Alan Partridge comes to BBC America

yeah i'm so excited for it being spain. i think s2 was one of my favourite tv shows ever. i love everything about it, the comedy, the whimsical or sentimental feel, the cinematography, and also seeing all these restaurants. i've travelled in spain p extensively so can't wait to see where they go.

Let battle commence (it's not literally a battle, it's a poll): it's the Alan Partridge poll

oh wow - yeah the trip is amazing, s2 maybe even better than s1

can't wait for the next one

cheers, the new facet was nice but it felt… forced. or something.

I was being spoiler-free in case you hadn’t seen, but the scene I was thinking of was when he does a shift on the supermarket checkout. A man so desperately defined by class-consciousness, aspiration and wilful delusion over status – but whose core desire for work is to talk to regular people – accidentally, and unwittingly, takes enormous satisfaction and pleasure in doing a “menial” role and chatting to people. He comes alive and takes properly-earned pride in doing a good job! He connects with his audience! It’s an amazing way of showing something that’s inherent in Alan, but has never been done before.

forgot all about that scene tbh (by 'facet' i thought you meant the wacky shit near the end). i see your point, it's certainly something new for alan to be connecting with a range of people rather than the three he usually bullies about the place. he did a similar thing in welcome, but back then he was hellbent on showing off his prowess at a market stall.

probably time i watched scissored isle again. there's probably heaps i didn't pick up on the first time round (as is usually the case).

The Trip to Spain, I had no idea, that is great news.

http://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2017/06/09/36768/aha!_partridge_returns_to_the_bbc

Steve Coogan made the surprise announcement on tonight's episode of The One Show.

'Alan will be be back on the BBC early next year … there'll be a lot of Alan on telly early next year' he revealed.

http://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/top-stories/alan-partridge-at-the-bbc-getting-in-touch-with-all-the-little-englanders-1-5132908

“For example, I’m doing an Alan Partridge series, that I have to write at the end of this year, to go out on BBC2 next spring. That’s going to be tough. It’s always difficult to make good comedy. You always have to work really hard at it. The standard of the comedy on Partridge is so high, that you have to match it, or people go, ‘Oh, they’ve lost it’.

Which reminds me – what’s Alan up to now?

“Well, because he has got a show on the BBC, we have a problem, because we have to explain why he’s a failure, but that he has a show. The logic of what he is doing has to make sense.

“It’s conceivable, because in this age of Brexit, they (the BBC) might think they need to get in touch with the ‘Little Englanders’ they ignore.”

and here it is

- 'this time with alan partridge'
- alan will be co-hosting (again)
- sidekick simon returns
- six half-hour episodes later this year

arrrhah

"might think"

LYNN

my assistant! my assistant!

https://partridge.cloud/grabs/S02E01/gif/3fhpSp05G0uj.gif

maybe those people were caught short

i wonder if she ever got to meet benjamin netanyahu

Bit confused about the format of this now, previously news led me to believe it'd be a spoof magazine show a la kmkywap, but if lynn's in it that suggests there'll be at least part of it that's a fly-on-the-wall thing

perhaps the “Further casting will be announced in due course” is michael

Michael is confirmed to have died sorry

Bit confused about the format of this now, previously news led me to believe it'd be a spoof magazine show a la kmkywap, but if lynn's in it that suggests there'll be at least part of it that's a fly-on-the-wall thing

perhaps lynn will play madge the badge to alan's dame edna?

I don't think they'd limit themselves by confining it just to the studio now that they've got a BBC budget

"bbc budget" possibly not quite as elephantine as you imagine

Michael is confirmed to have died sorry

as per alan the reliable narrator

xpost

"300k or we take it to Sky"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1t39E5xMD5I

I'm Alan Partridge and I am delighted, or at least content, to invite you to a special preview screening of my (and BBC One's) upcoming magazine show 'This Time with Alan Partridge' (my emphasis).

The show marks my return to BBC Television after two decades in various doldrums (depression, radio, Sky Atlantic) and you've been carefully selected because you're either a journalist with a pleasant disposition or a friend or representative of an institution with whom I currently hold no specific grudge.

Limited refreshments will be provided. I think it works out at about two drinks a head, although around a third of you won't drink so some of you can have four. Food-wise, expect light snacks; those of you with a large appetite or poor impulse control should probably eat before you get there.

Toilet facilities are also on hand, catering for the full spectrum of gender and disability - but again, if you have more bespoke needs, try to go before you arrive.

Dress code: Just show a bit of respect really.

Have some manners and RSVP.

You couldn't POLL a cat: it's the 'I'm Alan Partridge' episode poll

I liked that, but the 'live show' format puts me on edge where KMKY didn't.

(The Edge is fine etc)

yeah it was too much or something. i dunno, i laughed a couple of times, i don't think i'm interested in whatever this sort of thing is any more.

i loved it

That's about what I thought, yeah. The presentation bits and Simon w/ the digi-wall just weren't very funny imo. It was about the stuff in between for me, that was nice.

"A b.... Bolshevist with a bee in his bonnet" is a keeper. Anyone remember the first 'b' word in there?

xp to kinder

fluck/clunt left me cold i looked pretty much everything else. When did Lynn become an almighty bitch though?! she has had her moments, I guess...

*, I liked everything else

I liked it on the whole, but feels like something I'll have to get used to - the combination of densely packed comedy with this ultra-bland format which makes me feel like tuning out and ignoring it, feel like it's kind of unexplored territory and will take a few episodes to start not feeling wrong. Ultimately though think putting Alan in such an uncomfortable situation will ultimately be a wise move, the sheer discomfort of everything seems like pretty fertile territory.

He's turned the Richard Madeley up to 11. Is it going to be studio bound the whole time? Hope not

haven't seen the whole episode yet, but the rote partridgeness of that clip does not bode well.

this was pish. the acting was awful.

When did Lynn become an almighty bitch though?! she has had her moments, I guess...

she's doing her job, assisting and supporting Alan. Jennie is undermining him, and Lynn's pointing it out & giving Jennie a little of her own medicine.

(Alan absolutely doesn't deserve either the pointing out nor Lynn's loyalty at all, but she has taken her job seriously for at least 22 years of Partridge continuity!)

On the evidence of the first episode, the Gibbonses should have left Sidekick Simon in Norfolk; it makes no sense that Alan should be given so much airtime for this ridiculous diversion on his initial stand-in night. If his ineffective standing up to Mickey was rewarded in the second week, that would be a chance to bring Simon in (then fuck up & either not be seen again, or start being part of an 'Alan brings success down around him' narrative)

This was funny, but would have made more sense if they'd given him the full series to reconnect with Brexit Britain, as was initially suggested, rather than framing it as a temporary stand-in.

not seen it yet, but hearing a bothersome milksop like Tim Stanley praising it on thought for the day is enough to put me off for another day.

It felt a bit rushed and forced - like we know Partridge is awkward etc and there wasn't really enough chances for his character to emerge. I'm not sure setting him up directly opposite another character is ever going to work, he just sort of engulfs the co-host who isn't written particularly well even as a foil.

The bits where he sort of had space to be Alan were amusing enough, the grandad monologue and especially his report about washing hands.

Will probably continue watching but it was only okay really. Weirdly the more lo-fi Sky Atlantic stuff prob suits him better, this actually had the sheen of the One Show and the BBC or something and not solely in an ironic way.

This was funny, but would have made more sense if they'd given him the full series to reconnect with Brexit Britain, as was initially suggested

there's still room for this to become a major thread of the series! but in this interview the Gibbons say they're about to make another Partridge series which takes a documentary look at British history, so maybe more of those ideas have been held over.

Seems like the review is glowing mostly because he's back, not for the actual 30mins we saw last night. It felt flat.

Best laugh I had was hearing a man shout 'Partridge you wanker' in the background when he was walking down the street for his hi-jean report.

Chinaman square?

I get that Lynn supports Alan, but going on the offensive with the judgmental blouse remarks seemed fairly bold for her...

yes but I loved that! it contextualises her staying with him for so long. a glimpse of tenacious competence when seen from outside Alan’s horrible treatment of her - a perspective we almost never see (eg him not even naming her in the books)

btw the hacktivist is the Pls Like guy

xp oh yeah I did enjoy it!

broadly enjoyed it although if the whole series is going to be entirely contained in the TV studio with that dense joke format it feels like it's going to run out of steam

things like Sue Barker references kind of betray an inherent cosiness but I'm not really fussed by that personally