Respectable Page 2

Oh dear - our first forum argument! Let's just agree to disagree shall we? Pretty much everyone has a passionate opinion on comedy and it's great we can share that with others, we've just got to remember we're all quite different people so are not going to find the same things funny... for example I hate "Two Pints" but keep it in mind that some people love it (e.g. all the breezer drinking chavs in the local council estate enjoy it so much they stop trying to get pregnant for a full thirty minutes!). There's a lot of different ages and backgrounds in this country.

Anyway before I insult any more "Two Pints" fans (as I was over generalising there) lets get back on topic...

Personally I thought Respectable made a good start - it wasn't amazingly funny but, if it moves in the right direction it could definitely be a nice slow burning comedy series where smiles can be found in subtle places. Admittedly it could also veer off down the crass knob gag path though if the direction is lost.

FULL DISCLOSURE: I'm in my 20s but I don't read Nuts, FHM and the like. However, Jodie Albert is rather nice

Didn't see it myself, but theres nothing wrong with knob gags. I did a best mans speech last year and thats all it was!

I haven't seen Respectable yet but it does seem that the beeb is losing the midas touch when it comes to comedy. It seems to favour either crude shock material or feeble Are-they-comedies?-Are-they-drama? series like Supernova and that space series that was a modern Red Dwarf with all the jokes removed

I don't mind a bit of honest debate and some frank opinion as long as the opinion is expressed about the show and not the person holding the opinions (re: the recent Little Britain discussion - frank but not aimed at any forum members).

Ray's comment about "who are you to say it wasn't funny" was perhaps a little naive because none of us on this forum (or anywhere else in the world, fan or writer alike) hold the one true definition of comedy. The only person's opinion that counts in whether a show is funny enough to be aired is the broadcaster's commisioning head. We could all think a script / pilot is fantastic but if the commisioner isn't impressed then it ain't going to happen.

______________________________________________________________ www.welshwriters.org.uk/slaggbrothers - Anarchic Welsh writers www.welshwriters.org.uk/ajdesmond - a new Sci-fi / Humour writer

SlagA, Respectable is actually a Channel Five show, although I agree with you about the Beeb's recent output. Hyperdrive in particular was dreadful (this is the bit where Hyperdrive fans crawl out of the woodwork to tell me, 'who are you to say that Hyperdrive is crap?')

I don't usually bother to respond to a poster when it is clear that we have nothing in common, but I couldn't resist replying to the 'who are you to say it wasn't funny?' crack. Slow day at work and all that...

Quote: Thomps74 @ September 1, 2006, 1:30 PM

Oh dear...

Who am I to suggest it isn't funny?

On that basis, who are you to suggest it is funny?

Your bizarre post then goes on to declare that, "No one cares if it's funny."

Erm, I do, seeing as it is a sitcom and sitcoms are supposed to be funny, but you obviously know more about the subject than me.

View original

It's missing a comma, I meant no one cares if it's crude, as long as it's funny.

Sitcoms are supposed to be funny and I think this one was. You can't blanket state that it isn't funny, when other people liked it.

What is to your taste, out of interest? Wonder if we just don't share the same comedy taste?

SlagA produced a reasoned, intelligent response to your previous post, but it obviously went over your head. So, my last attempt.. Yes, I can blanket state that it isn't funny when other people liked it, just as you can blanket state that it is funny, when other people hated it. To summarise...Respectable is shit, not funny, all those involved should hang their heads in shame.

As for what I like, don't be lazy...click on my profile or read my other posts before challenging me about my tastes. To help you along the way...I'm not a big fan of Two Packets or the Green Green Grass. I know what you're about to say - I can't blanket state that...(fill in the rest).

Yikes, hold my head in shame, thinking Respectable was Beeb (but when i think about it, does that say more about the Beeb's current output than me?). I love the Beeb for its sterling work in developing new writers and producing a stable of comedy shows that must be the envy of the world but it seems to be too busy chasing a market sector rather than producing shows that will make us all WANT to turn on.

Rick, no one can ask what right people have in saying something is 'not funny' then categorically state the opposite: that something 'is funny'. It's nonsensical reasoning.

The whole point of comedy is that it is so utterly subjective. That's why the Chuckle Brothers made a decent living and other 'better' writers drunk themselves to death, alone, bitter and broken.

I heard a rumour around a campfire last winter, that a guy had written the perfect sitcom (I can't remember the name but it wasn't 'Respectable'). Secret previews at focus groups around the globe showed 100% consensus. What happened? Along with the inventor of the eternal light bulb, the writer is now under a junction of the M25 and the production company's CEO burnt the script at an reunion meeting of the Skull and Bones.

Where does this Rick person get off telling people what they can and cannot say? Are you responsible for commissioning sitcoms at a production company? Judging by your posts I seriously doubt it so your opinion is no more important than anyone else's on here. It's fine to state your views but accept that on forums like this people will have different views to you.

I thought that Respectable sucked. It wasn't funny, a sitcom about the sex trade is in poor taste, the situations were contrived, you could see all the jokes coming from a mile away and Jodi whatshername looks nice but is clearly not a comic actress. That's my view and I'm entitled to express it without some know it all, know nothing telling me what I can and cannot do.

Let's move on, guys. I didn't appreciate being told what I could and couldn't say, but it would be a shame if this forum became one big slanging match, especially over something as lame as Respectable.

Yeah, let's move on. For the record, I wasn't criticising you because you didn't like it, only because you stated that it should be panned for not being funny, which I disagree with.

Anyway, just watched this weeks show, been away all week. Was very good again. I really like the major characters. The stuff with the old people was predictable, but funny.

Watched the second episode and it isn't getting any better. Woody Allen did the 'middle class guy strikes up a relationship with dim but nice hooker' thing with far greater success in Mighty Aphrodite. Their relationship was alot more believable than the one depicted in Respectable. Allen also had the good grace to show the dark side of prostitution, something that this programme clearly can't be arsed with. And the central character is such a snivelling, pathetic little shit, I keep hoping that one of the other characters will beat him to death with his briefcase. Other than that, I'm in complete agreement with you.

Not sure about the 'dark side'. On the one hand, I do agree that they've glorified prostitution but on the other, it is a sitcom. I don't think sitcom's should ignore real life siuations, but something like prostitution is a pretty grim subject to tackle. I haven't thought much about that side of it, which to me, suggests they've done a pretty good job of keeping me interested for half an hour.

Michael is a bit pathetic, but he should be. How many level headed people visit prossies? I don't think the relationship is unrealistic, because Jodi Albert's character is so naive.

Why did you watch the second episode? If I don't enjoy something, I don't watch it again. Was it hope or expectation?

Take your pick from:

1.) I wanted to see if it improved. It didn't. I won't be watching again.

2.) I'm the kind of person who slows down at car crashes.

Well, I have to say, I watched the second episode and thought it was better (although perhaps I didn't pay enough attention in the first).

At the end of the day, it's a pretty standard sitcom basis - a nice guy is stuck in a stale marriage, but can't bring himself to leave his wife, so forges a perhaps-unlikely relationship with someone else.

Personally, I'm liking it, but I can see why others can't.

I've just picked up on this thread about 6 months late because I was looking at Channel 5 sitcoms.

I watched it at the time and enjoyed it. Not brilliant but some funny situations and gags. I'm not surprised the Guardian didn't like it though. However to say they were glamourising prostitution which can be dangerous I understand that World War II was quite dangerous too so why didn't they complain about Allo Allo and Dad's Army. (actually they probably did)