Return of the Mack

My last blog post was about a "comedy" series with which I was less than impressed. This one is about one which I find really funny.

"Not going out" is now in its fourth series and it is an oddity in that after series three it was cancelled, only for it to be re-commissioned a while later.

The show stars two stand up comedians, Lee Mack & Tim Vine (brother of Radio 2 DJ, Jeremy Vine), they play best mates, who first met at a party in the 80's. In the first series Lee Mack shared a flat with Tim Vine's ex girlfriend, played by the American actress Megan Dodds (who had previously starred in Spooks).She's very attractive and Lee Mack tries to juggle, fancying her, not wishing to annoy her (she owns the flat) and taking every opportunity to wind up Tim Vine that he is sharing a flat with someone who dumped him. As in all good comedies most of the action either takes place in the flat or their local pub/wine bar. Clever plots and excellent scripts made a good first 6 episodes.

At the end of series one, Megan Dodds left the show which gave the writers and producers a challenge as the "will they/won't they" tension between her and Lee Mack had been the cornerstone of the first series. Their solution was to say that she had gone back to the USA &  introduce Tim Vine's younger, equally attractive sister Lucy to the story and make her Lee's new flat mate. To play Lucy they chose Sally Bretton who had some comedy interspersed with more serious parts and she quickly restored the underlying sexual tension with Lee Mack only this time Tim is trying to defend his sisters honour. Just to screw with Lee's mind a bit more Lucy finds a boyfriend who is older then Lee (who is already 10 years or so older then Lucy) with Lucy announcing that she likes "older men". Series 2 found plenty in the various relationships to keep us laughing and entertained. Along the way series 2 also introduced Barbara the clumsy cleaner, played wonderfully by Miranda Hart.

Series 3 continued the Lee/Lucy story to no great conclusion, although by then she had dumped the older boyfriend, with the main development being Tim getting a "nice but dim"girlfriend, Daisy. played by Katy Wix, to add to the ensemble. Barbara, the cleaner, had a bigger  role and her clumsiness became an art form and one of the features of series 3.  The scripts remained well written and it was with some disappointment that I learned shortly after series 3 finished that that  it had been cancelled. when one of the writers, Andrew Collins tweeted to that effect.

That was reversed however and series 4 is now with us. Sadly Miranda Hart has left as she now has her own self named "sit com" (and very good it is too) so Daisy now has a bigger role. Lee Mack continues to play his "lovable Northerner"( who still fancies Lucy) to great effect and Tim remains the repressed accountant.

I will continue to look forward to 9.30 pm on a Thursday for at least four more weeks.

I'm Mandy fly me

I never found "Little Britain" hilariously funny, so I guess that I shouldn't me surprised that David Walliams & Matt Lucas' new show "come fly with me" leaves me cold.

The concept is good, a "mockumentory" about the airline industry, based on the various programmes made about airports, airlines and the various other industries that depend on flight. Lucas & Walliams play various "colour full characters" both male and female, old and young and of various ethnic backgrounds. Some are funny, like the really thick teenager (Lucas) who dreams of being a pilot but can't understand how to serve on the counter in a fast food restaurant. Some make you smile, like the 1st class flight attendant who doesn't think that a couple are "worthy" to be in 1st class. The majority however range from not funny to insensitive. I don't see that making fun of a boy in a wheelchair or excessive drug taking by customs officers is "funny". That was the two worst examples and there were plenty more.  Some sketches clearly tried to shock but that is a poor substitute for a joke that makes you laugh.

As the journalist David Hepworth wrote on Twitter "Re: Come Fly With Me: at what point did they convince themselves it was going to be funny? When they banked the cheque?"


Fortunately the BBC scheduled "Not going out" straight afterwards and that was funny with jokes and everything.

New Years Day

So what do I hope for in 2011, besides the obvious stuff of health, happiness and wealth?

1) Saints to end the year top of the Championship.
2) the "classic" line up of Yes to get together and play while they are all still alive.
3) England to win the Cricket world cup.
4) Arsenal to win the Premier League and Blackpool get into Europe.
5) new series of Sherlock, Dr Who, Not Going Out, Modern Family and Downton Abbey.
6) Prog to continue it's resurgence.
7) play lots more golf!

Happy New Year!


-- Post From My iPhone