Quote: Godot Taxis @ February 7 2009, 1:43 AM GMT

Is it though? How can a show that isn't about anything be the best sitcom of all time. Funny isn't enough. Friends is funny - no doubt about it, but it's also completely shit.

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You can't comment until you've seen it Godot. The show is not about nothing, as I've said.

Quote: Seefacts @ February 7 2009, 9:49 AM GMT

I hope they keep getting better, but I've a sneaking suspicion this might be the best one of the lot.

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Why? Can you see into the future? You seem to have a very pessimistic, hoping for the worst view on this Seefacts!

Quote: Godot Taxis @ February 7 2009, 1:01 AM GMT

No. I've never see as much as a second of it. Not lying to sound different.

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I just thought you might be leading up to an elaborate joke.

I'm really enjoying the new series of Not Going Out so far. Last night's episode (Winner) was the best so far. It had me laughing all the way through. It was very very clever. My Dad saw it for the first time last night and he said it was the first new sitcom to make him laugh for a while! I can see why people may have had their complaints about the plot for episode one of series three, especially the resolution, but it kept twisting and turning in different directions and for that reason I really enjoyed it. I can't wait for episode three now!

Yeah it's one even my parents enjoy as much as me. Which is a bloody miracle really.

I think my dad particularly liked Lee's Eric Morcambe 'not necessarily in the right order' tribute.

Hmmm.

*Hangs around the door and looks kinda sheepish*

I watched Ep 2 just now and would have to say that I thought it was really very good indeed.

I'd ask all the NGO aficionados this. Was it above normal or fairly normal standard?

I have criticised this in the past as not being engaging enough and lacking in narrative. I based that on watching 2 episodes of series 1 and the first of this series.

However this one (Winner) seemed so much more "on it". It seemed to me to have the missing element this time. That je ne sais quoi

It could be a case of kill the fatted calf and heaven rejoicing in one sinner who repenteth... etc etc. Maybe it isn't quite a road to Damascus moment yet but certainly last night's offering has got me thinking a bit.

Why is that last paragraph full of biblical references?

That's not a quiz btw

I've watched NGO since the very first episode and last night's was my favourite so far. I admit I was a little disappointed with last week's episode, but that's bound to happen in any series. Just gotta ride with it.

What constantly amazes me on this site is how a select few choose to post with an attitude that if someone likes/doesn't like a certain programme, there must be something fundamentally wrong with their sense of humour.

There are comedies I like and comedies I don't, but if I look hard enough, I can always establish reasons WHY another viewer may like something I don't find remotely funny.

NGO clearly gets good viewing figures, hence it's back for a third series. How can anyone have a problem with this? Maybe it should be taken off the air because some people don't find it funny?

OK, I'll admit it. I actually let out a slight squeal last night when I realised it was "Not Going Out" night. I was very excited. When I watched the episode, I laughed. And then I laughed some more. My boyfriend laughed like I've never heard him before and that made me very happy. After the programme finished we were both on a complete high. Am I supposed to feel embarrassed about this? I don't. I LOVE NOT GOING OUT!!! I hope there are more series to come. And there will be.

Quote: Blenkinsop @ February 7 2009, 2:04 PM GMT

I'd ask all the NGO aficionados this. Was it above normal or fairly normal standard?

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It was an above average episode... but do stick with the show as it does throw up a gem like this fairly regularly (clues suggest there are more great episodes coming up).

I must say I loved this episode. I rarely re-watch stuff but I think this is an episode I will watch again soon. The plotting was great - I'm not sure how I didn't spot the link between the blind storyline and the insurance claim storyline approaching, but I laughed a lot when they did overlap. I do so love it when a sitcom links together the sub-plots in a satisfying way.

I tried watching it as a lot of people on here like it - but I have to say I switched off when Tim Vine's sister came in and said, "What the f**k is going on?" Absolutely shocking and completely unnecessary! The writers clearly put that in to try and raise a shock-laugh in the absence of any real jokes. I switched off immediately and won't be watching it again.

Quote: Dave @ February 7 2009, 4:36 PM GMT

I tried watching it as a lot of people on here like it - but I have to say I switched off when Tim Vine's sister came in and said, "What the f**k is going on?" Absolutely shocking and completely unnecessary! The writers clearly put that in to try and raise a shock-laugh in the absence of any real jokes. I switched off immediately and won't be watching it again.

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Well if you had watched on, you would have seen there was a purpose. Lee had claimed his sister had tourettes, her coming in and swearing like that then gave him the opportunity to claim she was his tourettes afflicted sister.

Any comments I make about NGO (not that there have been many) are mainly borne out of frustration. I too want to laugh like a drain on a Friday night. As I've said, I am warming to it, but sometimes I feel a bit like Margo Leadbetter and the 'ooh aah bird' joke. I really want to get it because it clearly brings so much pleasure to so many others. But as they say round these parts, 'Weem all different cocker'.

Quote: Blenkinsop @ February 7 2009, 2:04 PM GMT

I'd ask all the NGO aficionados this. Was it above normal or fairly normal standard?

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Above - (IMO).

It had a solid plot and absolutely beautiful two-handers that were akin to watching a dance. The insurance two-hander in the bar (Lee getting everything wrong after saying he wouldn't). You could hear the rhythm in that exchange, almost music, nay it was music. (Why at this point am I reminded of the late, great, Ronnie Barker?)

And lots of visuals, ie., a bit of slapstick here and there, ie., two characters taking turns at throwing Lee's collectible mugs at him, which he didn't dare catch. Funny blind-man's walks. Tim's slow-mo from the wheelchair doing a Chariot's-of-Fire-Olympian-effort mid air catch. Tim's dim girlfriend who gets dimmer every time we see her.

It's only been two episodes but this second ep has defo raised the bar. So: above standard. How much of that is owed to Andrew Collins' influence?

Quote: Dave @ February 7 2009, 4:36 PM GMT

- but I have to say I switched off when Tim Vine's sister came in and said, "What the f**k is going on?" Absolutely shocking and completely unnecessary!

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Dave, as Matthew has already pointed out, that expletive was entirely necessary as it was the SET-UP for what followed to EXPLAIN that expletive; which involved her being reluctantly roped in to do a Tourettes syndrome routine. Her Tourette's routine was one of the highlights of the show for me, she was brill. Also on a point of order - NEVER, NEVER, will you ever hear one of the characters swear needlessly, as some comics do constantly on stage. (I love Chris Rock but his constant, and entirely needless overuse of the word 'f**k' can be wearing, ditto Lee Evans on stage - still it doesn't appear to have harmed their careers.)

- And that's the thing about this paticular sitcom, it is most definitely for adults only; so beware!

P.S. For anyone who's thinking that if you have to explain jokes then they're not funny - I'm not, I'm highlighting what tickles me.

Quote: Mannikin Bird @ February 7 2009, 5:16 PM GMT

Any comments I make about NGO (not that there have been many) are mainly borne out of frustration. I too want to laugh like a drain on a Friday night. As I've said, I am warming to it, but sometimes I feel a bit like Margo Leadbetter and the 'ooh aah bird' joke. I really want to get it because it clearly brings so much pleasure to so many others.

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I can certainly identify with that. That's very frustrating. There have been lots of comedy programmes over the years that others have loved that I just can't laugh at. Some of them were incredibly popular:
Ad Fab, The League of Gentlemen, The Office, Father Ted, Seinfeld, Dad's Army, 'Allo 'Allo!, Two Pints. Although I didn't find any of them very funny, I can totally understand why others do.

It does slightly annoy me when people state something "isn't funny". Who can say what is and isn't funny. If it makes 'people' (even one person) laugh, it's funny... to that person.

The last time I laughed as much as I do at NGO was probably when Nighty Night was on. Totally different comedies, but both hilarious in my world.

I loved the episode, partly for its clever construction and partly for the dialogue. I was concerned after episode one that the joke content was on the way down (episode one seemed much more situation driven and less a situation constructed around the humour). Equally, 'Winner' seemed less built around Lee's standup routine, which some other episodes have. It really was the first time in a while that the construction, characers and jokes combined so well.

We (me, wife & daughter) all laughed out loud all the way through.

Very good episode, with the gags arising out of the plot and few obvious set ups.

Quote: Andrew Collins @ February 7 2009, 12:07 AM GMT

Also, on the plot point about the bath water, if you'd watched to the end, you'd know that Lucy didn't know Lee had been in the bath, so they didn't knowingly share bath water. It doesn't matter, really, as you'd turned off or over.

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Hang on a minute - I'm one of your supporters - but Lucy caught him in the bath doing "the deed".

She made out she'd shared the bath water to get him worried.

Quote: Matthew Stott @ February 7 2009, 1:29 AM GMT

Seriously?! I'm shocked. Go out and buy series four, otherwise I can't trust another view on comedy that comes out of your mouth!

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Come on - it's American so not really comedy.

Quote: Godot Taxis @ February 7 2009, 1:43 AM GMT

Is it though? How can a show that isn't about anything be the best sitcom of all time. Funny isn't enough. Friends is funny - no doubt about it, but it's also completely shit.

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I agree.