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March 28, 2024, 08:58:56 AM

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Peep Show

Started by rue the polywhirl, December 29, 2019, 01:10:45 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

BlodwynPig

Quote from: Shoulders?-Stomach! on August 10, 2020, 11:05:44 AM
A bit harsh, it wasn't as big as smash hit caucasian New York-based syndicated US sitcom Coffee Friends, but was still a very popular series in the UK and very much a 'discussed next day by the water cooler'.

*cringe*

Pancake

Quote from: Armin Meiwes on January 03, 2020, 10:48:18 AM
Has anyone ever seen the pilot of the American version (that obviously never turned in to a series)? It is proper weird.

https://youtu.be/8Yredc3ayOE

The top comments under that are better than anything in the show

Shoulders?-Stomach!

Quote from: BlodwynPig on August 10, 2020, 11:26:08 AM
*cringe*

It was more farce/pratfall with elements of observational comedy thrown in, but thanks for your post.

BlodwynPig

Quote from: Shoulders?-Stomach! on August 10, 2020, 12:37:34 PM
It was more farce/pratfall with elements of observational comedy thrown in, but thanks for your post.

It had its moments, but it got sooooo cringey and lachrymose towards the end. Ooooh the odd one is all loveable and weird. Coooooo

Awful.

jsgibble

Quote from: The Mollusk on August 10, 2020, 09:18:05 AM
This line from a post-orgasm Vince is one of my favourites from the show. And 15SH is insanely quotable.

Great line

Hand Solo

Quote from: BlodwynPig on August 10, 2020, 12:41:05 PM
It had its moments, but it got sooooo cringey and lachrymose towards the end. Ooooh the odd one Welsh George Costanza is all loveable and weird. Coooooo

Awful.

Shoulders?-Stomach!

Quote from: BlodwynPig on August 10, 2020, 12:41:05 PM
It had its moments, but it got sooooo cringey and lachrymose towards the end. Ooooh the odd one is all loveable and weird. Coooooo

Awful.

Funnily enough I was discussing its popularity rather what you thought of it.

BlodwynPig

Quote from: Shoulders?-Stomach! on August 10, 2020, 09:00:13 PM
Funnily enough I was discussing its popularity rather what you thought of it.

Your aloofness demeans you.

I was giving my opinion... not what you thought of it. *paulie emoji*

Thomas

I love Pep Sher. Really, that strong word 'love'. Nearing the end of a full rewatch as we speak.

Series 1 and 2 have a grit and a grime that is never truly recaptured. It might be purely visual - I think the show loses something ineffable as its video quality rises into the crisp and pristinely lit uplands of HD. Those first two series bring to mind the bleak coldness of condensation on a kitchen window. Cheap net curtain slick-stuck to 9am glass. Damp. Real. Shared office kitchen. Toni. 'She's the beautiful poison, my friend.'

We continue well (though Jez could easily have binned that dead dog in any number of ways, and I don't think he'd try to pimp out Big Suz like that - perhaps some ideas work better on paper before making it to the screen) - the wedding finale to Series 4 would've been a perfect conclusion. Nevertheless, Series "I do believe in crystal skulls" 5 provides a great continuation.

We do eventually lose our footing in a more significant way in Series 8. There are a couple of late-era classic moments, but also some lesser moments (see previous criticism of Johnson's funeral speech), and I hate to see Mark and Jez fall out so horribly over something so unlikely, in Jez's sudden love for Dobby. 'I'm willing to sacrifice my closest friendship for it.' Brr. And there are lines at this time that sound more like comedian David Mitchell than character Mark Corrigan.

But Series 9 manages to wrangle us back on track, and sees us out with a perfect ending. Little has changed but the hairlines.

shagatha crustie

Quote from: Thomas on August 10, 2020, 11:00:31 PM
Series 1 and 2 have a grit and a grime that is never truly recaptured. It might be purely visual - I think the show loses something ineffable as its video quality rises into the crisp and pristinely lit uplands of HD. Those first two series bring to mind the bleak coldness of condensation on a kitchen window. Cheap net curtain slick-stuck to 9am glass. Damp. Real. Shared office kitchen. Toni. 'She's the beautiful poison, my friend.'

Probs not a controversial opinion on here but this grimness is what Peep Show needed to be at its greatest and it totally lost it. As the budget gets higher it becomes cartoonish and false.

The writing is still brilliant enough in S3 and most of 4 that some of the magic is sustained, but it was always more evocative of its male Brit 30-something psychosexual deso with the slightly lower production values. The first series FEELS like walking home from work with your headphones in and bags of shopping and it's dark even though it's only 5.30 and you're single and you fancy everyone and you're starting to find parties more tiring than they're worth.

sutin

Quote from: Thomas on August 10, 2020, 11:00:31 PM
But Series 9 manages to wrangle us back on track, and sees us out with a perfect ending. Little has changed but the hairlines.

The ending has never sat well with me. It could be the ending of any episode. I'm not saying it needed a bigger finale but... even if the camera lingered on them a little while longer it would have been better.

idunnosomename

Big Suze was way funnier as an unseen character

Hand Solo

Wasn't the 'Pimping out Big Suze' episode the first one where Paterson Joseph actually forgot how to play Johnson? And he went all American or whatever, like a parody of Johnson?

BlodwynPig

Quote from: Thomas on August 10, 2020, 11:00:31 PM
I love Pep Sher. Really, that strong word 'love'. Nearing the end of a full rewatch as we speak.

Series 1 and 2 have a grit and a grime that is never truly recaptured. It might be purely visual - I think the show loses something ineffable as its video quality rises into the crisp and pristinely lit uplands of HD. Those first two series bring to mind the bleak coldness of condensation on a kitchen window. Cheap net curtain slick-stuck to 9am glass. Damp. Real. Shared office kitchen..


Not wrong. 2003, remember when that was the future. Looks so squalid now. Although would gladly go back there to soak up that retro-squalid rather than the shit we have today.

frajer

I also like in the first few series that Jez and Mark look reassuringly tired/crumpled/ill all the time. No gloss.

ASFTSN

Quote from: sutin on August 10, 2020, 11:37:22 PM
The ending has never sat well with me. It could be the ending of any episode.

I think you get a non-POV shot of both of their faces in the frame at the same time which never happened elsewhere.

Sure this has been mentioned before but anyone else think the ending's a possible nod to Withnail and I right? With the wolves on the telly?

sutin

Quote from: ASFTSN on August 11, 2020, 09:51:15 AM
I think you get a non-POV shot of both of their faces in the frame at the same time which never happened elsewhere.

Yeah, I get it and I like the idea, but I don't think it was well executed. I feel like it should have been stretched out a little longer.

Thomas

Quote from: frajer on August 11, 2020, 09:31:28 AM
I also like in the first few series that Jez and Mark look reassuringly tired/crumpled/ill all the time. No gloss.

I think there's a correlation between Mark's hair getting neater and the show feeling less real.

paruses

Quote from: idunnosomename on August 11, 2020, 01:55:41 AM
Big Suze was way funnier as an unseen character

Totally agree. Think she is my least favourite character onscreen - the portrayal makes her too thick and childlike.

Nancy's gullibility was done much better.

Also, I am in love with Nancy.

frajer

Yeah Nancy's great. Perfect level of just-about-attainable-but-punching-above-his-weight for Jez and it was clear she'd quickly get bored of him no matter what. Elena was funny in her self-absorption but just diminishing returns of Nancy.

Also as a former Bradford resident, it was very amusing to imagine Nancy off her nut on meth in the Bradford IMAX.

BlodwynPig

Quote from: frajer on August 11, 2020, 11:27:18 AM
Yeah Nancy's great. Perfect level of just-about-attainable-but-punching-above-his-weight for Jez and it was clear she'd quickly get bored of him no matter what. Elena was funny in her self-absorption but just diminishing returns of Nancy.

Also as a former Bradford resident, it was very amusing to imagine Nancy off her nut on meth in the Bradford IMAX.

QuoteI'd ravage her on a urine-soaked mattress in the dark.

daf

#81
Just bought the slimline series 1-9 repackage DVD set & going through it to check everything played OK (having had duds in the past I always do this) -  I realised I don't think I've ever seen a single episode of series 1 or 2 before . . . or 8 or 9 either!!

Now all I need is some free time to watch these buggers!

Icehaven

Quote from: ASFTSN on August 11, 2020, 09:51:15 AM

Sure this has been mentioned before but anyone else think the ending's a possible nod to Withnail and I right? With the wolves on the telly?

Yeah I think it definitely is.

Icehaven

Quote from: Armin Meiwes on January 03, 2020, 10:48:18 AM
Has anyone ever seen the pilot of the American version (that obviously never turned in to a series)? It is proper weird.

https://youtu.be/8Yredc3ayOE

I only watched a few minutes but they appear to have done away with the main point of the whole thing, the POV filming. Renders it even more pointless.

popcorn


Something nice about the first two series is that Jez's musical ability is pitched right to be believable. He's competent but really naff, in much the same way Spinal Tap were- 'This is Outrageous' is bad, but nevertheless kind of professional. This was good because it made it plausible that he might waste his life believing he was going to make it one day. Later on (and from the outset of the US pilot), he hardly seems to know anything about making music at all, which is a bit less believable.

I think the bit where Jez thinks "...could rape him?" about the unconcious Mark is a worse lapse in writing judgement than the dog-eating bit.

Thomas

Quote from: Astronaut Omens on August 11, 2020, 10:38:27 PM
I think the bit where Jez thinks "...could rape him?" about the unconcious Mark is a worse lapse in writing judgement than the dog-eating bit.

Do you reckon? It strikes me as Jez marvelling at his sudden power over Mark. He's not actually considering it. It's tasteless, of course, even shocking - but Jezzy. It's a private internal monologue after all, laid uncomfortably bare.

The dog bit suffers several layers of practical unlikeliness.

Noodle Lizard

Quote from: Astronaut Omens on August 11, 2020, 10:38:27 PMI think the bit where Jez thinks "...could rape him?" about the unconcious Mark is a worse lapse in writing judgement than the dog-eating bit.

One of the funniest/most relatable uses of the internal monologue, I think. I used to have similar thoughts about poisoning my parents or whoever else I was cooking for - it's not that you're actually considering it, but it flashes into your mind that you could. Bill Burr has a good bit which I think taps into similar thought processes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AzY0gG8QSM

Noodle Lizard

Quote from: shagatha crustie on August 10, 2020, 11:22:22 PM
Probs not a controversial opinion on here but this grimness is what Peep Show needed to be at its greatest and it totally lost it. As the budget gets higher it becomes cartoonish and false.

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.

But yes, not a controversial opinion at all, I think most fans would agree it looked "better" in the earlier days. But is it controversial to wish they'd kept the theme music from the first season instead of switching to Harvey Danger?

crankshaft

Quote from: Noodle Lizard on August 11, 2020, 11:09:09 PMBut is it controversial to wish they'd kept the theme music from the first season instead of switching to Harvey Danger?

It is not. Replacing the insular, slightly creepy original theme with a horrid piece of generic shouty rock was a mistake.