What TV Have You Seen?

[Demoncrat]

Watched TWD3 up to the "mid season break" (what fresh nonsense is this??), liking even if they have majorly danced round a HUUUGE plot point later on. Ho hum. Cough. Etc.

Game Of Thrones II tonight methinks.

...........and after turning my nose up at Rollerball (I have to be in the mood for the ponderous interludes between the violence) I perused the rather well observed C Brooker two parter A Touch Of Cloth. Every cliche overturned a go go! very silly, and cheered me up no end.

[sawyer6]

Now ,after a couple of weeks that I finished watching it ,I must say that The Wire is the best tv series I've ever watched and I'm not exaggerating

[PaulD]

Rewatched The League of Gentlemen over December for the first time in about 8 years - the 3 series and the Christmas specials. The first two series are fantastic with a find blend of darkness and humour and great overarching plots. I'm still not too keen on the third series though. I respect the need to keep the show fresh and change the format but I think the lack of a laugh track works against it as the show ends up with a different tone and I always worry that if a comedy show is without a laugh track (and not shot in a fast paced/documentary style) it runs the risk of trying to take itself too seriously as if its almost ashamed of being a comedy show. The contrast between the audience laughter and the often dark and gruesome occurrences gave the first two series a great tone (except for the occasional "ewww" revulsions) which was lacking in the third. I also wasn't too keen on how some of the characters were treated (Pauline and Micky in particular) and didn't think it felt like Royston Vasey in the same way the previous series did and although I did like the way each episode happened concurrently it didn't seem to be for any real reason. The Christmas Special was good fun though.


I'm now watching season one of Dexter which has started off really promising. I'm hoping there'll be more repercussions for the main character's actions but it's still early days.

[Susan Foreman]

Originally Posted by PaulD

Rewatched The League of Gentlemen over December for the first time in about 8 years - the 3 series and the Christmas specials. The first two series are fantastic with a find blend of darkness and humour and great overarching plots. I'm still not too keen on the third series though. I respect the need to keep the show fresh and change the format but I think the lack of a laugh track works against it as the show ends up with a different tone and I always worry that if a comedy show is without a laugh track (and not shot in a fast paced/documentary style) it runs the risk of trying to take itself too seriously as if its almost ashamed of being a comedy show. The contrast between the audience laughter and the often dark and gruesome occurrences gave the first two series a great tone (except for the occasional "ewww" revulsions) which was lacking in the third. I also wasn't too keen on how some of the characters were treated (Pauline and Micky in particular) and didn't think it felt like Royston Vasey in the same way the previous series did and although I did like the way each episode happened concurrently it didn't seem to be for any real reason. The Christmas Special was good fun though.

Paul - the third series is/was wonderful post-modernist surreal/horror/comedy

By taking a single moment/scene/incident, and showing it from a number of different points-of-view was a masterstroke. Also, don't forget that it was only three people playing all the main characters - both male and female (and those who were neither)!

While I agree that the third series was 'different' to the sit-coms that had been the first two series', I personally think that the dark humour in the third is more in touch with what the league were about, other than the sequences featuring Dean Tavalouris, which took things much too much to the extreme, as far as I (a fan) am concerned

By the way, this is my favourite sketch from the show. It always results in wet knickers. Oh - is that too much info. Curse you vodka!

[PaulD]

I just didn't see the point in showing the incident from different points of view. I might have missed something but it just seemed irrelevant to me, like an attempt to force a narrative into the series even though it didn't fit. The show works better as an almost-sketch show rather than focussing on specific characters as far as I'm concerned.

It felt like everything that needed to be said and done was tied up in the second series and the third one was done out of some
sort of obligation with no real care for the characters. The Ross/Pauline scene was unnecessary and to the detriment to the characters without even being funny beyond its shockiness and the idea of Mrs Levinson running a beauty salon totally goes against her character from the first two series (and could they really do anything with her to better the "Mum!" moment in series 2?). I'll give it a go again at some point but I really didn't care for it much at all.

[Susan Foreman]

As a sidebar, have you heard to original radio shows - 'On The Town with The League of Gentlemen'?

[PaulD]

Originally Posted by suziginajackson

As a sidebar, have you heard to original radio shows - 'On The Town with The League of Gentlemen'?

I haven't actually. Are they worth getting?

[Susan Foreman]

Originally Posted by PaulD

I haven't actually. Are they worth getting?

I think so. I really enjoyed them (but I am a fan)

Some of the sketches were resurrected for the television show, but some of them are unique to the radio

Incidentally, in the radio show, it was not a town called 'Royston Vasey' where all the action happened - it was called 'Spent'!

In my opinion, 'OTTWTLOG' is much better than the original radio shows for 'Little Britain' (which owes a LOT to 'The League')

[Susan Foreman]

*Trouble with router/net connection = double post *deleted*

Apologies

[Slippery Jack]

You guys listened to the League's commentary tracks? Bloody hilarious, and they seem to get better each series. The Series 3 track is the best, where they really let rip with their opinions on what works and what doesn't (and aknowledge the fact that no one tuned in to watch it!). Reece's constant bitching is the source of much hilarity . . .