Getting On

I've just listened to an NPR Fresh Air interview with Mark Olsen and Will Scheffer, who were constantly referred to throughout as the "creators" of Getting On. They happily accepted this accolade and proceeded, with truly nauseating sincerity, to explain how the stories in the series were based on their experiences caring for their respective elderly mothers, which, we're given to understand, is why it's all so real, so poignant, so personal. Curious then that 95% of the US adaptation of Getting On is identical - and I'm talking line for line, if not quite word for word - to the UK original, created by the wonderful Jo Brand. The 5% that's different is where the US version blunts the humour, misses the point, or merely adds lame phoney-sounding sitcom punchlines to otherwise achingly funny-sad scenes. Maybe Olsen and Scheffer had identical experiences to Brand, and maybe they just forgot to write it down first. Or maybe they actually believe they've added something of value to Brand's work. Or maybe they're just ****s.

If you are looking for Glitz and Glam, forget it.

If you appreciate the absurdity of every day living, you have found your home.

I adore Nurse Jackie, as the former poster noted that she liked, however if you can polish off that sheen you might find something that at least looks like real life here.

Easy to make exciting traumatic moments; it's a bit harder to convey the strength of emotion that stretches out when someone takes more than an episode to die.

I am believer of reality vs. fiction, and as quirky "Getting On" is, it is heads and shoulders above Nurse Jackie in realism. What a fantastic balance "Getting On" has struck.

It has a quiet "emergency"!

Intelligent , insightful , character-driven comedy. Reno 911 veteran Neicy Nash plays a down-to-earth nurse who just started a new job at an elderly skilled nursing wing of a hospital. Alex Borstein (MadTV's "Mrs Swan") is brilliant as her romantically and professionally insecure mentor. And then there's Lori Metcalf, sinking her teeth into a juicy comic role deserving of her talents. She plays a high strung doctor who feels slighted at having to spend part of her work week assigned to the ward. On the bright side, it does give her access to many feces samples, which she collects obsessively, to be used in her ground-breaking poop-categorizing research study. The script is brilliant, chock full of outrageously funny lines that slip by if you don't pay close attention, but also smartly slowing down for a few moments of genuine emotion (Nash is especially nifty in these.) The laughs come so fast and frequent that you're not quite sure how serious to take the dramatic passages. But that tension is handled deftly, both in the writing and the performances. I've only seen the first two episodes, and I am counting the minutes til episode 3. This is going to be a fun ride.

Just when I thought that HBO was beyond help, they finally get one right by largely leaving things alone. Having watched and thoroughly enjoyed many episodes of the British original with the wonderful Jo Brand ( one of the series creators and executive producers )in the lead role, I was very impressed by how much HBO has captured the spirit and quirkiness of this series. I think HBO has wisely kept the starkness of what the patient experience is, and perhaps given the show more room to fly by making it a teeny bit more gritty in terms of language and mature content. At first I was a little baffled by the American casting, but at only four episodes in they've done a great job of setting the stage without yet exhausting the overwhelming idiotic bureaucracy the staff alternately endure and wield like a weapon. So I'll give the show time to grow and capture the flip side - the patient interaction and the audience's need to connect with and root for the one mostly sane staffer.

Amazing show. Realistic and nothing is more absurd, romantic, hilarious, painful and beautiful than reality. We dont have to go to hyperreality where everything is fake and robotic and generic in such a way that it creeps me out.Thats the reason shows like 'modern family, 'greys anatomy', 'House' and the list goes on and on , have way too many seasons, and gems like these get cancelled way too quick, same happened with 'party down' for example or 'hello ladies' Great shows, and amazing shows that just cant make it past a one season or two.

This simple yet intricate show is for the ones that are able to be human and feel. The ones that have a humane level of sense of humour and aren't passive idiots that want to be entertained in the most lazy way...spoonfed.

I keep watching the cancelled gems over and over. And because they are gems.. you can do that.