It was thin stuff, though. The imperative to visit every state during the series ensured it would be really shallow.
It was unsatisfying wasn't it? The interesting bits (The interviews with the Harvard pastor and the aging socialite for instance) were worthy of much more screen time and some pieces (all the NYC stuff, Sting especially) were pointless.
I think the well established fact that watching Fry read the phone book would still be engaging broadcasting is being exploited too far at the moment.
The Haahvuhd guy in particular was fascinating. I found myself wondering whether he's always looked and talked like that, with that fogey suit and that Boston Brahmin accent, or whether in the 70s he wore a fro and a dashiki, said things like "Suckah!" and "Jive turkey!", and listened to Parliament, or anything. He must surely have been tempted. I would have been.
It was thin stuff, though. The imperative to visit every state during the series ensured it would be really shallow.
Agreed. It skimmed through 4-5 states so quickly you didn't get any idea of the topography or culture of each the State. And despite Fry writing and presenting there wasn't any real attempt at humour the way Clive James managed with his series of Postcards.
It must have cost the BBC a small fortune to produce it too.
The first forty minutes or so of the Peter Kay spoof was unadulterated, laugh-your-guts-out genius, and I'm not surprised (and indeed delighted) that OTF has failed to acknowledge it as such.
It would have been very easy to make a lame "observational" spoof of the genre, like Harry Enfield did with the Dragon's Den; he didn't. Almost every scene was pushing boundaries that were so far off the boundaries of taste that they had you asking "should I really be laughing at this? Can I? Oh Christ I can't help myself".
"R Wayne" doing a duet with a black ventriquolist's dummy, singing "Ebony and Ivory"?
Pete Waterman summarising every single act with "that's the best I've seen in TWENTTY YEARS!"
The bit where "2 Up 2 Down" are all lined up on stools, a la Abba, and the camera cuts back and one of the girls has fallen on the floor and the other three are all still clapping along?
The bit where Cat Deeley asks "Geraldine" if she's never had the "balls" to do this before, and he double takes and says 'well I wouldn't say that'?
Michael Jackson being introduced to "Boyz to Men" and asking them how old they are?
To dismiss that as simple spoof is at best lame and is more probably jealousy. Like saying J K Rowling has just re-written "The Hobbit" and chucked in a few old Hammer Horror monsters along the way.
It will win more BAFTAs than the Office Christmas Special.
"R Wayne" doing a duet with a black ventriquolist's dummy, singing "Ebony and Ivory"?
Pete Waterman summarising every single act with "that's the best I've seen in TWENTTY YEARS!"
The bit where "2 Up 2 Down" are all lined up on stools, a la Abba, and the camera cuts back and one of the girls has fallen on the floor and the other three are all still clapping along?
The bit where Cat Deeley asks "Geraldine" if she's never had the "balls" to do this before, and he double takes and says 'well I wouldn't say that'?
Er, quite. Hysterical eh?
Didn't you recently think a Sara Cox parody of the Katie Perry song was funny though?
dear god I hope he's being sarcastic. If Peter Kay had actually got his little black book out and hunted for a cast of comedians - rather than giving Dr Fox and co their big acting break - this show could have had a bit of potential. Watching Cat Deeley obviously struggling to remember the name of the show every time she said it was painful.
It was thin stuff, though. The imperative to visit every state during the series ensured it would be really shallow.
Agreed. It skimmed through 4-5 states so quickly you didn't get any idea of the topography or culture of each the State. And despite Fry writing and presenting there wasn't any real attempt at humour the way Clive James managed with his series of Postcards.
It must have cost the BBC a small fortune to produce it too.
The fault isn't with Fry, it's with the BBC for their obsession that every series should have six episodes. See also the latest Charley Boorman "wow" fest.
If everything has to be six episodes then he should visit about 12 states. Since the concept is visiting every state then he needs more screen time
I think you can over analyse these things. It made me laugh. Quite a lot. More than a lot of the 'comedy' I've had the misfortune to sit through recently.
But then I quite liked Max & Paddy partly I suppose because Max, or is it Paddy, is a spit for my best mate.
And I thought Cat Deeley was ace. Absolutely perfect. Maybe she thought it was a real show and wasn't acting at all. Or maybe she just played it well.
I thought bits of it were very good. i thought the medley sung by peter Kay's character was absolutely amazing. my enjoyment of it was severely hampered though by not knowing anything about the programmes he was spoofing.
No great opinion on the man himself (like some of his stuff, can leave some) - just noting that next year's Peter Kay arena tour is now at 121 dates. I'm guessing this makes it the highest attended / grossing tour (in the true sense, rather than a Mousetrap or similar long theatre run) ever in the UK & Ireland?
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