Peep Show

[Ferris]

I think they kinda dropped the ball on the Mark and Sophie's baby episode too. It was hardly the transformative change in Mark's life than it would've been. The baby hardly existed. I think this was epitomised in a scene where Mark had them under the office desk while he played computer games.

Yeah this is more apparent to me after having a small child. Keeping them alive is basically all you do all day and night.

Is the explanation that Jeff has stepped in as the surrogate (along with Sophie) so his relationship with his son is becoming distant as he is surplus to requirements, childcare-wise? Bit sad really.

[Hand Solo]

I think they kinda dropped the ball on the Mark and Sophie's baby episode too. It was hardly the transformative change in Mark's life than it would've been. The baby hardly existed. I think this was epitomised in a scene where Mark had them under the office desk while he played computer games.

Isn't that kind of what having a baby in a sitcom is? Dropping the ball? Just forced exposition, jumping the shark, shitting the bed, wanking into the void?

[JaDanketies]

Isn't that kind of what having a baby in a sitcom is? Dropping the ball? Just forced exposition, jumping the shark, shitting the bed, wanking into the void?

I suppose Peep Show was big on serialisation, but the baby revealed that it was a road to nowhere and they were writing it on a wing and a prayer. They didn't really know where they were going.


It was outrageously funny though. The only sitcom that has made me laugh as much since Peep Show aired was the Inbetweeners.

[Hand Solo]

It was outrageously funny though. The only sitcom that has made me laugh as much since Peep Show aired was the Inbetweeners.

I think the only exposition they really had with Baby Ian himself beyond being a concept in a carrier was the snake/ballpit episode? It certainly didn't exist beyond a point of contention between Mark and Jeff.

I've only recently just got through all of the Inbetweeners having never seen it and it just felt like a shit Peep Show, it was alright but the other main characters are superflous to needs and unmemorable, I can't even remember their names now, and Will and Jay are essentially shit versions of Mark and Jeremy. It would be like if Peep Show was doing the On The Pull episode every week, I found it a bit tiring, and the movies weren't up to much. Shagaluf! LOL

[sutin]

I think The Inbetweeners is of equal to Peep Show, both of which i've watched countless times since the original airings.

[ajsmith2]

Shame there wasn't a Peep Show movie made in the mid 00s instead of them making Magicians. Or maybe not.

[Hand Solo]

The Inbetweeners is not a patch on Peep Show, the writing is nowhere near as nuanced or idiosyncratic, and every episode is just crass overplayed versions of trying to get a shag and it going wrong, it's stuff you've seen a million times before, Jay is doing The Goonies' Chunk `Okay, Michael Jackson didn't come over to my house to use the bathroom but his sister did!' trope over and over again, and Will is doing the Mark 'must you live so desperately in the real world' stuff in the middle of it.

[dr beat]

I think they kinda dropped the ball on the Mark and Sophie's baby episode too. It was hardly the transformative change in Mark's life than it would've been. The baby hardly existed. I think this was epitomised in a scene where Mark had them under the office desk while he played computer games.

I actually like that aspect of Peep Show and it might be a defining characteristic even if its not particularly realistlc.  The sheer lack of any sentimentality when things like births and deaths happen. For other shows they would be made out to big dramatic emotional moments, yet in PS they are just petty annoyances for Mark and Jez.  Its the one thing I like about Gerard's death in what is otherwise a poor episode - it just sort of happens.  'Oh shit' says Mark, and buys a football cake for the funeral.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

I just recalled:

'I'm thinking a few packs of Normal. Nobblies are a bit of a con aren't they?'


An exquisitely sculpted moment for a urinal chat between love rivals.

'Knob-blies'. Jeff volunteering completely unrequited information about his plans to shag Sophie, (perhaps more than once - packs - really rubbing it in) ) that's at the core of Mark's fears and resentments, Jeff doing so to needle Mark and mark his territory (territorial pissings, no less), all in a deeply uncomfortable, anxiety-inducing setting with both their cocks out.

'A few packs of Normal' is also exactly what someone who would take a woman to Pizza Hut for a date would say.

Brilliant character work and pathos, inherently funny without a recognisable joke.

[Billy]

The twist ending of 7:3 (Mark saving Jeremy at the book meeting) is genuinely brilliant stuff. You're conditioned to think Jez is going to screw it up as usual and make up some nonsense about the book with everyone just staring at him horrified, only for Mark to storm in and save the day for both of them and deliver one of the only genuinely happy endings in the show's history. Along with the April episode in S2 and the Sally one in S4 it's one of my fave episodes, and a great reminder that the show was still this good so late on.

[Urinal Cake]

I actually like that aspect of Peep Show and it might be a defining characteristic even if its not particularly realistlc.  The sheer lack of any sentimentality when things like births and deaths happen. For other shows they would be made out to big dramatic emotional moments, yet in PS they are just petty annoyances for Mark and Jez.  Its the one thing I like about Gerard's death in what is otherwise a poor episode - it just sort of happens.  'Oh shit' says Mark, and buys a football cake for the funeral.

Mark is the unsentimental one. Jez is the soft touch- he was was the one who pointed out that the baby probably shouldn't be under the desk.
Further he stood up for his dead uncle's deathbed conversion, was on the verge of tears when he 'found out' Nancy cheated on him on a Visa marriage that he thought was real and refused sex from Mark's sister on Christmas because he was a Christmasist.

[The Mollusk]

Of course Jez is the soft touch. He's a musician. He thinks on his feet, he speaks from his heart.

[king_tubby]

Slating Jez and Mark is leftie iconoclasm. Harsher criticisms could be made about the prophet Mohammed and it feels to me like those who would be willing to cancel Jez and Mark would recoil from criticism of Mohammed.

[QDRPHNC]

Slating Jez and Mark is leftie iconoclasm. Harsher criticisms could be made about the prophet Mohammed and it feels to me like those who would be willing to cancel Jez and Mark would recoil from criticism of Mohammed.

Finally, some sense.

[Bently Sheds]

Jeff's my favourite character in Peep Show. Just relentlessly slimy and unpleasant, a human version of the dogshit you think you scraped off the sole of your shoe but can still smell. His blokey winks, his laddish quips, his matey 'charm'; he's a glorious monster.

Neil Fitzmaurice plays a blinder.

[The Mollusk]

That face haunts me, hilariously accurate shithead school bully face. He's one of the most detestable comedy characters I've ever seen. Liz from Grandma's House comes pretty close but Jeff is perfect.

[paruses]

That face haunts me, hilariously accurate shithead school bully face. He's one of the most detestable comedy characters I've ever seen. Liz from Grandma's House comes pretty close but Jeff is perfect.

When he's being detestable Neil Fitzmaurice nails it perfectly. I watched the ep with that screenshot in the other night and can't place it but I know when he pulls that face you hate him as much as Mark must.

But we do only see him being despicable and a bully towards Mark don't we? He's a bit shitty to Sophie getting off with the girls in the pub very early on in one episode but apart from that Mark is his target. They are love rivals from the off and Mark is the architect of his own failure so you can't really  blame Jeff for that.

I doubt I would like him in real life but over the years I've come to see him as one of the least monstrous characters. There was a thread on here that was woven with pro- and anti-Jeff sentiment a while back.

[Andy147]

Nah, he's a classic bully. Notice how he doesn't like it when Valerie or Dobby turn the "banter" back on him (to the point where he calls Dobby a "freak", so it's not just Mark that he's unpleasant to).

[Noodle Lizard]

I doubt I would like him in real life but over the years I've come to see him as one of the least monstrous characters.

Ooo I dunno. I don't think there's anything in the show to suggest that he's anything other than a right prick. In terms of damage done to others, maybe he comes out better than other more prominent characters, but only because we see comparatively little of him. His ratio is pretty much 100% dickhead though.

[Pearly-Dewdrops Drops]

The Jeff character is so perfect (particularly in the first few seasons) because he's not a two-dimensional monster. He's unambiguously a jerk but he also perfectly captures that feeling of someone being even more infuriating because you know subconsciously that part of your dislike comes from an unjustified envy/jealousy.

[Noodle Lizard]

The Jeff character is so perfect (particularly in the first few seasons) because he's not a two-dimensional monster. He's unambiguously a jerk but he also perfectly captures that feeling of someone being even more infuriating because you know subconsciously that part of your dislike comes from an unjustified envy/jealousy.

Yeah, I'd agree with this too. He's like one of the cool kids in school who you know is a twat, but you'd rather be them anyway because of their confidence or popularity. A very well-observed character.

[Lemming]

Jeff semi-apologist checking in.

In the first couple series he's a proper cunt (which is endlessly fun to watch), but his bullying of Mark is hardly one-sided.  Plus, as people have said, Jeff ends up being the actual father to Mark's baby, and seemingly settling down with Sophie. He becomes less of a dickhead over time, to the point that by the end he's basically alright, whereas Mark is pretty horrific from start to finish.

[Thomas]

On a totally different matter, I've had a single line recurring in my head for a few days now, always unprompted:

Spoiler alert

mr patheto hand

[close]

[QDRPHNC]

Me too!

[Noodle Lizard]

Jeff semi-apologist checking in.

In the first couple series he's a proper cunt (which is endlessly fun to watch), but his bullying of Mark is hardly one-sided.  Plus, as people have said, Jeff ends up being the actual father to Mark's baby, and seemingly settling down with Sophie. He becomes less of a dickhead over time, to the point that by the end he's basically alright, whereas Mark is pretty horrific from start to finish.

I haven't rewatched Season 9 in a while, but do we ever really find out how that whole baby situation ends up? The last time we see Sophie she's a completely wrecked alcoholic who's seemingly incapable of being a mother - are we to assume Jeff's still with her at this point? I don't think there's much indication that Mark doesn't want anything to do with the kid either, he's just kind of left out, and any of Jeff's attempts to "be the actual father" appear more spiteful rather than coming from any genuine goodwill.

[Urinal Cake]

I haven't rewatched Season 9 in a while, but do we ever really find out how that whole baby situation ends up? The last time we see Sophie she's a completely wrecked alcoholic who's seemingly incapable of being a mother - are we to assume Jeff's still with her at this point? I don't think there's much indication that Mark doesn't want anything to do with the kid either, he's just kind of left out, and any of Jeff's attempts to "be the actual father" appear more spiteful rather than coming from any genuine goodwill.

Jeff is out of the picture. Sophie feels she has pretty much run out of 'husband/daddy' options so as a last resort she proposes to Mark that they all get back together as a dysfunctional/fake family and live in nana's cottage.

Yeah I read Jeff's father attempts more as an attempt to annoy Mark then anything else. Jeff I don't think per se is a bad guy but he just hates Mark- he seems tolerated/well liked by the rest of the JLB staff.

[Noodle Lizard]

Jeff is out of the picture. Sophie feels she has pretty much run out of 'husband/daddy' options so as a last resort she proposes to Mark that they all get back together as a dysfunctional/fake family and live in nana's cottage.

That's right, I forgot about that. Thanks!

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Jeff I don't think per se is a bad guy but he just hates Mark- he seems tolerated/well liked by the rest of the JLB staff.

Dobby clearly doesn't like him when he's bullying Mark and Jeff calls her a freak.

[Ferris]

You know, I honestly never thought I could enjoy working because, obviously, when you work, you can't go back to bed until night time, which seems mad, but, I really like it.

Pops into my head all the time.

[Jockice]

That face haunts me, hilariously accurate shithead school bully face. He's one of the most detestable comedy characters I've ever seen. Liz from Grandma's House comes pretty close but Jeff is perfect.

Better than Finchy. Bet he wouldn't be silenced when told to fuck off.