Quote: MCharsley @ July 18 2013, 9:05 AM BSTWhat is this documentary supposed to be?
More convincing than the David Wailliams one?
Family Tree Page 2
Quote: youngian @ July 16 2013, 10:32 PM BSTCan Nina Conti perform ?
No.
Quote: Aaron @ July 18 2013, 11:29 AM BSTThat is a good point, actually. Somewhat incongruous.
I suppose they're trying to go the Modern Family route of having a single-cam story punctuated with mockumentary character insight points.
Yep, you can smell the influences. They've just not thought it through. Modern Family is about something. If Family Tree had been presented, from the beginning, as a documentary about a guy who tries to piece his family tree together, that would have been fine. This concept is all over the place though, it's nonsensical. There's no earthly reason a camera crew would have been at dinner with this family before the plot had been established.
On the above point, I think Nina Conti's fine in this. She - and O'Dowd - don't exactly have a lot to work with though, in terms of both jokes and character.
No, but the monkey's a...
Nah, too obvious...
That was rather pathetic!
Quote: Aaron @ July 17 2013, 2:58 AM BSTWe know the precise opposite actually! In one to-camera segment he explained that his parents had divorced when he was young (10 I think may have been stated?), and his Irish mother had taken him back there with her, picking up the accent before moving back to England as an adult.
Yes there was some fairly painful exposition that failed to advance the plot and served no other purpose than to explaiin the 'flavour of the month' casting of Chris O'Dowd.
I won't be watching this utter drivel this week, I shall instead be watching BBC Three to have a look at Badults.
I've only watched the first episode so far and admittedly it's not laugh a minute, was it ever supposed to be though? I do think it has some promise though. There was some nice comedy bits in there that will hopefully progress in the series. I agree that based on the first episode there are a few production decisions like the mockumentary format that you wonder whether are wise but have basically only been used to set the background to each character in episode one really and a couple of set-pieces with Chris O' Dowd and Tom Bennett, who I think work really well together. Perhaps it is not used so much later on *no spoilers 
*
The money for this series could have gone to Ben Elton to make another series of The Wright Way so it has to be put into perspective.
Another element that comes from the mockumentary type format apart from the pieces to camera is the inclusion of dialogue that has no major relevance to the overall plot. Sometimes I find it quite refreshing when there is real effort to keep it sounding real. The Arsenal vs Spurs 1992 details mentioned in an earlier comment where you can see there has been some care in the detail in writing that scene, maybe 95% (myself included) would have missed that but in normal peoples' conversation that is the kind of thing people talk about. I'm not saying it works all the time but a comedy I really enjoyed was Early Doors, particularly for the reason that there was just normal dialogue, the way people speak with no immediate punch line for minutes. It can help you become more endeared to the characters as the performances seem more natural when done well in my opinion, I'm not saying this is that but I'll watch some more to find out.
Aside from Chris O'Dowd, I think Tom Bennett was great and Micheal McKean also fits into that role. I admit Nina Conti + Monkey, could seem a bit shoe-horned in. I can't imagine they had the script needing an actress that can operate a ventriloquist monkey before they knew she would play the role. But I am a big fan of Nina Conti and I think it adds a bit of oddballness to the whole thing which is evident in other areas too.
About to watch episode 2 now.. so this opinion may change
Am I the only person here who's really enjoying Family Tree? The spoof old British sitcoms are spot on, I love the little subtle quick gags in the background (the framed pictures of Willie Nelson and Nelson Mandela in Jim Piddock's house during his straight to camera bit, the 'Avatar the Musical' poster in the Hove theatre, the unexplained naked photos of Victorian women in the old lady's house).
I don't think a show has to have huge belly laughs every 30 seconds to make it a good comedy. I would say this is (so far) as good as Best in Show and A Mighty Wind.
I think this is easily my favourite comedy show so far this year.
At least it's not just a bloke in a dress looking directly into the camera and saying 'Look at me, look at me right now, I'm about to fall over, make sure you are looking, I'm doing now. Look.' Then he falls over accompanied by a massive studio audience laugh that sounds like such an overreaction that you instantly assume it must be canned (which apparently it isn't). Sorry, I accidently ranted. Didn't mean to.
Just Like Badults, I don't know how the BBC even come to give this a full series eitheir. This is really really awful, the thing that has made me laugh though is how the BBC have decided to put the two rubbish shows together on at the same time, one at 10 on BBC Two and the other at 10 on BBC Three.
Quote: DougWonnacott @ July 31 2013, 2:05 PM BSTAm I the only person here who's really enjoying Family Tree? The spoof old British sitcoms are spot on
Well they're shot well (one would expect nothing less of Christine Gernon), but the writing is appallingly obviously faux, in all of those inserts.
There are some good laughs in this series, and O'Dowd is a joy to watch, but some horrendous inconsistencies and just plain idiotic stuff too.
(Only just started watching episode 3.)
Latest one I watched was the one in America, so I've gone quite far with it really... saying that, I don't think I'll watch anymore. Just feel like it's been stringing along 'nothing' for too long. Could have just made 2 'special' episodes and been done with it.
I'm surprised it's so disliked. Out of interest, for the people who haven't liked this series, are you fans of Best in Show, or A Mighty Wind?
I've never seen either, and don't care for Spinal Tap one bit.
Quote: Aaron @ August 7 2013, 1:12 PM BSTI've never seen either, and don't care for Spinal Tap one bit.
How comes, out of interest? I've seen you saying you also dislike The Office, is it the documentary format in general you don't like?