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It was hyped up to be one of the best comedies of the year, reuniting Green Wing’s Tamsin Greig with Stephen Mangan, and Matt LeBlanc with Friends creator David Crane, but when Episodes concluded on Monday, it did so with a whimper, and most definitely not a bang.
Imagine someone driving their shiny new Aston Martin – they’re travelling down a motorway, gradually picking up speed as they get used to their new car, only for a lorry to pull out in front, leading to them having to floor the brake pedal. This is what happened with Episodes.
I bring to your attention the fourth episode of the series. It revolved around Sean (Mangan) and Beverly (Greig) escorting a drunken Matt home. The plot summary of that episode summarises exactly where the show went wrong. Episodes was supposed to be a British sitcom having a dig at the American television industry. Instead, it morphed into a mildly comedic drama about two Brits struggling to adjust to American lifestyle, with emphasis on the contrasts between them and the supporting American characters. Because that’s never been done before…
The trouble with focusing on the supporting characters was that none of them were particularly funny. Skinny Carol (Kathleen Rose Perkins) thinks she’s fat; thirty-something-looking Morning (Micrea Monroe) is actually in her late fifties; Merc (John Pankow) can never remember Sean, Beverly or their show… Oh my splitting sides. It’s such a shame that so much time was spent focused on them, as there was far richer material whizzing past in the outside lane.
A common feature of all of the episodes was Beverly complaining about the low quality of Pucks!, the pilot they were producing. And here lies another major problem: we never saw much evidence that it was so bad. In fact, in the sixth episode, Beverly could only list a handful of things that were wrong with it, most notably the fact that “it’s not funny enough”. So, it is funny, just not as funny as the British version? Surely Episodes would have been much funnier if the majority of the time had been spent on showing how much Pucks! was a disaster. Where were the arguments over canned laughter tracks, unconvincing sets and rubbish green screen projections for exterior shots? People have been in court for wasting less material than this.
While the negatives easily outweigh the positives, there were some to be found, particularly Tamsin Greig’s wonderful performance. Her reaction to Matt vomiting on her was a case of understated genius, and her silent expression as she watched Sean… well, doing something he shouldn’t have been doing, was truly heartbreaking. If the show had been American, they would have no doubt had the actress screaming, scratching him with her PVC nails and biting him with her bleach-white teeth.
But, of course, Episodes rarely spotted the obvious opportunities to ridicule American shows and, despite odd strokes of subtle brilliance, it will forever be remembered as a missed opportunity and will likely be recalled due to engine failures.
I agree with you in that the focus was all wrong - it should have been more about 'Pucks!', the process involved in getting it made and just how much it got butchered on the way. However, I don't agree that Tamsin Greig was a highlight - her character was a total shrew of a wife, really unlikeable. But I figure she did the best she could with what she was given.
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