotional material, I think the BBC are labelling it as a comedy drama to attempt to avoid criticism that finding laughs in the military is in poor taste. I think we should expect it to be, in actual fact, distinctly and very definitely, a sitcom.
Anyway, whatever it is, I think the series looks very promising. I'm thoroughly looking forward to seeing it and I applaud the BBC for taking a sane - not brave, sane - decision to commission and broadcast the series and not pander to the likes of the Daily Mail.
The albeit short clip looked very sitcommy.
It'll be good to have something with an unusual kind of sit, no one needs another office/workplace comedy.
I don't want to sound like a twaz but I just think it's in bad taste at the moment. It's like someone making a comedy stage play about how funny Jimmy Sa-vile was/is before the case is over. Would you want to watch that aswell?!
This so called "Comedy Drama" is going to leave a bad taste. If it was made 2 years after they all come home then I would at least give it the time of day.
Quote: Nigel Ball @ February 21 2013, 8:00 PM GMTI don't want to sound like a twaz but I just think it's in bad taste at the moment. It's like someone making a comedy stage play about how funny Jimmy Sa-vile was/is before the case is over. Would you want to watch that aswell?!
It's not remotely like that.
I don't think anybody is going to criticise you for being wary of such a project, but outright dismissing it as in poor taste when it has been developed with the full involvement of the military and servicemen's organisations, the finished product praised by the same, and indeed doing so before you have even seen it, comes across as foolish at best. Are you not aware of how controversial 'Allo 'Allo! and Dad's Army were when they originally aired, and how the programmes' critics quickly looked like idiots?
I'm not saying you're going to enjoy the show after seeing an episode, but I don't for a moment think it will be celebrating or making light of the gruesome realities of warfare; of lost limbs, death, of killing the enemy. It will be a relevant and timely portrayal of military operations.
I'm sure if I was a serviceman I'd be far more keen to see some inkling of my life reflected on television than skirted over and ignored as if it were some dirty little secret, or as if I was unable to take a joke.
I get what you are saying Aaron and I respect that and this site 100% but 'Allo 'Allo! wasn't aired during world war 2 or any other conflict. It's just personal disgust that a second so called sitcom/Comedy Drama is to air before the people doing the hardest job in the world have come home.
Actually, 'Allo 'Allo! was broadcast during the first Gulf War, had started shortly after the Falklands liberation, and Dad's Army I'm sure would've been on at the same time as any number of bizarre American endeavours into Korea, Vietnam et al, some of which we were also dragged into.
Again, I understand why people are wary, but this is a show the military have helped develop to acccurately portray their lives and working relationships. Why is that a problem? It's not going to make fun of their situation or the peril they put themselves in every day for our safety. If anything it's going to celebrate what they do.
All I can do is urge you to give it a try despite your reservations, and judge it on the actual product, not what you think it's going to be.
I think without seeing this you can't say it's in bad taste. I've been in the Army for 15 years and having been to Afghan twice and Iraq three times I can tell you having a comedy made about a current conflict won't piss too many squaddies off. We quite like seeing soldiers on TV even if they are pretend ones!
Having said that I didn't really like the trailer although like I said in my previous post I'll reserve judgement till I've seen a couple of episodes.
I'm not against the idea of it being a comedy about a bomb squad in Afghanistan. I just think it's a bit too soon to portray that war in any comedic light at the moment. If all the people fighting were home, then I would probably watch it. Or at least try.
Some of the scripts I write do contain things that are deemed bad taste and some people would hate it and some wouldn't and I'm the first to admit. So it's not the point of the subject matter it's the timing, it's all wrong by BBC Three in my honest opinion.
Aren't there always going to be some soldiers there though? Will there ever be a time when all soldiers are home?