Simon Amstell's sitcom "Grandma's House" - Series Two

[Neil]

Starts on the 19th of April, on BBC2. Really looking forward to this, and hope the quality matches or exceeds series one.

Here's the series one thread: http://www.cookdandbombd.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=24896.0

[Dark Sky]

Woohoo!  Was so pleasantly surprised by this series when it was on, and then when I got the DVD couldn't help but rewatch the whole thing in one day.

[Mildly Diverting]

Excellent news. Loved the first series and hope that Geoffrey Hutchings' passing is not too serious a blow to the programme. I don't want to start off fearing the worst, but he was great in S1.

[Steve Lampkins]

Great! Looking forward to it. :)

[vrailaine]

I should rewatch series one now, can remember absolutely loving it, great, great, great.

[lazyhour]

Hooray!

Edit: Hope the show doesn't suffer without Geoffrey Hutchings, who played the grandad quite subtly but often stole scenes.

[eluc55]

Just been reading through the old thread and laughing out loud at the numerous great lines.

"That's quite a blouse."

[Kishi the Bad Lampshade]

Watched these repeatedly and loved them more and more with each viewing (usually in a single three-hour binge) so deeply looking forward to this.

[madhair60]

Really excited for this. First run was superb, hilarious, poignant, layered comedy.  Must get the DVD sometime.

[chocky909]

Goin'a watch S1 again soon although I must've watched them about 3 or 4 times each already. So rewatchable. I'm hoping for a good S2 and it'll be interesting to see where it goes now.

[kitsofan34]

Oh I doubt there are finer joys in life than seeing Grandma's House has been demoted to a 11:20 p.m timeslot on BBC 2 Wales, to make way for a show about the retired Welsh rugby player, Shane Williams.

[Ralph Cifaretto]

Really excited for this. First run was superb, hilarious, poignant, layered comedy.  Must get the DVD sometime.

I dunno. Am getting a bit sick of comedians playing 'themselves' in sitcoms or whatever. Sean's Show was when I first thought that ;)

[Ja'moke]

I've been looking forward to this for ages! I loved the first series, one of my favourite sitcoms to come out in recent years. Brilliantly plotted, full of killer lines, and some top performances, especially from Samantha Spiro.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

I dunno. Am getting a bit sick of comedians playing 'themselves' in sitcoms or whatever. Sean's Show was when I first thought that ;)

If it's funny, clever and interesting, what does it matter who they're playing?

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

some top performances, especially from Samantha Spiro.

She's the weak link for me. Too OTT. Her performance would be fine in a broad, silly comedy, but she jars a bit in this. Slightly too "Wacky Mike Leigh stereotype" for my liking.

[Angst in my Pants]

Blimey, I nearly forgot this was on tonight- I haven't seen a single advert for it!

[Icehaven]

Blimey, I nearly forgot this was on tonight- I haven't seen a single advert for it!

Same here, only heard it was coming back at all because of this thread, I've not seen a mention of it anywhere else at all.

[Ja'moke]

Loved it. So many good lines that I can't remember them all right now, except for "I'll get some fruit for Simon to juggle." I also liked how Simon turned in to his Grandma and started offering Mark fruit. Will definitely be re-watching tomorrow.

EDIT: Just remembered the other big laugh of the episode, Grandma's reaction when Liz said maybe she should move in "No, no, no, no, no!"

[chocky909]

I definately enjoyed it but I was surprised by the change of pace. It seems to be a bit broader and kinetic than S1. I'll need to watch it again but it was full of great moments but also maybe a few incongruous ones.

[Thursday]

Certainly seemed like a more farcical sitcom set up, with various story thread coming together into a big embarrassing climax. It was structured well, but wasn't quite what I expected from this show. Some of the performances were slightly broader at times. James Smith, bursting in with a little karaoke machine and singing seems to be the most obvious example of this. Even though it had these broader moments, it still retained a lot of the smaller, subtler humor. So I don't know if it's necessarily a bad thing that it's got a bit sillier, but the shift of tone was slightly jarring.

[chocky909]

Something about him moving into his 'Grandma's House' seems a little contrived and unbelievable and I must admit that alarm bells started sounding when he started to talk about his new project which was basically 'Grandma's House'. I can easily imagine that turning into a silly self referential nonsense but hopefully not especially as in this universe he's not going to be performing in it.

This episode was focussing mainly on Grandma and it was a fantastic performance with her being on the verge of a breakdown it seems. Simon was given a lot to do too and maybe that's what made it feel off. Rather than being in the comfortable role of the sarcastic observer he was right in the drama but trying to play it for laughs echoing the nervously distracting behaviour of his Grandma.

I can't wait for the next episode anyway.

[Mini]

Certainly seemed like a more farcical sitcom set up, with various story thread coming together into a big embarrassing climax. It was structured well, but wasn't quite what I expected from this show. Some of the performances were slightly broader at times. James Smith, bursting in with a little karaoke machine and singing seems to be the most obvious example of this. Even though it had these broader moments, it still retained a lot of the smaller, subtler humor. So I don't know if it's necessarily a bad thing that it's got a bit sillier, but the shift of tone was slightly jarring.

Wasn't James Smith's entrance deliberately over the top, as Simon was just talking about broad comedy in which characters come into rooms doing silly things? I loved that self-awareness, with constant references to Simon's acting. I actually think his performance is brilliant, his offering Mark fruit really made me laugh. There's all these nice lines that are funny for some reason I can't work out, my favourite this episode being "He's going to be a boom man", accompanied by awkward half-mime. Meanwhile Rebecca Front is still ridiculously good. The only thing that annoyed me was the episode title. But that aside, I loved it as I did the first series and am looking forward to the rest.

EDIT: And Mark looked loads like a Mark I know who is also a dick.

[Thursday]

I must have missed that line.

[rimbaud]

I wasn't quite sure what to make of the change in format, but still greatly enjoyed it.  Rebecca Front seems to have become an even better comic actor.  She seems a lot better served by this material than her normal 2-D put-upon woman in other programmes, and gives a superbly nuanced performance.  Her chemistry with Amstell is very convincing.

I really miss the Grandad though, he was so well played.

[KLG-7A]

I thought it was consistently brilliant throughout, including the performances. I forgot how good the first series was.

[MuteBanana]

Wasn't James Smith's entrance deliberately over the top, as Simon was just talking about broad comedy in which characters come into rooms doing silly things? I loved that self-awareness, with constant references to Simon's acting. I actually think his performance is brilliant, his offering Mark fruit really made me laugh. There's all these nice lines that are funny for some reason I can't work out, my favourite this episode being "He's going to be a boom man", accompanied by awkward half-mime. Meanwhile Rebecca Front is still ridiculously good. The only thing that annoyed me was the episode title. But that aside, I loved it as I did the first series and am looking forward to the rest.

EDIT: And Mark looked loads like a Mark I know who is also a dick.

I loved that line. Was it 'What, I play myself and have a line of wacky characters coming in and out?' and then Grandma, Liz and Clive all walk in.

I also loved the discussion at the start between Mum and Simon about the possibility he might need more acting lessons to be successful.

Clive talking to Simon in the loft about 'smashing' 16 year old school boys was brilliant.

[KLG-7A]

Clive talking to Simon in the loft about 'smashing' 16 year old school boys was brilliant.

And delightfully grim, with him hinting about sex tourism trips to Thailand to have sex with girls of god knows what age. Hopeless middle-aged men like that always seem to drop hints that they're awful, awful people.

[biniput]

Not very good for me. That shitty "kooky" "theme" still annoys and Simon's acting is still awful. He seems to be trying too hard to be awkward and it just gets a bit 1 note after 5 mins let alone what now amounts to 3 and a half hours. It's like the other characters have 1 system of acting and Simon another and that jarrs a touch in that Simon seems to stand out in an odd way. Also there is little time between anyone talking and the whole dialogue seems to be delivered almost too fast as if there's more words to be said than the 30 min time slot allows. What ever jokes and "good lines" being heard by others have seemingly missed me by as the whole half hour presented just the odd smile with the script feeling if not predictable then "the usual thing". Samantha Spiro's character is annoyingly overdone and you just want her to explode after 2 mins.

On the positive there does seem something a bit watchable in this in terms of there is actual plot and story compared to a lot made these days. Also another bravish moment with the programme starting with a shot of Simon and Mark in bed with zero fanfare or playing up to that as if it's the most usual plot development.

All in all there is too much "awkward".

[phantom_power]

I accidentally watched this and really enjoyed it. I saw the first episode of the last series and wasn't that impressed so skipped the rest of it but I might have to go back and re-evaluate. I laughed more in this than in an British sitcom I can think of for a while.

[Mini]

Simon's acting is still awful. He seems to be trying too hard to be awkward and it just gets a bit 1 note after 5 mins let alone what now amounts to 3 and a half hours.

I disagree, I don't think he's trying too hard to be anything, I think he's actually just pretty much being himself. He addresses it in the episode; "I'm stiff in real life!"