The Old Guys

What is it with the BBC and their laughter tracks? I don't need other people to laugh for me! If you can get over the laughter at almost every sentence you may find that is a rather well written comedy. Maybe it's just me but I can't concentrate when I hear those laughing people in the background; it only works for me when you hear the odd one laugh at something inappropriate and that doesn't happen all too often!

As it's written by the same guys who brought us the rather wonderful Peep Show you can definitely see the comparisons- 2 pathetic men lusting after a lady and not really having much else to do than talk about where their lives went wrong- but the fact that it's filmed in front of a studio audience ruins the pace of this. If they could just take out the laughter they may not just attract dense people, fans of My Family (let's face it, that show was pretty naff), the deaf and blind elderly, cretins; they COULD be onto a cult hit like Peep Show. As a licence payer, I would like to feel for once that my money has gone somewhere worthwhile but when it comes to comedy on the BBC I constantly feel let down and treated like an idiot.

Somehow, and I do know some people who disagree, The It Crowd made the original sitcom setting work but The Old Guys is let down by the fact that the comedy feels forced and that's not how it should work. I am not sure I can recommend this show after only one viewing but if you have nothing else to do then I hope you can feel less ripped off than I do every time I watch anything on the BBC these days.

The Old Guys is a quirky, intimate show that I've quickly come to love. The core cast works wonderfully together, though I have special affection for Katherine Parkinson (who doesn't?) as an insecure daughter and Roger Lloyd-Pack as her self-obsessed father who still seems astonished that he's a day over 50. The comedy is definitely not cutting edge, but the situations are fun and the cast adds spark and unexpected delivery to ordinary lines such as Parkinson's admiration of her boss, "I'd love to be able talk to her about some of my ideas. I've got a hell of a lot of ideas. Over fifteen!" And every now and then there are pure moments of the sublime, such as Roger Lloyd-Pack's improvising on Auden's "Funeral Blues" with "Stop all the clocks...completely. No exceptions...And turn off the phone. Or put it on vibrate...Shut those bloody dogs up!"

I think the show was cancelled after only 12 episodes, which somehow equates to two seasons in UK time. Wikipedia suggests there may be a third season coming in 2011 or 2012, but I've haven't seen anything to corroborate this. I'd be thrilled if it was true.

Now as for the show's theme song, to my ear it must surely go down as one of the worst in TV history (no offense to Ivor Cutler). I get the song's irony, but it just doesn't work as a TV theme and it makes the show seem slighter than it is. If they do bring the show back, I hope it is with something different or even with no theme at all.

Saw this on sky's Gold channel(May 2010). Had never heard of it before. It is really funny. Easy to get into the characters personalities and relationships from the start. Excellent pairing of the actors. I'm so pleased that i caught it at the 1st episode and sorry i didn't think to record them to watch again. Well, i will record the latter half of the series now. Definitely a sit-com for the over 40's. I see it was made in 2009 and no signs of a second series. Am hoping that they may do another and look forward to the continuing comedy. I will get the full series if it comes out on DVD - may even go as far as the blu-ray version! Regarding the negative review - you can easily ignore the canned laughter - and i found i laughed at most of the places they had put it in anyway.

For me the first seen episode was the first one of the second series, after which I just missed the "guys", so I tried watching the first series too. It is one of those friendly sitcoms with moments of absurd and good humor. Very pleasing. And also, for the category of sitcoms with old people, it is refreshingly clear-spoken, I can hear and get every joke. They are somewhere in the Grumpy Old Men (BBC series) area. Not at all lacks the jokes as another comment suggested. Keep it up, old guys!Roger Lloyd Pack is Owen from The Vicar of Dibley and this made me watch in the first place. Not at all Peep Show-y (which I also like, but which is a whole other dish), probably more like "Last of the Summer Wine", out of which I saw a few episodes. I had good laughs with this one, the only reason I see for others not liking it would be that they have a different sense of humor or they were fooled by the apparently slow pace of the action. But the comedy is not a speed-related matter.

What do you get if you take two seasoned actors and put them in a BBC Sitcom? The answer is no laughs at all. Enjoy that joke because it's funnier than the ones you'll find in this miserable sitcom that sadly has just begun it's second series.

This sums up what's wrong with comedy. A good basic premise backed up with horrible stories, rubbish characters and awful jokes. The actors look as awkward doing it as we do watching it.

The only good thing I can say about this sitcom is that the rapport between the two leads is good but that isn't enough to hold attention for 30 mins... or even 10.

Unsurprisingly this comes from the people who also brought us Life Of Reily which is another sitcom that is still searching for that illusive ingredient of comedy.

It really is no wonder that the BBC keep milking My Family (it's only successful sitcom) for all its worth.