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Friday Night Dinner - Series 5

Started by olliebean, May 04, 2018, 08:54:28 PM

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Same here. Can't stop saying "it's Lord Luck!" in a joyous tone like Paul Ritter. Also Lord Luck is such a good name.

BritishHobo

Fucking hell that was good. Not been too fussed on the series so far, but that was a belter. So many wonderful ideas, and I was grinning the moment Liam Williams appeared at the door.

The way Martin acts and they all react to him feels so lovely and authentic.

Lemming

Lots of fun, although it was getting a little too ridiculous at the end with the police there. Was laughing pretty much constantly up until the last minute or two, though, so it's another great episode.

The defrosting over the phone nearly made me piss.

Porter Dimi

Great series overall. Mark Heap was definitely the star of last night's show - the poem for Wilson had me wheezing.

Utter Shit

Was anyone else waiting for Wilson to come back to life? When the big cross came out I was sure he would be resurrected in some silly way.

Anyway, brilliant as always. And the affection and decency of the Goodmans felt earned and believable. Loved how they undercut the sadness with Jim saying he'd get a new dog the next day.

daf


up_the_hampipe

The scene where Wilson died was really sad. Almost cried. Although, as mentioned above, I fully expected Martin to be talking nonsense and Wilson to still be alive.

Twed


Bad Ambassador

Jim carrying the huge plywood cross over the driveway was the biggest laugh of the night for me.

Twed

Jackie, Wilson said I'm in heaven.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

I find Adam and Johnny's shenanigans annoying when they mess with each other's work lives. My mum would murder us if we tried that.

On a related note, I laughed heartily when Jackie was more excited for Adam to get a girlfriend than a job.

BritishHobo

It does sometimes seem fucking barmy the stuff they do to each other, when they turn to actually fucking with each others' lives. Some of it would be genuinely relationship-ending for me.

I'm another who thought Wilson would come back. May sound odd, but I was pleased when he didn't, it felt refreshing. Likewise, I felt they were making it really obvious that Adam would eventually answer the call with a sweary tirade, so I was surprised again with how it really ended. Nice it can still surprise me, and still fucking funny.

Brian Freeze

We've just watched this and I was ready to puke if Adam had answered the phone thinking it was his brother again. It would have been a real let down after the quality of all the previous efforts.

It's not that long since we spotted that Jonny's dad in real life is the Grand Prix Jim Rosenthal of Grand Prix fame. An photo of him in his younger days is all the confirmation you'll ever need.

MojoJojo

Quote from: The Duck Man on May 20, 2018, 10:05:42 PM
Why is it always dark when they arrive? Do they not fancy doing some summer episodes?

What with the family being Jewish too, it seems at the Goodman household, like Narnia, it is always winter but never Christmas.

I don't know if I'm missing the joke, but the Friday night family meal thing is to do with Shabbat, and the start of Shabbat is 18 miutes before sunset - with lots song singing and hair cutting before the actual meal. So there is an in-universe (that universe being this one) explanation as to why it's always night.

Started watching this last night - it's good but pretty surprised it apparently stays good for so long, there doesn't seem much to it.

timebug

I came to this rather late, and am currently working
through all five series. It tickles me, but I would never
describe it as hilarious or 'classic' comedy. I am familiar
with Adam from 'The Inbetweeners' and Jonny from 'Plebs'
Tamsin Greig of course I know from 'Green Wing'. I know
she has since done that thing with the wooden yank who
used to be in 'Friends' ( a war crime that ran seemingly
forever!) and her old pal Steve Mangan from 'Green Wing'
I will stick with this, in the abscence of anything else that
takes my fancy at the moment!

Soup

I'm not sure it ever becomes great or "classic", timebug, but it does give me a few decent laughs an episode and gives me that warm-bath feeling of sitcom familiarity, so you can't ask for more.

Also, Tamsin Greig is surely "Tamsin Greig from (the excellent) Black Books", not (the okay) Green Wing.

Mobius

I don't like the guy from Plebs. Simon from The Inbetweeners should play that character.

Utter Shit

Has anyone gone back and rewatched the earlier episodes at any point? Mark Heap has gradually ramped up his performance of Jim over the years, in the first series he's a lot less odd, albeit still getting into weird scrapes all the time. His performance is far more subtle, though that's not a criticism of the later series' Jim as I think he's funnier when he's over the top.

olliebean

I'm a little uncomfortable about Jim, because funny though Mark Heap undoubtedly makes him, it's become increasingly obvious that we're essentially laughing at a man with a learning disability.

Utter Shit

I think they've just about done enough over the series to show that he's just very weird rather than learning impaired (one example: it turns out he's fluent in Chinese, having inexplicably learned it in Japan), although I do think they could do a little more to avoid any doubt. I do find the character's loneliness quite difficult to handle at times, which is why it made me happy to see that the Goodmans were actually upset for him and Wilson rather than the "putting up with him out of politeness" decency they showed when he electrocuted himself in an earlier episode. IIRC one of the episodes with the grandma's horrible new boyfriend (THAT'S SLANDER!) had a nice comparison of the harmless irritation Jim inflicts on them with the genuine nastiness of the boyfriend.


olliebean

#50
I don't know, moments like him thinking that Lord Luck was genuinely animate go beyond the reaction of someone who was just weird and not learning impaired, I think. (Although it was odd that moments later he suddenly knew exactly how to operate it.)

up_the_hampipe

Also his lack of understanding about how a violin works. It's just sitcom writing though, isn't it. The weird or stupid character goes from seeming a bit dim to mentally challenged based on the joke. Joey from Friends seemed a bit silly but ultimately a functioning adult most times, other times it seemed like he was someone who needs round the clock care. As for Jim's loneliness, he seems to like things the way they are. I don't recall any moments where he seemed depressed. He was very content with his odd life with Wilson.

Bad Ambassador

The first episode of this series was its highest-rated ever. Nearly 2.5m after 28 days, ranking it 2nd for Channel 4 for the week and ahead of anything on BBC2 or Channel 5.

imitationleather

Saying "Bugger off!" like Lord Luck. I can't stop doing it, and it puts me in hysterics every time.

I only hope that if I say it to someone in real life they've seen the relevant episode of Friday Night Dinner or I will look like a right rude man.

timebug

Watched all five series now,and have to say that
there were at least two moments in every episode
that actually made me laugh out loud!
I can't remember when a series last did that, it's
generally a chuckle or a dry smile, at best. And by
the way 'Soup', sorry old thing, but I never found
'Black Books' remotely funny, for a variety of reasons!

Utter Shit

Just rewatching the episode where the grandma gets married. Fucking hell, Mark Heap's physical comedy trying not to drop his present is INCREDIBLE.

magval


imitationleather

Quote from: magval on May 18, 2019, 07:36:09 PM
Just read of this and surprised there was no mention on here - https://www.comedy.co.uk/tv/news/5304/friday_night_dinner_series_6/

Funnily enough I just rewatched series 5 last night.

This is great news.