Still Game Series 8

[Nowhere Man]

I actually vastly preferred this weeks episode. Although Winston got on my nerves a fair bit. The ending was a cop out too, anyone could see that bit with the shaken up coke bottles a mile off. It comes off forced compared to series 1-6 definitely, but I have such an affection for these characters (except Methadone Mick) that I like it a lot when it's just them bantering and being old pensioners, rather than focusing too much on plots or silly spoofs. At the very least this weeks story was reasonably grounded in reality.

[MattD]

It's been pish for years and years, glad to see you all waking up.

Embarrassing, stodgy, painful, unoriginal and laugh free. Kill them all off, put it to bed, leave with a modicum of self-respect. Fucking idiots.

First few series was very good. But even before they brought it back, the show was done.

Remember Tam having a baby? Talk about jumping the shark, what a ridiculous plot line. So much that the writers must know this as the kid hasn't even been mentioned since the series was brought back.

[ajsmith2]

First few series was very good. But even before they brought it back, the show was done.

Remember Tam having a baby? Talk about jumping the shark, what a ridiculous plot line. So much that the writers must know this as the kid hasn't even been mentioned since the series was brought back.

I recently did a rewatch of the original run, and I thought the later episodes up to 2007 were still as funny and the characters still worked really well. Yes  the plotlines tended to get a bit more out there but that's often the trajectory long running comedies end up on, it doesn't bother me as long as the characters and comedy still ring true which they did (for me anyway).  The Tam baby storyline was indeed an absolute honker, but imo it was kind of singular in how bad it was. Though in a way pretending it never happened doesn't make things any better. I mean, even The Simpsons, despite it's almost gleeful disregard for any consistency, will still stick with larger continuity elements like Apu having 8 kids.

God, it annoys me more than most shows that the continuity is so bad in Still Game, again almost gleefully so. It really spoils the world they've otherwise built up. There have been at least a couple of total howlers per series since series 5. Surely they must know what they're doing when they put those in? They're so frequent and huge they can't all be mistakes surely.

[Serge]

Did anyone else thing for a second that Innes (the massive old pensioner from Big Yin) was going to be the supporting player?

Funnily enough, I did think that for a minute. I did think that would be stretching their continuity-blindness too far even for them, but at the same time, I really wouldn't have put it past them either.

Anyway, last night's episode. They had made a point in interviews of this being a bottle episode, with the implication that nearly the whole thing would be just Jack & Victor in the caravan, but that was plainly shite. As soon as you heard Navid say that they needed to keep it tidy, it was blatantly obvious that they would somehow fuck it up. And surely, realistically, when they were asking Navid for the loan of the caravan, he would have said something along the lines of, "It's not mine, I only borrow it from my mate Mad Mick" rather than waiting to divulge this information after they've been there for a couple of days?

But yeah, the coke bottles thing was so fucking painful, the fact they remained untouched for the whole weekend - when have you ever seen any of the characters drinking coke? - other than people helpfully bouncing them about and shaking them up all of the time, made it so obvious what was going to happen. Compare it with the destruction of Isa's flat in 'Fresh Lick' from series 5, where all of the elements build up over the course of the episode to pay-off in one massive two minute wrecking spree, which is still one of the funniest things I've ever seen.

They keep claiming that Methadone Mick is a popular character and that they've had fans asking for more of him, but I don't know a single person who finds him funny, or even fucking likes him. After pulling together something that slightly seemed like a more original take on the character in the football one, he was back to being a lazy Dee Dee rip-off again last night.

[Terryfuckwit]

loved this episode. big belly laughs.

[Rich Uncle Skeleton]

Fuck me this series is dire. This methadone mick guys a regular character?! Christ.

[Dannyhood91]

SOUTH AFRICA

[Terryfuckwit]

SOUTH AFRICA

had me rolling that. and then Winston telling everyone about it as well

[Malcy]

Half watching this, is it a repeat? Peggy getting food from the butchers first so the rest can't? Sure that was Series 1. When is this set considering a self service checkout machine seems to be cutting edge and no one knows how to use it. Utter pish.

[ajsmith2]

Nah, this was the best episode since it came back, no question. Dunno why they placed it in the traditonal graveyard episode slot of 5/6 when it was clearly the best by far.

Was the butcher the same character/actor as seen in those couple of episodes in series 1?

[Malcy]

Not sure. I'll give them the pie joke at the end though, that raised a smile. Trailer for next weeks was on after. Forgot Craig Ferguson was in this series.

[Jockice]

Methadone Mick can fuck off.

[Desirable Industrial Unit]

Nah, this was the best episode since it came back, no question.

It was, and it was still lazy and terrible.  The closest one they've managed to the spirit of the old series, though.

`

[yesitsme]

Not a fan of parochial comedy and they don't come more parochial than this.

Makes Mrs Brown look like a gad about town.

Not watched for a long time but I've seen the first episode of this series and last nights.  The formula seems to be someone does something reprehensible or have a bad reputation.  Everyone thinks the worst but then everyone changes their mind when they see the true side of the person.  A caring, sharing, Glasgae, salt of the earth.

Its target audience seems to be people who like recognizing places in things. There are people who like doing that so fair enough but it's not for me.

I compare it Limmy that followed.  Talking pretty much solely about Glasgow and the suburbs, plenty of places to spot and yet it could be from anywhere.  I think, do you?

[ajsmith2]

Not a fan of parochial comedy and they don't come more parochial than this.

Makes Mrs Brown look like a gad about town.

Not watched for a long time but I've seen the first episode of this series and last nights.  The formula seems to be someone does something reprehensible or have a bad reputation.  Everyone thinks the worst but then everyone changes their mind when they see the true side of the person.  A caring, sharing, Glasgae, salt of the earth.

It never used to be like that, or at least the characters better natures were always grounded by their human weaknesses. Boaby seems to be mutating into Francis of Assisi this series with all his charitable deeds. What with Tam tempering his usual selfishness to do good at the end of this episode I do agree to an extent that it hit a somewhat twee note that it's rarely done before. Still the funniest and best episode since the comeback though, I'm not budging from that. Had that been a season 3 episode it wouldnae have jarred.

[Malcy]

Its target audience seems to be people who like recognizing places in things. There are people who like doing that so fair enough but it's not for me.

I compare it Limmy that followed.  Talking pretty much solely about Glasgow and the suburbs, plenty of places to spot and yet it could be from anywhere.  I think, do you?

I don't see how it's aimed at people who like recognising places. It's not often filmed away from it's usual locations so i don't really understand what you're getting at.

[Serge]

Half watching this, is it a repeat? Peggy getting food from the butchers first so the rest can't? Sure that was Series 1. When is this set considering a self service checkout machine seems to be cutting edge and no one knows how to use it. Utter pish.

Yeah, they were definitely repeating themselves with the idea of Peggy jumping the queue to get stuff from the butcher. And I spent the whole episode thinking, really, no-one in Craiglang has ever seen a fucking self-service machine before? And the scene with Navid and the old woman smashing it up was reminiscent of the bit in series 7 where Jack & Victor smashed up Tam's kitchen for no good reason - and about as funny.

Was the butcher the same character/actor as seen in those couple of episodes in series 1?

Yeah, he's definitely been in a couple of episodes before, including the earlier Peggy scene I mentioned above.

Because they were putting so much emphasis on the idea that Tam was up to no good with the old lady, it was patently obvious that he was actually going to be doing something nice in the end. I suppose the pay-off with him selling the cat is a sign that he's still the same Tam, but it was pretty lame.

Very poor.

[Old Nehamkin]

I've really never noticed the show indulging in excessive local references or making a meal out of location shots or anything like that. Like Malcy says above, it's fairly rare for the action to even move outside the three main sets and the handful of Clydebank streets that represent Craiglang. I'd say that the show's success in its original run owed much more to its strong cast of memorable, likeable characters than some nebulous group of dedicated location spotters.

[yesitsme]

Hmmm.  It might just be people in here who seem to be more interested in spotting the locations used during (admittedly infrequent) trips to a park, or the city centre.

I don't hear many people saying how funny it is these days that's for sure even though most people around me do watch.  They're full on MBBs fans, which I imagine has a similar demographic. I dunno.

I did enjoy the first series but think they've painted themselves in to a very lucrative corner with the small troupe of characters.  A couple of whom are pretty interchangeable.

[ajsmith2]

I don't see how Peggy queue jumping at the Butchers was any more of a rehash of old ideas than Winstons recurring rivalry with the bookies or Navid dealing with the neddy mums complaints are. It's just another recurring bucolic scenario in the bustling community of Craiglang. Admittedly it prob stuck out a bit more as we haven't seen that set up since 2002, but I've no problem believing that Peggy's been regularly jumping the queue offscreen in the intervening 16 years, or however long the gap is in Craiglang years.

I'm pretty impressed if they really did get the same actor back as the butcher after a decade and a half's gap. I'll say this for them - their storyline/timeline continuity may be all over the place, but they're pretty good at recalling and maintaining consistent cast members.

[Serge]

Admittedly it prob stuck out a bit more as we haven't seen that set up since 2002, but I've no problem believing that Peggy's been regularly jumping the queue offscreen in the intervening 16 years, or however long the gap is in Craiglang years.

I think that this is the problem, though - we see Winston's battles with Stevie, and Navid's arguments with the ned mums as a regular feature of the show, so that becomes part of their character. For this to have really worked, we really needed to have seen Peggy's queue-jumping as a recurring feature rather than it suddenly being rehashed 16 years later in such a way that quite a few people, rather than seeing it as a quirk of Peggy's, immediately see it as them re-using a plotline.

[Malcy]

I think that this is the problem, though - we see Winston's battles with Stevie, and Navid's arguments with the ned mums as a regular feature of the show, so that becomes part of their character. For this to have really worked, we really needed to have seen Peggy's queue-jumping as a recurring feature rather than it suddenly being rehashed 16 years later in such a way that quite a few people, rather than seeing it as a quirk of Peggy's, immediately see it as them re-using a plotline.

Yeah it stuck out like re-using the trait rather than 'haha oh oh Peggy's at it again hahahah'.

[Desirable Industrial Unit]

The lack of responses to the final episode is an indication that we're all just quietly stepping away from this series and agreeing that it never happened, right?

[Malcy]

The lack of responses to the final episode is an indication that we're all just quietly stepping away from this series and agreeing that it never happened, right?

Yep.

[Namtab]

I mean, even though deformed CF did get a juvenile laugh from me, the whole plot makes no sense. Why would he suggest sleeping with Isa if he has no cock?

[ajsmith2]

I mean, even though deformed CF did get a juvenile laugh from me, the whole plot makes no sense. Why would he suggest sleeping with Isa if he has no cock?

Maybe he had some prosthetic  dildo attachment that could do the job, (to go with the rest of his fake appearance) but when he looks himself in the mirror and says 'total honesty' he can't go through with lying about that either.

[Namtab]

Maybe he had some prosthetic  dildo attachment that could do the job, (to go with the rest of his fake appearance) but when he looks himself in the mirror and says 'total honesty' he can't go through with lying about that either.

Aye, yeah, just still felt a bit off and contrived that he'd want to rush into something he couldn't really do. But it got a laugh from me nonetheless, which is more than the majority of this series has done.

[gatchamandave]

It gave me the heebie-jeebies...

[Gloria Trubshawe]

Got to agree with the majority here. The new series has been absolutely dire so far.  One of the reasons it worked before was that, even though idiotic things happened, the Craiglang world had its own internal logic. Maybe I'm over-analysing too much, but now I just find myself constantly thinking "but why would that even happen...?" at the things which occur for no other reason than to set up some lame joke:

* Why would some old guys suddenly start hanging around with a young methadone addict?
* Why would a methadone addict who lived under a bridge have a friend who owned a river cruiser?
* Why would Naveed whose character is based on his stinginess [selling out of date produce, sucking sweets and putting them back on the shelf, etc] smash up an expensive self-service scanner because his customers didn't like it?
* Why would a huge 'meat pie' get passed around several sets of people and eventually put in an oven and cooked with no-one realising it's not real, but made of plastic.

[Incidentally that whole "fantastic pies" plotline seemed like a sub-standard rehash of the "Beefy Bake" story from one of the earlier series].

Then you've got the ideas which seem like they've been lifted straight from other sitcoms, which did them so much better.  Callum's transformation from hunk to mess was a straight lift from Tony Angelino in Only Fools and Horses:



https://youtu.be/_F9KZMeLa8g?t=1m15s

[Sorry. Couldn't find a version without the foreign subtitles]


And the OAPs football match, which was done so much better on Father Ted:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwmmX0Ms3D0

And, then the done-to-death tired old clichés like Boabby buying a car, without actually being able to drive and then kangarooing it down the road, giving his instructor a near nervous breakdown and then hilariously [not!] crashing it into a canal.

Some others have already been mentioned, such as; Boabby not noticing the huge holes in the roof immediately above him, the painfully obvious setup with the coke bottles in the caravan....etc. etc.

So sad. I used to love that series but it's just painful to watch now. File alongside Red Dwarf in the "should have quit while they were ahead" drawer.

[Malcy]

So sad. I used to love that series but it's just painful to watch now. File alongside Red Dwarf in the "should have quit while they were ahead" drawer.

Agree completely apart from that final sentence. I laughed harder and longer at one 2 minute scene in the most recent series of Red Dwarf more than i have laughed at Still Game over the last 12 episodes and the live show i saw.