Dead Pixels

[Virgo76]

is there a thread on this already?
Promising E4 sitcom about gamers.
Worth a mention surely?
Alexa Davies very good in it.

[gilbertharding]

Can only see fairly dismissive mentions of it in threads to do with Ghosts and Stath Lets Flats. I watched the first episode (S1 E1) the other night - thought it might be OK...

[Better Midlands]

I haven't seen one before surprisingly, I enjoy the show. Alexa Davies & Will Merrick are great in it and have some genuinely funny lines, they should drop the American guy and the noob and centre it more around their apartment making it more claustrophobic.

[Icehaven]

After seeing the ads for the new series, I tried to watch S1E1 a few weeks back but turned it off after less than 5 minutes as there'd already been about four vagina and dick jokes. Nowt wrong with that per se, just not my thing.

[gilbertharding]

Yes, the writers definitely wanted the viewer to know just how many synonyms for sex Alexa Davies knew. To be fair, it calmed down towards the end of the episode. I might watch more (though I might not); it was quite good apart from that.

[olliebean]

After seeing the ads for the new series, I tried to watch S1E1 a few weeks back but turned it off after less than 5 minutes as there'd already been about four vagina and dick jokes. Nowt wrong with that per se, just not my thing.

I did the same the first time I watched it, but I gave it another go recently and it does get better. There's a lot more to it than vagina and dick jokes, which aren't nearly as prevalent as the first few minutes suggests.

[dissolute ocelot]

It reminds me a bit of Fresh Meat in that while it's a comedy, it is quite sympathetic towards its characters and there's a certain amount of lightweight soapy drama. I just watched the first episode of series 2 and it looks like it could be going in an amusing direction with

Spoiler alert

all the stuff about mainstreaming/casualisation/commercialisation of games

[close]

as well as

Spoiler alert

jokes about killing children

[close]

. It's not particularly original comedy, but it knows its subject and audience and characters, and both Alexa Davies and Charlotte Ritchie (who was Oregon in Fresh Meat) are excellent, a nice, almost mother-daughter vibe between them. And while I can understand people being annoyed with Alexa Davies's character, she does remind me of people I've known, and a type of nerdy yet not asexual young woman who's seldom seen on TV in the big book of sitcom stereotypes.

[sweeper]

Her delivery of

Spoiler alert

'a goodly amount of spannery things'

[close]

and

Spoiler alert

'a six-egg breakfast'

[close]

in episode 3 have had me giggling for days.

Nice to see some familiar faces in that episode, too.

When this show knows what it's about - melancholy, obsessive British people - it's very good indeed.

[dissolute ocelot]

I've now watched all series 2. It does have some very funny bits: Meg trying to be normal, all the stuff about defrosting the freezer, Nicky's cookery (

Spoiler alert

flanks and yams

[close]

). And always nice to see Rose Matafeo. It does seem, as has been said, that Usman and Russel are increasingly peripheral: Russel can usually inject some energy and silliness on his brief appearances, but Usman seems to be largely repeating the same joke from season 1 about him ignoring his family - there was some mildly amusing stuff with him (

Spoiler alert

his therapist and fan-feather invention, but the dead Koreans seemed a bit "here's something wacky I saw on the internet"

[close]

), and it does break up the episodes but is never among my highlights. Overall the season is not perfect, but definitely entertaining.

Assuming it goes to another series, I can't tell if they're trying to

Spoiler alert

genuinely set up some kind of romance between Meg and Nicky: them having weird feelings, bonding over their creepy fake kid, and then the big fight at the end. I'm not really sure how well it would work putting them together, since it's funnier seeing the cast interact with other human beings outside their bubble.

[close]

[j_u_d_a_s]

Doesn't work for me at all and the primary reason why is... even as a lifelong gamer, I don't really get invested in watching other people play an online game. The Guild succeeded because it was about a group of misfits who met in an MMORPG trying to get by in the real world (and incidentally had a bad mother character who ignored her kids, hmmm...) and had actual stakes to it.

Meg and Nicky just want to play Kingdom Scrolls and... they can. Even in the real world Meg seems to be doing ok at her job while the storyline where Nicky spends nearly all his money on loot boxes but it never actually feels like he's in danger. Usmen and Russell serve nearly zero purpose and neither are that funny on their own terms either. However Alison getting more of a prominent role in series 2 was a smart move, there's actual tension because she's the only character not playing an MMORPG... shame all 3 flatmates speak in the same overwritten yet half baked zinger heavy manner like they've come straight out of a Thick of It/Peep Show crossover fanfic.

Neither Meg or Nicky are likeable or compelling characters to watch either. I don't believe in any of their actions and choices. None of this rings true and I'm someone who's firmly embedded in the culture they're meant to represent.

[dissolute ocelot]

I agree the video game aspect isn't the funniest thing, and the first season had more focus on them doing quests and stuff, which has been scaled down (although I liked the creepy little boy). Most of the humour comes from the central characters' pathetic attempts at dating and at normal life more generally. It's definitely a sitcom about young people who can't be adults, and even Alison is only pretending very unconvincingly to be an adult. (While it turns out that Meg is actually very good at her job and possibly a proper adult in disguise.) I know it's tiresome when people are "look at me, I just adulted" when they paid a bill or changed a lightbulb or something, but Dead Pixels is a step above that.

[sweeper]

Neither Meg or Nicky are likeable or compelling characters to watch either. I don't believe in any of their actions and choices.

Not even vaguely affected by

Spoiler alert

Meg's stoic tears after being dumped by Handyman Greg

[close]

? Seemed like a believable action to me.

I thought series 1 of this was ok, but series 2 is pretty great. The difference I think is a change in emphasis from jokes about 'people like this' to jokes about 'these particular people', from the general to the specific.

Plus, the three leads are decent comedy actors - the 'healthy balance' scene is a great bit of improv.   

[j_u_d_a_s]

Not even vaguely affected by

Spoiler alert

Meg's stoic tears after being dumped by Handyman Greg

[close]

? Seemed like a believable action to me.

Spoiler alert

While she sits in his front room still. That attempt at a poignant moment between Meg and Nicky falls flat because neither of them show any concern, or even any opinion, about each other outside of one or two moments. There's a possible angle that both of them are so socially backward they can't admit their feelings for each other but that won't work here because both Meg and Nicky don't seem to have any problem attracting partners. Meg has only been shown to be looking for sex rather than a relationship so her stoic teary moment just feels lazily tacked on. All of Dead Pixels episodes feel like a first draft really.

[close]

[sweeper]

There's often a disparity between what a person says and does and what they actually mean and want. It's a cornerstone of British comedy, embedded in the national character - we're all bluster, patching over our vulnerability and sharp sense of failure.

There's a clear sense of Meg and Nicky caring deeply for each other throughout, and a pathological fear of what that means on both their parts. Which I would argue is a form social awkwardness.

[j_u_d_a_s]

There's often a disparity between what a person says and does and what they actually mean and want. It's a cornerstone of British comedy, embedded in the national character - we're all bluster, patching over our vulnerability and sharp sense of failure.

There's a clear sense of Meg and Nicky caring deeply for each other throughout, and a pathological fear of what that means on both their parts. Which I would argue is a form social awkwardness.

So why do both Meg and Nicky spend most of episode 3 chasing after different people? And do either of their relationships really convince? When they both attempt to chat up their future partners, it's done with that awful sub-Gervais contrived awkward dialogue yet they still get lucky. Them both trying to pull makes a decent episode but it's set up as a several episode arc. If there's no stakes, nothing to lose, then why should I be invested in this at all? Even when they do lose their partners, it doesn't convince because there wasn't any convincing relationship at all. Meg and Nicky only care about each other when the script calls for a moment, most the time they just gang up on Alison.

[sweeper]

Bravado. They're avoiding what they really want, then showing off to convince one another of the opposite.

It's was pretty heavily indicated in series 1 too.

[j_u_d_a_s]

Bravado. They're avoiding what they really want, then showing off to convince one another of the opposite.

It's was pretty heavily indicated in series 1 too.

In literally one scene. A 'will they, won't they' only works when they're in conflict and forced together by circumstance rather than choice. Meg and Nicky live together and spend pretty much all their free time together ingame. Having rewatched episode 3, pretty much every character speaks in the same overly written way. It's a fundamentally badly written show.

[sweeper]

In literally one scene. A 'will they, won't they' only works when they're in conflict and forced together by circumstance rather than choice. Meg and Nicky live together and spend pretty much all their free time together ingame. Having rewatched episode 3, pretty much every character speaks in the same overly written way. It's a fundamentally badly written show.

They spend time together entirely by choice in When Harry Met Sally, perhaps the best will they won't they? ever, so I don't buy that argument. It's perfectly reasonable for people to live together and have troubling boners for one another. Perhaps there's an aspect of contrivance in this but, you know - it's a sitcom. It's kind of the name of the game.

One person's overly written is another's finely honed prose, I suppose. I really like the tone of this show, it's pleasing to the ear.