Give it a go. There are plenty of shows, dire or not, which have taken more than one viewing to bed in.
Lab Rats Page 14
Quote: zooo @ July 13 2008, 8:31 PM BSTOh woops. Yes, he was supposed to be Russian.
I could be wrong (very wrong), but he looked and sounded like Fran's Russian piano teacher in Black Books....?
Hmm, the voices were similar now you mention it.
(well, from memory)
Quote: shaggy292 @ July 15 2008, 6:42 PM BSTI could be wrong (very wrong), but he looked and sounded like Fran's Russian piano teacher in Black Books....?
Just for the record they're not the same actor. Sevan Stephan was the scientist in Lab Rats (perhaps better known for his role as Mr. Tangle in Bleak House), whilst David McKail was the piano teacher in Black Books (Dr. McKenzie in A Touch of Frost)
Fair enough
Quote: Nil Putters @ July 13 2008, 8:28 PM BSTHe did seem to drift into American quite a bit. Aren't there any decent British talent that could've played a Russian. Even Aarons Russian accent isn't that bad.
Or, God forbid, one of the many Russian actors in the UK. I enjoyed it overall, some very funny jokes and some that weren't so good. First episodes are always tough. The jokes about tits on a lizard and the woman singing the wrong words to the songs was good. The ending was a little bit weird. I could see a bit of IT Crowd about it.
I actually enjoyed the second episode more than the first, some nic elines and just plain silliness. Oh, and was that Robin Ince as the mad guy? he was quite funny, but over the top annoying.
Yes!
Robin was scary.
My God!
It's a good job Robin Ince doesn't do his 'Serious About Comedy' show. This is so feeble and he played a big part in making in that way. Couldn't they have written some/any decent dialogue for his annoying character. It was as if they wrote the first thing that came into their heads.
The older woman, I think, is a good actress, but the rest of the characters just kind of merge into one, particularly the three younger ones. Aren't they supposed to have their own voice etc? They just seem to be running around doing similar things. And the dialogue's really poor and just kind of goes on to pad it up to half an hour.
Is Minty supposed to be a character too 
Weirdly, the ending on a half swear word works better if they do it every week.
Robin Ince was godawful. A man wearing a silly jumper acting crazeeeee. Jesus.
And what about this piece of dialogue:
Man: I'll need some independent corroboration.
Woman: Don't come running to me with your medical problems!
Oh my god! What the hell is this hacky nonsense? Have we reverted back to the 70s?
I can only pray that the writers of this nonsense watched Still Game afterwards. A sitcom which manages to run through the whole gamut of human emotions effortlessly.
Everywhere I'm looking this show is getting torn to bits.
Brutal stuff.
I still think it's watchable.
(Okay, not the most effusive praise, but still!)
The Shit Crowd.
There were about 3 times I actually found myself laughing - but that's not good enough for a 30 minute sitcom. I turned over and watched some Time Gentlemen Please and made up for the almost barren previous 30 minutes.
Incidentally is the Dutch woman Simon Cadell's sister? I noticed her name in the credis although forgot what her Christian name is.