This Is Ireland (eugh) and Pilots in General

[falafel]

Saw this briefly on BBC2 last night. Pilot. It was wank, not normally worth commenting. Except there was a whole incredibly long sketch dedicated to... a crap version of 24 where people just stand around and do boring things.

Sound familiar? - ie, Crap 24.

Thing is, they really pushed the 'isn't this all really dull' thing to the point of tedium. It's fairly obvious that it wouldn't be an interesting program, but still they insisted on having things like a hugely echoey tick-tock (not really like the series, more like the Clock of Doom) really high in the mix, to emphasise the fact that what was happening was really dull, when what (I reckon) was really needed was some sort of dynamic score to push the mock-tension.

Some people really aren't good with irony, are they?

And my next question is related to the fact that the aforementioned programme was a pilot: any know any good ones that, for whatever reason, didn't manage to make it to a series?

[Goldentony]

captain v on comedy lab i think it was, that deserved to be a series, havent heard fuck all tho since seeing the one episode, ever

[Godzilla Bankrolls]

Captain V was an abomination.

Cluub Zarathrustra is the best pilot that didn't make it. No two ways about it.

[Jemble Fred]

Well I can only presume that what I was smoking Friday night was especially good, or watching tripe like Darkplace, Catherine Tate and Comedy Lab has affected my critical abilities, because I found this a real joy. Not hilarious all the way through, but definitely left a warm glow.

I love it when Mathews and Linehan get in front of the camera, I like them equally as performers and writers. No one else could have done these lines justice:

Ah yes, that lovely old Irish tune, 'I Can't Stop Thinking About Her Arse'.

I don't know, I'm just really in the mood to BUY A BOOK!

More acting, less flogging your best work to Yanks, lads.

[Godzilla Bankrolls]

Don't forget Linehan's appearances in Father Ted:

"Some madman's put up a cross"

"Fucking hell"

and his great face during the closing credits of my personal favourite episode.

[Des Nilsen]

I saw some of This Is Ireland and also liked the "warm glow" of the thing. There was a nice bit about animals being tortured and used in musical instruments in a pub - sort of familiar territory but good.
There was a Chicken piano with the things tied to typewriter-style hammers hitting the notes. Heh.

Oh, and during the nuclear war bit the young man at the table was the actor who played Francis 'Francey' Brady in The Butcher Boy - in that there's a strong cold war flavour. Another nice TV coincidence.

-

[falafel]

I just can't help thinking of the Father Ted commentary though - the way they keep banging on about wanting to make it absolutely clear that the island isn't meant to represent Ireland as a whole: "it's a lovely country, look how the mainland people are so modern and normal.. oh look, there's an office - there are lots of offices in Ireland" etc...

And then they go and do this.

And I wouldn't mind if it was funny.

Never mind acting, they should stick to sitcoms.

[Munday's Chylde]

captain v on comedy lab i think it was, that deserved to be a series, havent heard fuck all tho since seeing the one episode, ever

I think... I'm not sure but I think I remember that a verbwhore wrote that didn't they?

[Almost Yearly]

Was that the Abbot Lau one?

[abbot lau]

Yes, it was I who (co-)wrote Captain V....

Maybe I should clarify that:

It was I who (co-)wrote the script that was originally approved by C4.  C4 then farmed the production of the show out to a production company who told us to rewrite it about 100 times. Then they showed it to C4 who didn't like it any more so C4 asked us to make another 150 changes.

Then the production company cast the thing without involving us in the casting decisions at all, and rushed it into production because they were busy working on other projects that were quite clearly more important to them . Result: 4 (half) days of rehearsal, a week of shooting at breakneck speed (not really time for more than one take of each shot) and a rush editing job by someone with a talent for buggering up what little laughs remained.

Pretty much any time we tried to intervene in production decisions we were told that in effect we were extremely lucky to have been given this big break and that if we get a reputation of being difficult to work with now then we can forget about getting any further.

There were other more disturbing issues involving lies, nepotism and corruption that we only discovered much later but I don't want to air them here and now.  All I will say is that anyone who hated the end result of 'Captain V' and reckons they could do better should bear in mind that what they write and what ends up on screen are opposite shores on a sea of turds that they will have to do their  best to navigate - if they can talk the captain of their ship to let them out of the brig in which they have been locked with a computer and told to redo the dialogue again.

Still, I got to meet Kevin Eldon who was a  real gent.

[abbot lau]

Oh shit. maybe I shouldn't have said all that stuff.