Peep Show

[Hand Solo]

"I'm your boyfriend now, Sophie! Wanna suck face?"

[VelourSpirit]

I don't think it's even that the budget grew especially (aside from Mitchell/Webb probably commanding higher salaries), but with the advent of HD a lot of channels started implementing some pretty strict broadcast quality standards that the first two seasons probably wouldn't have met, so they were sort of forced to use digital HD cameras rather than video/DV, which in turn forces things like "good" lighting and makeup etc.

it's like how limmy shot some of his homemade show and then the bbc told him to redo it with a broadcast standard camera. it's meant to be homemade! it's so limiting, making everything look pristine. if jam was made today it wouldn't look nearly as nightmarish.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Jeff's face when Mark shoots him 'with a bullet made of Scottish finance regulations' is very much identical to Jeff Spicoli's from Fast Times at Ridgemont High when Mr Hand gives his pizza to the class to eat. A little moment when Jeff gets fucked.

[good times]

On a full rewatch at the moment and season 7 is where any distinct decline in quality begins.

The comedy writing itself maintains a fairly high standard, but the character writing is pretty dreadful at points - turning Mark into a complete cunt past the point of it being believable (the Christmas episode in particular)

The Christmas ep on the whole for me is a series low point, with Mark's parents (his dad in particular) being completely out of synch with Mark and everything that's been hinted at in every season prior.

Perhaps it's just me but I'd always pictured Mark's dad as a greyer, more distant version of him with whom he barely has a relationship. An emotional void, and a bit of a pushover.

Instead they cast him as a slightly terrifying, sexist, racist psychotic cunt and it just doesn't work at all. I feel bad for the actor as it was a decent performance, but the whole thing feels like it's been put together by someone who has never seen an episode of Peep Show before.

Jez's mum in an earlier season on the other hand was spot on, and I think Mark's sister to be fair was well written and cast.

[jobotic]

Watched "Nether Zone" from Series 7 the other night (although I had to look that up just now). Never seen it before. It's definitely lost something since earlier series, their exchanges don't ring true like they used to. Sound more like sitcom quotes than things people might say. Although I did like this sitcom quote:

Jeremy Usborne: We need to relax.

Mark Corrigan: You can't relax! We've got to fight, worry, speculate, tut, pace, swear!

Jeremy Usborne: Why?

Mark Corrigan: Because it's an emergency, and in an emergency you watch breaking news and count your tins of butter beans, you don't sit in the garden and put on Kiss FM!

Jeremy Usborne: Dude, we're here for the duration. Let's chill out.

Mark Corrigan: We're have an obligation to be anxious, it's a mark of respect for the gravity of the situation!

[Lemming]

Series 7 does have shaky characterisation but that's a problem that begins in Series 4 IMO. It's hard to take the characters seriously anymore after Mark and Jez get together to falsely accuse the personal trainer guy of rape, and eat a dog, and give a presentation at work while pretending to be dying of brain disease, and try to section and counter-section each other, etc. Agreed about the dialogue turning into sitcom quotes, but again that's something that really takes off in Series 4.

All that matters for me from S4 onwards is that the comedy is there, and luckily Series 7 has:

"The brush! The brush! We're getting fucked by the BRUSH!"

and the Christmas episode is worth it just for

"think what it's doing to the mechanism"

[Ferris]

"...being Jeremy's mad pizza-butler"

[Bad Ambassador]

Instead they cast him as a slightly terrifying, sexist, racist psychotic cunt and it just doesn't work at all. I feel bad for the actor as it was a decent performance, but the whole thing feels like it's been put together by someone who has never seen an episode of Peep Show before.

I maintain that Clive Merrison decided to play him as the "I Don't Believe It" character from the Daily Mail.

[pigamus]

On a full rewatch at the moment and season 7 is where any distinct decline in quality begins.

The comedy writing itself maintains a fairly high standard, but the character writing is pretty dreadful at points - turning Mark into a complete cunt past the point of it being believable (the Christmas episode in particular)

The Christmas ep on the whole for me is a series low point, with Mark's parents (his dad in particular) being completely out of synch with Mark and everything that's been hinted at in every season prior.

Perhaps it's just me but I'd always pictured Mark's dad as a greyer, more distant version of him with whom he barely has a relationship. An emotional void, and a bit of a pushover.

Instead they cast him as a slightly terrifying, sexist, racist psychotic cunt and it just doesn't work at all. I feel bad for the actor as it was a decent performance, but the whole thing feels like it's been put together by someone who has never seen an episode of Peep Show before.

Jez's mum in an earlier season on the other hand was spot on, and I think Mark's sister to be fair was well written and cast.

Don't see why Mark's dad doesn't work. If he were a pushover then Mark would have done history at uni like he wanted to. Sounds like you've got more of an image of David Mitchell's dad than Mark's.

[An tSaoi]

In an early episode, Mark's career advisor (therapist) does a word association exercise. When given the word "father", Mark internally says "führer". Doesn't sound like a distant pushover.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Ah yes, easy to forget that given his response to "mother" was to exclaim "FUCK!".

[Ferris]

Yeah Mark's dad isn't the problem with that episode - apart from the excellent dialogue and observations which are consistently brilliant throughout the whole show ("chicken run"), it's a bit of a stinker.

Why does Mark scream at Jez about turkey? Why do they not know each other's xmas traditions despite having lived together for ~20 years? And after his long term girlfriend telling him to fuck off and leaving, why is he delighted to shout that ending line?

[Sebastian Cobb]

I think Sophie's parents were the best overall. From her dad being an old-moneyed stuck up old bigot to the utterly bizarre birthday traditions. The thing with the barn was far fetched and Jez shagging the mum was predictable (but worth it for his shit-eating grin and the mental affirmation he was James Bond) but it all worked within the show I think.

[Bad Ambassador]

Ah yes, easy to forget that given his response to "mother" was to exclaim "FUCK!".

His mental response is "Sophie", to which he yells "Fuck!".

Why does Mark scream at Jez about turkey? Why do they not know each other's xmas traditions despite having lived together for ~20 years?

I don't think pretending not to have bought a turkey is an Usbourne tradition, that's not how I read it anyway. It's mentioned in the episode that Mark and Jez have never spent Christmas together, and could have fallen into the trap that people they know celebrate Christmas the same way they do.

[Sebastian Cobb]

My mistake, it has been some time.

[Ferris]

I don't think pretending not to have bought a turkey is an Usbourne tradition, that's not how I read it anyway. It's mentioned in the episode that Mark and Jez have never spent Christmas together, and could have fallen into the trap that people they know celebrate Christmas the same way they do.

I was referring to the gift-giving ("in my family we do lots of jokey stuff..." "oh, in mine we try really very hard"). I accept they may not have spent christmas together, but surely they've given each other prezzies before.

I found the turkey reaction very odd and over the top. I think the idea was "oh the stress is getting to him!" but it wasn't amusingly manic and deranged, it was vitriolic and out of nowhere. Also why isn't he telling his parents about Dobby? It all seemed very weird to me, and not "haha funny old repressed Mark" weird, just... strange.

Anyway, it has some great stuff in it but there are stronger episodes for a rewatch.

[Ferris]

Here's another one that never made sense to me in the show's logic - if Dobby is moving in, why does Jez immediately have to leave? It's a 2 bedroom flat.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Wasn't Dobby finding polite excuses to avoid moving in? Perhaps she hinted Jez would be in the way and Mark immediately gave him his marching orders, bit mean but then so is misappropriating communal funds to patch up the mould in your flat so your girlfriend will move in with you.

[Ferris]

I wondered if it was more Mark (over)committing and "moving in together" becomes "building a life together in our home" but it always struck me as odd.

[Sebastian Cobb]

I think they're more or less the same the same thing - he's dead serious and she's hesitant and politely finding excuses.

But I guess it plays in to how he keeps going on to Jez about various women being "the one", as if there's an imagined future and all he really needs to do to fully realise it is to find the right person to play that part and everything else will fall into place. Of course while he's doing that he always manages to screw any real enjoyment or chance of it up by just playing things by ear and not scheming.

[Ferris]

I think they're more or less the same the same thing - he's dead serious and she's hesitant and politely finding excuses.

But I guess it plays in to how he keeps going on to Jez about various women being "the one", as if there's an imagined future and all he really needs to do to fully realise it is to find the right person to play that part and everything else will fall into place. Of course while he's doing that he always manages to screw any real enjoyment or chance of it up by just playing things by ear and not scheming.

Yeah that's well put.

[markburgle]

I found the turkey reaction very odd and over the top. I think the idea was "oh the stress is getting to him!" but it wasn't amusingly manic and deranged, it was vitriolic and out of nowhere.

Made perfect sense I thought. I saw it as an instance where the person is not just blowing up about that particular let-down (as he sees it), but all the previous let-downs as well - combined with his panic about having to play host to his parents (which pits his control-freakery in direct competition with his desperate need for their approval). As far he's concerned Jez has fucked it for him.

He tries to hide Dobby from them because she's an eccentric loose cannon. You see the over-solicitous, "normie" face he's used to adopting for his parents - he instinctively knows Dobby will provoke the kind of hostile reaction from his Dad that no doubt led to him adopting that pose in the first place. His worlds are on a collision course and he's trying to avoid it. 

[Lemming]

Love the turkey thing because it's one of those moments where you can really feel the off-screen events that led up to it. Mark and Jeremy dividing up the tasks for the Christmas Day nightmare, Mark making absolutely certain that Jeremy would remember to get the crucial turkey and badgering him about it daily - "you're on turkey and veg, Jez" - Mark shitting himself during the days leading up to Christmas and fretting about the turkey almost constantly, and then finally exploding with rage at the utterly flippant way Jeremy lets him down with "I thought you were getting the turkey".

Jeremy's line about how he "spent ages researching" the organic turkey gets me as well, because you can picture him putting uncharacteristic genuine care into getting the best possible turkey just because he knows how important it is to Mark, and then giddily hiding it in the drawer the night before to play his lighthearted "Christmas joke", intending to give Mark a good laugh to take the stress off, only for it to end with him getting screamed at and called a fucking moron. Absolutely lost my shit when I saw it at first airing, and it only gets progressively funnier the more you think about it.

[Ferris]

You think the turkey joke is good, do you?

YOU'RE ALL FUCKHEADS! YOU TOTAL FUCKING WANKERS!

etc

[Sebastian Cobb]

That wasn't very peep-show-y.

[markburgle]

You think the turkey joke is good, do you?

YOU'RE ALL FUCKHEADS! YOU TOTAL FUCKING WANKERS!

etc

That was very odd and over the top. Didn't strike me as convincing for your character at all

[good times]

Don't see why Mark's dad doesn't work. If he were a pushover then Mark would have done history at uni like he wanted to. Sounds like you've got more of an image of David Mitchell's dad than Mark's.

In an early episode, Mark's career advisor (therapist) does a word association exercise. When given the word "father", Mark internally says "führer". Doesn't sound like a distant pushover.

Fair fucks, both of those correspond very well to the character seen in the Christmas episode.

The early references to his dad that had stuck in my mind were the congratulations card reference (a reference to his dad finally displaying some kind of emotion) the BA shares going kaput (which conjured a slightly tragic character) and other vague comments about him being a bit distant/quiet... but maybe I am just misremembering/inventing those.

I also interpreted the early episode where he calls Johnson dad were part of Mark looking for a strong father figure. While his dad when finally seen in the Christmas ep is blatantly a cunt, he seems to at least fulfil some kind of stereotypical 'strong' male stereotype rather than an absent dad type character.

[Noodle Lizard]

I never got the idea that Mark's dad was a pushover, just emotionally distant and disapproving. Doesn't Mark also refer to him "doing his unfunny gay voice" as a way of demeaning him?

EDIT: Yes, it's from the Mugging episode:

lf Dad knew he'd call me a big Jessie in his extremely unfunny "gay voice".

[Magnum Valentino]

I watched that episode this afternoon and the way the taller mugger musically pleads "aw lend us your phone" before switching to the demanding tone is absolutely hilarious.

[thenoise]

I watched that episode this afternoon and the way the taller mugger musically pleads "aw lend us your phone" before switching to the demanding tone is absolutely hilarious.

Yes. They aren't even bothering to try to be threatening as its abundantly clear that Mark won't put up any fight whatsoever.