Let's not have this discussion again. This is labelled by the BBC as sitcom and is very much sitcom, not least because of the farce elements.
White Van Man - Series 1 Page 2
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Saw the first episode, there were some funny bits and pieces. All the stuff about him looking like the Downs Syndrome boy was pretty funny.
Definite sitcom for me. A few serious bits does not not a comedy-drama make.
And I enjoyed it. Lots of laughs. Great cast, particularly enjoyed Mellor in the lead. Wished he'd just stand up for himself and tell them all to bugger off a bit more forcefully though!
I loved it, thought it very funny in parts, the "you look like Mike" bit was funny, that happened to me once they even brought in the guy's mum to look at me!
Read a review slagging this off because for descending into "Frank Spencer style farce."
Is that supposed to be a bad thing? I'll give it a look.
Quote: youngian @ March 23 2011, 8:24 PM GMTRead a review slagging this off because for descending into "Frank Spencer style farce."
Yeah, as though that's automatically a bad thing. 
It's neither bad, nor is it something I recognise as an accurate description of what I watched last night.
Quote: youngian @ March 23 2011, 8:24 PM GMTRead a review slagging this off because for descending into "Frank Spencer style farce."
Is that supposed to be a bad thing? I'll give it a look.
I've never been able to watch one whole episode of Frank Spencer but I like this!
Quote: youngian @ March 23 2011, 8:24 PM GMTRead a review slagging this off because for descending into "Frank Spencer style farce."
Is that supposed to be a bad thing? I'll give it a look.
I suppose it depends on whether you liked Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em, and judging by the fact 20m watched that then I think the reviwer was a bit off the mark.
I liked this. It's obviously sitcom. There wasn't much of a plot going on, to be honest, so I can't even begin to understand this comedy-drama nonsense.
I laughed a lot more than I thought I would. Some nice one-liners, good characterisation and, as mentioned above, Will Mellor did a great job as the straight man. He knows how to deliver a dead-pan line.
It did get a bit farce-y (hence the not-much-plot) and isn't yet the best thing ever, but I shall watch again.
Dan
Didn't work for me. I nearly turned over in the middle of the first episode but thought I ought to give it longer. I watched episode two as well and barely laughed. I thought 'looking like Mike' was a clumsy gag at best, it wouldn't have worked if Tom Cruise had been playing Mike. Similarly, in the second episode he would have been less likely to upset his date if she'd been Jennifer Aniston. I'd rather see gags that were just funny, not funny as long as one of the cast is from this minority or that racial background. Even the titles looked cheap. The cast was good, but the script was less so in my view.
Quote: steve by any other name @ March 24 2011, 12:51 PM GMTI thought 'looking like Mike' was a clumsy gag at best, it wouldn't have worked if Tom Cruise had been playing Mike.
Well no, obviously not, I don't understand the point you're making??
Did Mike actually look like Will Mellor? (I didn't see that part.)
Quote: zooo @ March 24 2011, 1:11 PM GMTDid Mike actually look like Will Mellor? (I didn't see that part.)
He was a Downs Syndrome boy, with similar hair. It sounds sort of wrong and horrible, but it was funny.
Writer Adrian Poynton blogs about writing it:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcthree/2011/03/white-van-man-the-journey-from-head-to-screen.shtml
Dan