Surprised to see some negative comments on here about This Time.
I think it's excellent and there was once again some fantastic moments from Alan again in last night's episode. Steve Coogan is just brilliant.
This Time With Alan Partridge Page 15
I did just watch the John Thompson bit but it was Thompson who made it funny.
I guess it's safe, very familiar comedy, but who wants to be know as the person that killed the golden goose/partridge ? I enjoyed it, but not as much as "I'm Alan Partridge". Prefer him in a Sit Com, I guess that would be more expensive to produce.
Quote: Firkin @ 8th May 2021, 3:19 PMI guess it's safe, very familiar comedy, but who wants to be know as the person that killed the golden goose/partridge ? I enjoyed it, but not as much as "I'm Alan Partridge". Prefer him in a Sit Com, I guess that would be more expensive to produce.
Trouble is, I remember that second series of I'm Alan Partridge getting a hell of a lot of vitriol aimed at it, and the usual levels of OTT criticism that comedy 'fans' love to dish out.
I enjoyed the Joe Beasley/Cheeky Monkey stuff, and parts of the prison bit (Alan for whatever reason - presumably boredom - filling the toilet with toilet paper), and the elaborate lie about his 16 trips.
It's a show that's generally alright (I don't hate it), with a couple of genuinely great moments. I think it being a 'The One Show' style show stifles it a bit, BUT can understand it may have been where he'd land after Alpha Papa and being seen as a hero after Pat's siege. That and it's the type of job Alan has always aspired to - Prime Time on BBC One.
Though to me a KMKY style show with more carnage and awkwardness would provide more genuine laughs, even if it would doing the same thing as 27 years ago. Speaking of prime time BBC shows, I always thought it'd be amusing if they went all 'Extras' with him and have Alan opposite megastars (in say, a Graham Norton/Jonathan Ross type show but with real celebrities as opposed to - albeit excellent - comedians playing fake D-List celebs) and see where his awkward hubris lands him there, ha.
Quote: chipolata @ 8th May 2021, 3:55 PMTrouble is, I remember that second series of I'm Alan Partridge getting a hell of a lot of vitriol aimed at it, and the usual levels of OTT criticism that comedy 'fans' love to dish out.
Was it really criticised? I was out of the UK then and there was very little Internet so I can't really comment, but I thought it was excellent.
I remember at the time thinking it wasn't as good as the first series
Maybe as series one set the bar so astonishingly high..
Years later I think there's not much between them - both series are superb
The scripts are phenomenal- probably the best laugh per minute of any sitcoms ever
It's just boom, boom, boom
No let up
Give me a third series of I'm Alan Partridge written by the original team , any day- over all the mediocre fodder served up since...
Not much difference as far as I'm concerned. In fact if you're talking moments and quotes, I could probably think of more from the second series... But I won't. That's the kind of thing Blackadder fans do.
Quote: Michael Monkhouse @ 9th May 2021, 6:26 PMWas it really criticised? I was out of the UK then and there was very little Internet so I can't really comment, but I thought it was excellent.
I seem to remember at the time it got quite a sniffy reception (undeserved, as I loved it then and still love it). And I'm sure I saw Armando Ianucci on a chatshow once talking about how bruising the reaction to it was. I maybe wrong but I think part of the problem was that it came out not long after the second series of The Office, and everybody was obsessed with non-studio audience sitcoms, and anything that didn't fit that mould was immediately dismissed.
Yeah, I read on this very site that the reactions were a tad negative. Well these people are kindly requested, in the words of Sylvia Plath, to f**king go f**king whistle up their f**king c**ty arseholes (apologies for my language. I split an infinitive) cos it's awesome.
Watched the first two eps of this on Youtube. Youtube is a sort of database with things to watch on. There are some lol moments - the body language sequence, for example - but yeah, I can understand the disappointment after I'm Alan Partridge. I'm still gonna watch it all, partly cos I'm a twat, but mainly because Alan Partridge is, in the words of Bob Monkhouse on sex, the opposite of TV: even when it's bad, its good.
Quote: lofthouse @ 9th May 2021, 8:03 PMThe scripts are phenomenal- probably the best laugh per minute of any sitcoms ever
It's just boom, boom, boom
That's what's missing from this series. It's relatively slow by Partridge standards.
More Lynne, please.
Quote: Sitcomfan64 @ 8th May 2021, 11:09 AMEven what should have been the comic high point, Alan getting attacked by the monkey, fell flat. Maybe it was the way it was directed, but I thought it could have been funnier if it was harsher, if we saw Alan trying to fight him off. Or maybe Rod Hull was so good doing the same thing with Emu, anything else that tries now falls flat.
Yeah, I thought that was a wasted opportunity. It could've been so much funnier if they'd focused more on the idea that all the bitterness at Alan had not only failed to mellow but welled up into this final moment of revenge. Instead, it was fairly limp.
This is a really interesting four-way interview. Sounds like they really struggled with the restrictions while filming, and I'm not surprised - it sounds awful. Not conducive to a fun, comedic atmosphere at all; it probably really stifled their creativity. I really do think the way to do it is to form a bubble for the duration of filming, like on GBBO, but I appreciate that the BBC doesn't have that sort of budget and that people don't want to abandon their families etc.
You can be funny in any situation - you don't need gimmicks. The classic example is Smith and Jones, where people remember the head to heads more than the intricate skits.