Admin - Pilot

I agree. the individual subplots between the characters were good and pulled the show along, with lot of potential for a series. Every show has at least one predictable base joke 'the cock on the whiteboard', and I didn't mind it so much as there was lot of other stuff that was funny by that point.
 

Wow, remind me to never announce any work I may get broadcast on here. No punches pulled for a BCGer. I've watched a lot worse and this is his first break. Its obviously a lot funnier than whatever other people are producing.

BTW we are a demographic too, and this may have not been aimed solely at our one.

Mr Isaacs, I know you'll be reading these comments. Remember this is a great achievement and something huge to build on. All the best.
 

Well I sat down to watch this last night and quite happily made it through to the end without once wanting to put my foot through the screen or firebomb BBC3.

For a pilot, which are notoriously difficult anyway because you do have to 'introduce' the characters, I thought it was well-structured and had a good few decent laughs peppered throughout.

One thing I did think though that the whole thing would've been lifted out of that "Officey" feel if it'd been filmed in front of a live studio audience. The rhythm of the gags felt more studio audiencey to me.

Well done David, here's hoping you get a series to develop this further.

Quote: M Lewis @ May 13 2008, 8:22 AM BST

when did this start? if you take a look at the top US /UK sitcoms from the last 30 years how many where made for a certain demographic? Pretty sure i remember watching Only Fools/Friends/Cheers/Open All Hours etc etc with my family?

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Probably fairly recently, in an attempt to draw specific groups in from other channels.

Quote: ContainsNuts @ May 13 2008, 9:37 AM BST

Wow, remind me to never announce any work I may get broadcast on here. No punches pulled for a BCGer.

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It might hurt initially, but I'm sure that pretty much any writer would rather we were brutally honest than sycophantic. One would hope that our words spur him on to improve his future work.

For me, its biggest problem was casting. There were probably jokes which would have come through far more effectively had they not looked closer to 12 than 30.

Quote: JohnnyD @ May 13 2008, 8:44 AM BST

Give 'em a break. Next, you'll be saying Reg Varney's too old to pull dolly girls.

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Why should I? It ruined the whole show. Took any sense of reality out of it. Willing suspension of disbelief and all that, completely gone.


"I don't want anyone staring with disbelief at my willy suspension!"
 

I thought that it was better than anything that I've had commissioned.

I sky+'d it and have just watched it. I read the comments here 1st and wasn't expecting a great deal but was pleasantly surprised.

From a wannabe writer's point of view, I didn't think that it was too far away from the sort of standard that I am able to write, in that it didn't seem overly polished to me.

I think it's main flaw is that the writing certainly doesn't come across as being particularly clever, but equally there wasn't enough cheap nob and piss jokes to keep the masses laughing.

Worth a series I feel though......watch the 1st episodes of Blackadder or OFAH and you wont be laughing that much either.

Quote: Aaron @ May 13 2008, 9:59 AM BST

.. had they not looked closer to 12 than 30.

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They're Admin staff - as in the title. They file, photocopy, etc.
 

Admin people usually are temps in their late teens/early twenties though - I think it would've looked less realistic if they were older.
 

Quote: Sofa_Matt @ May 13 2008, 10:05 AM BST

Worth a series I feel though......watch the 1st episodes of Blackadder or OFAH and you wont be laughing that much either.

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Wrong.

What about series 1 of Father Ted, Peep Show etc etc.

It's on the telly - there can be no excuses for it not being really good.
 

I don't think it does any favours to the MA scriptwriting course at Salford Uni when one of its former pupils comes up with this sort of stuff. You can't teach people to be funny.

The teaser set the tone when Neil Fitzmaurice said something along the lines of 'We're a professional outfit.' Then of course, unprofessional things occured. This was exactly the sort of thing Gervais and Merchant were trying to avoid when writing 'The Office'. And they were spot on. It's all forced jokes and people trying to be characters when they're nothing of the sort.

The writer mentioned in his interview, terrific that he did one by the way, that the producer thought 'Mike' was flat. Weren't the rest of the characters?

I want all writers to succeed and write funny scripts that we've all enjoyed in the past, but this, like 99.9% of BBC Three's output, is a million miles away.

Quote: Seefacts @ May 13 2008, 10:11 AM BST

Wrong.

What about series 1 of Father Ted, Peep Show etc etc.

It's on the telly - there can be no excuses for it not being really good.

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I am only putting forward the argument that those shows now viewed as classic British comedy had to find their feet.

I agree that Father Ted and Peep Show were good straight from the off, but I'm not sure about 'etc etc', dont think I've seen it.

Quote: Aaron @ May 13 2008, 9:59 AM BST

It might hurt initially, but I'm sure that pretty much any writer would rather we were brutally honest than sycophantic. One would hope that our words spur him on to improve his future work.

For me, its biggest problem was casting. There were probably jokes which would have come through far more effectively had they not looked closer to 12 than 30.

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I think any writer would appreciate honesty, yes, but when you have spent how ever many months/years he did on this, was built up by and interviewed by this site, for such a major occasion, I'm sure he would of hoped for a less harshness. I've seen some crap on the critique forum and its usually always dealt with sympathetically. This is usually quite a supportive community.

Also, when we've had people like Andrew Collins, the actors from sitcoms etc we seem to always be respectful. Its in everyone's interest to have more writers and such on these forums. If we are going to be so brutal, we won't. Of course you should say if you didn't like it but when its one of our own, there is no harm in being more tactful.

Quote: Seefacts @ May 13 2008, 10:11 AM BST

It's on the telly - there can be no excuses for it not being really good.

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Sorry, I thought you were working on a tv project? Surely you know then that TV is a test bed just like anything else and that, therefore, not every thing can be 'really good'. Also 'really good' is a subjective term, it can never be universal so the argument seems flawed.
 

Quote: Seefacts @ May 13 2008, 10:11 AM BST

It's on the telly - there can be no excuses for it not being really good.

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Who needs excuses? This was good. I spent an enjoyable half-hour in the company of some believeable characters. (And I watched 'Admin'.)

It's unrealistic to expect the schedules to be filled with 'really good' stuff, with good not being good enough.
 

Quote: JohnnyD @ May 13 2008, 10:09 AM BST

They're Admin staff - as in the title. They file, photocopy, etc.

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So? They don't need to look middle aged. They just need to appear to have actually left school. Even then, quite simply, the way that the characters came across was much older than their visual appearance.

Quote: ContainsNuts @ May 13 2008, 10:25 AM BST

Of course you should say if you didn't like it but when its one of our own, there is no harm in being more tactful.

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That might be valid in terms of normal critiquing, but once a writer's work is broadast - pilot or not - then it's in the public domain and becomes public property. Once a show is made, it leaves that "one of us" realm and becomes open to just as much criticism or praise as Two Pints, The Young Ones, Dad's Army, Tittybangbang, Fawlty Towers, and so on. I'd have been just as harsh had my own brother written it.
 

What will be the next step for this show?

How do the BBC decide whether to commission a whole series? Viewing figures? Critic's reaction?
 

Lets hope they don't read this then.

As an impartial non judgemental viewer...I laughed... although it took me a while to get into it...and I saw the cock gag "cumming" a mile off. The characters - although there are a lot -were okay and you could get to know them after watching a couple of times. As others have said themselves, they remember the person and the stigma attached it i.e Pregnant blonde, so obviously something sunk in.

Lets hope the BBC give it a chance and we can see for ourselves some success for some of the writers on here.