The Smoking Room

[kingandy]

Am enjoying this new BBC3 comedy; it's a bare-bones observational comedy in the vein of The Office and The Royle Family - though I never particularly liked the latter much, it shares the key features of being both stationary and real-time. The episodes would work very well on stage.

I think I'm mainly enjoying it - as thousands of Scally families enjoyed the Royle Family - because I'm very much empathising with the nominally central character, Robin. I say "central" because he seems to be the only character who's constantly in the Smoking Room (the others drift in and out, and he manages to make it look like he's doing the same, but I'm not sure he ever actually does any work), and also because he seems to be one of the main points of the series. Other characters, though well-rounded in their way, are there purely to entertain and amuse, while Robin is there to demonstrate that, yes, you can do this in a sit-com without it being derogatory. Once you twig to his tastes, you realise the script actually extends several layers further down than is immediately apparent, and there's some quite good interplay and subtext floating around down there; the humour is in the character, not what the character may or may not be - it's not a big deal, it's just something that is. If that makes any sense. I'm trying to explain it without giving it away, and probably failing miserably. Never mind.

Maybe it's just the vague sensation of being in on a running gag that may pass some people by (I laughed out loud at a few key remarks and physical cues, though my Mum didn't particularly seem to get it), or perhaps it's just that the whole thing is just so very familiar. In terms of realistically drawn characters it beats the pants off - say - Will and Grace. Though that's probably not wholly surprising to anyone.

Summary: It's funny because it's true. Really.


In other news: Random Encounter has been inked. Now I need to scan and colour. This may take some time.

Also, apologies to anyone who may have been struck by my earlier use of words like "interplay" and "subtext" without anything resembling a license. If I am not careful I may start to say "Juxtaposition", and then where would we be?

Comments

[wulfboy.livejournal.com]

(innocent expression) Are the Characters in Will and Grace not realistic, then? (/innocent expression)

[pax-draconis.livejournal.com]

Mm. I guess they could be. If all fat men, for instance, were jolly like Santa.

[wulfboy.livejournal.com]

We-el, you could say that, in sit-com land, all fat men are either jolly or at least greedy, all husbands hen-pecked, all tarts possessed of hearts of gold, all plain women secretly beautiful and all wicked folk secretly yearning to be loved, it being a world of stereotypes and easy-identify situations. So you could. But I'm not going to.

[kingandy]

That would appear to be the implication, certainly.

It wasn't so bad at the beginning, Jack was the character they could use to vent all their stereotype jokes - which isn't so bad if it's a specific character flaw because there are people like that - while Will was relatively normal. As time has gone by, though, the distinction has become less ... distinct.

[wulfboy.livejournal.com]

I don't watch Will and Grace much, but when I do catch it it's Jack and Karen that I watch for. Whatever else they are, they're entertaining. Horrible, awful, selfish, self-obsessed and funny. Will and Grace are bland, as far as I can see. That's my potted Andy review.

[kingandy]

Hee. When I first saw Will and Grace I thought it was the US version of "Gimme Gimme Gimme", only the central characters had been pushed to one side in favour of these less nasty types. Or they'd developed it to the extent that the central characters bore no resemblance to those in the original, and they'd had to be reintroduced as "mates".

I think, in some ways, Jack and Karen only work because they're the sidekicks; you need W&G's blandness to compare them to, to prove that the writers aren't just exploiting stereotypes. Or something. They probably couldn't carry a show by themselves. You've got to have a straight man...

[pax-draconis.livejournal.com]

If I am not careful I may start to say "Juxtaposition", and then where would we be?

Making a very sheeping explanation to the nurses in Casualty.

[kingandy]

What, both of us?

[richc.livejournal.com]

Of course it would be both of you, you do know what it means don't you?

[pax-draconis.livejournal.com]

There is no tactful and diplomatic response to this statement.

I will instead thank you for not pointing out the obvious typo.

[kingandy]

Bah.

[pax-draconis.livejournal.com]

That, on the other hand, was a pune so bad it's boiled the varnish off my desk.

[mrssshhh.livejournal.com]

It's a shame that there's programs like this on BBC3, which are fucking brilliant, and they still put shit like Royle Family re-runs on primetime BBC1.

The recent "concern" about the BBC's programming and future funding could be sorted out in a day if people took notice of these extra channels.