Review with Forrest MacNeil - Season 3

[BritishHobo]

It's finally here! The third and final season of this begins next week, January 16th. Not sure how many episodes, but it is meant to be a reduced season.

There's a trailer floating around, which I'm vaguely avoiding. Not sure I want to give away anything - I already avoid the episode titles because they very often give away jokes. 'Pancakes; Divorce; Pancakes' basically ruins one of the greatest payoffs ever.

Where did we even leave poor Forrest? If I remember right, he's disappeared again, after having ANOTHER revelation about his producer's exploitative nature, only this time filtered through mad conspiracy bollocks.

Fuck I'm excited for this.

[hedgehog90]

I've been waiting for this for ages. Thanks for the heads up.
I assume you meant March 16th?

[Hugh Jass]

Where did we even leave poor Forrest? If I remember right, he's disappeared again, after having ANOTHER revelation about his producer's exploitative nature, only this time filtered through mad conspiracy bollocks.

Basically- also both he and his producer fell off a bridge.

Looking forward to this. The last season seemed a bit repetitive to me, so hopefully with the addition of Grant having gone missing they've figured out a way to freshen it up.

[Small Man Big Horse]

I think this is my favourite show of the last few years, up against some incredible competition, so I can't wait for it too.

I had it down in my diary as starting on the 15th of March, so it'll be online early Thursday morning for us UK types.

[Penfold]

I think it is 16th March so it'll be Friday morning

[Serge]

Excellent! It was thanks to SMBH that I checked out the previous two series, and thought it was one of the greatest programmes I've ever seen. It'll be interesting to see where he can go from the events of series 2.

[BritishHobo]

Aye, I wouldn't have gotten around to it either without the enthusiasm on here.

I started rewatching, and I was crying at the space episode. It's joyfully horrible. Fred Willard's senile uselessness during the training.

[Serge]

I'm guessing that anybody looking at a thread about series 3 has already seen series 1 & 2, so not going to spoiler this, but Willard's character's death in that episode is up there as one of the things that has made me laugh the loudest and longest.

My other favourite moment is when Forrest is pretending to be Irish in the last episode of that series, to the point where his voiceover is also in a mock-Irish accent.

[Small Man Big Horse]

I think it is 16th March so it'll be Friday morning

Ah, apologies, you are indeed 100% correct - http://www.avclub.com/article/reviews-final-season-will-premiere-next-month-250459 - though that link has spoilers for some of the first episode so is probably best avoided if you don't wish to know what happens. There's a trailer here as well - http://uproxx.com/tv/review-trailer-final-season/ - but again I'm ignoring it.

Just thought I'd put up the previous seasons links:

S1 - http://www.cookdandbombd.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=40119.0
S2 - http://www.cookdandbombd.co.uk/forums/index.php/topic,49134.0.html

So we have Bored of Canada to thank for introducing it to the (CaB) world, though sadly he's not posted since October. Hopefully this thread will bring him back on board so we can worship him a great, great deal, it's the least he deserves quite frankly.

[non capisco]

Cannot bloody wait for this!

Andy Daly fans might also like to know he appears on this week's Comedy Bang Bang podcast as his character August Lindt and is reliably great.

[phantom_power]

One of my favourite moments of any podcast ever was the realisation of the outcome of every Daly character and the resolution of that whole 'arc', if you can call it that.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Just a minor head's up: Daly appears in the second episode of John Lithgow's new sitcom, Trial and Error, a sort of spoof of the Making A Murderer type documentaries. The show itself is solid but nothing amazing just yet, but Daly has fun with his role as a forensics expert who's also a compulsive masturbator. Imdb has him listed as only in one episode, but hopefully he'll pop up again.

Edit: Oh yeah, and there's an AV Club interview with Daly here, but I'm not planning on reading it until the season has aired: http://www.avclub.com/article/andy-daly-reviews-end-review-251938

Does anyone know how many episodes there are? I know Daly said it would be a minimum of three back when it was renewed but I can't find any update since.

[Dr Funke]

Does anyone know how many episodes there are? I know Daly said it would be a minimum of three back when it was renewed but I can't find any update since.

Have been wondering the same thing. I've seen critics say that they've seen two episodes but nothing about the total number.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Have been wondering the same thing. I've seen critics say that they've seen two episodes but nothing about the total number.

I've just been doing some random googling and it looks like it'll be only three episodes, at least if this site has the third episode title correct. (spoilers, obv.)

[BritishHobo]

If so, it'll be interesting to see how they ramp it up. The first episode was

Spoiler alert

nice and weird for the start of a six-episode series - I like how much it's cemented Forrest's desire to follow every single review right to the bloody letter, no matter his options - but it's a slow start if there's only two more episodes to go.

[close]

I've not read the episode titles, but one possibility from the first episode is

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it ending with Forrest going away for life for murder.

[close]

[brat-sampson]

Loved the first episode, the logic behind the second request in particular, as well as some of the reveals. This show is *criminally* underrated by TV audiences. Initially it looked like a bit of a hard reset after the events concluding S2 but as it went on it was more clear that it was indeed having multiple impacts. The actual dynamic between Forrest and his boss seems unchanged, which I guess it needed to be, so I'll have to just forgive that and assume they patched things up (or at least returned to normal) during the break. If that's the price of just continuing with the standard episode format then so be it.

[BritishHobo]

I had the same reservations about it sort of going back to normal, but I guess it's quite a Forrest thing to be able to naively snap back to thinking he and Grant can be friends and colleagues again. That's twice now that he's had revelations about Grant being evil, and then somehow managing to get past that. He's so gullible.

Meanwhile, loving the utterly sinister glances from Grant. He's basically ruined Forrest over the course of the two seasons, more for the show than anything, but I think now he'd happily fucking destroy Forrest, and all for the enjoyment of it.

[Small Man Big Horse]

This was beautiful stuff, my only complaint is the new title sequence, and only because despite seeing it countless times I never got bored of "Babysitting". I'm glad they went back in to it as a normal episode as the reviews were so good, whilst Grant's increasing cuntyness is an ongoing delight, especially the fact that he makes Forrest sleep in the garage. Naturally I'm really gutted that we've only two episodes left, I wish the show could run for a good two or three more seasons, but hey, I guess considering the ratings we should be happy they brought it back for one final mini-series.

Edit: Just discovered that Daly was commenting on the episode in character via this twitter account - https://twitter.com/forrestmacneil_ - and he also did a Q&A on it a couple of days ago which is a fun read.

[Serge]

I love James Urbaniak in this. The shot of him being carried upstairs in the background absolutely floored me. The idea that Forrest is now reduced to living in Grant's garage is the most perfectly cruel twist they could have come up with.

[non capisco]

My favourite bit was the wiped out post-burrito nightmare Forrest getting to his trial, collapsing into a chair then immediately having to stand up again as the judge entered. "All rise!" "*tortured groan*"

I had forgotten it was just three episodes. As others have said, how the hell are they going to ramp that up? I'd like to see more of Jessica St. Clair rather than just having her tell him to go away through the window.

[Penfold]

I'd like to see more of Jessica St. Clair rather than just having her tell him to go away through the window.

Watch Playing House!

It also has Lennon Parham[nb]Mrs Greenfield from season 2.[/nb]. They've just finished filming the third season so should be out in a few months.

[Squink]

Just watched this, but yeah, great as ever. The scene where the car pulled into the garage while Forrest was trying to sleep was fantastic. I figured the garage would be out of use while Forrest stayed in there, but nope.

Why is it only three episodes? Wikipedia gives away the topics for the next two, which look great. Particularly

Spoiler alert

Ass-Slap

[close]

and

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Cryogenics

[close]

. God knows what

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Helen Keller

[close]

involves. Can't wait.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Why is it only three episodes?

The ratings weren't great at all unfortunately, but rather than just cancel it Comedy Central let Daly do three more episodes to wrap everything up.

I found this news piece interesting though - http://splitsider.com/2017/02/the-final-season-of-andy-dalys-review-premieres-on-march-16th/ - which ends with a statement from Comedy Central saying: "Per request of the show: We are not revealing episode count at the moment." It's all but certainly wishful thinking, but I'm hoping it might mean a surprise fourth episode.

[brat-sampson]

Since they're in Final Season No-Fucks mode, I wouldn't be surprised if there are three episodes of Review followed the next week in the same time-slot by a show about Forrest McNeil with an entirely different name.

For the record, I love no-fucks mode. It's how PFFFR always operate, how Nathan for You was by it's 3rd season and how I think you can get away with ideas like this week's

Spoiler alert

overlapping narration

[close]

. It's when you can use all the ideas that you can only get away with once like

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AJ hosting etc and they nailed it completely. It confirmed everything I was hoping to learn about her life outside the show.

[close]

So damn funny.

[Serge]

Spoiler alert

The almost imperceptible movement of Grant's leg under the covers!

[close]

Brrrr.

I like the way that the conclusion of the murder trial was basically just waved away.

[Small Man Big Horse]

I like the way that the conclusion of the murder trial was basically just waved away.

That was indeed fantastic, especially as I'd been expecting the worst to happen and for Forrest to end up back inside. But then that's what I love about this show, as 99% of the time it's beautifully unpredictable stuff.

[BritishHobo]

His lawyer, as ever, is a fucking delight.

[Serge]

"Your honour" made me roar, for reasons I can't quite explain.

[Ant Farm Keyboard]

This is turning into a modern version of Don Quixote, the portrait of a man conquered by delusion and mocked by enablers, and I couldn't be happier.
The latest episode was absolutely terrific. "Forgiveness" might have been implausible if it had been at the opening. But after witnessing what the show within the show should have been under A.J.'s guidance or how out of touch he is by deciding to follow what his assistants prepared for the Helen Keller segment, the conclusion is just natural.

[selectivememory]

Been catching up with this amazing show in the last few weeks thanks to this thread. It's all been great, but the way it escalated over the course of the second season, culminating in that incredible conspiracy theory segment, was sublime.

Thought the finale was superb.

Spoiler alert

A really nice understated way for it to go out. Although extremely bleak all the same

[close]

. I wasn't really familiar with Andy Daly before, but I'll be keeping an eye out for him in the future.