Not quite In The Loop funny, but it was pretty good. I don't know if it would be possible to have two characters as funny as Malcolm Tucker and the eff-star-star-cunt American from ITL.
― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Monday, 23 April 2012 04:56 (1 year ago) Permalink
Some thudding moments here and there, but this was pretty funny overall.
― stay in school if you want to kiw (Gukbe), Monday, 23 April 2012 04:57 (1 year ago) Permalink
Julia Louis-Dreyfus is great, as are Anna Chlumsky and the slimeball. The press secretary and her body man could wear thin.
― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Monday, 23 April 2012 04:59 (1 year ago) Permalink
this seemed sort of ... off. it's an interesting decision to have the passive-aggressive dweeb kid instead of a malcolm tucker figure but ... i dunno
― thomp, Tuesday, 24 April 2012 02:14 (1 year ago) Permalink
maybe in three or four episodes i will stop automatically comparing it to the thick of it, and then i will also stop automatically trying to make the differences be emblematic of differences in national character
max
i. do they keep up the 'did the president call?' 'no' 'no' and the 'did you know i have my own flag' bitsii. do they get funny and how many repetitions does it take for them to get funny
― thomp, Tuesday, 24 April 2012 02:16 (1 year ago) Permalink
would honestly stick w/ this just for tony hale & matt walsh but i was ok w/ those 'jokes'
― johnny crunch, Tuesday, 24 April 2012 02:20 (1 year ago) Permalink
yeah, i laughed. i'll watch until they cancel it.
― Mordy, Tuesday, 24 April 2012 02:22 (1 year ago) Permalink
no i mean i honestly believe, given time, those 'jokes' will become funny
― thomp, Tuesday, 24 April 2012 02:23 (1 year ago) Permalink
this is fine, it's not remotely as good as the early thick of it but it's doubtful anything else is going to be, certainly within the pro forma confines of the american sitcom
― The term “hipster racism” from Carmen Van Kerckhove at Racialicious (nakhchivan), Tuesday, 24 April 2012 02:29 (1 year ago) Permalink
felt very "ooh, handheld cameras, gratuitous cursing, big fuckin deal" to me, but still pretty funny and a good cast, will watch again
― Poor Turrican (some dude), Tuesday, 24 April 2012 02:31 (1 year ago) Permalink
lol well in 2k12 those things are pretty commonplace no?
― The term “hipster racism” from Carmen Van Kerckhove at Racialicious (nakhchivan), Tuesday, 24 April 2012 02:32 (1 year ago) Permalink
feel like american sitcom is a more expansive genre than british sitcom -- one of the weird things about the thick of it is that it is an absolutely classical version of standard british sitcom setup, only it somehow escapes being awful
xpost ha yeah i don't really notice those things at this point?
― thomp, Tuesday, 24 April 2012 02:34 (1 year ago) Permalink
well yeah that's what i meant, the look/feel of it is kind of played imo
― Poor Turrican (some dude), Tuesday, 24 April 2012 02:36 (1 year ago) Permalink
that's an unplayable aesthetic
― The term “hipster racism” from Carmen Van Kerckhove at Racialicious (nakhchivan), Tuesday, 24 April 2012 02:37 (1 year ago) Permalink
I think it needs time to develop side characters. People like Blinky Ben, etc...
There's also a different dynamic from The Thick of It. Everyone listened to/was scared of Malcolm, and the politicians tended to need to be shepherded around. JLD seems to have all the agency in Veep, where everyone else is just scrambling to fix her mistakes or get her what she wants.
Also the US doesn't have an equivalent of the civil servant, so we don't get a Terri.
― stay in school if you want to kiw (Gukbe), Tuesday, 24 April 2012 03:04 (1 year ago) Permalink
you guys realize this isn't an adaptation, right, it's a different show by the same creator
― Poor Turrican (some dude), Tuesday, 24 April 2012 03:14 (1 year ago) Permalink
original title was "The Veep of It" iirc
― stay in school if you want to kiw (Gukbe), Tuesday, 24 April 2012 03:17 (1 year ago) Permalink
the thick of eep
― Poor Turrican (some dude), Tuesday, 24 April 2012 03:18 (1 year ago) Permalink
In the Veep
― stay in school if you want to kiw (Gukbe), Tuesday, 24 April 2012 03:20 (1 year ago) Permalink
ah, british humour.
― Mordy, Tuesday, 24 April 2012 03:21 (1 year ago) Permalink
some dude is british?
― The term “hipster racism” from Carmen Van Kerckhove at Racialicious (nakhchivan), Tuesday, 24 April 2012 03:22 (1 year ago) Permalink
lol no, i don't think so
― Mordy, Tuesday, 24 April 2012 03:22 (1 year ago) Permalink
oi mates some dude is
these political shows that Iannucci has done, do they have any of the same absurdity of the 'Armando Iannucci Show'? I saw the first episode of 'Veep' and it didn't, though it was funny enough in its own right.
― boxall, Tuesday, 24 April 2012 03:25 (1 year ago) Permalink
no. at least not the surrealism.
― stay in school if you want to kiw (Gukbe), Tuesday, 24 April 2012 03:26 (1 year ago) Permalink
though his next show for HBO, Armando Iannucci's Veep Trumpet, probably will
― stay in school if you want to kiw (Gukbe), Tuesday, 24 April 2012 03:27 (1 year ago) Permalink
the early thick of it is blackly absurd in the best sense, some of his more freeform stuff is a bit winsome
― The term “hipster racism” from Carmen Van Kerckhove at Racialicious (nakhchivan), Tuesday, 24 April 2012 03:29 (1 year ago) Permalink
blimey blood sausage, i've been outed
― Poor Turrican (some dude), Tuesday, 24 April 2012 03:35 (1 year ago) Permalink
too right guv'nor
― stay in school if you want to kiw (Gukbe), Tuesday, 24 April 2012 03:38 (1 year ago) Permalink
Some of the lines felt quite British or straight out of TTOI like 'massive and total shit' and 'Tom Hanks might die'. This is not nec a bad thing but slightly jarring?
― kinder, Tuesday, 24 April 2012 05:32 (1 year ago) Permalink
American innovation on stale British sitcom formula = something nice occasionally happens to the lead character, instead of being dangled in front of them and snatched away.
― Andrew Farrell, Tuesday, 24 April 2012 06:24 (1 year ago) Permalink
Obviously I'm against it.
― Andrew Farrell, Tuesday, 24 April 2012 06:25 (1 year ago) Permalink
^ six series
― thomp, Tuesday, 24 April 2012 09:37 (1 year ago) Permalink
what i mean about classical british sitcom in re: the thick of it would be something like:
- enclosed environment- all conflict is created by strict pecking order amongst characters- each episode follows a rising action plot ending with someone making a tit of themselves
― Poor Turrican (some dude), Tuesday, 24 April 2012 03:14 (6 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
iirc ianucci was 'developing' an american version of 'the thick of it' for ages and then it wasn't being mentioned and then his name was attached to this? i mean ... c'mon. it's the same show. sort of.
― thomp, Tuesday, 24 April 2012 09:51 (1 year ago) Permalink
no, as far as I know there actually was a pilot for the American version of The Thick Of It directed by Christopher Guest
― Number None, Tuesday, 24 April 2012 09:54 (1 year ago) Permalink
In October, 2006, ABC announced that it was developing a U.S. version of “The Thick of It.” Mitchell Hurwitz, whose show “Arrested Development” had just been cancelled, was named executive producer and co-writer. In a recent e-mail, Hurwitz said that he saw similarities between “Arrested Development” and “The Thick of It,” which, in his reading, was about “people whose big outward and ‘important’ lives are run on a very small and impaired set of inner resources.” He went on, “That just really appeals to me comedically. . . . Big people with small hearts. Stupid people with high I.Q.s.”Christopher Guest directed the pilot. Iannucci barely had a role. Peter Bennett-Jones, Iannucci’s agent in the U.K., told me, “It seemed to be in good hands, but they just didn’t listen to Armando.” The pilot, which never aired, starred Oliver Platt as an almost avuncular (and non-swearing) envoy from the office of his party’s Whip, and John Michael Higgins as a peppy congressman who has never heard of “The Daily Show.” Seen today, the pilot seems flat. And there is no hint of melancholy, as there was in the British version, no sense of ideals eroded over time. Iannucci said, “It’s not awful, it’s just dull—which, you know, is a good trick to pull off.” Hurwitz defended the pilot, but admitted that it had “lost the sense of mania of the original.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/03/26/120326fa_fact_parker?currentPage=all
― Touché Gödel (ledge), Tuesday, 24 April 2012 09:58 (1 year ago) Permalink
oh, sure, if you want to rely on external evidence
― thomp, Tuesday, 24 April 2012 10:01 (1 year ago) Permalink
look i just called old mandy on the old dog and bone and he said for bobby moore that he developed this show as a version of his other show but for the bloody septics and now he's confirmed it let's have no more talk about it, right? right
― thomp, Tuesday, 24 April 2012 10:02 (1 year ago) Permalink
Solid premiere ratings. If people liked it as much as I do it should get a couple of seasons.
― abcfsk, Tuesday, 24 April 2012 15:00 (1 year ago) Permalink
it'll do fine. you practically have to kill a few horses to get less than 2-3 full seasons on HBO these days.
― some dude, Tuesday, 24 April 2012 15:03 (1 year ago) Permalink
i'm excited for 2-3 full seasons of this
― Mordy, Tuesday, 24 April 2012 15:06 (1 year ago) Permalink
How many eps is a typical HBO season?
― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 24 April 2012 15:07 (1 year ago) Permalink
SATC generally did 18 - sometimes as few as 12 or 8 (first season + when two of the actresses were pregnant respectively)
― Mordy, Tuesday, 24 April 2012 15:10 (1 year ago) Permalink
deadwood and curb were/are 10-13
― caek, Tuesday, 24 April 2012 15:10 (1 year ago) Permalink
dramas i think tend to be ~12
eastbound + d was 6-8
it seems to be inconsistent, even within a particular show's run
― Mordy, Tuesday, 24 April 2012 15:11 (1 year ago) Permalink
Stoked for this, it'll feel good to watch a US sitcom from the beginning at the same time as America.
― Homosexual Satan Wasp (Matt DC), Tuesday, 24 April 2012 15:14 (1 year ago) Permalink
I doubt there have been 18 episodes of The Thick of It in total!!
― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 24 April 2012 15:18 (1 year ago) Permalink
16 iirc?
― The term “hipster racism” from Carmen Van Kerckhove at Racialicious (nakhchivan), Tuesday, 24 April 2012 15:21 (1 year ago) Permalink
jld elevates this into something far superior to ttoi imo
― NI, Thursday, May 2, 2013 3:28 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
nuh uh. langham & capaldi operate in such singular territory, i think jld's really good but i don't think she's doing something so novel or engrossing as to beat out ttoi. i think i said stuff upthread about the specifity of that show trumping veep's broad-brush stuff, but yeah this season is so much better, ep 2 in partic.
― daft on the causes of punk (schlump), Friday, 3 May 2013 18:15 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
so like his ttoi character?
yeah imagine that guy but one who isn't saying words written for him by the best comedy brains britain has to offer. and without a malcolm to brutalise him for his obnoxiousness. not quite as good huh
― NI, Friday, 3 May 2013 23:55 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
and yeah i get that ttoi is v novel and singular and all that but i simply don't find it as watchable, amusing or as engaging as veep. v rare i'd say that about any uk>us comedy but like i said, largely because jld plays that role so well, and her character is so well-written - maybe more cartoonlike than any of the brits but hey.
btw that's not to diss, ttoi's great but i found myself agreeing with a lot of the stuff in this article: http://richardhcooper.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/how-to-write-thick-of-it.html (esp re final series)
― NI, Saturday, 4 May 2013 00:07 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
I think that article is pretty offtm. Most of all because the dialogue is improvised with the actors, so it's really not describing how to write it... Also, the examples he creates are really not that fun. It mainly made me think that ttoi had to do something right, since it's dialogue is so much better than when other people try it.
― Frederik B, Saturday, 4 May 2013 16:20 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
ttoi is not improvised. it's like the most tightly scripted, printed-script-revering thing on tv. they just improvise the lines that don't matter to give it a looser feel.
― caek, Saturday, 4 May 2013 17:04 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
right
― Nilmar Honorato da Silva, Saturday, 4 May 2013 17:16 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
they even published the scripts from the early episodes
― Nilmar Honorato da Silva, Saturday, 4 May 2013 17:17 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
come on though, the swears became as hackneyed as 'rock on tommy' by the end
― NI, Sunday, 5 May 2013 00:36 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
i swear i will rip your tongue off and shove up your arse so far it comes out of both ears so you can hear me calling you a bellend in stereo you mum-sucking sewer-drinking numpty blah blah blah
― NI, Sunday, 5 May 2013 00:38 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
it sounds like you just didn't really like ttoi?
― caek, Sunday, 5 May 2013 00:43 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
"i just had to sign a 2 year lease on a nissan cube"
― johnny crunch, Monday, 6 May 2013 03:31 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
"it actually comes out as the number two."
― stefon taylor swiftboat (s.clover), Monday, 13 May 2013 04:18 (1 week ago) Permalink
<3 dave foley
― stefon taylor swiftboat (s.clover), Monday, 13 May 2013 04:26 (1 week ago) Permalink
i'm giving up on this :-(
― caek, Sunday, 19 May 2013 19:59 (3 days ago) Permalink
really! i think it's improved greatly this season!
― klaus dingeldore's rhinelander monkey keeper father (forksclovetofu), Sunday, 19 May 2013 20:12 (3 days ago) Permalink
why did the midnight caller ask for mike again? he wanted him so much that he basically bribed VPOTUS. why??
― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Sunday, 19 May 2013 20:16 (3 days ago) Permalink
ohhh to get rid of jolly green jizzface perhaps
sometimes you just have to write it down and then you know
― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Sunday, 19 May 2013 20:17 (3 days ago) Permalink
it's got more ambitious this season i suppose. it's still not gotten funny imo.
― caek, Sunday, 19 May 2013 21:19 (3 days ago) Permalink
i love it
― Mordy , Sunday, 19 May 2013 21:24 (3 days ago) Permalink
xxposts -- common interest in boating i thought made him think of mike as someone appealing to work with.
― stefon taylor swiftboat (s.clover), Monday, 20 May 2013 05:27 (2 days ago) Permalink