Count Arthur Strong - Series 1 (TV) Page 16

Quote: zooo @ July 30 2013, 6:46 PM BST

Was it against something big before it moved?

No, not from what I can remember. We shall see how many viewers it gets at tonight's showing. I bet it's less than last Monday's because people have forgotten about it or simply don't want to watch it. I hope that the BBC don't de-commission it and don't give it a second run because I'm loving it, one of the funniest comedies around at the minute.

That was horrible!

Last week's episode was decent...but this was painful to sit through. The only thing that nearly made me smile was the musical-potpourri-montage.

I loved his Windmills.

It was ok. As seems to be the norm, the first ten minutes were flat. I enjoyed the rest of it, mostly. Didn't laugh much, but enjoyed it.

I haven't really taken to the lesser characters in the show.

Good fun in all though!

Quote: GallonOfAlan @ July 30 2013, 1:40 PM BST

Do what you like, obviously. But using that rationale alone you would have missed out on The IT Crowd, possibly Father Ted, Fawlty Towers and the Pythons.

Nope, didn't like The IT Crowd anyway. Liked Fawlty and Father Ted from the start because the characters were believable and scripts well written. And the Pythons? There was always something in each episode to like, but a bad example because it wasn't an episodic series, more of a ground breaking surreal sketch show.

Suppose if you're making excuses after episode 1, saying it may/will get better it's a bit of a cop out to expect audience to hang around on the off chance it happens or not.

Quote: bob4apples @ July 30 2013, 8:53 PM BST

Father Ted from the start because the characters were believable

Could you explain what you mean by "believable"? And why weren't the characters from IT Crowd believable?

The final joke, delivered dead to camera by Arthur, worked really well.

It drew you into the world of the old performer, delivering Shakespeare word for word then tripping over the final line.

The rest of the episode felt like one long setup for the final gag, unfortunately.

Quote: bob4apples @ July 30 2013, 8:53 PM BST

Nope, didn't like the IT Crowd anyway. Liked Fawlty and Father Ted from the start because the characters were believable and scripts well written. And the Pythons? There was always something in each episode to like, but a bad example because it wasn't an episodic series, more of a ground breaking surreal sketch show.

Suppose if you're making excuses after episode 1, saying it may/will get better it's a bit of a cop out to expect audience to hang around on the off chance it happens or not.

The characters on Father Ted were believable???

Like Father Jack??

Are you on drugs ???

Quote: lofthouse @ July 30 2013, 9:30 PM BST

The characters on Father Ted were believable???

Like Father Jack??

Are you on drugs ???

They're exaggerations and caricatures, like Pub Landlord, but there's an awful lot of real people in them too. I think Linehan and/or Mathews have said that they are all based on real priests.

Quote: bob4apples @ July 30 2013, 8:53 PM BST

I liked Father Ted from the start because the characters were believable.

Haha! F**king priceless!! :-)

A strong central character and a potentially great sitcom but this series just gets worse and worse each week.

Tonight's episode in my opinion was the weakest yet, I didn't laugh much but I did enjoy the episode very much.

Quote: lofthouse @ July 30 2013, 9:30 PM BST

The characters on Father Ted were believable???

Like Father Jack??

Are you on drugs ???

No, I'm not. You obviously didn't attend an Irish Catholic school in your youth! Maybe he's a total exaggeration but a pretty accurate one!

Quote: bob4apples @ July 30 2013, 8:53 PM BST

Suppose if you're making excuses after episode 1, saying it may/will get better it's a bit of a cop out to expect audience to hang around on the off chance it happens or not.

And aren't editors and producers supposed to be able to tell bad from good, broadcast the good and quietly can the bad? Isn't the idea of pilots that you work through the issues in the format and production so that when you make the actual series, it's better? The BBC have now produced three ratings disasters of sitcoms (Heading Out, Wright Way, Strong) which had disastrous first episodes after which it may, or may not, have improved but the audience had already left the building. Might it be worth BBC execs asking themselves what they need to do to make successful programmes?

Quote: Maurice Moss @ July 30 2013, 9:10 PM BST

Could you explain what you mean by "believable"? And why weren't the characters from IT Crowd believable?

If you actually read what I said, I didn't say The IT Crowd characters were not believable, I said I watched it and didn't like it. Yes, there are people that didn't.