It's not a series about the harsh realities of life of an ice cream vendor?!? Well, that's been the last episode for me, then! Talk about false advertising...

Anyway, last episode. An avalanche of gags, but at times it felt more like two stand-up comedians trying to top each other rather than two people in a sort-of real situation. Some great gags, some not so much(though having become a dad with a wee one of 10 1/2 months does reduce your sense of baby-bashing humour quite severely, so I'm probably biased and shocked. The ultrasound was an insanely clever idea though).

Lucy and Guy, however, don't work for me. She's a cypher and he's creepy - and gets creepier by the episode. Are we supposed to feel this way or should we like him as an 'antidote' to Lee's immaturity? In any case, every scene between them lies there like a dead fish lying there dead. Sally Bretton doesn't yet have a handle on her character, and I don't know if it's because she's just not very good or (as I suspect) if it's because the character hasn't been developed well enough (or the development hasn't yet shown up in the scripts, something which does tend to happen at times - good ideas in the series bible not being implemented in the actual writing. I'm not saying this is what's going on here, just that it could be a possible reason for the weakness of the character).

Series 3: just put Tim and Lee together in the flat and have them encounter a vast number of attractive yet unobtainable women, and this series can run until doomsday, or until Lee is stuck for words (i.e. right about the same time, I reckon).
 

Quote: SM186 @ September 29, 2007, 3:32 PM

Hello there! I'm new to all this and this is my first post so I'm hoping it'll work!

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Welcome, welcome.
 

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

 

NGO was back to it's best in the last episode. More gags than you could shake a stick at! Character development? Realistic plots? Who cares? Obviously those who were complaining about a lack of both in previous posts do, but I don't. Not for this show anyway. This show is all about the gags and getting laughs. If you remove some of the jokes in order to develop t he characters/plots further you could ruin it. It's a similar story with The IT Crowd, which is a better show, by the way. I'm going to miss the NGO/IT Crowd double act we've had for the last few weeks.
 

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I think it's wrong that only one company makes the game Monopoly.
 

This was good but I was a bit meh about it all, I dunno, still love Lee in a none gay way by the way, ya gay!
 

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In my face! I mean your Face!
 

Quote: Rustle T Davis @ September 28, 2007, 11:38 AM

Andrew, if you're still around ... how did the name for the show come about?

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It was supposed to reflect Lee's layabout status (although that's dissipated a bit since the early days, now that he's got the van) and the fact that a man and a woman sharing a flat were "not going out" - with the tantalising prospect that they might "go out" before the end of the series (a prospect that has survived the transition to series two). It's stuck now. Anyway, I always really liked it. I liked the commercial suicide of making a pilot with that title, when there was a chance that it would not go out.

Quote: Seefacts @ September 28, 2007, 11:04 PM

Come on, NGO was better yeah, but Linehan writes and directs a visual gag better than any other of writer around - see the hand/ambulance gag.

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Hey, I don't want to be put up against Graham in a fight. I know him, and I'm a big fan of his work, not least the IT Crowd - another gag-based, studio-set, audience-laughter sitcom that started around the same time as us. We're in this together.

 

Quote: Andrew Collins @ October 1, 2007, 9:41 AM

It was supposed to reflect Lee's layabout status (although that's dissipated a bit since the early days, now that he's got the van) and the fact that a man and a woman sharing a flat were "not going out" - with the tantalising prospect that they might "go out" before the end of the series (a prospect that has survived the transition to series two). It's stuck now. Anyway, I always really liked it. I liked the commercial suicide of making a pilot with that title, when there was a chance that it would not go out.

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Ahhhhhhhh ... thanks Andrew. I couldn't decide whether the title was refering to "Lee's status" OR that he and Kate weren't "going out" but it seems it was a bit of both. All those weeks of turmoil I suffered!

True story - during the first series, I had an amusing telephone conversation with a friend who wanted me to go out for a meal with her one Friday night:

FRIEND:

What are we doing Friday then?

ME:

Oh, I'm not going out. There's too much good stuff on TV.

FRIEND:

Like what?

ME:

Not Going Out.

FRIEND:

I know ... but why?



It amused me, anyway.

 

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"It is your job as a writer to seek out harsh criticism of your work and change because of it." Paul Cornell
 

Yes...

Anyway, why isn't Tim on the writing team?
 

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In my face! I mean your Face!
 

I know it's already been said multiple time here but I have to give the NGO team props for episode 4--it was a continuous laughfest like series 1 was for me and I usually don't like plots involving babies. The coconut milk as monkey wee was sweet and their rambling back-and-forth excuses as to why they were ultrasounding the baby was great. I am actually excited to see what happens with episode 5.

@Andrew Collins, FYI I don't think series 2 is failing, in fact I've gotten a lot of laughs from it and it's still better than most the sitcoms out there and I pretty much watch all of them on both sides of the pond and a few from Australia. I was just perplexed as to why you'd get rid of such a winning formula only to find out, at my other sitcom source yesterday, that Megan Dodds wasn't available for series 2. Intellectually I realize it shouldn't affect me, but if I had known that from the start it would have toned down my disappointment as I thought she had been focus group axed for portraying an American--I know we aren't popular these days around the world--and vegan, which may be trendy in some circles but rarely are its proponents likable in real life; being involved with Earth First! I know the pretentious, sanctimonious vegan sub-type all too well. I guess I was mistakingly placing Hollywood standards on a British show. Lee, Tim, and Kate made the perfect love triangle, which isn't easy to accomplish convincingly so you deserve much credit there, and whoosh she's gone to be replaced by Tim's sister, which removed that underlying energy between them and in my book romantic tension ups the comedy potential.

And, on a side note, the series 1 premiere is one of my all time favourite episodes for all sitcoms not just NGO. It's up there with The (no wanking) Contest episode of Seinfeld, the bled to his 'death' performance artist on Absolute Power, the episode of Arrested Development where George Michael is wearing the rocket pants and 'fighting' Godzilla in the miniature city built to fool the Japanese investors, Alan Partridge running from his psycho fan and calling the waitress he likes a Dalek, the gang on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia pretending to be disabled especially the guy imitating the wheelchair vet from Born on the 4th of July, the Peyote Ugly episode of The Minor Accomplishments of Jackie Woodman, and the Fireworks episode of 30 Rock. Its an episode no matter how I'm feeling I can put on and laugh at it; Lee's dates with Mz. Depression always cracks me up.
 

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Bent from the reddest red state: Idaho!
 

Quote: Leevil @ October 1, 2007, 2:07 PM

Yes...

Anyway, why isn't Tim on the writing team?

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And more importantly, how do I get onto the writing staff?
 

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I think it's wrong that only one company makes the game Monopoly.
 

Quote: Andrew Collins @ October 1, 2007, 9:41 AM

Hey, I don't want to be put up against Graham in a fight. I know him, and I'm a big fan of his work, not least the IT Crowd - another gag-based, studio-set, audience-laughter sitcom that started around the same time as us. We're in this together.

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Hey, of course, it was more defending the IT Crowd to someone else than comparing. I really love both shows. NGO nails the verbal, IT nails the visual.

For me, both shows prove that you don't have to be Ricky Gervais to do a good sitcom (prove to TV execs, not us). And I'd say both shows have given hope to a lot of people on here in that just because they're not doing lots of REACTS style jokes that theirs isn't a credible show.

I also highlight 'It's like being on a Japanese game show' as one of the best one-liners in recent sitcom.

As I said - in Mack and Vine you've got a partnership that can hold this show up for a long long time, US style. I suppose you're already on the way in terms of having a lot of writers - and you've got it to work.

I compare Lee Mack to Seinfeld in terms of he's pure comedy. His delivery is nothing but comedy and is almost a cartoon. But it works so well.

Quote: Leevil @ October 1, 2007, 2:07 PM

Yes...

Anyway, why isn't Tim on the writing team?

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On a side note, he's not just puns too. I was lucky enough to meet him at the venue where I work (I meet all the stars) and he, and his support John Archer (who was on the writing team for NGO series 1, correct me if I'm an idiot) were both very, very quick and funny blokes.
 

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A bit too good.
 

Quote: Seefacts @ October 1, 2007, 9:11 PM

On a side note, he's not just puns too. I was lucky enough to meet him at the venue where I work (I meet all the stars) and he, and his support John Archer (who was on the writing team for NGO series 1, correct me if I'm an idiot) were both very, very quick and funny blokes.

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Tim Vine's stand-up DVD is one of the funniest DVD’s I've got. I actually haven't got Lee's yet, but fully intend to do so soon.

 

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I think it's wrong that only one company makes the game Monopoly.
 

hello all,

i've been tracking this show since it first aired! it's an awesome show and i can't get enough of it.

living in romania makes it hard for me to see it, i have to go online and find the episodes and download them. that's worked fine, but not being british has its disadvantages i don't understand all of it. a friend from up north's helped me with a few lines but i can't bother her constantly so i'm asking you: do you know of any subtitles for the show? are they available somewhere? i saw the season 1 dvds don't mention any subs... you guys obviously don't need um, but i didn't understand the words "ice lolly" until i read them on this board, because the sound was in the background. i grew up with the american version of the english language, i'm much better at understanding that
 

Quote: brentbent @ October 1, 2007, 3:14 PM

And, on a side note, the series 1 premiere is one of my all time favourite episodes for all sitcoms not just NGO. It's up there with The (no wanking) Contest episode of Seinfeld, the bled to his 'death' performance artist on Absolute Power, the episode of Arrested Development where George Michael is wearing the rocket pants and 'fighting' Godzilla in the miniature city built to fool the Japanese investors, Alan Partridge running from his psycho fan and calling the waitress he likes a Dalek, the gang on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia pretending to be disabled especially the guy imitating the wheelchair vet from Born on the 4th of July, the Peyote Ugly episode of The Minor Accomplishments of Jackie Woodman, and the Fireworks episode of 30 Rock. Its an episode no matter how I'm feeling I can put on and laugh at it; Lee's dates with Mz. Depression always cracks me up.

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You're very kind. The original pilot we shot, with Catherine Tate as Kate (she was unavailable to do the series by the time we got commissioned), is a very interesting curio. No, I'm not going to put it up on YouTube, as it was never intended for broadcast. The fact that Megan Dodds came in and came out on top at the subsequent auditions for Kate - when Kate was originally written for a Brit - shows you how much we liked her. So far from there being any anti-American feeling anywhere, we rewrote her part to accommodate her nationality. The vegan/yoga/crystals thing just came with the rewrites. as it seemed to suit a Californian, and gave Lee somethng to push against. However, when Megan left, it seemed wrong to simply recast Kate with another American actress, so we cleared the decks and started from scratch.

Quote: earman2009 @ October 1, 2007, 8:07 PM

And more importantly, how do I get onto the writing staff?

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You're mistaking us for an American sitcom! We don't have a "staff". If only.

 

Quote: pinkISH @ October 2, 2007, 7:43 AM

hello all,

i grew up with the american version of the english language, i'm much better at understanding that

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Hi pinkISH, welcome to the BSG

Don't worry I don't understand Northeners (North of England) either

Adam
 

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Hola, Wilkommen to le BSG. Proud member of the ESG (European Sitcom Guide)


 

ee lad, get thee self sum th'education.

And sorry dude for the talking heads joke, but really, why isn't Tim on the writing team? Does he ever ad lib?
 

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In my face! I mean your Face!