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Underground > Film, TV & Theatre >

Peep Show

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Brigade du jour

13:30 / 12.11.04

These two young guys who share a flat but don't understand why they're friends because, like, one's kind of shallow but chicks dig him, and the other's also kind of shallow but chicks don't.

On paper it sounds like shit, but they introduce this gimmick whereby everything (and I mean everything) is shot in character point-of-view. Which makes kissing scenes really weird.

But the sense of humour can be very close to the bone, sort of like The Office. Quite dark and strange, counterpoint to the everyday, middle-class, middle-brow London setting.

Anyway,I really liked the first series, wondered if anyone wanted to discuss it.

13:58 / 12.11.04

I really enjoyed it. I saw a lot of epsiodes with one eye closed from late night lonley drinking, but always liked it (the episode that springs to mind involves a swimming instructor).

The guy from Smoking Room (which is terrible) is okay in it, just unlikeable enough, but the dark haired chap is fantastic.

Suedey! SHOT FOR MEAT!

15:17 / 12.11.04

I really enjoyed a few episodes of the last series, but the others kind of didn't live up to them so much.

They've got a nice way with words and phrases that stick with you - self deluded thoughts at a party, trying to impress a girl to no effect "Alright, let me go a little Oscar Wilde on your ass", and cue saying something embarassing and pointless.

I'll probably appreciate anything where you've got one person striving to be some kind of creative zenith while not seeing how deluded and sad he is, and another stuck in a terrible job with an office crush being the only thing that gives him any respite however pathetic he gets about it.

16:02 / 12.11.04

I loved the first series of this, but thought the first few eps were better than the last. Strangely, it seemed to work best when there isn't much storyline. The internal dialogue stuff seemed much sharper over the familiar and day-to-day ("I am the Lord of the bus, said he") and the way thoughts sequed into speech often touched on brilliance ("How thick is wall?"). And some a lot of the dialogue really managed to nail the comedy of the mundane (eg. Toni's Alpen speech.)
I still thought it was one of the best shows of last year and yeah, I'm really looking forward to the new series.

By the way, the actor who played Super Hans (Matt King) seemed really familiar and it tortured me every scene he was in. His imdb entry doesn't help. Was he in an ad or something? Possibly, he just reminded me of Lofty.

12:05 / 13.11.04

Last night's new ep was very good. The kissing scene was great if only for the fact that it lasted so long!

"I wonder which one of my treasured possesions they're going to shove up their anuses tonight?"

13:04 / 17.11.04

'It's like pornography, except I can't see anything and I don't have an erection. And instead of being excited, I want to cry.'

Worth it purely for that.

The chubbier fellow makes me think of Haus, for no reason at all.

14:00 / 17.11.04

Interesting, most of the people I know think that they’re Mark, or I’m Mark, or both. Which may mean that the writing is skilled and insightful at depicting characters realistically, or – more probably – that I need to change my life.

Suedey! SHOT FOR MEAT!

14:19 / 17.11.04

I think the best thing about Mark is his weird Nazi/war fascination. So although I may feel like Mark at points, this always separates us. I feel safer because of it.

Whisky Priestess

17:45 / 18.11.04

I mustn't forget to watch this again. Problem is, I always have obligations on Fridays ...

Suedey! SHOT FOR MEAT!

17:51 / 18.11.04

I'm pretty sure it's repeated at some point during the week. Tuesday nights, I think?

Brigade du jour

22:06 / 20.11.04

Just watched the second episode of the new series and wanted to say that I thought the 'Mark making friends with a Nazi' idea was very clever.

It felt like a microcosm of the entire show, in the sense that it was both very funny and quite disturbing and tragic at exactly the same time. I also admired that they went out of their way to give the Nazi friend (sorry, forgotten his name) some dimension bordering on dignity instead of him being a cardboard-cutout arsehole.

Thus it sent me into a vortex of confusion about whether I can condone my respect for his basic humanity or not. Well, for a couple of seconds at least. I mean, it's only a sitcom ... isn't it?

20:43 / 17.01.05

Peep Show's being repeated on C4 all night this week at about 11.30, in case anyone missed it last time round, owing to being in the pub on Friday, and failing to pick up on the Tuesday night repeats until right at the end. Good show, I thought.

20:51 / 17.01.05

A friend met with them recently, and C4 aren't going to commision another series based on current figures, so enjoy it while its on.

Suedey! SHOT FOR MEAT!

22:01 / 17.01.05

Oh man! This has been the best of all recent comedies. I'm really dissapointed about that.

Shit. Hopefully DVD sales will boost their chances...

I can't believe more people don't love this show, really. It's had some of the best character writing I've ever witnessed.

Nelson Evergreen

13:35 / 18.01.05

Well, I'll definitely be getting the DVD. Favourite line? "Good riddance, you fucking nazi." It's the way he said it. Beautiful.

Marks eyes are superb. He has no irises, just two big, desparate, hungry pupils.

22:38 / 18.01.05

If the viewing figures were shit, it's entirely C4's fault. Stick the first series in completely random graveyard slots, advertise the first episode of the second series but never promote it again.

The logic of repeating it just a month or so after its first run, back in the graveyard shift, is beyond me. Unless the second series picked up so few viewers that the first outperformed it.

Still, I'd expect the DVD to be a word-of-mouth sleeper hit and wouldn't feel too down about current feelings on a third run. Channel 4 comedy, praised by critics, small but dedicated fanbase - all the ingredients are there.

22:45 / 18.01.05

This is all very true, I just accidentally watched it whilst doing the ironing but I'd never heard of it before. Which is a shame because it's excellent. I loved the 'inner ring' University thing, and also the "Another person who doesn't feel comfortable in her own skin- it's one of me!" line.

Perhaps it will become DVD cult TV.

Suedey! SHOT FOR MEAT!

23:10 / 18.01.05

Oh, it will. Interestingly, I think the first series DVD has done pretty well.

So yeah, it's crazy. But can't they can't leave things how they were at the end of the second series...

(The episode that was just on, btw, has some of the sharpest writing ever. EVER. Spot on, OTM, in almost every respect)

Brigade du jour

10:29 / 12.11.05

Bumpacar!

Suedey, what happened at the end of the second series? I can't remember and I haven't got the DVDs yet, but I just watched the start of the third series and felt a bit lost as to why Sophie was so into Mark all of a sudden. I vaguely remember them trying (perhaps even succeeding) to 'get it on' before, but always being interrupted by some backfiring cool trick or something.

Suedey! SHOT FOR MEAT!

10:50 / 12.11.05

God, you know, I can't remember... but luckily the second series dvd is out soon...

I think most of what happened at the start of the new series we just have to assume has happened between the series (I may be wrong, though, my memory is failing somehwat) and it's always been a series that ends on a shocking note, then carries on as normal. The writing is still as sharp as ever, though, and I guffawed at many points and also became quite afraid at my bellowing laugh.

Drinking in the day, why didn't I think of this before?

ONLY NICE THINGS

10:52 / 12.11.05

I feel so... safe.

Top stuff. Mitchell and Webb's radio show I enjoy very much, and, while I don't know if the sitcom style suits them as well, there were some lovely moments here. The whole drinking in the daytime bit was very true to life.

11:12 / 12.11.05

Sophie and Mark were definitely in 'get it on' territory in the last episode of the last series. The very last scene of it had him running into the flat to tell Jez the good news.

What is a bit odd is the way that Jez's wife has been wiped from existence. Wasn't her plan to stay with him purely so she could make his life a misery?

So glad this is back on. No other comedy show uses inner monologue to the same effect - actually, no other comedy show uses inner monologue well.

Regrettable Juvenilia

11:19 / 12.11.05

"Oh, just one more thing: ask for it again, but in a lady's voice."

Brilliant.

Suedey! SHOT FOR MEAT!

11:43 / 12.11.05

Ah, Jez's wife, that's what I was thinking of! I wasn't surprised they got rid of her, remembering what my last post about the last series was about.

And also it means we get scary, scary Michelle and the wonderful threesome. Ah, Jez.

I bet I look so cool to her...

They really got some great people to play "teh yoofs", as well. Reminded me somewhat of the episode of Spaced with the same.

11:48 / 12.11.05

When it first started, I thought it was above average but not wildly groundbreaking. It's really grown on me, though.

18:13 / 12.11.05

Am finding all the advertising on the underground a bit bewildering - if only because Peep Show is MY SECRET and I don't want OTHER PEOPLE watching it.

Glad to have it back, especially in a good time slot. It's great, and eminently quotable, which is actually a good thing, if only because the contexts are so mundane.

Welcome to big school.

13:36 / 13.11.05

Great to have this back, though I didn’t think this episode was one of the best – but I think I felt the same about the first episode of last series. Also vaguely disappointed with the apparent lack of ‘interior monologue’, that seemed slightly under-used this time.
Mind you, I was probably just thrown off by Big Suze being … well, not very big.

19:47 / 24.11.05

"People like you want everyone on the omnibus, all grey, eating grey sludge" was my fave this last week.

Suedey! SHOT FOR MEAT!

21:22 / 25.11.05

"I could rape him... I'm NOT GOING TO RAPE HIM."

Regrettable Juvenilia

21:30 / 25.11.05

"We're going to break down the doors of perception, so we can see..."
"Things that don't really exist?"
"No, they DO exist, it's just that normally we can't see them because we're so fixated on..."
"The things that really do exist?"

Jez posts to this board, I swear it.

Suedey! SHOT FOR MEAT!

22:22 / 25.11.05

OH YES.

This show just kills me with its words of fiery truth. I love it to death/want to steal the writers and touch them in a rude way/also torture them and shrink them down and put them in my brain and make them work for me.

23:09 / 25.11.05

If you want more goodness from the actors/writers, I can recommend you get That Mitchell and Webb Sound from Radio 4. Same people, but a touch more surreal.

Brigade du jour

09:15 / 16.08.07

So, what did everybody make of the fourth series? I confess that at first I was a bit worried, as two series is sometimes regarded as the limit for a sitcom's shelf-life, so maybe they were pushing their luck. Then I saw the episode on the boat, and all seemed well again.

Is it just me, or does the show seem to be turning into a sort of steady, reliable old friend that's never going to get too radical or evolutionary, but isn't going to go completely to pot either?

Oh, and the 'weeing in church' denouement almost had me weeing too, out of a weird kind of sympathy. Or perhaps I just needed to go to the toilet.

Anyone? Anyone?

10:50 / 16.08.07

I laughed a lot at series four but couldn't help thinking it was slightly disappointing. The second series, for me, represents a high water mark for comedy - it was like every line, look and situation was engineered to perfection, and there didn't seem to be quite that level of quality control in the fourth series. It seemed lazier, or like the script editor didn't have the guts to turn round to the writers and say 'this isn't quite there yet'. So while it had great moments, it didn't quite get there - lines like "Super hans tried to sexually assualt me" "Cuh! Super hans" seemed a bit... lazy and obvious. Like having Mark's schoolgirl crush turn out to be a sort of serial adulterer, when it would have been much more painful and funny to have her genuinely liking Mark, or her husband being a pretty unimaginative school bully type with an annoying laugh, when previous one-off characters have been much more original. It seemed like the obviously talented writers were kind of settling for less, like the scripts for each episode were still one draft away from perfection.

But, even with the show coasting it bit it did still have some marvellous moments.

12:35 / 16.08.07

Hmm, I thought series 4 was possibly the best yet (although I probably need to revisit S2). It had a lot to live up to, and I think they mostly exceeded my expectations, still pushing things that little bit further (the dog/barge episode being a prime example). Another success was how those Mac ads didn't affect my enjoyment of Mitchell & Webb's performances, which was potentially a worry..

It's been a while, so I can't remember too many favourite bits, just that I laughed A LOT. But little moments like Super Hans' offscreen "Sorry" re: trying to assault Nancy and Johnson's delivery of "indecent proposal" were pretty great. Oh, and Jez's "NORMAL! Everything's normal again". That might be my favourite thing ever.

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