It was brilliant in some bits. The most off putting part was the canned laughter. Also, it was in many ways the Peep Show forty years down the line with a lot of Roger Lloyd Pack's lines being very Jeremyesque. Perhaps it is the writers' attempts to get a more mainstream audience for considerable talent.
The theme tune agreed was probably the worst TV Theme tune ever and I probably wouldn't watch it again if it wasn't for the excellent casting, but good for a first episode. Maybe too many wee jokes and yes the canned laughter was annoying, but some extremely funny moments and will definetly be tuning in next week. First episode: 7/10
Quote: Ronnie Anderson @ February 1 2009, 12:13 PM GMTThe most off putting part was the canned laughter.
From what I understand, this doesn't exist, it's a myth. I've posted it before, but here's what Graham Linehan has to say on the matter:
"From a review of 'The Secret Policeman's Ball' by Leo Benedictus in today's Guardian: "Mitchell and Webb's self-doubting Nazis were much improved by the subtraction of canned laughter."
Let me repeat that. The self-doubting Nazis sketch was improved by the subtraction of canned laughter.
I'm hoping, Leo, you've found this page after Googling your name. If so, please pay attention because I am about to let you in on the best-kept secret in town: Like 'The IT Crowd', and every other show where you can hear a studio audience laughing, 'That Mitchell and Webb Look' is filmed in front of a real-live studio audience who are actually laughing. Full details here, if you can be arsed clicking the link.
So, to be clear, the laughter you hear is real. Not canned. Real.
The laughter you heard at the Amnesty gig was also real. But you seem to believe that there was something somehow more real about the real laughter at the Amnesty gig than the real laughter on 'That Mitchell and Webb Look'. In fact, you actually thought the sketch was improved by the subtraction of the fake (actually real) laughter and the addition of real laughter (also real).
In other words, the effect was more or less the same (both audiences being real and all), but you thought it really gave that sketch an extra special something, listening to the laughter that was real instead of the laughter that was also real.
Leo, the reason you believe in canned laughter is because you, like many of the people who feel qualified to write about television comedy, have never had the curiosity to actually find out how a comedy show is made. If you had, you would know what everyone in comedy knows, and what everyone who has sat in a studio audience knows…that outside of old Scooby Doo cartoons and the like, there is no such f**king thing as canned laughter.
(P.S And Leo, you are very welcome to come along to the next studio recording of The IT Crowd on Friday night to clear up any confusion you still may have. These people have the full details.)"
So there you go.
Having posted that, some of the laughter in Old Guys did seem a bit too loud and mental a lot of the time.
Very good show. Will tune in again.
Quote: random @ January 31 2009, 11:28 PM GMTPretty much the obvious 'box standard' sitcom, altho did raise a wee titter here n' there!
Bog standard, do you mean?
Quote: johnny smith @ January 31 2009, 11:51 PM GMTI'm surprised there has been no mention about the dire theme song and opening title graphics.
Dear. F**king. Christ. I had wiped that abomination from my memory.
Quote: jon howarth @ February 1 2009, 9:16 AM GMTQuite enjoyed it, but did anybody else think Katherine Parkinson's Amber was very much like her 'Jen' in The IT Crowd?
Some similarities (her face and her voice, particularly), but otherwise it was just a similar character, not down to KP herself.
Laughter: Real.
Show: Poor.
Synopsis: Peep Show in 30 years.
Verdict: Bain & Armstrong are a creative one-trick-pony.
Ok, perhaps not so much the last bit. But this, if it hadn't been for the excellent cast, was totally unwatchable. I will sit through anything - even Eddie Izzard's Cows - but this was just plain BAD. Hoping it'll improve, but not betting on it if that's the tone been set. It just didn't flow.
I'm still digesting this but I wasn't overly impressed. I thought it was a bit over the place. By the way this wasn't written by A&B they created the concept but its written by Simon Blakewell.
They started off with a whole load of exposition about what each other do, which is supposedly a writers biggest crime. The whole 'will they, won't they' party invite thing didn't seem realistic, and KP turned into Jen from IT Crowd half way through the episode.
I will watch again as first episodes are notoriously bad to judge a series from. But I can't see it touching Still Game in terms of funny OAP sitcoms.
Quote: ContainsNuts @ February 1 2009, 1:28 PM GMTBut I can't see it touching Still Game in terms of funny OAP sitcoms.
Agreed.
Yes, as Griff mentioned, I laughed loud on many occasions and that is very difficult to achieve in an opening episode. "I'm Happy, I'm Happy" - awful stuff, can anyone else think of a worse theme tune? But the casting is great, I'd love to know why Roy was moaning, I'd rather live with Tom than Hyacinth.
I think I must have missed something, I'll have to watch this again.
Can anyone who laughed (even once) post the line or scene they found funny because I can't find any?
The Old Guys is like what Peep Show would be like if the BBC got its hands on it.
In Extras, Andy Millman (Ricky Gervais) wants to make a cutting edge sitcom for BBC Two with no studio audience laughter/canned laughter (basically, Andy wants to make The Office) but the BBC get too involved and turn it into a broad, camp, catchphrase-based traditional sitcom filmed in front of a studio audience.
If Bain and Armstrong intended to make Peep Show for Channel 4 (the channel it is shown on) or BBC Two and it ended up on BBC One, it would look exactly like The Old Guys.
Quote: Griff @ February 1 2009, 1:05 PM GMTRoger Lloyd-Pack was much the funnier of the two, I quite liked his character. I'm a bit unsure about Clive Swift.
I thought that too. Pack was very good, Swift just didn't feel right at all, his performance was pretty poor I think.
I've watched the first 10 mins, I didn't stop because I wasn't enjoying it, I'm just not in the mood to watch the rest at the moment.
I like seeing Roger Lloyd-Pack in a different role, from what I've seen, I will probably enjoy his character.
I'm not a fan of Clive Swift's deliveries. He drags sentences out and ruins the pace for me. That's not to say that I won't enjoy the rest of his performances though.
It does look a bit 'Summer Wine to me, especially the bit where he fell over the bins and the fawning over the neighbour.
Overall (well the first 10 mins) I think it falls into the "OK" box. Certainly better than most of BBC One's mainstream sitcoms. But it doesn't feel like a BBC Two sitcom.
As one of the finalists in The Last Laugh competition, I was really looking forward to this, but after the first 10-15 minutes it didn't even raise a titter.
I think I laughed out loud twice throughout the whole thing. It was far too predictable; I'm not impressed by the cast (in particular Clive Swift) and I agree that it's Peep Show for a BBC audience. I'll still watch the rest of the episodes - I'm sure the next one can't be any worse. I wanted so much to like it, but it didn't work for me.
I've just watched this with trepidation (my cat) and was prepared for the worst. I thought that it might have been an Anglicised version of Still Game (one of my all time favs) but thankfully it was not.
I really liked it a lot. Good sharp script well acted by a very good cast - and the characters had a nice real quality too.
I'll deffo be watching it again and hats off to whoever chose the Ivor Cutler song as the theme tune. A wonderful choice but maybe a tad lost on the youngsters.
Quote: Rustle T Davis @ February 1 2009, 3:29 PM GMTand I agree that it's Peep Show for a BBC audience.
As this first episode wasn't written by them, it'll be interesting to see what the quality is like when Bain And Armstrong are actually credited as writers.
