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    Inbetweeners

    So I noticed this on the list of programs on my free on-demand thingy and, based on the description "a lot like Freaks and Geeks," I watched the first episode and then two more (only three available). I guess BBC America is running the series.

    Has it been on long? Is it successful enough to have multiple seasons or just one?

    I liked it so far. Standard coming-of-age topics - girls, underage drinking, school - but a bit more realistic than we usually see. For one, the looser rules of British television mean the discussion can be a bit more sexually explicit, which is more realistic for high school kids, but I don't sense it's going to turn into a lot of American Pie-style giz gags.

    I really liked the episode where the one kid gets the little car and carries the door around the amusement park. That was a good sight gag.

    #2
    Inbetweeners

    there have two seasons so far

    I think its OK, Jay is a decent character as is the teacher (head of sixth form)

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      #3
      Inbetweeners

      Which year is sixth form and what does the "head of the form" do? I don't think we have an equivalent position in our schools.

      It would benefit from more from the female students' perspective, because so far the girls in it seem like fairly well thought out characters and not just the usual "types" that high school stuff written by men usually portrays.

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        #4
        Inbetweeners

        Hadn't heard of this, will check to see if it's on my On Demand as well. I liked Skins a little bit, but it just got too over the top and carried away for me.

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          #5
          Inbetweeners

          Due to the dreaded swine, I've just watched this on On Demand too.
          The episode where they go clubbing made me laugh out loud.

          They are in lower sixth, so year 12 - around 16/17. The head of sixth form just looks after the top two years, so 16-18 year olds. Traditionally there is a bit more freedom, in comparison with lower down the school chain.

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            #6
            Inbetweeners

            I think its decent, Jay is the only minus as his character becomes pretty tedious after a while.

            Seasons 1 and 2 are available on YouTube...

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              #7
              Inbetweeners

              It's consistently silly and puerile, full of little boys swearing and talking about wanking.

              It's brilliant.

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                #8
                Inbetweeners

                It is brilliant. And ignoring all the set pieces and the comedic flourishes these characters are much more true to how I remember being a teenager than Skins or pretty much anythign else is.

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                  #9
                  Inbetweeners

                  I saw this once and I have to say I thought it was excruciatingly bad, to the extent that I've avoided it ever since.

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                    #10
                    Inbetweeners

                    So things that you only find fairly bad, you don't necessarily avoid?

                    I've only recently heard of Skins. From what I can tell, its basically a British remake of Gossip Girl.

                    On that Screenwipe episode where he asked teenagers about various shows, most of them liked Skins and one of the girls remarked that it was a great escapist fantasy and that all of the girls on it were beautiful. I also noticed that Brooker pointed out that all the people on American soaps are so good looking that its hard to tell them apart. Both of those points are true, but I don't think most Americans would have even noticed enough to comment.

                    We take it for granted that just about every actor on TV, and certainly all the main characters in a daytime soap opera or a primetime fluff aimed at young women like 90210 or Gossip Girl, are going to be fairly attractive. We don't even notice it anymore.

                    But I guess that's not the case in British TV. Eastenders, for example, seems to be about average-looking people.

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                      #11
                      Inbetweeners

                      In fairness Hof you did love Skins, did you not? And that was shit on toast.

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                        #12
                        Inbetweeners

                        You've got the wrong person there, guv. I've barely seen Skins, and the snatches I've caught have given me no inclination to investigate further.

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                          #13
                          Inbetweeners

                          Reed of the Valley People wrote:
                          I've only recently heard of Skins. From what I can tell, its basically a British remake of Gossip Girl.
                          I think Skins came first, Reed. BBC America started showing it a few years ago...maybe not that long, but definitely over a year ago, because when when Slumdog Millionaire came out, my first reaction was "hey, there's Anwar from Skins" when I saw the commercials.

                          I've never watched Gossip Girl, but the kids on Skins aren't really rich (well, not all of them), and there's more variety in their backgrounds. But like I said, some of it just got kind of absurd in the problems these kids had. Most of seemed to be basically living by themselves, and the parents in the show are almost all cartoon versions of bad parents. And the third season had a mostly new cast, and that's when I gave up. It can be a depressing show to watch sometimes, because there are some characters I felt they were just being really cruel to. But it could also be really good.

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                            #14
                            Inbetweeners

                            It sounds more like a British version of One Tree Hill, which started off as Dawson's Creek (kids taking themselves very seriously) but with basketball, but has since veered more in the direction of Melrose Place trashiness.

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                              #15
                              Inbetweeners

                              Has anyone seen Misfits? I've just searched and there's no mention of it on here.

                              It was on E4 before Christmas and it's quality. The actors who are on it were on Jonathan Ross the other day and it was described by him as a cross between Skins and Heroes. Don't let this put you off. It's well worth checking out.

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                                #16
                                Inbetweeners

                                That sounds cool. I don't know if that's on in the US, but it sounds like something SyFy ought to pick up.

                                Where is The Inbetweeners supposed to be set?

                                The caravan club was an interesting scene. We have places like that here, but I don't know of anyone under the age of 70 who enjoys them.

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                                  #17
                                  Inbetweeners

                                  Ah yes hof you're right. That was The Horse.

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                                    #18
                                    Inbetweeners

                                    "That sounds cool. I don't know if that's on in the US, but it sounds like something SyFy ought to pick up."

                                    I know you like comics, Reed, so you should give definitely give it a go. It's on Channel 4's website but I don't think you can get watch it in the States.

                                    Although Misfits is about ASBO kids* with powers, the powers isn't the central part of what the programme's about. I don't think it's sci-fi enough to be on any Sci-fi channel really.

                                    *kids with anti-social behaviour orders - an ASBO is a civil order restricting movements after committing some minor crime - graffiti, drunken foolishness, noise pollution and the like.

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                                      #19
                                      Inbetweeners

                                      Reed, it's set somewhere in the commuter belt around (I'd guess to the north of) London - there's an episode in the second series where they go clubbing in the capital which is just excruciating.

                                      And add my voices to the ones saying it's brilliant.

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                                        #20
                                        Inbetweeners

                                        I watched a few more episodes and found it to be decidedly non-brilliant. Too many lazy giz-related jokes and I think they overdo the Jay character and his flatulent father. Maybe it gets better in series 2.

                                        The bit where the main character fails to have proper sex with the hot girl is about the most demoralizing, gutpunching things I've seen in a coming-of-age film or TV series in a long time.

                                        Lots of interesting cross-cultural comparisons. In the Christmas Prom show, the head teacher acted very stern about limiting the consumption of alcohol at the even to two drinks per. Many American parents and educators would hyperventilate at the thought of 16 or 17 year-olds drinking, let alone the school actually allowing booze at a school event. Over here, any teacher or coach that provided alcohol to kids usually gets sacked.

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                                          #21
                                          Inbetweeners

                                          Yeah, it's pretty awful: just a lot of puerile...well, not jokes. Maybe situations is the word. And no character development.

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                                            #22
                                            Inbetweeners

                                            I thought it was one of the funniest shows I'd seen in ages. And some of the situations were clearly ridiculous but it was still truer to life than any other school show I think I've seen.

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                                              #23
                                              Inbetweeners

                                              It's brillantly puerile. Can't be watching heavy stuff like The Wire all the time and sometime's there's just a time and a place for dick jokes.

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                                                #24
                                                Inbetweeners

                                                Not that there aren't plenty of dick jokes in The Wire, of course. And great ones.

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                                                  #25
                                                  Inbetweeners

                                                  I had heard of Inbetweeners without really knowing enough about it to investigate further. Last week I was switching channels and caught a couple of minutes of an episode on Channel 4, one where there was a fashion show and one of the main characters was modelling in speedos to try and impress one of the girls. Except he was concentrating so much on not getting a hard on that he failed to notice that his left bollock was hanging out for the duration of his catwalk show - with schoolmates, teachers and parents all watching aghast.

                                                  I was howling, it was dumb but very, very funny indeed. I got hold of the first couple of seasons and got through a large chunk of them at the weekend with my girlfriend and we both had exactly the same reaction - trashy but very, very funny indeed. It's nice to have something that is pleasingly unchallenging but still very entertaining indeed.

                                                  The Thorpe Park episode with the car door was a scream, the episode later when they are constantly taking the piss out of the caravan guy about his new friend - fwennds in a high pitched voice with thumbs up - had the tears rolling down my face.

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