I haven't watched it yet but I thought Drop The Dead Donkey straight away. Is there a Damien in it manipulating good stories?
Taking The Flak Page 2
No.
The bit from Drop The Dead Donkey that has always stuck in my mind was when Damian was doing a story from war torn Africa. He was stood outside a village telling people how tragic it was and in the background, an African kid was playing / laughing / joking.
He told the cameraman to turn away, you heard this almighty smack and then when Damian started reporting, the kid in the background was crying his eyes out.
I still laugh thinking about it now.
I thought this was pretty good. Considering its a comedy drama, there were plenty of jokes and nice ideas packed into it (like that David Bradburn could present a piece back to London after getting the details off a waiter just seconds beforehand).
I agree with Tim, the 60 minute opener was a bit much and so things started to sag in the middle... but otherwise, in my opinion, it made a fairly strong start (excluding the toilet gags, they lowered the tone).
The viral video segment near the end made me laugh a lot though. Took me completely by surprise.
It\'s interesting the BBC News department has lent the show its newsreaders though, it doesn\'t exactly praise the department\'s news gathering skills!
Watched it last night.
Hmmm... I prefer Benidorm.
Actually thought it wasn't too bad. Will defo watch rest of series.
I think I've just come across the harshest criticism of Taking the Flak yet. In today's Sunday Times, A. A. Gill wrote:
What this should have been was hard satire. What it was was racist farce.
Now that is harsh.
Quote: Ian Wolf @ July 12 2009, 9:42 AM BSTI think I've just come across the harshest criticism of Taking the Flak yet. In today's Sunday Times, A. A. Gill wrote:
Now that is harsh.
As a loyal reader of Mr Gill's Sunday Times TV Column, he is generally pretty harsh on most comedy. (He might admit that he doesn't really have a love of TV comedy/comedy in general, perhaps?) Although I haven't seen Getting On as yet (which he also reviewes today), I liked his special praise for Jo Brand's career. I have to say that the one thing that didn't spring to mind about Taking The Flak was racism. It may reflect a general subconscious racism in the way 'The News' and The West in general treats bad news coming out of Africa, but I don't think it is particularly fair to accuse the writers/producers/director of this programme of that crime. I think any real concerns about the manner in which Africa and its people are portrayed in the opening episode, are more as a result as the weaknesses of the comedy in general.
He gets it right about The Thick Of It, however, which he lavished praise on. (As he did with Saxondale, I believe.) 
Just got around to watching this. Really, really enjoyed it. Totally understand the hour opener, definitely the right decision there. Loved the dog, and the hostage videos. Very funny. A lot of really good stuff. Hoping tonight's episode keeps up with more of the same.
Although the woman arriving on the moped was almost the same as Mumbai Calling.
Improvement tonight overall. Some good lines - "Can I speak with your Mummy or Daddy?"/"Mama Cass. She lives!" and "Can you find me a stupider African please?". Far more suited to an half-hour episode. (See Mackenzie Crook either dropped out/wasn't available/got pulled after the pilot episode. His replacement character was better.) Ruby Wax very good I thought. Plot a weak point and felt functional, same as last week.
Not as good tonight. Probably the fault of Ruby Wax (well, her character). Too loud, brash. The guy in London was an annoying tit rather than a humourously disinterested one. Really missed Lloyd Owen too.
They didn't even try to get the same location, which I thought was a great pity. The hotel really felt 'right' on episode 1, but a bit too clean and sparkly here (and didn't think much of the completely different layout to the lobby).
Hopefully the Americans will be non-existent or minimal in future episodes.
You say potato, I say potato, eh Aaron?
Is that a permanent pull-out of the character Jack then? Pretty major loss if it is.
Looks like it, yes. 
I've enjoyed both episodes so far, very enjoyable.