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 (twelve years ago) link
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 (twelve years ago) link
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 (twelve years ago) link
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 (twelve years ago) link
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 (twelve years ago) link
that's an unplayable aesthetic
― The term “hipster racism” from Carmen Van Kerckhove at Racialicious (nakhchivan), Tuesday, 24 April 2012 02:37 (twelve years ago) link
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 (twelve years ago) link
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 (twelve years ago) link
original title was "The Veep of It" iirc
― stay in school if you want to kiw (Gukbe), Tuesday, 24 April 2012 03:17 (twelve years ago) link
the thick of eep
― Poor Turrican (some dude), Tuesday, 24 April 2012 03:18 (twelve years ago) link
In the Veep
― stay in school if you want to kiw (Gukbe), Tuesday, 24 April 2012 03:20 (twelve years ago) link
ah, british humour.
― Mordy, Tuesday, 24 April 2012 03:21 (twelve years ago) link
some dude is british?
― The term “hipster racism” from Carmen Van Kerckhove at Racialicious (nakhchivan), Tuesday, 24 April 2012 03:22 (twelve years ago) link
lol no, i don't think so
― Mordy, Tuesday, 24 April 2012 03:22 (twelve years ago) link
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 (twelve years ago) link
no. at least not the surrealism.
― stay in school if you want to kiw (Gukbe), Tuesday, 24 April 2012 03:26 (twelve years ago) link
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 (twelve years ago) link
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 (twelve years ago) link
blimey blood sausage, i've been outed
― Poor Turrican (some dude), Tuesday, 24 April 2012 03:35 (twelve years ago) link
too right guv'nor
― stay in school if you want to kiw (Gukbe), Tuesday, 24 April 2012 03:38 (twelve years ago) link
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 (twelve years ago) link
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 (twelve years ago) link
Obviously I'm against it.
― Andrew Farrell, Tuesday, 24 April 2012 06:25 (twelve years ago) link
http://www.webtvwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/my-hero-logo.jpg
^ six series
― thomp, Tuesday, 24 April 2012 09:37 (twelve years ago) link
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 (twelve years ago) link
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 (twelve years ago) link
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 (twelve years ago) link
oh, sure, if you want to rely on external evidence
― thomp, Tuesday, 24 April 2012 10:01 (twelve years ago) link
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 (twelve years ago) link
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 (twelve years ago) link
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 (twelve years ago) link
i'm excited for 2-3 full seasons of this
― Mordy, Tuesday, 24 April 2012 15:06 (twelve years ago) link
How many eps is a typical HBO season?
― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 24 April 2012 15:07 (twelve years ago) link
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 (twelve years ago) link
deadwood and curb were/are 10-13
― caek, Tuesday, 24 April 2012 15:10 (twelve years ago) link
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 (twelve years ago) link
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 (twelve years ago) link
I doubt there have been 18 episodes of The Thick of It in total!!
― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 24 April 2012 15:18 (twelve years ago) link
16 iirc?
― The term “hipster racism” from Carmen Van Kerckhove at Racialicious (nakhchivan), Tuesday, 24 April 2012 15:21 (twelve years ago) link
enlightened had 10 and it's getting a 2nd season
i enjoyed this tho i kind of hope future episodes are less...stuffed
― y'tulip, y'pea-brained earwig (donna rouge), Tuesday, 24 April 2012 15:23 (twelve years ago) link
there are 8 episodes of this season of Veep
btw i might've mentioned this in a previous thread but a lot of the show was shot in Baltimore instead of D.C. and i was this close to getting to spend a day on the set a few months ago, am really bummed that didn't pan out. maybe next season.
― some dude, Tuesday, 24 April 2012 15:32 (twelve years ago) link
The first episode is good if a little slow-burny (certainly compared to TTOI, but I should make a conscious effort to not compare the two too much). Excellently acted all round.
― I wish to incorporate disco into my small business (chap), Tuesday, 24 April 2012 15:33 (twelve years ago) link
kind of reminded me of early parks & rec in that I didn't know what the stakes were, so there was just a bunch of quality comic actors all playing clueless. It's just the pilot, though.
― da croupier, Tuesday, 24 April 2012 15:37 (twelve years ago) link
reminds me more of Lisa Kudrow's HBO show The Comeback than anything else
― some dude, Tuesday, 24 April 2012 15:44 (twelve years ago) link
dumb Brit speaking but i've never actually understood exactly what HBO means. is it pay per view? is it cable only? over here we have some satelite/ cable stations where you *have* to pay for the channel month by month (Sky Sports, etc) but some are free with a basic 'freeview' box and so you pay once for that, then never again to watch any given channel. is that how it works over there with HBO? i was never sure also why that means you get more swearing and nudity and suchlike in HBO shows than other non HBO shows. hey i could WIKI this shit but i want the fun version from you guys.
― piscesx, Tuesday, 24 April 2012 18:13 (twelve years ago) link
i don't know if it's the fun version, but HBO is cable that you pay an extra monthly fee to get
― Mordy, Tuesday, 24 April 2012 18:15 (twelve years ago) link
HBO's pay-cable (you have to pay specifically for it, as opposed to getting it with a basic cable package) status means it can show movies unedited and make tv series with no restrictions as to content as opposed to Broadcast (heavily regulated by the FCC) and basic cable (which is more self-regulated than anything, but is dependent on advertisers and cable companies paying subscriptions), because you don't specifically choose those channels.
― stay in school if you want to kiw (Gukbe), Tuesday, 24 April 2012 18:18 (twelve years ago) link
I watched season 1 when it came out but wasn't really into it, though now I've been catching up -- just started season 5, and whoo boy DOCTOR Splett is a thing!
The studious lack of partisanship is weird, though, for what I'd assume would be satire; instead the underlying message is more in line with "everyone is bad and/or self-serving."
― Coelacanth Green (Leee), Wednesday, 24 July 2019 00:36 (four years ago) link
which, in a way, is a much more honest take than a certain Sorkin show
― untuned mass damper (mh), Wednesday, 24 July 2019 16:31 (four years ago) link
Ok a Jonah/ Splett ticket would be one that I’d commit voter fraud for, I’m not even kidding.
― Coelacanth Green (Leee), Thursday, 25 July 2019 04:18 (four years ago) link
Jonah immediately going off script to be belligerent and the entire wife/sister thing is so good
― untuned mass damper (mh), Thursday, 25 July 2019 14:15 (four years ago) link
I'm still waiting for that one intern who was fired for the data breach to exact her pound of flesh.
― Coelacanth Green (Leee), Friday, 2 August 2019 20:39 (four years ago) link
Finished the sixth season. It's weird that as awful as Selina is, I still find myself rooting for her.
― Coelacanth Green (Leee), Tuesday, 6 August 2019 21:08 (four years ago) link
Forgive the thread spam, but I wanted to note that this show's 2019 season is nominated in the 2019 ILX TV poll:
ILX's Best Television of 2019 Poll / VOTING AND CAMPAIGNING THREAD / Voting Ends January 31
If you like this show and you'd like to see it have a good showing in the poll (running in February) all you need to do is submit a ballot including it and your other favorites (4 minimum, 25 maximum, organized by your favorite to least favorite) to forksclovetofu at gmail by end of day today. It'll take five minutes; get to it!
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Friday, 31 January 2020 14:30 (four years ago) link
thinking about the final moments of this series in re: tom hanks
― ooga booga-ing for the bourgeoisie (voodoo chili), Thursday, 12 March 2020 19:14 (four years ago) link
Lots of talk about Armando's second HBO sitcom, Avenue 5, over in the Silicon Valley thread.
Ave 5 definitely got funnier and more apparent in its satire as it went along - the first couple were dire - but never really took off, and absolutely never found a tone that supported what it's doing. The building of multiple incompetencies and frustration of the less-incompetent characters has a Thick Of It feel, but the vibe never escalates within the scenes. It's like they're letting the jokes breathe for audience laughter, but without a laugh track in the show, it just means they never get momentum.
― Dollarmite Is My Name (sic), Wednesday, 25 March 2020 18:21 (four years ago) link
idk i really liked it? it doesn't hold up to his previous shows (i'm watching thick of it again right now in fact) but i like that the setitng allows him to create some of the most absolutely fantastically horrifying moments he ever has, in a way that veep and thick of it can't. the extended airlock sequence had me rolling. josh gad is SO GOOD in this, which shocked me as i've never really given him a second look in anything else. laurie's rapidfire code switching is remarkable. and of course zach woods' weirdo nihilism. i could definitely do with fewer important passenger characters (the two husbands don't really accomplish much as characters, nor does jessica st clair's character, as much as she is a delight), but if this show kept descending further and further into absolute existential dread i'd be satisfied.
― Hackers (1995) (Will M.), Wednesday, 25 March 2020 19:42 (four years ago) link
it's like standard ianucci + sex house + space
i really liked it. the airlock scene had me howling
also, is the pope's face in the shit actually trump? i think it is
― gbx, Wednesday, 25 March 2020 21:53 (four years ago) link
https://www.reddit.com/r/Avenue5/comments/ff0u42/the_turd_face_is_trump_right/
― groovypanda, Thursday, 26 March 2020 08:03 (four years ago) link
It was obviously JP2 for me, but without watching it again I'm not sure I could find the reference pic.
― Doubling down on out of date information (aldo), Thursday, 26 March 2020 08:09 (four years ago) link