Quote: Mike Dan-Carter @ April 25 2009, 3:52 PM BST

Not sure if this has previously been mentioned but why the hell are the BBC playing Episode 1 again tonight at 9pm? How sad that they have to repeat the episode at Primetime, the night after it's premiere. Pretty poor from the BBC.

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Glad they did. I had decided to give it a miss, because I had assumed it would be dreadful, and had been informed this was the case by a vitriolic preview in the Metro. I decided to give it a go after the reviews on here, and was actually rather impressed.

Clunes Reggie is a different character from the original, but Britain has changed enormously in the last 30 years and no-one is so buttoned down, though they are still just as discontented. I thought the modernising of the series was done effectively and unobtrusively, and there were lots of laughs both old and new.

Quote: Nick @ April 26 2009, 1:46 AM BST

Seems like we have a couple of trolls on the board who shouldn't be fed...

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Disagreeing with you = troll? Nice.

Quote: Nick @ April 26 2009, 1:46 AM BST

Although one intentionally picked out negative reviews, there have been some positive ones too:-

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INTENTIONALLY? It was hardly intentional. I Googled it, and EVERY SINGLE REVIEW on the first page is NEGATIVE. Okay, don't like that? Let's try something with a little less bias than Google search results: https://www.comedy.co.uk/tv/reggie_perrin/press/

Man, just look at all those glowing reviews! Happy now? Good! I'll go back under my bridge and get back to charging tolls.

I couldn't believe how cheesey and old fashioned the musical stings that accompanied the establishing shots were.

And like other reviews have said (whch I had actually read after I thought this myself) it's as if 'The Royle Family' and 'The Office' never happened.

All this 'update' is good for is as a video art installation in an art gallery, as an experiment of trying to achieve the impossible and completely pointless.

Quote: johnny smith @ April 26 2009, 3:20 PM BST

it's as if 'The Royle Family' and 'The Office' never happened.

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If only.

*gives half a slap*

I approached this remake with an open mind and was surprised that I enjoyed it. I remember the original (just about). Anyway, I reckon the reason I enjoyed it is something to do with me growing old at the same rate as Simon Nye. I could relate to his Men Behaving Badly and now I can relate to the mid-life crisis of a bloke stuck in an office of conformity somewhere in middle England. I'm gonna stick with it.

I'm a fan of the original. But I decided to watch this anyway, and was quite pleased with it, and also slightly relieved. I thought Martin Clunes was very good, refreshing to have an antagonistic character as the lead.

Not keen on the two assistants, nor the dumb secretary, nor the wife. Unfortunately that just about leaves Clunes and Neil Stuke (great to see him again) and that's not enough actors to fill a TV series. What were the ratings for it?

While perhaps not a fraction of what it could have been, I did find this rather effortlessly amusing - though when it did try, it quite often failed.

Nevertheless, it seems worth staying with.

I must say I found myself chuckling at it a few times. Brings me back to the days when it seemed all sitcoms were set in surburbia. It's familiar, I like it.

Quote: Nick @ April 26 2009, 11:06 AM BST

I can see what you (and the reviewer) are saying and agree (obviously) that Martin Clunes is not as good an actor as Rossiter was. But Rossiter wasn't Perrin. He was just giving his version of a character from a novel. Now I love his portrayal but I also know that there are plenty of people who had read the novel who could never take to the TV show in the same way. Rossiter was very different from the Reggie that had been written.

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You're right about the novel of course, and if the series hadn't been made in the 1970s we'd be watching this new version thinking how new and brave it was. But it's one of those cases of the performer and character being linked forever. Like Olivier's interpretation of Richard III is the one in the public consciousness (if there is an awareness of the 'character'), and that was an interpretation of a very old text which was itself an imagining of real events. But it was Olivier's version that had the greatest impact for whatever reason. Same with principle with Reggie Perrin and Rossiter. There- Richard III, Reggie Perrin, Olivier, Rossiter, Shakespeare and David Nobbs all in the same argument. Bet that's never happened before.

Quote: johnny smith @ April 26 2009, 3:20 PM BST

And like other reviews have said (whch I had actually read after I thought this myself) it's as if 'The Royle Family' and 'The Office' never happened.

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As long as there are suburbs there should be programmes about the people that live there.

I have just found something quite interesting. If you have the complete set of 'Men Behaving Badly' on DVD or video or at least the series which this episode is from, have a look at episode 3 of series 5 (It's caled 'Cowardice') and have a look at what Gary (Martin Clunes) does at 5 mins 5 seconds into the episode.

Annoyingly, I couldn't find this episode on YouTube.

Can't you just tell us.

This, actually, is not bad. Same air of "what's the point?" about it. If you consciously watch it on its own merits and not try to compare it with the original...

The laughter track is awful though; it's almost as if they were so fearful and lacking in confidence about the general reaction they turned the knob up to 11.

And why the same theme tune? Rule One: remixes are always worse than the original. Rule Two: remixes are always (especially these days) more aggressive than the original. It's the rhythm; the original was floating and a bit surreal; this one is driving and pulsating and threatens to do your 'ead in...they did the same with Minder, didn't they?

Definitely going to stick with this though.

Quote: johnny smith @ April 26 2009, 8:03 PM BST

I have just found something quite interesting. If you have the complete set of 'Men Behaving Badly' on DVD or video or at least the series which this episode is from, have a look at episode 3 of series 5 (It's caled 'Cowardice') and have a look at what Gary (Martin Clunes) does at 5 mins 5 seconds into the episode.

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Just Checked - WOW!!!

Sigh.