martinpeacock-90574

Well, what can i add? It's Cheers, perhaps the greatest - or one of the greatest - sitcoms of them all. I recently bought the boxed set of seasons 6-11, completing my collection, and have all-but run through them all now. But every pearl has its stone, which is why i took a mark away, because from Woody's wedding at the end of season 10 onwards, the quality of the writing fell off a very high cliff. That double episode alone made me shudder, such was the cringeworthiness of the farce. The final season was below average too. But that said, the first nine seasons are masterclasses in how to do it right. The only US sitcom to come close was Soap. All the rest are mere wannabes.

The blurb on the front declares, "nothing short of remarkable" (Movies In Focus) and "brilliant special effects" (Blazing Minds). Well, 'remarkable' is true, i suppose: it's worth remarking that this no-budget effort got made in the first place. Everything about it screams, 'made by students on work experience', from the production design to the script to the acting. The off-screen actors talk like newbies at a call centre and the lead emotes like an electrician's apprentice. The set's cobbled together from old office equipment and sticky-backed plastic, as though they got the Blue Peter team to rustle something up while the VT was rolling. If you like Hollyoaks, you'll love this. Otherwise, send it back to the charity shop you found it in. That's what i'll be doing with it. 50p wasted.