It was fun, without being earth-shatteringly original or funny. (Then again, did anyone really expect it to be?) Lucas outshining Walliams as the really truly funny one (not for the first time). Was glad it was deliberately less smutty than Little Britain became. One concern was that this first half-hour felt a bit long and drawn out, so I don't know how that bodes for the rest of the series. I appreciate that some of the characters in this show will make only one-episode appearances, but the characters that I guess will be returning seem to have the usual 'one joke' dimensions to them.

Sure this will do well - ratings-wise and critically, for one series, anyway.

Oh, and this isn't a sitcom. It really isn't. Please, mods, a sitcom-it-isn't. Sitcom? No, mate... 'Ceci n'est pas un sitcom' (this last one doesn't mean that ironically it is a sitcom - because it's not. It really isn't a sitcom.)

Oh forgot to say that the jokes were hugely predictable. I knew almost every punchline before the end if the joke. Had they been signposted for their thicker viewers?

Quote: Nat Wicks @ December 26 2010, 7:33 PM GMT

Oh forgot to say that the jokes were hugely predictable. I knew almost every punchline before the end if the joke. Had they been signposted for their thicker viewers?

View original

Was there a punchline, or a joke, in the case of the Afro-Caribbean coffee stall woman? If you think you've seen one, please call us now. And, remember, please don't have nightmares...

Quote: Tim Walker @ December 26 2010, 7:13 PM GMT

'Ceci n'est pas un sitcom'

View original

*SEARCHES IN VAIN FOR THE 'OVER THE AUDIENCE'S HEADS' SMILEY*

What a snore fest. Some of the gags were predictable and cringe worthy- and not in a good way. I've seen better prosthetics in Planet of the Apes - and it was made more than 40 years ago.

Quote: Win Wilders @ December 26 2010, 10:23 PM GMT

What a snore fest. Some of the gags were predictable and cringe worthy- and not in a good way. I've seen better prosthetics in Planet of the Apes - and it was made more than 40 years ago.

View original

The prosthetics in the original Planet of the Apes were excellent.

The laughs in Planet of the Apes were rarer than the ones in Come Fly With Me, though.

Quote: Veronica Vestibule @ December 26 2010, 11:18 PM GMT

The laughs in Planet of the Apes were rarer than the ones in Come Fly With Me, though.

View original

However, Charlton Heston would have played that Moses character well.

And some of the monkeys in Planet of the Apes became strangely attractive after a while.

(Or was that just me?)

Anyway, I've never had the slightest inclination to dally with Matt Lucas or David Walliams.

I thought it was alright actually...?

No, it wasn't game-changing or cutting edge comedy but it was enjoyable. Certainly MUCH better than Little Britain.

I hated Little Britain but I actually laughed a bit at this. I hope they don't just recycle the same jokes every week though.

I don't think the characters were as extreme as the Little Britain ones. Not sure if that's a good thing in the short term. I mean, one series of extreme characters you can cope with. LB went off the boil a bit as the characters became far too reliant on extremes. Come Fly With Me may seem a little dull without that extremity.

You got me, bruv?

An all-too-predictable and tedious "backlash" against the show, involving people with too much time on their hands...*

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1342025/David-Walliams-Matt-Lucass-BBC-spoof-Come-Fly-With-Me-accused-racism.html

This issue must have cause some mixed feelings at the Daily Mail. On one hand, complaints from people about the 'blacking up' is something the paper would normally view as over-sensitivity from the PC brigade. On the other hand, the Mail is desperate to have a shot at the BBC at any and every opportunity. What to do, what to do...?

My own view is that of course this isn't in any way racist - why 'blacking up' in and of itself ever has been considered intrinsically racist is somewhat confusing. My only concern would be that where it was used in this show, it tended to be in the case of the weaker characters - i.e. where the look and certain comedy elements relating to their racial group are a bit of a smokescreen for the fact that the script is pretty feeble.

Generally though, I think there's no great case for complaint. Also, the complaints seem fairly selective. Matt Lucas playing the (ultimately) tight-fisted, avaricious old (presumedly European Jewish) lady, Hetty Wolf, doesn't seem to attract any complaints of anti-semitic racial stereotyping. And though the Moses character is mentioned in some articles regarding this issue, people seem a little confused what - if any - racial stereotyping of Egyptians that character was displaying. Unless, of course, obsequiousness is a stereotypically Egyptian trait...

(*unlike me, who is typing this at five in the morning, of course...)

I found it mildly amusing an unthreatening way to pass half an hour.

I suppose if the 2 of them want to play every character, then it is inevitable they'll end up playing minority characters. It's not really racist is it?

I loved it. I thought there were some great characters there. It's a shame that they are only allowed to do white people.