Quote: Martin Holmes @ October 19, 2007, 10:03 PMThe audience actually said "aww" when Lee and Lucy didn't get together!
This actually caused a fluff up as the cast weren't expecting it 
Not Going Out - Series 2 Page 28
Hello Charlier and welcome.
Does that mean you're more Charley than she is?
Quote: Martin Holmes @ October 19, 2007, 10:03 PMBy the way Andrew, is the Christmas Special already written/filmed?
I'm doing my bit on it as we speak, so it's nearly there - I hand it in tomorrow night at about one minute to rugby. I think it's looking great, and I've laughed out loud at plenty of it (bits other people wrote, I'm pleased to say). And it's making me feel all Christmassy.
Hurray! Allow me to get excited in advance.
I do hope there's some Christmas based puns involved.
Will Lee be pulling a cracker at any point?
Quote: Krenz @ October 20, 2007, 1:39 AMI'm doing my bit on it as we speak, so it's nearly there - I hand it in tomorrow night at about one minute to rugby. I think it's looking great, and I've laughed out loud at plenty of it (bits other people wrote, I'm pleased to say). And it's making me feel all Christmassy.
Are your nuts roasting on a open fire? 
Quote: Seefacts @ October 17, 2007, 3:06 PMIf I want just plain laughs, no thinking, just sitting down and enjoying. NGO is ideal. So is Friends or King of Queens. If I want a strong story and lots of clever plots inter-weaving - Seinfeld or One Foot, and Fraiser at it's best.
No one here mentioned a great sitcom in the US called "Curb Your Enthusiasm". It's excellent and it comes from the co-creator of Seinfeld.
When someone gets the DVDs of NGO Series 1, please tell me if they've got English subtitles. I need them cos I don't understand what the actors are saying sometimes and so I miss some 4-5 gags per episode... I hate that I download the episodes each Friday because that's the only way to watch the show in Romania (I'm not a 
).
Quote: Krenz @ October 20, 2007, 1:39 AMI'm doing my bit on it as we speak, so it's nearly there - I hand it in tomorrow night at about one minute to rugby. I think it's looking great, and I've laughed out loud at plenty of it (bits other people wrote, I'm pleased to say). And it's making me feel all Christmassy.
Woo hoo! I've been feeling Christmassy for at least 2 weeks now, so the recording isn't going to help. 
(The Two Ronnies recorded their Christmas special in July though, so this is relatively going out live.)
I'm sure it'll be loaded with laughs though. Sounds great.
I really enjoyed this episode and quite a few things seemed to be just right about it.
Having a lot of Lee and Tim together really worked and Lucy's character and her relationship with Lee work much better now. The cleaner character wasn't quite so annoying too and I'm glad that Guy seemed to depart the show.
I look forward to the Christmas special and hope that a 3rd series is commissioned.
Oh. I just realised that I didn't actually comment on last night's episode. Well, I really enjoyed it (as ever). Great lines, sharp writing and plenty of Lee's trademark witty retorts. Great feeling to it as well, I thought, and even began to hope that L&L would "get it on" towards the end. Looking forward to the special, most definitely.
Quote: Mark @ October 19, 2007, 10:10 PMOne minor request for the writers if the show gets a third series (so hope so!) - could you write a few more "closes door" directions into the script. It bugs me how often the flat door is left wide open. Yes I'm pedantic!
I was going to come on and say the same thing! I'm sure it was open in the middle of the night in one episode. And I know this might sound obvious but it seems that whenever it's open someone comes right through it ie: Guy.
I actually thought this was the weakest episode so far. Some good jokes in there as always, but it had more than a ring (no pun intended) of OFAH about it for me, with their Christmas episode about smuggling diamonds and hiding behind the curtain from the Driscoll brothers.
It seemed badly edited to me. Or maybe I'm just getting mixed up with the zero chemistry between Lucy and Guy. It really feels like amateur dramatics when they're together. When Lucy and Guy were at the airport I could hear the 'action!' It looks like they're trying to remember the script instead of being in the flow of it. I think Sally's much the worse of the two and suffering due to the ratio of jokes.
Also I think Lee and Tim share the same problem Jerry Seinfeld does in that they are not actors. Both deliver their lines in great style, they're trying to act, doing okay, but I now accept it'd be hard for them to give weightier performances and deal convincingly with problems, like Jason Alexander could.
Pretty good ending to the show. Once again Tim and Lee/Lee and Tim show that they can develop into one of the great contemporary double acts.
The plot got borderline silly (why didn't Guy have Lee arrested? If only out of spite?), Lucy was different once again (a quipmachine herself at times, and what's this with Guy being so controlling and her having such huge problems with that), but Lee and Tim getting into scrapes and playing off each other so well made it work nevertheless. Though I wouldn't have been sad to see Lucy and Guy disappear into the great sitcom void and Tim telling Lee at the end: just the two of us now.
I really like how Lee allows his vulnerability to shine through more and more. The more human he acts, the better the jokes work.
I'd like to clear up one thing, though: some people seem to think that those of us who complain about certain inconsistencies etc. in the series want to turn it into jokeless light drama. Absolutely not - the more laughs an episode the happier I am. It's just that the best comedy comes from well-developed characters. Just adding forced jokes to a script (not that I'm accusing NGO of that) rarely works (My Family, that's a good example). So the better we know and understand the characters, the more enjoyable the comedy and the more impact the jokes will have. Both Lucy and Kate before her suffered as characters from this, IMO, being fairly inconsistently depicted from episode to episode.
Quote: Wout Thielemans @ October 20, 2007, 11:54 AMI really like how Lee allows his vulnerability to shine through more and more. The more human he acts, the better the jokes work.
I definitely agree with that and in the last couple of eps that has really started to work well.
Gotta stick up for Guy (Simon Dutton) here... what a difficult combination of being charming, sophisticated and ridiculous at the same time. To me he carried it off so well with his few appearances.
And Lee - that tender moment of self-awareness:
"Sorry - I do try 'n stop myself - I really really do."
No wonder the audience were ready to "aw"!
So when is the DVD of Series 1 out?
Quote: Martin Holmes @ October 20, 2007, 12:35 PMSo when is the DVD of Series 1 out?
On Monday!