You, Me & Them

I belly laughed throughout the legend of old McCready episode! The comedic timing between Anthony heard and Jeff Rawle Was priceless. Yes it was old-school physical comedy- trying to suppress a sneeze during a championship silent billiards game and lots of other comic jabs. Nice to see Eve Myles In an Ensemble cast as a hippie chick, such a contrast to her latest role in Keeping Faith.

After seeing the trailers for this show on Gold I initially had high hopes. But after the first episode those hopes were well and truly dashed, but in fairness that is common, as the first episode of any new series is really just establishing characters and their relationships within the storyline. So I dismissed my scepticism as unjust in the hope that once it got into its stride that it would somehow perk up and improve. WRONG. This is possibly the most painfully dire, forced and unfunny British sitcom I have seen in literally decades. It's predictable like watching a fatal car crash in slow motion and about as humorous as aforementioned too. If you really find yourself with 40 minutes to kill on an evening I'd suggest a couple of pints of beer instead as that will leave a far less bitter after taste and a greater feeling of satisfaction.

It's not horrible, the characters are just a little too over done. Ed and Lauren aren't bad; Lauren gets a little silly occasionally, but overall she's okay, and Ed is my favorite of the bunch. They could do without the brother, Alan, who leans more toward repulsive than funny. The ex-wife Lydia is horrible. She's obnoxious and no one in real life would put up with her crap; she really adds nothing to the show and is painful to watch. Lauren's parents are annoying but typical, and not overly offensive. Lauren's sister and brother-in-law and kids are also annoying but tolerable. Overall it's entertaining.

I couldn't even make it through the first episode. Not one original joke, unless you count the completely unbelievable ex-wife dropping in and being delusional bit, which was really dumb. It was just horrible.

The setup--the family complications engendered after a veterinary nurse and a middle class garage owner embark on a May-December relationship-- could be painful, stupid, or funny. This is so over the top it is hysterical. Eve Myles (Torchwood) throttles back on her usual Welshness from Torchwood to do constantly confused girlfriend, Anthony Stewart Head (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Manchild) underplays the older lover. Lindsay Duncan chews the scenery as the ex-wife who lives next door and steals Head's shirts. Eps 1 & 2 alone feature a fracas over the 1971 Stones concert, a post-it note bikini, a bomb threat, the stalker ex-wife in the bushes with binoculars...and most particularly the badgers. What's not to love?!