Game On

[dead-ced-dead]

I prefer Neil Stuke

Ban him

[chrispmartha]

Don't think I'll ever forget the line

"Are you ripping the piss out of the Fury?"

That whole episode is great IMO

It's definitely of it's time and there's some dodgy stuff in there, but i did a rewatch not so long back and I enjoyed the first couple of series.

Wally Bazoom is up there with great comedy names.

[Icehaven]

Ben billed above quite a few on that one.

Neil Stuke would have been over the moon just being above Nick Nolte.

Apart from Sean Penn the bill is in alphabetical order. Dunno if that's intentional but it probably is, and from what little I know of Penn it wouldn't surprise me if he insisted on being more important than the alphabet.

[tom_exorcisto]

For some reason "TEA Martin!" is always on my mind and sometimes said out loud, nobody has yet responded 'Ah Game On, great show'.

[Virgo76]

That film had such a star-studded cast it was absurd.
It was still quite dull though very well made.
I preferred the British version starring Rowan Atkinson and James Dreyfus.

[The Culture Bunker]

That film had such a star-studded cast it was absurd.
It was still quite dull though very well made.
I preferred the British version starring Rowan Atkinson and James Dreyfus.

Chaplin was one of (alongside Jim whathisname and Sean Penn) the 'leads' somehow, wasn't he? I mean in terms of screentime. Pretty sure the likes of Clooney, Travolta and Brody had about one scene each.

We've also discussed on here previously Chaplin's part in the frankly absurd Cyrano de Bergerac remake 'The Truth About Cats and Dogs' - always felt that was supposed to be his big Hollywood break role but alas, no.

[dead-ced-dead]

We've also discussed on here previously Chaplin's part in the frankly absurd Cyrano de Bergerac remake 'The Truth About Cats and Dogs' - always felt that was supposed to be his big Hollywood break role but alas, no.

There's a thread on the movie board of Movie Stars That Never Were that Chaplin definitely fits into.

Sometimes a talented, friendly, handsome actor seems all set for stardom and then... nothing.

Ben's that guy.

[Proactive]

I like it so much I named myself after Matt's band.

[ImmaculateClump]

I really loved this show when it went out.
I was a 15 year old boy and I'm guessing the target demographic.
It was perfectly cast. I know everyone talks about Ben Chaplin, but Matthew Cottle was excellent.

I could relate to the main character because although I wasn't agoraphobic, I was really anxious and didn't like going out too much, and there was something about his situation, having to stay indoors all the time, but also being able to hide from all his fears, that I found simultaneously horrifying and appealing.
I also related to the ginger tosser, because although I wasn't ginger, I was very much a tosser, and Samantha Janus was like she'd been designed by a committee of teenage tossers, so she got a big resounding thumbs up amongst my peer group, but she also represented the older sister that a lot of us had too, more capable of going out and living her life, but facing her own brand of worries and disillusionment.

That opening with the bright colours and that song, I don't really get nostalgia pangs often, but that brings back so many happy memories.

I think it's really unfair to file the show away with 2 pints, but who knows, maybe I was just at the right age when it aired.

It wasn't hilarious, but it was well written and acted, I think.
It's a feelgood trad sitcom, a bit of it's time, immature and 90s blokey, but it portrayed nicely that feeling that even though you were young and free, the characters were all pretty much trapped by their psyche, or job or whatever circumstance, longing for something more that seemed so out of reach.
It just really spoke to us at that age, I suppose.

That constant shifting of Matthew from highest to lowest status was always fun and very true to life for someone of that age.
The big guy in your social group was often the one with the most hangups and the one trying to prove themselves the most and it was around that age where they were getting found out and showing themselves up.

[Virgo76]

A good heartfelt post, ImmaculateClump.


It's already been discussed how bad Chaplin's supposed big cinema breakthrough The Truth About Cats and Dogs was. Neither it nor The Thin Red Line made much money.
I saw TTACAD at the cinema. The whole premise seemed to be that all men are far more attracted to dull, good-looking types (Uma Thurman played a deliberately dull but conventionally attractive character) rather than the supposedly less attractive characters like Janeanne Garafalo's. The big flaw here was that Garafalo's character was a) funny, intelligent and likeable and b) genuinely very attractive physically anyway.
It's interesting to reflect that Garafalo seemed destined for stardom at that point too but it never quite happened for her either. Partly because of films like this.
Jamie Foxx did well out of it anyway!
A few years later, Colin Farrell's film career came close to falling at the first hurdle in a similar way to Chaplin's, but he seems to have now largely recovered from this. Chaplin crops up on TV occasionally (he was in The Dig and the drama, Apple Tree Yard) and has done well on the stage apparently.
But no - never a movie star.

[dead-ced-dead]

I've been re-watching it based on this thread and while the blokeyness rubs me the wrong way, I don't remember the show being so anxiety inducing and bleak.

Funny how perception changed. When I first saw this show as a teen, it seemed aspirational ("Wow, I get to live in a flat with Samantha Janus... and in London... and I'm from Herne Bay too!!!!)

But now I can see just how sad their lives are. This is far from the British Friends, which I had lumped it as.

I don't think I'll watch past Chaplin's run, but it's improved even if I can understand what must have annoyed Simon Pegg and other twenty somethings of the early 90s who looked at this show as being hokey and un-authentic.

[turnstyle]

There's an episode of New Girl where Winstone forgets where his girlfriend lives after buying condoms.

Right, I must have seen that at some point. There's also a short film with the exact same plot, although apparently it's impossible to Google as I can't find the bastard now.

Wonder if they cribbed from Game On, or if it's just a case of of three different writers having the same idea independently.

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

I've just re-watched a couple of the Chaplin ones, and he actually behaves as * even more* of a prick than yer man Stuke's interpretation of the character, proper nasty threatening to chuck out his flatmates/ tenants stuff, that's clearly how the character was written in this , at the end of the day, somewhat odd and bleak little sit- com. Stuke makes the character more benign if anything.

Just goes to show how much you can get away with if you're a looker. I suppose that's how I got away with a lot of stuff in me younger days.

[EOLAN]

I used to Have a massive crush on Clare. The nurse girlfriend of the Cottle character.

[Replies From View]

I love how this is becoming the "We Love Ben Chaplin" thread, because even after the Hollywood thing fell through, he's still a handsome guy. He's in his early 50s and this is how he looks:



And despite Hollywood not quite working out, he's had a varied career, has worked with some of the great filmmakers (Coppola, Malick etc) and is still on TV and film quite a lot.

We Love Ben! We Love Ben!

Call me old fashioned but when I see Robert Lindsay standing there, that's who it is.

[robhug]

The (Irish?) nurse girlfriend of Cottle popped up in that lesbian themed military drama with Helen Baxendale that I watched quite a bit.

Remembering that really did feel like I've just woken up a hibernating part of my brain after 30 or so years and now I feel nauseous.

[Ron Maels Moustache]

A good heartfelt post, ImmaculateClump.


It's already been discussed how bad Chaplin's supposed big cinema breakthrough The Truth About Cats and Dogs was. Neither it nor The Thin Red Line made much money.
I saw TTACAD at the cinema. The whole premise seemed to be that all men are far more attracted to dull, good-looking types (Uma Thurman played a deliberately dull but conventionally attractive character) rather than the supposedly less attractive characters like Janeanne Garafalo's. The big flaw here was that Garafalo's character was a) funny, intelligent and likeable and b) genuinely very attractive physically anyway.
It's interesting to reflect that Garafalo seemed destined for stardom at that point too but it never quite happened for her either. Partly because of films like this.
Jamie Foxx did well out of it anyway!
A few years later, Colin Farrell's film career came close to falling at the first hurdle in a similar way to Chaplin's, but he seems to have now largely recovered from this. Chaplin crops up on TV occasionally (he was in The Dig and the drama, Apple Tree Yard) and has done well on the stage apparently.
But no - never a movie star.

Puts me in mind of Stuart Townsend, who was getting pushed as a potential star around the same time as Chaplin. Unfortunately the poor bloke seems to've perpetually bad luck with films as he's appeared in a succession of massive turkeys like Queen Of The Damned, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen* and Aeon Flux.


_{*Hang a on a minute, just done a bit of fact-checking - I thought this was a huge flop, yet apparently it made 179 million on a budget of 78. And somehow it still killed the careers of nearly everyone involved.}

[dead-ced-dead]

Puts me in mind of Stuart Townsend, who was getting pushed as a potential star around the same time as Chaplin. Unfortunately the poor bloke seems to've perpetually bad luck with films as he's appeared in a succession of massive turkeys like Queen Of The Damned, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen* and Aeon Flux.


_{*Hang a on a minute, just done a bit of fact-checking - I thought this was a huge flop, yet apparently it made 179 million on a budget of 78. And somehow it still killed the careers of nearly everyone involved.}

He was also the original Aragorn in Lord of the Rings but was recast at the last minute with Viggo Mortensen. I think he may have even shot a few scenes.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

I think I was in my early teens when this was on, so perfectly placed to enjoy its mix of crudity and Samantha Janus. I thought it was crap, though. Did I judge it unfairly? I never realised that the main bloke was agoraphobic, so I must not have watched it that closely (I just thought he was an arsehole).

[Sonny_Jim]

Just watched the first two episodes for the first time in whoever many years, it's very crude in parts, isn't it?  I've also got the very boring opinion of that when I was younger I found Matt to be the funny one, whereas now I'm an old bastard I think Martin is the funnier one.

The whole 'can't remember where she lives' bit is great, also blurting 'I cum like the falls!' to some random person on the bus is also very good.  The Matt stuff on the other hand I'm finding just very meh.  I do remember an episode where Matt tries to leave the house with the surfboard, I'm hoping it's as good as I remembered.

I do like the general idea of Matt could have everything he wants if he just got off his arse and did it, the only thing that's stopping him is himself.  That's the sort of advice I should have listened to in my 20's.  I guess that's the by-product of having an older writer I suppose.

[robhug]

I was in my last year at school when this was on originally and our school team had a lanky ginger goalkeeper looking very much like Martin who was given the nickname Gay Mong with what at the time was a lovely piece of wordplay. I now realise it was wrong and Id like to apologise unreservedly for any upset caused.

[Virgo76]

I seem to remember a fairly devastating attack on the name 'Chris' being unleashed by Ben Chaplin's character at one point. "If a turd had a name it would be called Chris" etc.
My name is Chris. Perhaps this is why I criticised this earlier.
(I assume I have the right show?)

[Icehaven]

Right, I must have seen that at some point. There's also a short film with the exact same plot, although apparently it's impossible to Google as I can't find the bastard now.

Wonder if they cribbed from Game On, or if it's just a case of of three different writers having the same idea independently.

I found it and linked to it in the last Game On thread here

https://www.cookdandbombd.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=80417.0

It's there somewhere in one of my posts!

[The Dog]

Writer Andrew Davies was actually closer to sixty by the time Game On came out. And it showed.

Wait a second...

Game    On
Game   On
Game  On
Game On
Gammon

It was right there all along!

[Milo]

"I'm on the streets, I'm in the gutter, it's years since I had brrread and butter"

and

"I don't, I don't, I come like the falls!"

regularly come back to me.

[turnstyle]

I found it and linked to it in the last Game On thread here

https://www.cookdandbombd.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=80417.0

It's there somewhere in one of my posts!

I swear I've looked through that thread twice and can't find it! Maybe it was another Game On thread? Feels like the sort of subject matter that pops up annually on CaB.

[Icehaven]

I swear I've looked through that thread twice and can't find it! Maybe it was another Game On thread? Feels like the sort of subject matter that pops up annually on CaB.

Oh balls you're right, it's not in there but I definitely linked to it in some thread! I vaguely remember finding it because someone mentioned one of the actors in it so I looked up his IMDB entry, but of course I can't remember his name now. I'll try and find it...

[checkoutgirl]

never a movie star

It's relative. He'd definitely be the movie star in his immediate family but maybe less so compared to Brad Pitt. I would call him a Hollywood actor. It must be a bit annoying for every good looking actor being compared to Tom Cruise or George Clooney when statistically reaching that level is such a long shot.

Game On is definitely better than 2 Pints and I think whoever said that admitted they were unfamiliar with Game On, which makes sense. It's definitely a cut or two above 2 Pints but definitely a notch below Spaced.

I quite like Game On but it's not perfect. I can imagine people cringing when Mandy starts into a mini monologue about having lots of sex and still being unhappy. As for the Ben Chaplin question, I think Stuke brought a more broad energy to the role and that fitted with the evolution of the show. How many more episodes of Ben Chaplin's sexy, brooding sulk would have gone over? Not many for me, and I think Stukes puppy dog energy actually helped the show overall.

Not a popular opinion there I'm sure.

[The Culture Bunker]

As an aside, the theme tune ('Where I Find My Heaven') is taken from the Gigolo Aunts' 'Flippin' Out' album, which is a pretty good selection of mid 90s power-pop.

[thr0b]

I quite like Game On but it's not perfect. I can imagine people cringing when Mandy starts into a mini monologue about having lots of sex and still being unhappy. As for the Ben Chaplin question, I think Stuke brought a more broad energy to the role and that fitted with the evolution of the show. How many more episodes of Ben Chaplin's sexy, brooding sulk would have gone over? Not many for me, and I think Stukes puppy dog energy actually helped the show overall.

Not a popular opinion there I'm sure.

I agree with you. Stuke's version definitely WOULD have been friends with Martin, but would've been through attitude the Higher Status friend. I'm not sure the Chaplin version would've needed Martin around to elevate his status.

It's not a show I see as hugely problematic - it's very "of its time", but even Sam Janus' character isn't played as a "slag for laughs" - she's very proud (at times) of who she is. She's an equal to the other characters, and socially in a higher-standing place than them.

It is however a very odd show; it's quite bleak, often slow-moving, but will occasionally drop in a surreal episode.

I think it's another one that never officially got cancelled; a fourth season was certainly in the offing, but never actually happened for one reason or another (Probably Jane Root.)