The Catherine Tate Show- Head's up.

[Vermschneid Mehearties]

There's a 'Comedy Show' on BBC2 tonight with this title. Having seen one trailer, it looks like Smack The Pony but with one person.

Someone tell me this isn't going to suck.

I'll be watching anyway. Y'never know.

[Darrell]

http://www.cookdandbombd.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=409 - and this one doesn't have a misplaced apostrophe in the title. (*wink* etc)

Catherine Tate's a better performer than Julia Davis, and she's desperate for something good on her CV (Big Train 2, Wild West and TV Go Home aren't exactly television at its best), but this looks terrible. The fact it hasn't been premiered on BBC3 is a clue to its quality...

[Bilko]

I'll reserve judgment if it's crap or not after a whole 30 minutes not a 30 second trailers. It's only fair

[Vermschneid Mehearties]

Yeah, we're not already passing it off as crap. I'll be looking at it as fairly as any other. It just doesn't look promising that's all.

And from reading imitationleather's post- Yeah, it does seem to be in the style of Little Britain.

[Marcus Or Relius]

The logic behind most of the sketches seems to be "Really irritating characters, especially hysterical women who scream a lot, are really funny and not in anyway liable to cause homicidal feelings in viewers."

[Darrell]

For fuck's sake, this wasn't even comedy.

Just charmless repetition and jokeless four-minute stretches of fuck-all.

Arthur Mathews was one of the writers, by the way. Fucking hell.

[A Passing Turk Slipper]

I thought that was awful. Every 'sketch' was about five minutes long, the lip one should have been about ten seconds long but instead it was about 50 times that.

[Vermschneid Mehearties]

Argh.

Some reasonable observational comedy that would have satisfied a 10 minute slot, but dragged on and on to the point of annoyance.

The odd smile, but the main thing was- the characters were only slightly funny the first time. Why revisit them? Because you can't dream up any others?

Grr. Even that Ronnie Barker wannabe, "Can't act-Won't Act" Justin Leonard lookalike was on it.

[alan strang]

(Deep breath, pauses for effect...)

Pretty good, I thought. Proper sketches in the vein of Harry Enfield's Television Programme and a couple of nice surprising bits which set it well above the Smack The Pony style. Not mind-blowing, but okay.

Great sig tune as well, but then again you can't go far wrong with Kirsty MacColl.

[Bogey]

Is that the chap who works in the job centre in Spaced? He was the only one I'd seen before.

It was utter shit by the way.
Will this paltry selection of characters have to carry the programme through six episodes? It couldn't manage one.

[fbb bastard]

(Deep breath, pauses for effect...)

Great sig tune as well, but then again you can't go far wrong with Kirsty MacColl.

aye totally agree on that...."in these shoes" ...brilliant

damn infuriating....she is a class act and no mistaking...real skill in the characterisations i think...but 80% of the writing stunk to high heaven...get the balance right and it will be something good....dont want to come down hard on this....fingers crossed

in summary........"thompson"?

[Vermschneid Mehearties]

I think alan strang is being a bit too generous. It wasn't without merit, but unfortunately, I don't think her or the production team identified it nd exploited it well enough.

The prospect of 6 episodes of this programme almost makes me want to turn over to ITV.

[alan strang]

It didn't irritate the fuck out of me - that's always a good start.

It'll be interesting to see how many of those characters recur throughout the series though, and how many new ones are added. But I thought the way they were used in that one half hour was fine. I liked the thick couple in bed especially.

To be critical, I could have done without the forced cussing in the Gran sketch - the comedy value of old women swearing is a well out-of-date conceit (and nobody does it as good as Edna Dore).

[Vermschneid Mehearties]

I liked the thick couple in bed especially.

Oh my. You couldn't have done. It really was the meaning of tedium. I hate people like that in real life. There's a fine line between taking the piss out of them and just flashing their twats in my face.
The schoolkids sketched worked because it was an effective parody (although that lasted too long as well); that sketch however..that was just terrible.

[alan strang]

Oh my. You couldn't have done. It really was the meaning of tedium.

Well, it had a nice air of carefree 'Absolutely' which pleased me. Sort of like a prole-talk version of the bubbly middle-class couple played by Morwenna Banks and Gorden Kennedy. ("Darling, I think you'll find it's binkininkinini...").

Not in the same ballpark of course, but playing tennis in the court next door, and glancing over occasionally.

in summary........"thompson"?

I hope not - 'Thompson' started quite well, but she managed to run out of material by Show 2.

[Darrell]

The couple in bed were probably the best thing about it, but that outstayed its welcome too. Ditto the schoolkids, which just became irritating.

[Emergency Lalla Ward Ten]

Sorry to be a parody of myself, but I have to ask: was it all field-removed?

[Darrell]

Sorry to be a parody of myself, but I have to ask: was it all field-removed?

The two film/drama parodies were either shot on film or treated with a very realistic effect. Otherwise, yes.

[Robot DeNiro]

That was awful.  Truly terrible.  The 'Thompson' comparisons are spot on, god how I hate actresses doing comedy.  not women in general, just those actresses who think because they can portray a fairly convincing old lady that makes them a comedy genius.

the acting was ok and the timing was good (ever noticed how you can be fooled into laughing at something that isn't a joke just cos of the timing?)  But the material was dire.

oh, women can't resist eating chocolate cake ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

I mean, well done, you've shown how versatile you are, but maybe next week you could really stretch yourself and tackle a joke.  grrrr.

thinking about it, it might actually have been worse than Mad About Ailce.

[Frinky]

The only good bit, I thought, was the Teenage Girl on the train - as said above, it was funny and not a joke, but becuase of the timing. It was about the only "observation" that was actually sharp anyway. Might watch again.

[Munday's Chylde]

Didn't catch it myself, but I'm guessing that this Catherine Tate looks better than Matt Lucas in a school uniform.

[Marcus Or Relius]

Didn't catch it myself, but I'm guessing that this Catherine Tate looks better than Matt Lucas in a school uniform.

Only just. From a certain angle.

[Neil]

To be critical, I could have done without the forced cussing in the Gran sketch - the comedy value of old women swearing is a well out-of-date conceit (and nobody does it as good as Edna Dore).

Heh, it is, but it does usually raise a laugh.  Catterick had this old gag in the first show too!

By the way, not sure if I got round to thanking you for the second series IAP bootleg stuff you put up as I was staying at my sisters when I read that post with the url.  REally enjoyed listening to them, certainly more interesting than the show itself, so big thanks.  Should have read that Alexi Sayle thread when I had the chance.

[Jemble Fred]

The bugger Strang has expressed my thoughts pretty much perfectly, so why bother writing anything? This was not VERY good, but if (you just know this won't happen, but IF...) all of the characters seen several times in the first episode were one-offs, and we're not going to have to see five more permutations of the Sleeping Baby or especially Screamy Woman in this series, it could be a perfectly enjoyable show. Otherwise, how fucking dire can these cunts be? None of the ideas in last night's episode were worth repeating, or even stretching out for more than two minutes. However, I also got a definite Absolutely vibe from the thick couple in bed - the only bit that made me snigger slightly. Well, the Pretenders detective was quite funny. ONCE.

And I have to add that the schoolkids sketch was sickeningly bad. Having seen Little Britain, they should have cut it altogether - as it was it was just like listening to real pubescent cunts on a train - with no added humour.

[Bilko]

I'll reserve judgment if it's crap or not after a whole 30 minutes not a 30 second trailers. It's only fair

I am quoting myself, having watched the programme openly for about 1 minute I came to a conclusion. Some members may want to give a analytical  review of the show, I do not.

What a piece of fucking crap

[23 Daves]

I thought it was crap.  That said, I only got 15 minutes into the programme before my girlfriend turned to me and said "PLEASE can we turn this off, it's shit, neither of us are laughing?".  I had to agree.  She also said "The last thing the world needs is an updated version of the Tracey Ullman Show", however, as I can't actually remember what the Tracey Ullman Show was like (apart from being cack) I'll have to take her word for that.

Basically, what I saw was just some observations that have been made more effectively by other comedy programmes already, and some student drama revue styled gags ("I'm just not drunk enough to find you attractive") stretched into a programme.  Very, very disappointing.

[gull]

Nope, it was not the best really.  Typical BBC middle of the road fare.

[Tom Rad]

Well, it wasn't great but it wasn't shit either. I liked the sketch with the couple in the car trying not to wake up their baby, and the one with the teenagers on the train. Ones I thought were just filler were the ones with the woman trying to get her office mate to make a guess at various things. Quite unoriginal really, as that kind of thing has already been done by the Smack the Pony team, and to death at that. I could also not see the point of the woman screaming at sounds and the thick couple in bed.

I have to concur with some of the previous posters in hoping that the next episodes will not simply repeat these characters but contain competely new ones. We'll see...
All in all, it wasn't terribly innovative, being of the old-fashioned sketch show format, but that alone should be no reason to slate the program. You could do good and interesting stuff with an old, tried and tested format as well. However, this sadly didn't quite manage to do that throughout, despite a couple of good chuckles.

[Jemble Fred]

Surely the point is that it's the exact opposite of the 'old-fashioned' sketch show format? 'Old-fashioned', to me, suggests NOBA, Two Ronnies, Frost Show, DNAYS, Monty Python etc, where you can tell that you're watching performers give live performances in front of dodgy sets. This show's format was somewhere between Harry Enfield, Smack The Pony and, most of all, Armstrong & Miller (lame ideas stretched out way too far). If you want to do a properly 'innovative' and most importantly FUNNY sketch show, you've got to revert to the live feel of the classics. Surprising that nobody's really attempted it for ten years or so.

[Neil]

I thought it was crap.  That said, I only got 15 minutes into the programme before my girlfriend turned to me and said "PLEASE can we turn this off, it's shit, neither of us are laughing?".  I had to agree.  She also said "The last thing the world needs is an updated version of the Tracey Ullman Show", however, as I can't actually remember what the Tracey Ullman Show was like (apart from being cack) I'll have to take her word for that.

I seem to remember enjoying the Tracy Ullman show, I'd love to see it again.  Any show that ends with the star coming out in her dressing gown and shooing people out of the building is OK with me!