BBC Woke Comedy

[matticus]

Anybody watching this?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0021ctj/we-might-regret-this-series-1-episode-1
"Tetraplegic artist Freya moves to London to be with silver fox Abe, a lawyer. But things are disrupted when her chaotic best friend Jo arrives"

It's quite fun, but there's a lot going on; it's almost too "busy". Not helped by touching on a lot of woke nonsense - sorry, I mean issues.
I'm often not sure what the point of a line, or moment is, as there are so many (sub)texts.

We're two episodes in (of 6) so I expect we'll stick with it. Probably a 6/10, so far ...

 

[Fab Foodie]

Anybody watching this?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0021ctj/we-might-regret-this-series-1-episode-1
"Tetraplegic artist Freya moves to London to be with silver fox Abe, a lawyer. But things are disrupted when her chaotic best friend Jo arrives"

It's quite fun, but there's a lot going on; it's almost too "busy". Not helped by touching on a lot of woke nonsense - sorry, I mean issues.
I'm often not sure what the point of a line, or moment is, as there are so many (sub)texts.

We're two episodes in (of 6) so I expect we'll stick with it. Probably a 6/10, so far ...

No.

 

[icowden]

I've seen the promos but haven't tried it yet.

 

[AuroraSaab]

It's got Sally Phillips in apparently and she's always good, but is written by the main actress which is often not a good sign. I think the US system of a group of writers sometimes works better in making comedies leaner and sharper.

 

[matticus]

It's got Sally Phillips in apparently and she's always good, but is written by the main actress which is often not a good sign. I think the US system of a group of writers sometimes works better in making comedies leaner and sharper.

Sally only has a minor part :heart-broken-emoji:

I agree about the writer teams - US comedy is consistently strong, just sadly most of it is also rather bland!
When UK comedy works - perhaps because of this - I think it's the best in the world. Look at Fleabag (to quote a recent, not entirely different program), which of course disproves your writer/leadActress theory too :P

 

[Fab Foodie]

Sally only has a minor part :heart-broken-emoji:

I agree about the writer teams - US comedy is consistently strong, just sadly most of it is also rather bland!
When UK comedy works - perhaps because of this - I think it's the best in the world. Look at Fleabag (to quote a recent, not entirely different program), which of course disproves your writer/leadActress theory too :P

US Comedy may be bland because it's written by a team not an individual!

Alma's not Normal (BBC iPlayer) was brilliant and written by, created by and starred the same person (Sophie Willan), much in the same way as Fleabag. Both share a particular quirkiness and strong identity. Both ways work, but maybe the type of output is different...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alma's_Not_Normal

 

[icowden]

US Comedy may be bland because it's written by a team not an individual!

Agreed. I thought Dinosaur was a very strong comedy too (Ashley Storey exploring a character with autism and he way of coping with the world).

 

[matticus]

Alma's not Normal (BBC iPlayer) was brilliant and written by, created by and starred the same person (Sophie Willan), much in the same way as Fleabag. Both share a particular quirkiness and strong identity. Both ways work, but maybe the type of output is different...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alma's_Not_Normal

To put Alma' in the same category as Fleabag is ... well, surprising to this unit!
Watchable but nothing great
- vs -
blimmin brilliant, with surprises and big laughs in every episode, and (at least 2) highly engaging actors.

But that may be just a subjective view, and I agree, they did both have their own identity, probably for the reason you identify!
And can you imagine a US company commisioning The Detectorists? Or The (original) Office?!?

 

[AndyRM]

If it wasn't for a laugh track I'd not know if Big Bang Theory is meant to be funny, or a warped insult to the people it's supposed to be representing. Yet according to a lot of people it's hilarious.

 

[AuroraSaab]

When UK comedy works - perhaps because of this - I think it's the best in the world. Look at Fleabag (to quote a recent, not entirely different program), which of course disproves your writer/leadActress theory too :P

I didn't find Fleabag that funny and thought it was pretty overrated. Some writer/star vehicles do work - Julia Davis's stuff for example - but it relies on the artist being able to rein themselves in. Where British sit coms do shine is in having a strong streak of pathos, where the characters are often flawed, even unlikeable, and of course eternally failing, but you root for them regardless. It's in the best GB comedies from Hancock and Dad's Army to Black Adder Goes Forth and Extras.

I do love US comedies but they are ruthless with regard to ratings. They rarely let a show build an audience, which is what stuff like The Detectorists do. Then they milk it to death - like Big Bang Theory, which should have ended around series 4 or 5. 100 episodes is the key number for syndication apparently so there's an incentive to spin shows out to that number.

 

[winjim]

Sally only has a minor part :heart-broken-emoji:

I agree about the writer teams - US comedy is consistently strong, just sadly most of it is also rather bland!
When UK comedy works - perhaps because of this - I think it's the best in the world. Look at Fleabag (to quote a recent, not entirely different program), which of course disproves your writer/leadActress theory too :P

Fleabag was just Miranda with sodomy.

 

[Rusty Nails]

Fleabag was just Miranda with sodomy.

You say that as if it was a bad thing.

 

[stephec]

Fleabag was just Miranda with sodomy.

Jeez, don't have nightmares kids!

 

[icowden]

I do love US comedies but they are ruthless with regard to ratings. They rarely let a show build an audience, which is what stuff like The Detectorists do. Then they milk it to death - like Big Bang Theory, which should have ended around series 4 or 5. 100 episodes is the key number for syndication apparently so there's an incentive to spin shows out to that number.

There's also a tendency to think that people are stupid.

Ghosts UK ran for 4 seasons - 24 episodes of beautifully crafted comedy. In the US the first season alone was expanded to 22 episodes, and the biggest contrast of all is that it often just isn't funny. In the opening of the first episode, there is an "explainer" for each Ghost where in the UK series we learned about the Ghosts from the way that their stories interpolated into the modern day story line. The US version is just unwatchable IMO.

 

[AuroraSaab]

I only saw a couple of the UK version but quite warmed to it. Couldn't last an episode of the US version. Apart from The Office the US don't do too well with converting UK humour, though the UK version of The Golden Girls didn't fare well either.