Graham Linehan Episode XVIII: Help Me Elon Muskenobi, You're My Only Hope

[Dr Rock]

Saw this come up in the spin off hand wringing thread and cant believe its not been brought up before. Its uncanny




Greybum Bancuntsangur

Greybum Muchtransanger

[wrec]

Also, Father Ted can't be played by anyone other than Dermot Morgan, nor can any of the other actors be replaced.
Even if they wanted to, you wouldn't want to see a 50 year old Dougal.

Even if the writing was solid (not likely), it'd be a matter of *some guy* in a grey wig doing a broad impression of Morgan's Ted. Would be optimistic not to anticipate people to be put off by that alone. Then there'd probably be a few shaky accents, and the premise isn't in the spirit of the show.

[The Late Satoru Iwata]

It's just doomed to failure in so many ways

GL should honestly view it not being made as a blessing in disguise

I reckon just release it as an album, Jeff Wayne style.

[Dr Rock]

PHOENIX NIGHTS - THE MUSICAL!
(not starring Peter Kaye)

ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS - THE MUSICAL!
(Jennifer Saunders not involved)

BOTTOM - THE MUSICAL!
(Rik Mayall deceased, Adrian Edmonson not arsed)

[The Late Satoru Iwata]

Do you reckon he ever tries the feminising filters on his apps, then goes and whacks his bollocks with a meat tenderiser as punishment?

[Barry Admin]

Edit: A VINDICATION SPECIAL sounds like something he's failed to order from Just Eat

😂 Last couple of pages had me howling.

[Ex_GC]

Even if the writing was solid (not likely), it'd be a matter of *some guy* in a grey wig doing a broad impression of Morgan's Ted. Would be optimistic not to anticipate people to be put off by that alone. Then there'd probably be a few shaky accents, and the premise isn't in the spirit of the show.

If I was being generous I'd say the musical could have had very mild success as 90s nostalgia seems to be on trend at the moment. If there was no stink attached to his name people might have gone to see it for the nostalgia factor. But it would have been mild success at best, it just wouldn't have the audience pulling power to be a hit. It wouldn't travel well to say, the States. It probably wouldn't appeal to the tourist audiences of the west end. It's twenty years out of date and was always a hard sell even without the stink attached

[JamesTC]

PHOENIX NIGHTS - THE MUSICAL!
(not starring Peter Kaye)

ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS - THE MUSICAL!
(Jennifer Saunders not involved)

BOTTOM - THE MUSICAL!
(Rik Mayall deceased, Adrian Edmonson not arsed)

In fairness, the Only Fools musical did well.

If Glinner hadn't courted controversy, Pope Ted would have had a chance, I expect.

[idunnosomename]

Father Ted does not have the legions of obsessed legend gary superfans that Only Fools does. Just people who liked it and were put off it by the creator being a cunt on the internet.

Father Ted tattoos? Trying to meet all the Father Ted actors?

I mean, whoever had a Father Ted funeral? You know, with Catholic priests of assorted moral failings! Seems like it could work. but alas

[Ex_GC]

This comment from the shitstack made me feel a bit sad. There is just no need for it, no one needs to waste their money on crowdfunders that will go nowhere, no one should have to feel bad or explain that they can't donate more. Do GL and the GC leaders never think for a minute that they are taking money from people who sometimes have far less than they do? Does that thought not disturb them?


"Happy Birthday Graham. Thank you for all you do.

Honestly, you've been a beacon of bloody hope for me these last few years. I'm in a position where I can't really do much at the moment other than chuck the occasional £5 into a crowdfunder. I can't really get into details, but I'm hoping to be in a better position in the next few years and might actually be able to do something concrete to help people hurt by this ideology. That is my believe and that is what is driving me right now. That and keeping my daughter safe. Xx"

[Sonny_Jim]

Scene opens to Gary Glinner hard at work at the keyboard:

Gary:  Bollocks, I knew I should have worked more on the big finale to Pope Ted, right now it just says 'ted wins haha fuck you Ron Jonson'

Doorbell sounds

Gary: I'm not answering that, probably just the 'woke' Gender Stasi trying to serve me papers again.

Phone rings

Gary searches through a drawer of about 15 phones until he finds the one that's actually ringing

Gary:  Oh it's you Sue-anne.  Yes I'm fi- You're what?  You're at my door?  And you've brought curry?  I said I wanted 'vindication', not a vindaloo you dozy old bat.

Theme to Gary Glinner plays

[PlanktonSideburns]

Derek was bananas due to how shit it was, but Gervais himself didn't go bananas.

Derek, a bannanoid hate tulpa, expressed from gervais like an exploding appendix

[Rich Uncle Skeleton]

"and I get to choose who it is you sleep with."

[mippy]

Wasn't there a Father Ted fan convention for a few years?

I bet IT Crowd: The Musical probably would play well in the States, tho.

[The Late Satoru Iwata]

Wasn't there a Father Ted fan convention for a few years?

I bet IT Crowd: The Musical probably would play well in the States, tho.

It's already got that catchy new emergency services number song.

[Dayraven]

How have Warner Brothers uncancelled Her Rowlingness?

I'd guess this is about how they don't seem that ready to do a Fantastic Beasts 4, but have said they're interested in doing a Potter-related TV project.

(Each of the Fantastic Beasts films have had a fairly big box office drop on the previous, which given their large budgets mean that a fourth doesn't look likely to be profitable. I'd say this is more likely because Fantastic Beasts is a failing series in general rather than a reaction to Rowling herself, though the core fandom going cool on her might not help.)

[Ferris]

In fairness, the Only Fools musical did well.

If Glinner hadn't courted controversy, Pope Ted would have had a chance, I expect.

Doubt it.

OFaH was popular in England (pop. 55m), father Ted was a cult hit in Ireland (pop. 5m). You're gonna get a higher number of weirdo superfans just due to the larger numbers.

I'd guess The Grief Musical would have a limited run in London at a smaller theatre, then a longer run in Dublin where it would do alright but still close after 6 months because it'd be desperately mediocre and entirely unfitting with the spirit of the original show. Might have turned a profit (especially with DVD sales and the streaming equivalent) but nothing stratospheric.

Now, after covid and linehan going bananas, it's a guaranteed flop to the point I'm surprised anyone (other than perhaps Max Bialystok) is trying to get it off the ground. Then again it doesn't seem like anyone is putting all that much effort in anyway so perhaps some microdose of reality has filtered into Plantain Towers.

This all assumes anything beyond a hasty first draft has been written, which I doubt.

[Alberon]

Greybum: I've run out of ways to persuade people they should care about this

And this-

[idunnosomename]

Greybum Muchtransanger

Greybum Muchtransanger should be the next thread title imo

[Barry Admin]

In fairness, the Only Fools musical did well.

Yeah I think people are too down on the whole idea tbh. It'd likely be shit, but still easily as profitable and popular as the Acorn Antiques one. Or the Abba one, or whatever.

[The Late Satoru Iwata]

Warner Brothers can only be said to have uncancelled Her Jo-ness when they go back to promoting spin-offs with the 'J.K. Rowling's Wizarding World' brand instead of, as it currently stands, just 'Wizarding World'.

[Rich Uncle Skeleton]

who's got their hat and cake for the birthday mess?! apparently this can all be traced back to the lies that took Britain into Iraq.

[phantom_power]

The Warners thing shows a fundamental misunderstanding (shock, horror) of why companies "cancel" people. They do it purely for monetary reasons, not because they are "woke". Therefore they have deemed Rowling to be detrimental to their profits, which suggests that the majority of people don't agree with her. Harry Potter is still a strong brand despite her, not because of her

[BennyHedgehog]

Laying into Tim Heidecker now.

I hope it doesn't affect the value of my HEI points

[thr0b]

In fairness, the Only Fools musical did well.

If Glinner hadn't courted controversy, Pope Ted would have had a chance, I expect.

The Only Fools musical also had names attached- you have the already built-in huge audience, scripts by/inspired by the original writer, Paul Whitehouse starring and writing, Chas and Dave on songs - it's never going to go to America, but there's a lot of popular individual elements there.

[Ex_GC]

Doubt it.

OFaH was popular in England (pop. 55m), father Ted was a cult hit in Ireland (pop. 5m). You're gonna get a higher number of weirdo superfans just due to the larger numbers.

I'd guess The Grief Musical would have a limited run in London at a smaller theatre, then a longer run in Dublin where it would do alright but still close after 6 months because it'd be desperately mediocre and entirely unfitting with the spirit of the original show. Might have turned a profit (especially with DVD sales and the streaming equivalent) but nothing stratospheric.

Now, after covid and linehan going bananas, it's a guaranteed flop to the point I'm surprised anyone (other than perhaps Max Bialystok) is trying to get it off the ground. Then again it doesn't seem like anyone is putting all that much effort in anyway so perhaps some microdose of reality has filtered into Plantain Towers.

This all assumes anything beyond a hasty first draft has been written, which I doubt.

Also it would be very hard to find people willing to star in it etc. Who would be willing to risk their career with the stink of banana

[JaDanketies]

Nobody's ever shared an Only Fools and Horses meme with me afaik.

I have the same fondness for Only Fools that any British person would have, but Father Ted made a much bigger impression on my peers. There is a bit of a second-generation-Catholic-Irish thing going on round here but I've never really thought that this had any impact on our telly watching, and I kinda assumed most people in England had an Irish parent or grandparent anyway - they do get about - but when I think about it a bit, perhaps there are more of them in the North West than in the South East.

But I do think you guys are shitting over the prospects of a non-bananas Father Ted a little too much. I would've definitely gone to see it had Linehan stayed off social media, as would all my relatives on my dad's side and a lot of my former and current friends.

In fact when it was first announced I was a little worried that it would go ahead and someone would buy me a ticket and I'd have to tell them that I was deliberately boycotting it, because it would otherwise be exactly the kind of thing I would be hyped about.

[Ex_GC]

@JaDanketies  I think if there was no stink of banana it would have been mildly successful at best. As I said, there would be people who would go for the nostalgia factor, like you. But I don't think it would have been a runaway hit. We'll never know now anyway

[BennyHedgehog]

I always had the feeling that Graham looked at Spamalot, specifically the money that Spamalot has made, and thought he could get some way to replicate that success with Pope Ted. He's always talked about the project in terms of being too big to fail and I'm pretty sure once referred to it as his pension plan.

I think he has a point, it was possible before he fucked over any chances of success by going bananas.

[Old Nehamkin]

Doubt it.

OFaH was popular in England (pop. 55m), father Ted was a cult hit in Ireland (pop. 5m). You're gonna get a higher number of weirdo superfans just due to the larger numbers.

Sorry to be pedantic but Father Ted was produced in the UK for Channel 4 and was a fairly mainstream hit which still gets repeated pretty frequently on British screens. It may not be quite the pervasive cultural institution for UK audiences that Only Fools and Horses is and I have no real idea about its potential viability as a west-end musical, but it's a bit inaccurate to say that the show's reach doesn't extend much outside Ireland.