The Spoils of Babylon

Simply stated, the first 2 episodes of this mini-series have entertained me and made me laugh were very little else has of late.

There is a lightness and subtleness to the comedy that I really appreciate. The look, feel, lighting and soundtrack are perfect. Despite it being 2014, the use of models has a refreshing honesty.

I am not a huge Will Ferrell fan, but his intro\outros fit well. You do get tones of SNL. However, where SNL skits bore and wander, this show is continually moving.

When you consider the amount of tripe on TV from reality shows, laugh queue sitcoms, rich kid\witch\vampire\alien\werewolf\mutant teen melodramas and "learning" shows voiced by monster truck announcers over metal soundtracks...how can one not enjoy such a refreshing and creative 22 minutes of entertainment? Truly.

"The Spoils of Babylon" plays nicely off the sweeping tropes of sweeping television dramas of the sweeping past, mostly relying on silliness and the absurd--and, it has to be said, UK spoof series "Garth Marenghi's Darkplace". This is crystal clear from the episode introductions, supposedly looking back on one artist's tragically lost TV masterpiece, and from the low-budget opening title sequence and home-made establishing shots, which call to mind the "striking" approach to the obviously cardboard Darkplace Hospital.

There are some wobbles to the concept here. While Darkplace maintained the trappings of a pitiful budget throughout, Spoils enjoys some stunning location shoots that don't quite make sense beside money-saving scale-model inserts. There is a similar competence on the part of the imaginary actors, who rarely chew the scenery quite as much as they might, whereas Garth's collection of pals were every bit as terrible as the show he built around them. However, the basic parody of the genre works and raises at least a smile along the way.

This show is such a hidden gem. As far as I know this show never saw the light of mainstream entertainment, but it is something of a 'simplistic masterpiece' in spite of its low budget.

The Spoils of Babylon takes surrealist and satirical humour to the max. Production-wise, it is deliberately horrendous. The two main characters' have accents that change with every new scene, along with their hairstyles, which often match the ridiculousness of the characters' personalities. A few scenes even take place on a tiny-scaled set made up of props and toy cars.

These factors leave us with the impression that the show doesn't take itself seriously at all, which works favourably with its overall tone and comedic elements.

The humour itself is actually very high quality, and there are some one liners that will make you struggle to breathe. ("That tart has a name--Dicksy Melonsworth! Show some respect!") Kristen Wiig is her usual hilarious self, and who knew Tobey Maguire had such a natural capacity for comedy?

All in all, this show is an excellent way to kill a couple hours. It's nice and short, and is very easy to watch, owing to its great comedic writing & carefree tone.

Spoof comedy hasn't been this good in YEARS. I was really surprised with the smart and subtle sense of humor and the beauty of how it looks. Kristen Wiig is a comedy genius and each scene with her on it is pure gold.

This mini-series manages to make fun of the medium itself, and that's something I've been missing in comedy lately.

Probably the nearest neighbor (in both quality and style) for The Spoils of Babylon in television is the Police Squad! TV Series, and more than 20 years have passed since that show. And Spoils of Babylon takes things further than that. It's the next step.

Other than that, maybe the "Italian Spiderman" and "Danger 5" are the closest things being done, but is nice to see U.S. creatives getting back at this kind of humor.

Yeah, after watching the first three episodes of The Spoils of Babylon all I have to say is: I just don't get it. I don't get why there are so many negative reviews, to which, in my consideration, is one of the most interesting comedies this season. There are many factors which makes this, besides of a pretty hilarious sitcom, an amazing work that flirts with films and art on behalf of the most bizarre form of parody.

First, we're introduced to the false premise of an old writer whose finally gotten to release the TV adaptation of his novels, The Spoils of Babylon. Of course, as it's expected, the writing is not always something as good as it could be, which generates some pretty hilarious scenes in which all logic is questioned, mixed with the chaotic film techniques that the director (and also producer, writer, etc) decides to apply given his moods and whatever he feels suits the current mood of the scene, it proves to be a recipe for disaster. However, which makes more interesting is that there's actually some character development through all this non-sense, a story which plot, if rather weird, could only get better from the low point it begun.

If you enjoyed, like me, great series like the Mighty Boosh or the never ending parodies in Saturday Night Live, you'll probably love this.