Peep Show

[The Bumlord]

I love the terrible cocktail in the dinner party episode. Angus' reaction to tasting it, "Look who's won the lettuce lottery", Mark resignedly pouring himself a big glass at the end.

Ahhhh, lovely, lovely blink

[Vodkafone]

Even where an episode is ropey (Saz the Australian) there are still brilliant lines that make the whole thing more than the sun of its parts ("there's an ANZAC memorial in Huddersfield...").

Followed by "There's a Harvey Nichols in Leeds, which everyone goes on about as if it actually means something", which massively resonated in Sheffield at the time, because Leeds having a Harvey Nick's was somehow held up as the defining monument of our failure as a city worth living in.

[Sebastian Cobb]

I liked how Jez's response to Mark's dad giving him a Thus Spoke Zarathustra because he's petty and knew it'd be impossible is to just sack it off and go for Chicken Run... "Fuck you Dan!".

[MrVentham]

Angus is a great character. He had some of the funniest bits. "And the only first-hand account we have is, as you'll know, Martin of Opava's Chronicon pontificum et imperatorum and frankly it's a pamphlet; it's so limited in scope as to be almost worthless."

[MrVentham]

"I like it that way, they can't prove otherwise, fuck them!" is such an amazing line because it reveals so much about Mark with such economy.

"I'm just a normal, functioning member of the human race and there's no way anyone can prove otherwise."

Mark is very concerned with passing as a person.

[The Mollusk]

"I'm just a normal, functioning member of the human race and there's no way anyone can prove otherwise."

Mark is very concerned with passing as a person.

Definitely not a paedo

As someone whose mind is constantly unravelling with moral quandaries which have absolutely no relevance my own life or beliefs, the unwarranted paranoia of this line resonates strongly with me

[frajer]

You're king of the farmyard? You're in line for the free garlic bread?

[Des Wigwam]

Just watching Mark Makes a Friend with The Bad Thing as Jez's plot.

Is it me projecting onto Mark or is Sophie the shit over the lift and giving the seat to Saint Dave?

Also another echo of sitcom writers not knowing how work works is Jeff and Mark having to share a room on a business trip. I do like how they've given Jeff the double and Mark the single.

[Dr Marbles]

These are good insights. Mark's locus of control is external, isn't it? He expects something or someone from outside to come and make it better but doesn't do anything to proactively improve his situation. When he starts sucking up to Johnson, he expects Johnson to reward him just for that. A passive man, terrified of conflict, watching his life dribble weakly away.

Again, very incel-y in the way that those guys think that if they're just nice enough to a woman then she will have sex with them; they will have 'earned sex'. I remember seeing it described as that they see women as vending machines that if they insert enough gratitude tokens then sex will be paid out.

[MrVentham]

Random, but is 'Alan Johnson' supposed to be a play on Mark's homoerotic attraction to him? 'Alan' being an anagram for 'anal' and 'Johnson' being a slang term for 'penis'? Or do I need to see a psychoanalyst? Can't tell whether this is an obvious joke or me reading too much into the writing of the show.

[lb99]

Article here mentions it (trigger warning due to references to the content of said Netflix show), seems pretty flimsy...

Not to derail this excellent Peep Show thread, but it's definitely not Sam Bain.

[extraordinary walnuts]

Anal Johnson was from Blazing Saddles iirc

[Dimbleby]

I like it when Jeremy is sleeping in Super Hans' bathroom. Sleeping bag in the bath. Kettle and toaster under the sink. Haha

[Deskbound Cunt]

The is amazing.

It's like a Chris Morris sketch but for real. Unbelievable

[Deskbound Cunt]

Random, but is 'Alan Johnson' supposed to be a play on Mark's homoerotic attraction to him? 'Alan' being an anagram for 'anal' and 'Johnson' being a slang term for 'penis'? Or do I need to see a psychoanalyst? Can't tell whether this is an obvious joke or me reading too much into the writing of the show.

No.

[Scoops]

easily my favourite sitcom of all time. even a lot of the later episodes not quite being as well-realised and the writing not being as sharp - it's still bloody funny in a way that so few other things are. i could put on any episode now even after countless rewatches and laugh multiple times in each one.
i really liked the sort of manic energy that series 9 had, as if they'd decided to throw in a load of ideas they'd not been able to find places for before. jeremy going gay, drinking piss, the dinner party. going all-out at the final hurdle

[jobotic]

Watching series 4 now. Lots of it I don't remember. Basic gag I suppose but I did laugh a lot at Mark's reaction to Sophie saying she feels sexually unfulfilled: "Unfilled?!"

[Thosworth]

Not to derail this excellent Peep Show thread, but it's definitely not Sam Bain.

Fair enough. Very unfortunate that about six 'clues' inadvertently point to him.

A lighter point; The single non-Brooker Black Mirror episode is by Jesse Armstrong, The Entire History Of You, is probably my favourite, and contains a fair amount of Peep Show DNA.

[jobotic]

I'm sure this is the least original observation in the history of CaB but the stuff with Barney is horrible. And not at all funny beyond Jez and Han's initial conversation justifying nicking someone else's music.

[Radicalised Sitcom Writer]

The is amazing.

It's like a Chris Morris sketch but for real. Unbelievable

Mark just isn't enough of a pleb looks wise.

[idunnosomename]

Jerk Show

[neveragain]

A lighter point; The single non-Brooker Black Mirror episode is by Jesse Armstrong, The Entire History Of You, is probably my favourite, and contains a fair amount of Peep Show DNA.

Just for info: That's not the single non-Brooker episode. Nosedive was written by Rashida Jones and Mike Schur, admittedly with story from Brooker. And there are some others he co-wrote (with names such as Kanak Huq, William Bridges, Bisha K Ali and Penn Jillette.)

[Des Wigwam]

I'm sure this is the least original observation in the history of CaB but the stuff with Barney is horrible. And not at all funny beyond Jez and Han's initial conversation justifying nicking someone else's music.

Does cement Hans as a lot more than an annoying selfish mate who always seems to come out, if not on top then pretty unscathed by things. But the post-gig bit where Sophie's dad picks up his son and daughter is pretty raw.

[Beelog]

(with names such as Kanak Huq,

Just looked this up - I had no idea Konnie wasn't her real name!

[mjwilson]

Also another echo of sitcom writers not knowing how work works is Jeff and Mark having to share a room on a business trip. I do like how they've given Jeff the double and Mark the single.

Someone was actually telling me recently that their company expected them to share rooms on work trips.

[Terry Torpid]

I'm sure this is the least original observation in the history of CaB but the stuff with Barney is horrible. And not at all funny beyond Jez and Han's initial conversation justifying nicking someone else's music.

The annoying thing about Barney, for me, is that he was clearly meant to be Sophie's brother Jamie, but they couldn't get the actor back, so they invented this identical character and said he's her cousin. Also, on a personal note, the boy that plays Barney is less hot than the boy that played Jamie, rendering Jez and Han's perving less believable.

[ajsmith2]

What they should have done is kept it as the same character, and have the actor change be explained (since most of the show is seen literally from their POV) in a 4th wall nudging manner as being due to Jez and Mark caring so little about him that they had forgotten what he looked like.

I do think with Jamie/Barney it's so obvious that it was originally meant to be the same guy that creating a new character is actually MORE jarring than a re cast would have been. I mean, what are the chances that Sophie has TWO naive young male relatives who are into music and worship Jeremy?

Something else they could have done is not gone ahead with the whole miserable Barney storyline at all and written something else.

[Jackson K Pollock]

While I'm sure the first couple of series are objectively 'better', the thought of rewatching them gives me the same sort of existential angst as trying to watch TV on a Sunday night knowing I haven't done my homework and it's due in first thing in the morning.

The later seasons on the other hand may be more cartoony, but I can dip into them at will and watch several on the trot. In fact, on the strength of this thread I actually whizzed through seasons 7, 8 and 9 over the last two and a half days.

Same with Curb, really. The first few seasons are (conventional wisdom would tell you) better on paper, but there's something so cold an uninviting about them that they're not a world I relish revisiting too often. Unlike the slightly shallower later seasons where the stakes are generally lower, the characters a little more broadly drawn, but I know I'm guaranteed a fun time.

[Stoneage Dinosaurs]

My sister says she can't watch series 1 of peep show because the heaviness of the POV aspect results in "having to look up David Mitchell's nostrils all the time". Much as I enjoy the writing, tone and characterisation more, I think this is a fair criticism

[extraordinary walnuts]

I tell you what, let's make this next one an Irish wine.