Our Flag Means Death

[timebug]

This new 'comedy' aired on the Beeb last night. Jesus Christ! A totally laughter free zone for the whole thirty minutes. I would normally have abandoned it after ten minutes as it was shite, but I stuck with it because I hoped (Yes I have optimistic periods!) that there may be some subtle twist I had not seen coming and that it would actually go somewhere.
A bunch of cowardly and inepy would-be pirates who haven't got a clue. Like the scriptwriters,apparently.And there are nine more episodes to go! Fucksake!

[PlanktonSideburns]

I liked the cast and the set up, but yea the script and direction felt pretty poor - panto level acting from all including black mirror pig fucking dude, all felt very chucked together

[bobloblaw]

US reviews suggest that it picks up after a couple of duff opening eps - can anyone attest to this?

[PlanktonSideburns]

There's another thread somewhere here with people saying the same

[Better Midlands]

It picks up when Taika Waititi appears around about episode 3/4 but I'm still not 100% sold on it.

[dead-ced-dead]

I feel like this is a common thing with US TV, that the first few episodes are like the first pancake. I mean, look at Parks and Rec.

I haven't seen this but American critics seem to enjoy it and it has a dedicated fanbase.

[phantom_power]

After a slow start it turns into a funny and very affecting comedy drama

[Jack Shaftoe]

Yeah, it does take a little while to get going, but it's a slow burner - although if you hated the first couple of episodes, it may not be for you. I wasn't sure about it at first but it's become my favourite half hour comedy now, I just love everyone in it so much - and it works as a drama too, the last couple of episodes are very affecting while still being silly AF.

[frajer]

I'd completely agree, I couldn't believe so much money and talent had been wasted on this for the first few episodes but by the finale I absolutely loved everything about it. A proper grower.

[Pimhole]

Don't go in expecting a formulaic sitcom with rip-snorting knee-slappers every few lines, but more a gentle character-based comedy drama along the lines of Detectorists and you'll enjoy it more.

As others have said, you have to get to love the characters and that's not going to happen in the first two episodes.

The most distracting thing I found early on was how cheap it looked, the weird filmised look and the sets and backdrops (non-location scenes) and how they never really look like they're at sea. But by the end, the way they look like they're in a weird dreamlike fantasy of the high seas actually makes sense.

Not sure it needs a second series but looking forward to it nonetheless.

[Replies From View]

US reviews suggest that it picks up after a couple of duff opening eps - can anyone attest to this?

Really good idea to start a series off with two duff episodes

[jobotic]

Only seen the advert. It looks like Histor's Eye

[Pimhole]

It looks like Histor's Eye

Haha yes! That's exactly what it looks like.

The first two episodes aren't "duff". There's a lot of scene setting and character establishment, like with the first two episodes of... I dunno... fucking anything.

There's also a fair amount of detail I missed on the first viewing.

[Bartholomew J Krishna]

It gets better.
But not by much.

[ajsmith2]

It gets better once they stop reusing scripts from the parent UK series (Captain Butler) and they go off their in own direction.

[Hank_Kingsley]

Remember Pirates with Josie Lawrence? Loved that show. I'm not watching this because I've been burned by What We Do in the Shadows. Also, it gives me strong 'nice' vibes that rub me the wrong way (not that I dislike nice, I love Joe Pera, but you know what I mean, young idiots watching it because it's 'wholesome' or some such shit).

Edit: no such show seems to have existed. It appears I fever-dreamed Josie Lawrence dressed up as a sexy lady pirate. Could it have been Captain Butler with Craigh Charles?

Edit 2: This is really fucking me up. I distinctly remember a show at about 6pm on Channel 4, at some point pre-1998. There were pirates. It wasn't called Pirates, about pirates who move to live on land, it was a bright, colourful show, that was sort of aimed at kids. 

[lauraxsynthesis]

Now I'd like a thread about all our fever dreams about comedians. I've no idea why but my first sex dream when I was a kid was Robbie Coltrane

[Better Midlands]

Josie Lawrence dressed up as a sexy lady pirate

That rings a bell, although I could be thinking of Geena Davis in Cutthroat Island.

This could be Sinbad/Shazaam all over again.

[atavist]

I feel like this is a common thing with US TV, that the first few episodes are like the first pancake. I mean, look at Parks and Rec.

I haven't seen this but American critics seem to enjoy it and it has a dedicated fanbase.

From what I've seen of that 'dedicated fanbase' on social media, there's a lot of anime and unicorn avatars, links to '18 ONLY - Minors DNI' home-made porn and fan-fiction, laughably bad pirate tattoos and a smorgasbord of various mental illnesses.

Although that could be the 'dedicated fanbase' of most things in TV, tbh.

[boinks]

I enjoyed it as it went on but it felt a bit fanfiction-y at times and I was a bit disappointed by how two-dimensional some of the supporting cast's (e.g. Guz Khan, Joel Fry) characters were - I guess they're hoping for more seasons so maybe they'll get some development eventually. The diversity of the whole thing and the relaxed acceptance of sexual orientations/pronouns is nice. But yeah, it wasn't a laugh-out-loud affair for me.

[atavist]

I enjoyed it as it went on but it felt a bit fanfiction-y at times and I was a bit disappointed by how two-dimensional some of the supporting cast's (e.g. Guz Khan, Joel Fry) characters were - I guess they're hoping for more seasons so maybe they'll get some development eventually. The diversity of the whole thing and the relaxed acceptance of sexual orientations/pronouns is nice. But yeah, it wasn't a laugh-out-loud affair for me.

Diversity on pirate ships is historical fact, and given they were at sea for months on end, there was probably loads of bumfun going on.

Pronouns obviously not, but whatever.

Anyway, I watched one episode and it was shit, so that's that.

[boinks]

Diversity on pirate ships is historical fact, and given they were at sea for months on end, there was probably loads of bumfun going on.

Absolutely. And I was happy to see it.

[Virgo76]

Really good idea to start a series off with two duff episodes

Actually very common for the first episodes of many sitcoms to be duffers (see Blackadder, Father Ted, Mrs Brown's Boys etc) It's not deliberate.
I've seen the first two episodes. Not brilliant, but showing promise.
Rory Kinnear overdoing it a bit. Unusual for him.
Didn't recognise Spud from Trainspotting at first.
Rhys Darby great.
The bard seems to vanish after the pilot.
The young Kevin Eldon!

[Replies From View]

Not sure Mrs. Brown's Boys is a good example to pick when talking about a show not being irreparably shite.

[Virgo76]

Not sure Mrs. Brown's Boys is a good example to pick when talking about a show not being irreparably shite.

Not really what I was doing...

[Replies From View]

Isn't your point that the first two episodes of Mrs. Brown's Boys were a bit duff but after that it hit its stride and, like Blackadder and Father Ted before it, became excellent?

[Hank_Kingsley]

That rings a bell, although I could be thinking of Geena Davis in Cutthroat Island.

This could be Sinbad/Shazaam all over again.

It's so frustrating, nothing close to it on Josie Lawrence's IMDB or anywhere online so I guess it must just be that she sort of dressed like a pirate throughout the 80s/90s and that she became the lead in my mind. I can vaguely remember that it was about a lady pirate and her inept crew. I think she may have had a romance with a royal navy guy? It was sort of stagey looking but I remember it being quite good. Definitely not Captain Butler now that I've watched an episode on YouTube.

Channel 4 wouldn't have done 2 pirate sitcoms in a decade though, and one wouldn't have vanished with seemingly no record.

It's not Cutthroat Island, I remember watching that on video when it came out (used to be well into pirates, especially Lego pirates).

What the fuck did I watch?

[McDead]

It's so frustrating, nothing close to it on Josie Lawrence's IMDB or anywhere online so I guess it must just be that she sort of dressed like a pirate throughout the 80s/90s and that she became the lead in my mind. I can vaguely remember that it was about a lady pirate and her inept crew. I think she may have had a romance with a royal navy guy? It was sort of stagey looking but I remember it being quite good. Definitely not Captain Butler now that I've watched an episode on YouTube.

Channel 4 wouldn't have done 2 pirate sitcoms in a decade though, and one wouldn't have vanished with seemingly no record.

It's not Cutthroat Island, I remember watching that on video when it came out (used to be well into pirates, especially Lego pirates).

What the fuck did I watch?

[George White]

Remember Pirates with Josie Lawrence? Loved that show. I'm not watching this because I've been burned by What We Do in the Shadows. Also, it gives me strong 'nice' vibes that rub me the wrong way (not that I dislike nice, I love Joe Pera, but you know what I mean, young idiots watching it because it's 'wholesome' or some such shit).

Edit: no such show seems to have existed. It appears I fever-dreamed Josie Lawrence dressed up as a sexy lady pirate. Could it have been Captain Butler with Craigh Charles?

Edit 2: This is really fucking me up. I distinctly remember a show at about 6pm on Channel 4, at some point pre-1998. There were pirates. It wasn't called Pirates, about pirates who move to live on land, it was a bright, colourful show, that was sort of aimed at kids.

The 90s CBBC show Pirates, but that didn't have Lawrence.
There was the pilot Woodcock with Prunella Scales and Imelda Staunton for BBC2.
Also, Tales from the Poop Deck with Helen Atkinson-Wood.

[McDead]

It's funny though, I can also picture this clear as day. Knee high boots, waistcoat, billowing blouse, the lot. I can even imagine the kind of performance she's doing.