Stuff You Just Don't Get.

[Snake Plissken]

Ricky Gervais: “I shall now say this outrageous thing because I’m a cunt! Only joking! Or am I? Yes I am! Probably. I can’t be being a cunt because some of best friends are like that. Or are they? Here’s one as proof.”

Narrator: “He wasn’t joking. And he is a cunt.”

[Eggchaser]

Every time I watch that chokeslam gif I'm amazed at how well the bump is taken. He's coming down from at least seven feet and he keeps his head from slamming into the canvas and makes it look devastating as well.

[Patrick Thistle]

I see we have a Strictly thread. I can see why that show appeals but I don't understand the near hysteria it generates.

[Simon G]

Ricky Gervais: “I shall now say this outrageous thing because I’m a cunt! Only joking! Or am I? Yes I am! Probably. I can’t be being a cunt because some of best friends are like that. Or are they? Here’s one as proof.”

Narrator: “He wasn’t joking. And he is a cunt.”

Very little gave me greater pleasure than watching him absolutely dying on his ass at the Live 8 gig in 2005. The bloke is just horrific and I can't think of a single thing I like him in, myself being one of the only people I know who just doesn't get the clamour over The Office.

[tracteurgarcon]

Stuff I've recently, or fairly recently, taken agin (admittedly after only watching one or two episodes) that everyone else seems to love...

Brooklyn 99 (couldn't stand the Adam Samberg character)
The Good Place (again, couldn't stand the main character)
GLOW (just didn't really find it interesting)
Bojack Horseman (admittedly I only watched about 10 minutes but I just didn't get it)

[Ginger Yellow]

You crazy.

[Giggler]

I couldn't find a thread on it, but I know that a lot of people don't get the League of Gentlemen. Indeed, it took me ages to get them after my uncle lent me the video of the first series and it was a good six months before I gave it a chance on a hungover Sunday afternoon which led to me loving it.

Anyway, I went to the live show at the Apollo on Saturday night and they were fantastic.

[Gangster Octopus]

The real League Of Gentlemen film was on telly (London Live) on Saturday afternoon. Excellent film, just ignore the last few minutes...

[Wouter D]

Bojack Horseman (admittedly I only watched about 10 minutes but I just didn't get it)

The first few episodes straddled the line between annoying and good, but then it dove into a deep dark hole and became really rather fantastic. We're in season four now, enjoying it tremendously.

[Patrick Thistle]

Stuff I've recently, or fairly recently, taken agin (admittedly after only watching one or two episodes) that everyone else seems to love...

Brooklyn 99 (couldn't stand the Adam Samberg character)
The Good Place (again, couldn't stand the main character)
GLOW (just didn't really find it interesting)
Bojack Horseman (admittedly I only watched about 10 minutes but I just didn't get it)

Brooklyn Nine Nine and The Good Place are 2 of my favourite shows. But, yeah, if you don't like Andy Samberg, Brooklyn would be like having your eyes razored.

The Good Place is all about character evolution and Eleanor changes quite a bit. Plus the end of the first season is one of the most enjoyable twists ever.

[Various Artist]

Every time I watch that chokeslam gif I'm amazed at how well the bump is taken. He's coming down from at least seven feet and he keeps his head from slamming into the canvas and makes it look devastating as well.

This is a very good point. It's a neat demonstration of the skill and artistry, if that's the word, of the performance.

I see we have a Strictly thread. I can see why that show appeals but I don't understand the near hysteria it generates.

I think, as is often the case with such things, there's a sort of feedback loop between the show itself, the media presentation of everything to do with it, and the audience. You could be forgiven, with any such programme, for imagining that the entire country is agog over it. In practice, the actual audience is very likely to be smaller and largely less gaga than the saturation media coverage would suggest, but the media tend to feed on themselves such is their need to keep itself themselves relevant and ratings-grabbing.

I caught the end of an episode of Pointless a day or two ago where one of the options in the final round was 'Series winners of The Apprentice', and the one name that one of the contestants could remember proved to be a winning (i.e. pointless) answer. What amused me was that it turned out that all of the series winners bar (I think) three were pointless, as it just goes to demonstrate the point I was making above, really: for all the sound and fury each new series seems to generate, no-one really gives a stuff ultimately.

Stuff I've recently, or fairly recently, taken agin (admittedly after only watching one or two episodes) that everyone else seems to love...
Brooklyn 99 (couldn't stand the Adam Samberg character)

Last edited by tracteurgarçon; Today at 15:35. Reason: Hated Adam Samberg's character so much that I called him Adam Sandberg

I love that your hatred has meant you've basically merged Andy Samberg with Adam Sandler, to such an extent you still couldn't properly separate them after two attempts. Truly, a damning criticism.

I couldn't find a thread on it, but I know that a lot of people don't get the League of Gentlemen. Indeed, it took me ages to get them after my uncle lent me the video of the first series and it was a good six months before I gave it a chance on a hungover Sunday afternoon which led to me loving it.

I had the misfortune to miss the first two series when they went out and then get introduced to the show via the Christmas special. It put me off completely for a long while, and although my friends subsequently have quite often tried to assure me that it isn't representative of the regular series – it's a lot darker and nastier than the normal episodes – I've still never quite come around. I mean, I've enjoyed bits I've seen here and there since, but the comedy of the grotesque isn't really my thing altogether.

[Snake Plissken]

I don’t get the League Of Gentlemen either, but I fully admit that it is me who are not on their wavelength and not the other way around.

[Snake Plissken]

Very little gave me greater pleasure than watching him absolutely dying on his ass at the Live 8 gig in 2005. The bloke is just horrific and I can't think of a single thing I like him in, myself being one of the only people I know who just doesn't get the clamour over The Office.

You won’t find me praising Peter Kay all that often but Phoenix Nights was a vastly funnier show. Brian Potter was a much better monster of a character than David Brent ever was.

But then The Office was so much more relatable for TV journalists.

[Stumpy Pepys]

I'm a fan of Douglas Adams, but I could never get into Dirk Gently.

[Jah Womble]

You won’t find me praising Peter Kay all that often but Phoenix Nights was a vastly funnier show. Brian Potter was a much better monster of a character than David Brent ever was.

But then The Office was so much more relatable for TV journalists.

The Office was one of those ideas that in such times - ie, when TV folk were obsessed with vérité - needed to be made. Despite being well-conceived/scripted (which it was, to be fair), BBC2 commissioner Jane Root was reluctant to give it any backing whatsoever. (Of course, when the show finally took off several months after birthing, she was quick to claim credit for its 'discovery'.) But the beauty of The Office - for me, at least - was all in the first series, with its low-rent, claustrophobic atmos and subsequently-trapped characters. Making the whole premise bigger for the second series didn't work at all for me.

I think with Phoenix Nights, there seemed far fewer airs and graces and it was more durably likeable for its knowing cartoonishness. (Plus Peter Kay comes across as a more genuinely decent person in general than Gervais. But I wouldn't really know.)

[Disco Child Ballads]

Lots of people have been raving about Bodyguard but I think it's a load of preposterous nonsense.

[Ginger Yellow]

I'm a fan of Douglas Adams, but I could never get into Dirk Gently.

Which? The books? The cancelled BBC show with Mangan? The new one that's on Netflix?

[Stumpy Pepys]

Which? The books? The cancelled BBC show with Mangan? The new one that's on Netflix?

I tried the BBC radio version and the Netflix one, but I never got past episode one.

[Giggler]

You won’t find me praising Peter Kay all that often but Phoenix Nights was a vastly funnier show. Brian Potter was a much better monster of a character than David Brent ever was.

But then The Office was so much more relatable for TV journalists.

Yeah, but the last two episodes of Phoenix Nights weren't great, were they? The Office series two had its climax with Brent being fired and the photocopier still whirring and everyone carrying on as normal. Suggesting that two of your most popular characters could be hitmen was a tough one to swallow from a series that I, having the same kind of experience of clubs that Kay drew on, believed in.

[diggedy derek]

I caught the end of an episode of Pointless a day or two ago where one of the options in the final round was 'Series winners of The Apprentice', and the one name that one of the contestants could remember proved to be a winning (i.e. pointless) answer. What amused me was that it turned out that all of the series winners bar (I think) three were pointless, as it just goes to demonstrate the point I was making above, really: for all the sound and fury each new series seems to generate, no-one really gives a stuff ultimately.

Fascinating, that. I think I loathe The Apprentice more than any show on TV. It's just so mean spirited, and seems to do everything in its power to trivialise and antagonise what the contestants do and how they relate to each other.

Plus the license fee is being used to pay a racist.

[3 Colours Red]

I never got into Peep Show despite enjoying almost everything else Mitchell & Webb have ever done. Can't explain it; just didn't click with me.

[Fussbudget]

The Good Place is all about character evolution and Eleanor changes quite a bit. Plus the end of the first season is one of the most enjoyable twists ever.

That's funny, I like The Good Place but I really don't care about any of the characters or how much they change throughout the show. I watch it for the clever/smug writing, especially good when it kicks up a gear in season two and becomes this really meta (and hilarious) show about storytelling and creation.

[Kevin S]

Sort of similar (edit - to 3CR) - there are moments of Peep Show that I think are incredible but they are the moments that feel more like sketches, e.g. cooking and eating the dog, pissing on the wedding congregation. But I can't get into it to watch whole episodes really.

On the theme of two of the above posts:

[Eggchaser]

Arrow. I believe I have mentioned it elsewhere, but much like Game of Thrones, this is a show I introduced my wife to, which I gave up on in the first series, and she avidly watches. Too much gritty reboot darkness.

[Hot Pepsi]

It gets better after season 1.