One doesn't want to be churlish but I have now watched for 20 minutes and all I can find to say in a positive vein is that the music isn't too bad.
Has anybody spotted anything funny yet?
Jam and Jerusalem
Wow.
Bad.
Very, very bad.
I have to ask that if this had been submitted on spec from an unknown writer and not Jennifer Saunders, would it have even made it to the possibles pile let alone the let's do it pile?
Another 'nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!'
Perhaps I should justify that but I've got more important things to do
Quote: Blenkinsop @ November 24, 2006, 9:43 PMI have to ask that if this had been submitted on spec from an unknown writer and not Dawn French, would it have even made it to the possibles pile let alone the let's do it pile?
It would not have stood a f**king chance.
Sigh.
I turned over and saw a minute of this - expecting it to be better than I expected, if you know what I mean? I mean, the previews were good, but I had expected it to be shite, cos I don't get the mass appeal of Ab Fab or French & Saunders at all. Anyway, the minute I saw played like a VERY BAD F&S sketch. Some great actors in it, but not for me.
Glad this wasn't just me.
I am truly astounded. Who in the name of Christ is in charge of comedy at the Beeb these days? 
Don't know, but they need to be fired.
On a more serious note. Does this not prove that just because somebody is a great comedy actress it does not necessarily follow that they will be a good writer?
The golden age of comedy did not have writers performing their own work in sitcom. They were written for quality actors by quality writers. Of course there were some exceptions; John Cleese with Fawlty but they were the exceptions that proved the rule.
Jennifer Saunders can write sketches, I seem to remember, and I liked Ab Fab for the first couple of series, but this extended piece was dire. It seemed to have no real story or direction. it appeared to try and rely on nothing more than the thinnest of plots, a top flight cast and the good will of a forgiving public.
There is not one funny line or sequence that I can remember. Joanna Lumley dressed up as a slightly weird character is not in itself funny. For it to have been funny it would have required some funny lines or situations. There were none of these.
If I'm being honest I feel quite insulted that this was dished up for me as something worth looking at.
Couldn't agree more. It was a shoddy attempt, at best. The premise showed some promise, and even some of the situations presented to us, but there were no laughs. At all.
One can only hope that it will improve next week, but I personally won't be putting any bets on it. Like almost everything on at the moment, poor poor poor.
Wow!
I missed it cause I was out. I'm really intrigued by the reaction. In the cold light of day, was it really THAT bad?
Have to say though that I generally avoid anything French and Saunders are involved in. Never find them funny.
Watching this show last night it struck me that I don't think that I've ever seen a sitcom try to introduce so many characters in its first episode. I ended up not knowing anything about any of them and they were nothing more than caricatures. The lack of humour was a big problem as well of course.
I don't think it's too surprising that the show was commissioned though. Jennifer Saunders is a successful sitcom writer and it's only natural that the BBC would put their faith in her and that cast. Tghis has been happening for decades of course. David Nobbs followed Perrin by writing one of the biggest flops of all time.
The only time I can honestly say that I really found French and Saunders funny was back in the 70's when they were starting out in the Comic Strip - the show that came before the tv programme. Happy times. Not only was Dawn French half the woman she is now but she was also twice as funny.
Judging by the posts so far it seems that I've not missed out on anything in particular. It's a shame because these girls were good once and somewhere along the way they stopped caring - or at least that's the way it seems to me. What a shame.