Game On

[Custard]

Was a big fan of this in the 90's, especially the series with Ben Chaplin, before he sodded off to the Hollywoods

Neil Stuke was a surprisingly decent replacement, but Chaplin was perfect in the role of Matthew

Was utterly in love/lust with Sam Janus at the time, what an astoundingly good looking woman. She was really good as Mandy too, and adds a much needed female perspective to all the laddishness that was in at the time and is all over the show. She continuously shows up the sexist comments from Matthew for the tired shite they are, whilst remaining consistently funny and likeable herself

Martin is quite good, though can be a bit annoying at times. Especially when you watch 3 or 4 episodes in a row. Bit of a thankless task being the straight man in such a show, mind. Another solid comedic performance though, from Matthew Cottle

As a show and a comedy it's stood up surprisingly well, I thought it'd feel far more dated, but some of the themes explored feel fresh to today, the agraphobia of Matthew, Mandy wanting to be taken seriously in her career, the Chinese takeaway getting your name slightly wrong

The first episode in particular gave me and Mrs Custard plenty of laffs, and she'd not seen it before. Dare I say it, it's aged better than the slightly similar Men Behaving Badly

It's not a classic or even that good, but I always had fond memories of it from when it was first on, so I was pleasantly surprised to find how much I still enjoy it as a 40 year man

Tune in next Sunday for the Babes In The Wood thread!

[BlodwynPig]

I liked it a lot. Never watched Men Behaving Badly as that series was more of a sit-com, whereas this seemed to have a bit more abstraction and emotion.

[Icehaven]

I loved Game On, felt a bit abandoned when Ben Chaplin left but still watched it to the end. It was on when I was an angsty Manics fan teenager so I liked how it had a lightly worn darkness, Matthew looking in the mirror for slightly too long and saying "Christ I'm bored", or waking Mandy and Martin up blasting "From Despair To Where?" in the middle of the night. I've never really rewatched it since the 90s apart from stumbling across the odd episode here and there so maybe I will.

It's superficial I know but I always thought the Matthew replacement should have looked more like Ben Chaplin, or at least been similarly absurdly good looking, as partly what made the character interesting was how at odds his appearance was with his situation and mental state. Neil Stuke was far easier to see as a shut in so it wasn't as much of a contrast.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Watching it as a kid, I don't think I ever realised that Matthew was supposed to be agoraphobic. I just thought he was some dickhead who was always carrying a surfboard for no reason.

[TheBrownBottle]

I remember watching it in my early teens, enjoying it without actually laughing at it.  A bit like reading The Beano a few years before that - only with Sam Janus providing different thoughts to Minnie the Minx. I'd happily give it a re-watch, to see what jokes my younger self may have missed. 

[magval]

I watched some of it last year and came in here to check out the old threads to see what was thought about it, and apparently the episode with the band upstairs is held in total reverence as a kind of sitcom classic. What do youse think about that, does that one stick out in the memory?

[Hand Solo]

Tune in next Sunday for the Babes In The Wood thread!

I just googled this, and that doesn't sound funny at all.

I watched some of it last year and came in here to check out the old threads to see what was thought about it, and apparently the episode with the band upstairs is held in total reverence as a kind of sitcom classic. What do youse think about that, does that one stick out in the memory?

It was a bunch of middle class wankers trying to be political by singing about the plight of the homeless, wasn't it? Therefore quite accurate and funny: "I'm on the streets, I'm in the gutter, it's years since I had bread and butter" and the guitarist was called The Fury. Matthew having to go outside for the gig and breaking down crying that gets taken as performance art by Dogs Bollocks magazine.

Stuke wasn't really a good replacement but they did explore Matthew being gay with the Jason character despite being a homophobe, before they went totally bad farce with Matthew having his dick caught in a hoover and an actual team of territorials come in to remove it and Martin having a girlfriend and just talking about shagging all the time. Mandy's class struggle with her posh boyfriend Charlie and Martin splitting up and moping about his baby also were the death-knell.

[Dewt]

Some of the dialogue and content in Game On is shockingly good. For me it is a nostalgic pleasure too, bringing me right back to the times when I was young enough to watch TV without being annoyed by it.

[beanheadmcginty]

Whenever I'm on a bus I'm reminded of the "I come waterfalls" bit.

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

Ginger tosser

[Marner and Me]

Is that a turd on a string?

[Non Stop Dancer]

Whenever I'm on a bus I'm reminded of the "I come waterfalls" bit.

I always thought it was "I cum like the falls" as in Niagara Falls.

Love the show and think both Matts are equally as good in different ways. Probably time to dig out the box set.

[Non Stop Dancer]

Also, "They're spunk, Dad."

[Marner and Me]

Yeah they're strictly indoor 'roos

[bomb_dog]

"Are you, RIPPING THE PISS, out of The Fury?"

[Utter Shit]

Yeah always liked Game On, although I definitely prefer the Ben Chaplin episodes. The whole thing worked on the basis that you think Matthew has it all - young, confident, good looking and rich - except that he can't leave his house, while his neurotic and far more self-critical housemates have happier and more fulfilling lives. Replacing him with Neil Stuke just didn't work in the same way, because he didn't look like he had the world at his feet.

For a barely-remembered sitcom it had a few appearances from people who went on to become big stars as well - Eddie Marsan, David Harewood, even Ben Chaplin himself did a few films IIRC.

Always worth mentioning that the final episode is completely fucking mental.

[gib]

proto Peep Show

[idunnosomename]

i don't know why they didn't change the character. Neil Stuke was superb but he seemed like a completely different person. They did a post credits shot making fun of changing actors of course.

I think you could have changed the role from an agoraphobic live-in landlord to a shut-in one and kept the dynamic the same

[Crabwalk]

I still think 50% of any goodwill towards the show is subconsciously due to 'Where I Find My Heaven' being such a stonking theme tune.

[Utter Shit]

Oh yeah absolute belter.

[Dewt]

It felt so good being 11 years old, staying up on a Friday night to watch a repeat and hearing that theme.

God I missed broadcast TV, and the 90s, and being less worldly.

[Utter Shit]

FWIW I don't think it has aged better than Men Behaving Badly, because I think Men Behaving Badly has aged well. It was wrongly lumped in with the lad culture of the time, because Gary and Tony acted like the stereotypical lager louts, but they were always pulled up on it.

They objectified women, got pissed and obnoxious, mistreated their girlfriends etc but you were never supposed to side with them. Dorothy and Deborah held the power in their relationships, and the men were generally shown to be juvenile, pathetic and a little bit sad. For me it's one of the great British sitcoms, consistently excellent after the patchy first series with Harry Enfield.

[Hand Solo]

For a barely-remembered sitcom it had a few appearances from people who went on to become big stars as well - Eddie Marsan, David Harewood, even Ben Chaplin himself did a few films IIRC.

That's why he didn't do the second series, he buggered off to Hollywood to film The Truth About Cats And Dogs, a truly dreadful looking romcom where the central conceit is a man falls in love with an attractive brunette woman over the phone, but thinks she's her attractive blonde woman friend, what will happen?!

He robbed me of seeing him perform this scene properly, and all the homoerotic stuff with Jason.

Always worth mentioning that the final episode is completely fucking mental.

The final episode of series 3? Doesn't Mandy go to get married but Archie gets beheaded in a car accident on the way to the wedding or something vaguely like that?

[Utter Shit]

The final episode of series 3? Doesn't Mandy go to get married but Archie gets beheaded in a car accident on the way to the wedding or something vaguely like that?

Yep, and then there is an odd scene where she strips off her wedding dress in the middle of a field. Is it pandering to the male viewers who want to see her in her underwear? But why have her in a muddy field, crying? Weird weird weird.

[Dewt]

And didn't they talk her down from killing her and Martin by Martin reminding her of cute dogs?

[Marner and Me]

"Are you, RIPPING THE PISS, out of The Fury?"

One of the best lines that is.

I think it is my favourite comedy. I grew up watching Neil Stuke as Matthew, then got the DVD boxset and really had to adjust to Ben Chaplin. I think Ben edges it slightly he is effortlessly good looking, and as said before has the world at his feet. The scene where he orders the pizza is class. Plays it cool on the phone, dresses up well. Then gets proper cold feet is class.

The writing quality dropped off in the 3rd series. Still quite funny in places though. I'm shagging her scene being a highlight off the top of my head. Last episode was weakest of the lot. I can't recall a good last episode in anything ever though.

[TheBrownBottle]

FWIW I don't think it has aged better than Men Behaving Badly, because I think Men Behaving Badly has aged well. It was wrongly lumped in with the lad culture of the time, because Gary and Tony acted like the stereotypical lager louts, but they were always pulled up on it.

They objectified women, got pissed and obnoxious, mistreated their girlfriends etc but you were never supposed to side with them. Dorothy and Deborah held the power in their relationships, and the men were generally shown to be juvenile, pathetic and a little bit sad. For me it's one of the great British sitcoms, consistently excellent after the patchy first series with Harry Enfield.

MBB always had the problem (if it is one) of seeming to be beloved of the very targets of its satire (pointless listing examples here but I will anyway - Ali G, Till Death Us Do Part & Loadsamoney are similar in that regard).  I think it holds up satirising blokey bellends.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

I always get this show mixed up with Steven Moffat's Coupling.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

That's why he didn't do the second series, he buggered off to Hollywood to film The Truth About Cats And Dogs, a truly dreadful looking romcom where the central conceit is a man falls in love with an attractive brunette woman over the phone, but thinks she's her attractive blonde woman friend, what will happen?!

That is such a fucking dodgy film. It demands of the viewer a willingness to accept that Janeane Garofalo, an attractive woman, is in fact an undesirable frump who should consider herself fortunate that any man would ever be interested in her.

I've only seen it once, admittedly, but that's my abiding memory of it. I spent the whole film thinking, "But hang on, she's really pretty. This makes no sense."

[Custard]

He did end up in The Thin Red Line shortly after, to be fair

Thing is, he seemed like such a natural comic performer, and is so memorable in the role of Matthew after only six episodes. It's a great shame that Chaplin hasn't done more comedy

What sparked my rewatch of Game On was recently watching Mad Dogs, where Chaplin's character isn't in that much either. He says a few lines where I thought "that sounds like an older Matthew" and it took me right back to Game On, which I hadn't thought about in years. There's a bit where they're all on a stolen boat and Alvo, his character, goes "Oh, we're all going to get into twouble!", in a George from Rainbow voice, and I'm still laughing about it whilst typing this

Chaplin, do more comedy!