The Thick of it??
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London_Calling
Pleasant and unpatronising
I like your link - bookmarking that !
Paulie Tandoori
shut it you egg!
made me laugh out loud. good stuff.
London_Calling
Pleasant and unpatronising
I see The Guardian are doing episode-by-episode threads on CIF - a good places to remind yourself of the one-liners (A clown walking across a minefield, etc).
Paulie Tandoori
shut it you egg!
you need to get out more son.OK, fair enough.
OK, first in general, let's try to achieve some common ground: I think that last week's episode was the best so far. Do you agree that last week's was superior to this week's, or do you think they were of equal merit?
If you can see a difference, then we'll know we're talking about the same thing. If you can't, then we're probably still not going to understand each other.
The difference I can see is a tightness of writing in last week's that wasn't there in this week's. That isn't about one particular thing, it's an overall presentation thing. The interweaving of the threads in the last weeks were better handled.
We have a developing story: first the minister's daughter has been placed in a state school, for political advantage. Do the opposition use that? How do they use that? We see the opposition team, and get to contrast them at work with the government team. (The impression we get is that the opposition chief spin doctor is far less effectual than Tucker, whereas the shadow minister is far more effectual - and, comparatively, has more integrity - than the minister). This develops into a story about the minister's daughter involved in bullying: who knows, how will they handle it, how does she handle it. (She handles it, as with everything, very badly, and the impression is created that she blames herself - probably rightly - though not enough to actually make any changes. If she knew how).
This is interwoven with her ridiculous and meaningless "policy" idea about pathfinders. The only concrete thing we know about this is that she considers the headteacher to be one.
All of this leads to dramatic tension, which is used to good dramatic and comedic effect. These are good ideas, and they are well used.
Contrast with last night's episode: the ideas are more sparse, and they are not so well handled, in the writing. The minister and shadow minister are on a late night talk show. The two teams are creating havoc in the studio. They have personal agendas and their bosses are badly briefed. Meanwhile two junior advisers aren't there, and their across-the-trenches relationship is on the rocks. Into this mix, a caller breaks a story about donations.
These are good ideas, but the execution is far less adept than last week. The moment the big news story breaks is not made the most of in the structure. It should be a dramatic climax, but it isn't used to as good effect as it could be, dramatically and comedically. It's a missed opportunity. Similarly, the fact that others know Olly is to be dumped before he does is a good tool to draw out comedic and dramatic tension, but in the end it is squandered. The way it is handled is like the way a poor Hitchcock copyist handles suspense: the elements are there, but the effect is spoiled because of the hamfisted way the scripting is handled. The actor playing Ollie is left to pull faces and emote, which he does very well; he's a skillful actor. But with better developed material, it could have been much better. As it was it was obvious, it was telegraphed (which can be used well, incidentally, like suspense, but wasn't), and we get a weak smile where we could have had a laugh.
Well, that's the thing: the gags were funny last week, but this week because of the weakness of the writing, they went off like damp squibs. It isn't that I don't like the type of humour. The reason that I bothered to watch so many shows, and to comment on the thread so often, is that I do like the type of humour, and would like to see it better done than it is here.
(By comparison, I watched ten minutes of Miranda, will never do so again, and felt obliged only to blurt a perfunctory "it's shite" on the dedicated thread).
This is, of course, my opinion. Maybe other people were wetting themselves.
I won't blame anoyone who doesn't read all that ^, but I was asked to expand!
kyser_soze
Hawking's Angry Eyebrow
That made me laugh out loud in a way I haven't since Spinners and Losers, and is a high point for this series so far. From the text messages, to 'If you don't get in there now I'll shove a magnet down your fucking throat and watch your fucking head implode.' to the clown walking across a minefield, for me it was 30 minutes of sustained laughter. The best bit for me tho was Malcolm threatening to break the fingers of everyone in Ruislip until he found 'Tim'
Absolute fucking class.
Absolute fucking class.
London_Calling
Pleasant and unpatronising
"Tina from Weymouth has sent us a text" - well done the CIF punter who spotted that ref.
FridgeMagnet
Administrator
It was a reasonable episode last week, better than the first two, but not better than the third. It did still rely a bit on "minister says daft things and embarrasses herself" which I've said before I don't find very funny, and is also weak in believability (politicians do make tits of themselves in public at times, but it's not very believable that somebody would get to MP position being *that* crap, and also that their spin doctors would let them appear *at all* if they did).
However it did move along at a good clip and was internally consistent. The device of them all sharing areas and moving between areas in the studio was good and well used, as was the studio environment and character set generally.
I was disappointed that the cake was censored.
However it did move along at a good clip and was internally consistent. The device of them all sharing areas and moving between areas in the studio was good and well used, as was the studio environment and character set generally.
I was disappointed that the cake was censored.
danny la rouge
More like *fanny* la rouge!
Paulie Tandoori
shut it you egg!
you've gone a bit portsmouth tbf.
don't let it git ya down dan.
you can rise again
Jeff Robinson
Marxist-Lentilist: Jackboots and Jackfruit
I appreciated the effort Danny.
danny la rouge
More like *fanny* la rouge!
I have no idea what that means.
Have you seen the polling jon? Conservative 6% ahead, which would be (as long as it's under 6.9%) a LABOUR hung parliament.
Look
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_in_the_next_United_Kingdom_general_election
One poll at 6% - the rest with an overwhelming 10%+. Polls, btw, are always going to be subject to statistical anomalys. And even this one in Browns "favour" shows him behind. I see a conservative victory as almost inevitable. Would be good to see otherwise, mind...
corporate whore
oh, thought you were dead
Hazel Blears?
The crap minister is a reflection of how the 'talent pool' has been drained after 12 years. Remember when she turned up, Tucker admitted he didn't have a file on her?
Kid_Eternity
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
Ms T
Honey-coloured ramparts
Loads of inconsistencies in the studio bit though - I have no idea where they were at one point - definitely not outside the studio and there's no way the spin doctors would have been allowed to be in with the producers/studio managers. Armando Iannucci was on Richard Bacon's show a few months back, btw. A really lovely guy with no pretentions whatsoever. He made his own way to the studio and bought his own coffee.
London_Calling
Pleasant and unpatronising
I like the idea because it obviously creates a dilemma among a chunk of the target dempgraphic.
Just not sure I'm prepared to see it in those terms yet.
Just not sure I'm prepared to see it in those terms yet.
Balbi
Hey, Dean Yager!
Mannion's the new Hugh isn't he, except he's slightly less pathetic He can take shots at Malcolm and get away with it, infuriates the hell out of his own Press guy. Out of all the hateful people, he's the least of them all.
His rant about the leader and his friends racism in the specials endeared him to me as well.
He can take shots at Malcolm and get away with it, infuriates the hell out of his own Press guy. Out of all the hateful people, he's the least of them all. His rant about the leader and his friends racism in the specials endeared him to me as well.
agricola
a genuine importer of owls
Spion
I hear ya
That was a classic scene. On a par with Julius getting food thrown at him. I love it when it descends occasionally into schoolboy horseplayAs much as locking Stewart in his toilet did?
Gavin Bl
terrible awful baaad
he seems to be the one with some residual decency..
Mannion's the new Hugh isn't he, except he's slightly less pathetic
His rant about the leader and his friends racism in the specials endeared him to me as well.
Yes, most like Hugh.
Probably started out with the best of intentions and principles, and had them almost totally ground out of him. Now largely goes with the flow, but knows it's all a game he's stuck with.
Balbi
Hey, Dean Yager!
As much as locking Stewart in his toilet did?
Indeed, that's because it's very realistic.Similar threads
