Jam and Jerusalem

[Emergency Lalla Ward Ten]

Five episodes in and still no thread...

It's possibly one of the oddest primetime comedies for quite some time, but is anyone except me watching? It sort of has the atmosphere of a BBC Comic Strip film, albeit with a lot of irksome soapy/pathos drudgery that keeps getting in the way. But like all of French and Saunders' work (even their worst stuff), they'll throw in a WFT bit that really lifts it. Moments that make you think Happy Families wasn't that long ago after all. I get the idea BBC1 thought they were getting a Calendar Girls-style blandathon, though.

[Boing]

Five episodes in and still no thread...

It's possibly one of the oddest primetime comedies for quite some time, but is anyone except me watching? It sort of has the atmosphere of a BBC Comic Strip film, albeit with a lot of irksome soapy/pathos drudgery that keeps getting in the way. But like all of French and Saunders' work (even their worst stuff), they'll throw in a WFT bit that really lifts it. Moments that make you think Happy Families wasn't that long ago after all. I get the idea BBC1 thought they were getting a Calendar Girls-style blandathon, though.

It's gravy train shit.No script worth shit'no humour,nothing.Just cliquey bastards keeping each other in BBC dollars,ie LICENCE FEE.
There's a "brand new" Vivar Of Dibley on as well.Same shit,same toilet.And it MIGHT BE the last time Dawn French is fat in the cassock.Probably not.Did I say VIVAR?I meant fat ugly unfunny old wife of Mistah Unfunny Sambo,who thinks he's funny,but doesn't realise people only LAUGH out of sympathy.........Actually no,I don't know ANYONE who thinks Lenny Henry is funny.Or Dawn French.

[Clinton Morgan]

I wondered that too about there being no thread. However I will admit to not catching up with most of the episodes. After 'The Royle Family: The Queen of Sheba' it was nice to see a funny funeral in the first episode. Admittedly when I first heard about it (unaware that it was a French and Saunders [switch names round if you must] production) my thought was that it was going to be like 'Calender Girls'. The fact that Helen Mirren in the film rants about "jam and Jerusalem" was my rationale behind my pre-judging the programme. It was also nice to see one of the chaps from The National Theatre of Brent play the vicar.

[Sovereign]

I watched this last night with no expectations and was reasonably impressed. nice bit of quirky british drama, with the odd comic scenario thrown in for good measure. Its not riotously funny but when placed in context alongside the other comedies showing this friday night I don't think its that bad at all!

A very enjoyable half an hour.

[trotsky assortment]

Can someone give boing a space bar that works please?  Christ.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

I wouldn't say it was enjoyable at all. The thing I disliked the most was the inclusion of so many well-known faces which I think usually helps turn a piece of work into in-joke smuggery and self-importance quite quickly. I assume they thought this would help raise the limp narrative, and it does to an extent. It's like the celebrity cameos from Extras- an attempt to get people to watch a comedy because of who's in it rather than because it's really funny.

Saying that, it does have its moments, as ELW10 suggested but they tend to be one an episode which isn't nearly enough. Sally Phillips character and mannerisms make me want to switch off urgently though and the old comedy women Christian collective feel really sucks.

The material is too risque to attract Last Of The Summer Wine audience but the setting and the story is too sedate to attract post-modern 'cringing is the new laughing' Wollastons and occasionally it wrings something quite interesting out of it- it's hardly a generous helping of laughs though.

[DJ One Record]

Did I say VIVAR?I meant fat ugly unfunny old wife of Mistah Unfunny Sambo

So how did this guy get unbanned again?

[benthalo]

A cast which lift themselves well above the isn't-that-what's-his-face factor, with Steve Bendelack nurturing lots of engaging double acts, particularly Sue Johnston and Pauline McLynn. J&J is really well played by 90% of the cast, but better it's a totally new departure for Saunders which I welcome heartily after her being stuck in a rut for far too long.  There's such a shift in style of dialogue and pace, and I've warmed to this new approach after a shaky first episode.  It's never fantastic, but it always catches me after a couple of glasses of wine and passes the time very pleasantly indeed.

There are usually a couple of big laughs per show which I grant you isn't enough but yes, I'm still watching. Still recording it too.  Most people seem to have panned it, which is a pity.

[rudi]

Did I say VIVAR?I meant fat ugly unfunny old wife of Mistah Unfunny Sambo

So how did this guy get unbanned again?

Can we start building the strikes again?

I really don't want to come on here to read this shit.

[skinbeard]

I saw the first episode but couldn't be arsed watching anymore. Nothing really wrong with the cast, just the tone of the show. One minute it's sentimental, the next it's grotesque. Has it got better though? And is David Mitchell a regular or was he just in the first episode?

[Tits McGee]

Watched the episode where the vicar falls in the river. Horrible, couldn't see any humour. Give me a good 1970's comedy any day. BBC no good at new comedy when Robert Webb has gone.

[trotsky assortment]

Did I say VIVAR?I meant fat ugly unfunny old wife of Mistah Unfunny Sambo

So how did this guy get unbanned again?

Can we start building the strikes again?

I really don't want to come on here to read this shit.

I found it so tough to read, I gave up before this horrid racist jibe.  I concur with rudi.  Can we live in a boingless world again please?

[Pinball]

I can't believe he said "Sambo". Christ.

[DJ One Record]

I can't believe he said "Sambo". Christ.

Me neither. I thought he was gonna say "Coon".

Sorry. Not even on the second page and already this thread's down the shitter.

[Partridge's Love Child]

Most people seem to have panned it

And I'm going to join them, because it's simply woeful.  The whole thing is a mess of dull flavourless characters, with the usual exception of Dawn French's over-flavoured whacky big gob hahahashe'sfunnybecauseshe'sfat irritiating boisterousness. There's no balance to anything, and it doesn't decide whether it wants to be an over-the-top piece of silliness (see French comments above, plus Joanna Lumley's gruesome old biddy) or a gentle lilting little comedy drama.  It ultimately becomes neither, because there's not sufficient care taken to either side of the coin.

There's also no jokes in it, which seems to be a burgeoning trend amongst sitcoms these days.

[Ben Ordinary]

Just to add a voice to the generally dissenting throng, I genuinely really like this series. The skittish tone seemed to settle down by the third episode and despite the fact Dawn French clearly has every other funny line in it (the fantastic Patrick Barlow getting the other half), her characterisation has been really well dealt with and not just coughed off as "she is silly! lol!".

Its just not a friday night series really.

[Partridge's Love Child]

Well, perhaps there's my problem - I didn't watch past the second episode because I'd had quite enough of that, thank you.

Dawn French clearly has every other funny line in it [...] her characterisation has been really well dealt with and not just coughed off as "she is silly! lol!".

I think it is just "she is silly".  It's the same over-played gurning hilarious wig performance she chucks in in every other thing she's in.

the fantastic Patrick Barlow

I'm afraid I take issue with this as well.  I can't think of a single thing he's been in which hasn't consisted of him sticking his nose in the air and doing a pompous idiot performance in an actory voice.

[4 arses]

I'm really warming to this, as has been stated it's a very odd affair tonally and it may have been more interesting to not separate the types of comedy/drama into particular characters but overall one of the better things to appear on TV recently. I imagine if Green Wing had been done more like this I'd have found it a lot more watchable.

[Partridge's Love Child]

I'd have found Green Wing more watchable if it'd been a bit more like anything but Green Wing.

[Ben Ordinary]

Forgive me for not quoting upon quotes here but last Friday's edition was an episode dealing with the mental illness of French's character and what happens when it turns from silly airheadness to something much more distressing. Even though there is an element of "This is our Father Dougal" I suppose about her, it seems slightly more real than other similar 'silly' characters.

And Barlow's probably an acquired taste but I'm a huge fan of the National Theatre Of Brent and think he has a nice play on what is basically a standard miserable vicar character.

I hope there's a second series anyway. And similarly hope all the actors from Green Wing fall down a large hole.

[The Duck Man]

I watched an episode the other week and fall in the "it's rubbish" camp. I don't think I laughed once, which is a real shame considering the absolutely epic cast it has. They struggle on with the material, but most seem on auto-pilot. Mitchell's really poor in it as well, playing his sort of "awkward middle-class" archetype which doesn't fit the tone of the show.

Speaking of tone, I found the shifts really jarring. The one I watched had Sue Johnston arguing with Sally Phillips about her future career. I just found it bizarre how it'd go from Dawn French bumbling to Phillips and Johnston screaming at one another with no attempt to make a joke.

There's another thing too. The situation doesn't really work - presumably Sue Johnston's meant to be this practical, working woman who's thrown into a the different world of the WI. Classic sitcom stuff - slightly more intelligent/classy/self-aware character stuck with lesser people from whom she can't escape. Yet no attempt to take humour from this, and Johnston seems pretty comfortable already.

Ultimately, though, I just didn't find it funny.

[Dusty Gozongas]

The situation doesn't really work - presumably Sue Johnston's meant to be this practical, working woman who's thrown into a the different world of the WI.[...]and Johnston seems pretty comfortable already.

Except at this point she's recently widowed and also jobless, what with her son taking over from her dead hubby and sacking her.

It's not bad insofar as sitcoms go.