devilin, I am not sure you are really helping the show's cause by turning the thread into a personal slanging match. Pretty much every sitcom thread gets "why are the BBC commsisoning this shit" and "I could have written better" responses; even shows that I think are excellent, because oddly enough not everyone shares my tastes. People though are entitled to their opinions, and those opinions are no more or less valid because someone happens to have attempted to write comedy themselves. A show either makes you laugh or it doesn't.

If the show has any appeal someone will come on here to defend it, that is if they do not decide to avoid the thread in order not to be drawn into an unsavoury slanging match.

If you had ever posted in any thread other than this one you might have a better feel for how the forum works. Are you absolutely certain you do not have any personal connection with the show?

Wow! Sanity, I am not connected to show however I do have an agenda.I become dismayed by the cheap journalism who's soul intention is to destroy people just for the sake of selling newspapers or for purely egotistical reasons. Rarely do the people at the wrong end of their ,the journalists and armchair critics,get a balanced chance to have a go back. Ideally I would like the protagonists to be berated as they would berate others. This forum has given me, a complete nobody, the oportunity to prove that when the shoe is on the other foot the so called critics squirm. I'd love to see more people, better placed than myself, do the same. We seem to be a nation of knockers, could be 'tits', I suppose.

Anyway before I am ousted by the sensitive for going off thread. I shall take my leave voluntarily. Hopefully I have made my point.

Cruelly (or thoughtfully?) iPlayer won't let me watch episode one, so I thought I'd watch number two (Smart TV) to see what all of the fuss was about. I'm a fan of Michael Smiley, and Karen Taylor was the performance I 'bought' the most. But I've got to agree with the majority of the above; it's trememendously unoriginal and has been done a lot better. It certainly isn't the worst of the current UK sitcom output by a long shot, but it's circling the drain. I think I laughed audibly once and exhaled air in mild amusement another one time. I didn't dislike it as much as I did My Family, but it's close. The way I percieve it; one of the biggest problems with Beeb commissioning is that they're great at finding talent, but then just put them on entirely the wrong project (see: Pappy's). Just because you've got a person or group who has shown their strength in one area of comedy doesn't mean they're ready to go face first in to a big channel sitcom. It just doesn't make any sense. And this is from someone who wants to be one of those ill-placed comedy talents.

But yeah, joining a forum for the sole purpose of telling everyone they're wrong about a TV show? Couldn't really scream 'vested interest' any more loudly.

(Edited for typos)

I can't believe any of the Father Figure writers even know this forum exists.

Ones just been on and was chased off.

Course they do. Whether they care is a totally different matter.

They have no shame so I wouldn't be surprised if they had no interest either, like anyone gives a f**k.

I don't think anybody connected with a production *should* comment on here, but if they must, they'd do well to check out the 'Badults' thread to see how to do it properly. That said, I doubt devilin was involved with the production directly, but he/she quite obviously has some personal connection to somebody who was/is.

Despite his angered leave of this site, I rather suspect Mr Devlin is still reading this, so for him (and the benefit of others), let's clear a number of points up:

First, the viewing figures are indeed not all too bad for the timeslot - although far from great, as devilin was implying. However, that such a big, blatantly family-orientated programme is being broadcast mid-week at 10:35pm rather than 8 or 9pm on a Friday night to 3 or 4 million, should speak volumes.

Second, I have no reason to believe that devilin is particularly connected to the show. Certainly not one of the writers.

Third, just as all longer-term members are entitled to dislike a comedy, it is perfectly acceptable for newcomers to enjoy one. Whilst Teddy and others became frustrated by devilin's pathetic dismissal of their criticism as "sour grapes", he became equally frustrated by their dismissal of his liking as a "vested interest". And you all end up looking as utterly pathetic and childish as one another.

Fourth, you know as well as I do, Teddy, that asking people to cite jokes from a sitcom is a fruitless exercise. Not least because so very few sitcoms contain repeatable one-liners that work outside of the context of a wider scene and earlier plot points. But, FWIW, I laughed out loud numerous times at the kid left home alone. Even the old 'Does it look like my parents are in?'.

Fifth, devilin you do seem to have an awfully snobbish attitude and low opinion of people who do the hard graft to make the rest of our lives run smoother. I'd suggest you seek out some kind of social counselling and recondition yourself to respect other people. Wider than that in fact, I suggest you learn to respect the opinions of everyone, not just those with whom you agree. (Labour voter, by chance?)

And finally, I am reliably informed that the BBC Comedy department consider this series a failure.

Quote: Aaron @ September 28 2013, 12:00 PM BST

Wider than that in fact, I suggest you learn to respect the opinions of everyone, not just those with whom you agree. (Labour voter, by chance?)

View original

WTF?!

I couldn't resist a jibe at an abhorrent socialist trait.

You...

Interesting, more tuned in to the second episode. Perhaps to see how bad it was???