Not Going Out starts tonight on BBC1 at 9:30pm. Afterwards do please post your thoughts here to help with our review because I suspect it might divide opinion.

Also co-writer Andrew Collins has agreed to a short interview next week so if you have any questions you'd like to put to him about the sitcom or writing industry in general please send them to us.
 

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Mark
BSG Editor
 

We just watched "Not Going Out" and it was brilliant :-D

Just wish I could remember some of the jokes - there were so many I'll have to watch it again.

is it repeated ?

Can't wait until next week for the next epsisode

Paul.
 

Fantastic. Sharp and funny
 

I kinda liked it - a job init/self harms-sell farms were the jokes that made me lol. A curious mix of standup sitcom really (new format called sitstand?) and not sure what to make of it. Will definitely watch again.
 

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http://midgetgems.wordpress.com/
 

I kind of liked it. Lee Mack and the Chinese adoption like scene was very funny. I'd watch it again, but this maybe just to drool over Megan Dodds
 

I have to say that I thought this was woeful.

It suffered from all the problems that most 'modern' sitcoms seem to suffer from, inasmuch as it wasn't remotely funny.

The characters had no depth and did nothing to engage me at all. They all seemed totally two dimensional.

I don't think I cracked a grin once except for the IT joke and I think I've maybe heard this somewhere else already.

On paper the cast and writer promised so much more and I can't really understand why we got what we got.

Maybe it was Andy Millmaned.
 

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Go on then! Say something funny! Go on!
 

A bit wooden but at least they made the effort to be funny - and succeeded in places- unlike dogtown and the like
 

I thought it was a promising start for the show. It was all a little uneven and Megan Dodds' character needeed a bit of work but there were some good lines and maybe over time it could develop into a really good show.

I found Lee Mack and Time Vine entertaining even if their acting is unlikely to win them many awards.
 

I dont know what you see in it. i got bored of it 5 minutes in
 

Unfortunately or not, it remains to be seen, I was out on Friday and missed it. Does anyone know if it's going to be repeated and if so when?


 

I'm not entirely sure what to make of this show. As far as sitcoms go, it was quite disappointing I suppose, but it was still funny (well, reasonably).
The main problem with it is that it is too obviously a Mack/Vine vehicle. To think that characters would honestly talk and bounce off one another in quite that manner is cheesey, cringeworthy, and patronising to the viewer. As a standup routine it would have been fine, because that's exactly the style which one expects, and one knows what one is getting. As a sitcom though, it just wasn't believable. Yes it's their style of comedy, and yes the show is a vehicle for the two of them, but it could have been disguised much more successfully.
It will be interesting to see if/how the series develops.
 

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Aaron
BSG Forums & DVDs Editor
(Half man, half Internet, half TV.)
(Loyal follower of The Magical Aura of Laura.)
And now single.

 

Watched it, I like to try new comedies, and like Lee Macks previous work.
Reasonably funny, a bit contrived, and as said above it was a bit like the skecthes from The Sketch Show and Lee Macks lines / delivery smacked of that.

I'll watch again though.
 

Quote: Vulnax @ October 9, 2006, 7:25 PM

it was a bit like the skecthes from The Sketch Show

View original

Thats enough to put me off it then.

 

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60% of the time it works everytime.
 

Hey, The Sketch Show wasn't that bad and I think Lee Mack's bts were easily the funniest. That show did have an awful lot of filler though and could have done with a decent editor. Maybe if Not Going Out had a good script editor then it could be much improved.


 

I wasn't a fan of it at all. The humour just wasn't up my street. It was very rare I cracked a smile while watching that show. Each to their own I suppose though eh?

I was surprised also when it got it's Kelsey Grammar work over.
 

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60% of the time it works everytime.