Topic: New Alan Partridge Podcast & This Time S2 Coming

[dr beat]

I think you don’t have as much control when you’re on the telly, the Gibonseseseses probably had to placate a lot of tv execs and so on, harder to do that fanatical attention to detail they’re rightly praised for

I thought This Time was ok, but I did feel there might have been some interference from the execs to make it as Menu says 'accessible' to a mainstream BBC1 audience.  Stuff like the Emily Maitlis bit for example.

[Menu]

I also disliked the regular feature of the OB presenter who doesn't like Alan. It was ok the first couple of times but it just became a bit unpleasant. I don't like it when people gang up on Alan - eg the French guests in KMKY. And, like that moment actually, it didn't seem plausible enough for it to work as a regular feature.

NB: I know lots of other posters have said that realism isn't the best way to judge the show but I feel it should at least be plausible within its own universe. That's why I wanted the co-presenter to turn down the grimacing. Would have been funnier with a straight face. But maybe the BBC execs wanted jokes to be signposted more - who knows.

[the]

Where's all this 'BBC executives caused all the bits I didn't like in This Time' coming from?

[Menu]

Where's all this 'BBC executives caused all the bits I didn't like in This Time' coming from?

Well that's not quite what's being said. A poster above said it was a possibility that the Gibbonseses didn't have as free a reign over everything on BBC1 as they may have had elsewhere and it's a good theory as to why TTWAP isn't as good as other Partridge stuff of recent years. There may have been zero exec influence of course. Or maybe the writers were trying to do something more mainstream. All just theories.

[kalowski]

NB: I know lots of other posters have said that realism isn't the best way to judge the show but I feel it should at least be plausible within its own universe.

This, for me, is the critical point. The death of Forbes Macalister was plausible within the show. The subsequent H&S stuff that allowed Alan to make Knowing Yule was just about plausible too, and played as if perfectly plausible. But TTWAP felt like a grotesque. An audience member fell off the stage and they didn't do anything about it. Someone shouted "Partridge you wanker" on a recorded section and it was left in. Not plausible. Give us a live outdoor broadcast if you want that joke.
Compare to the brilliance of the comic relief sketch where it felt real that SS got pepper spray in the face.

[Junket Pumper]

Does anyone else feel like the episode where Alan meets his children's kids was very clearly influenced by the Beardsley bits in Mince? I'm not saying any lines were nicked, but I thought there was a very similar atmosphere in that episode, with the background music and Alan's naively optimistic attitude about his lack of access to them. Either way I was delighted when they turned up, as another poster has said his being denied access to them was genuinely horrible and in my view over the top of the writers

[markburgle]

This, for me, is the critical point. The death of Forbes Macalister was plausible within the show. The subsequent H&S stuff that allowed Alan to make Knowing Yule was just about plausible too, and played as if perfectly plausible. But TTWAP felt like a grotesque. An audience member fell off the stage and they didn't do anything about it. Someone shouted "Partridge you wanker" on a recorded section and it was left in. Not plausible. Give us a live outdoor broadcast if you want that joke.
Compare to the brilliance of the comic relief sketch where it felt real that SS got pepper spray in the face.

But loads about KMKY is not in-universe plausible at all, so that precedent was really set from day one. The idea of an ancient flintlock musket being left loaded for hundreds of years is totally ludicrous. The way the audience reacts as if they're at a taping of a comedy show rather than witnesses to a chat show going embarrassingly badly is weird. The way Alan has somehow gotten through pre-production rehearsals without knowing that the shock rock band has a song about people being murdered or that the puppeteer can't do his own act makes no sense. And on and on.

Fact is you've just lived with those implausibilities for longer and got used to them (or just were younger at the time and less picky, who knows!)

[kalowski]

I'm going to disagree with you. They are all more plausible, in my opinion.
And the audience thing is wrong too. They're not "in world", they, like us, are watching a comedy show. The audience in TTWAP were in show characters, so there is a difference.
Maybe I have lived with it longer, or maybe they're different enough to show the in world implausible nature of TTWAP.

[Junket Pumper]

One thing I find weird is that the shooting isn't mentioned at all in Alan's dinner with the BBC producer in IAP1.

[the]

Alan writers: Can the second series of This Time match up exactly with the frankly BAFTA-winning setup that lives in my head please? Hit me up and I'll send you an e-mail of exactly what's required, ta. It won't be funny or surprising but by fuck will it be convincing.

[BeardFaceMan]

I'm going to disagree with you. They are all more plausible, in my opinion.
And the audience thing is wrong too. They're not "in world", they, like us, are watching a comedy show. The audience in TTWAP were in show characters, so there is a difference.
Maybe I have lived with it longer, or maybe they're different enough to show the in world implausible nature of TTWAP.

No, I'd say the audience were in-world too, otherwise how would they know what Keith Hunt's catchphrase was?

KMKY was implausible from start to finish because it too, like This Time, was supposed to be a live, mainstream BBC show, there's a ton of shit that happens in that show that wouldn't fly in a real chat show. Because neither TTWAP or KMKY are real shows, they're spoofs, that's why implausible shit happens, they're not going for a facsimile representation of a chat show or The One Show, they take those formats as starting points and exaggerate them for comic effect. So no, in real life someone calling Partridge a wanker wouldn't be left in a pre-filmed clip any more than horse shit would be left on stage throughout a whole show, or a vid clip of Partridge nearly getting knocked over in Paris, or not lingering long enough on his blazer badge for him to explain it, or Partridge not knowing that the dancers were men and not women, or Partridge doing product placement (twice), or any number of other implausible in-universe moments from KMKY.

Honestly, you'll go fucking mad thinking about this stuff.

[markburgle]

They're not "in world", they, like us, are watching a comedy show.

That's the problem I was referring to. It's weird. They're spoofing a thing that would have it's own in-world audience, but where that audience should be sitting is one ported-in from reality that behaves as a normal sitcom audience would (as well as adding to the confusion further by doing some in-world stuff as BeardFace points out).

I'm not saying it kills the show but you can't argue that its plausible.

[the]

Oh dear fucking god not the KMKY audience thing again. They're in-world when they interact with the stars, and they're not in-world when they're laughing at the comedy, thanks.

[QDRPHNC]

Alan writers: Can the second series of This Time match up exactly with the frankly BAFTA-winning setup that lives in my head please? Hit me up and I'll send you an e-mail of exactly what's required, ta. It won't be funny or surprising but by fuck will it be convincing.

Shut down CaB.

[QDRPHNC]

You know what bit of TT truly mystified me? The bit after John (?) dies, and Alan does a grandstanding speech to camera. About a train set? And a squirrel? Or something? I just remember it not making any sense at all in the context of the show and seemed like it had been written for something else.

[notjosh]

I think it's the tonal inconsistencies rather than the logical ones which made This Time less enjoyable for me. It felt like an awkward hybrid of modern, Mid Morning Matters Alan with some of the grotesque caricatures of the KMKY era, and it wasn't helped by the fact that it was a 'live' show with no atmosphere which had clearly been assembled from hundreds of takes. They should have done it as-live with a proper audience, then at the very least we could have argued about whether they're in-world or not.

[Menu]

This, for me, is the critical point. The death of Forbes Macalister was plausible within the show. The subsequent H&S stuff that allowed Alan to make Knowing Yule was just about plausible too, and played as if perfectly plausible. But TTWAP felt like a grotesque. An audience member fell off the stage and they didn't do anything about it. Someone shouted "Partridge you wanker" on a recorded section and it was left in. Not plausible. Give us a live outdoor broadcast if you want that joke.
Compare to the brilliance of the comic relief sketch where it felt real that SS got pepper spray in the face.

Yes exactly. It's a bit lazy really. Makes me wonder if, like with some other AP, they left the writing far too late. Apparently in IAP2 they were still writing new scenes on the day of studio filming.

[Menu]

One thing I find weird is that the shooting isn't mentioned at all in Alan's dinner with the BBC producer in IAP1.

Or that he punched him in the face with a turkey.

[Menu]

No, I'd say the audience were in-world too, otherwise how would they know what Keith Hunt's catchphrase was?

KMKY was implausible from start to finish because it too, like This Time, was supposed to be a live, mainstream BBC show, there's a ton of shit that happens in that show that wouldn't fly in a real chat show. Because neither TTWAP or KMKY are real shows, they're spoofs, that's why implausible shit happens, they're not going for a facsimile representation of a chat show or The One Show, they take those formats as starting points and exaggerate them for comic effect. So no, in real life someone calling Partridge a wanker wouldn't be left in a pre-filmed clip any more than horse shit would be left on stage throughout a whole show, or a vid clip of Partridge nearly getting knocked over in Paris, or not lingering long enough on his blazer badge for him to explain it, or Partridge not knowing that the dancers were men and not women, or Partridge doing product placement (twice), or any number of other implausible in-universe moments from KMKY.

Honestly, you'll go fucking mad thinking about this stuff.

Not that it matters but you are still mixing up realism with plausibility. I don't think anyone is demanding realism but just that things make some sense within its own universe. If any old shit can happen at any time like in, eg. Naked Gun, it becomes a different type of comedy. I think all we're saying is they didn't strike that balance well enough on TTWAP and that's one of the reasons it's not as funny.

[Menu]

I think it's the tonal inconsistencies rather than the logical ones which made This Time less enjoyable for me. It felt like an awkward hybrid of modern, Mid Morning Matters Alan with some of the grotesque caricatures of the KMKY era, and it wasn't helped by the fact that it was a 'live' show with no atmosphere which had clearly been assembled from hundreds of takes. They should have done it as-live with a proper audience, then at the very least we could have argued about whether they're in-world or not.

That's a good point as well. It felt too quiet to be a One Show type programme. There was no atmosphere. I wonder if they considered putting in 'crew laughter/clapping/whooping' like you get on The One Show. It would have been funny to see Alan's reactions to how much of that he was receiving etc.

[BeardFaceMan]

Not that it matters but you are still mixing up realism with plausibility. I don't think anyone is demanding realism but just that things make some sense within its own universe. If any old shit can happen at any time like in, eg. Naked Gun, it becomes a different type of comedy. I think all we're saying is they didn't strike that balance well enough on TTWAP and that's one of the reasons it's not as funny.

Not really. Lets talk about this in-universe thing. People keep saying that the clip of Partridge being called a wanker would never had made it into the show, it's not plausible in it's own universe. Why do you think that? Why do you think that that kind of thing isn't plausible when there is plenty of other stuff in the show you find implausible? It's not that it doens't make sense in-universe, it's just not making sense the universe that you expected it/wanted it to be. And This Time is in the same universe as KMKY, isn't it?

[Menu]

Not really. Lets talk about this in-universe thing. People keep saying that the clip of Partridge being called a wanker would never had made it into the show, it's not plausible in it's own universe. Why do you think that? Why do you think that that kind of thing isn't plausible when there is plenty of other stuff in the show you find implausible? It's not that it doens't make sense in-universe, it's just not making sense the universe that you expected it/wanted it to be. And This Time is in the same universe as KMKY, isn't it?

Good counter-examples are Scissored Isle and The Partridge Pilgrimage(or whatever it was called). The set-up for them was that Alan has produced these documentaries himself. They therefore bear the hallmarks of his beliefs, incompetence, and vanity. It makes them quite sophisticated comedies that improve with multiple viewings.
In contrast, there's no way Alan would have let him being called a wanker through on the air and neither would the people in charge of the show. I mean, it's not important but I do think it's slightly lazy in comparison with those other programmes.
We can probably exchange lots of different examples that prove or disprove our respective points but, as I said earlier, I just feel in this case that the balance wasn't struck quite right.

[popcorn]

And This Time is in the same universe as KMKY, isn't it?

Officially (going by the canon laid out in I, Partridge) it's all in the same universe as The Day Today, the mind boggles.

[Menu]

Officially (going by the canon laid out in I, Partridge) it's all in the same universe as The Day Today, the mind boggles.

And he'd be in his 70s now, which is not how Coogan's playing it.

[Junket Pumper]

What about Alan saying I'm Alan Partridge is a fly on the wall documentary series on Clive Anderson, is that the same universe?

[popcorn]

and is HS Art canon or not ?????

[Menu]

What about Alan saying I'm Alan Partridge is a fly on the wall documentary series on Clive Anderson, is that the same universe?

That made some sense. But then he ruined it by saying, in character on the IAP DVD commentary, that the events on screen were what actually happened but they'd got actors to perform them for the programme! An idea that falls apart after about ten seconds.

Another one like that is when Alan Partridge went to the premiere of Alpha Papa. Ooooh I hope someone got fired for that blunder!

[olliebean]

Regarding the wanker, I quite like the idea that everyone involved with the show dislikes him so much that they'll happily let that sort of thing stay in the edit.

[Captain Crunch]

Nomad audio is up on fourble now

[Sonny_Jim]

And the bit about an Escort doing doughnuts in a car park. "The Ford car doing wheel spins, not a sex worker with a binge eating problem".

I love that he specifies a Ford Escort Mexico, he had to specify it's a rear wheel drive model capable of doing 'proper doughnuts'.  It's those little character touches that make AP stuff one notch above the rest.

Also the bit about highnoon being upset with Alan 'because he probably drives a car with a 1.2 litre engine'.  Lovely stuff.