Toast of Tinseltown

So I've binged all six episodes and here's my conclusion.

Taking esteemed British actor Steven Toast to LA was clearly intended to generate a new angle for the jokes. But it's the American influence that is the series' greatest weakness.

You get the sense that the writers were so star-struck by the cameos they managed to secure - most of which are literally "phoning it in" - that the usual humour of Toast is completely disrupted. I won't spoil who appears in the show - but it's certainly impressive. Perhaps the producers have one eye on international sales?

Episode one is a waste, creating an un-Toast-like situation to force him to leave for the States.

Episode 2 is stuffed with American cameos and a complete failure.

However all is not lost.

Episode 3 loses the American cameos and is all the better because of it. Episode 4 and 5 return to the classic "Toast" format and are right up there with anything from London, while Episode 6 is a fitting climax to his adventure across the pond.

There may not have been any actual filming overseas because the two US stars that have more than a cameo only appear on one set. This is London masquerading as California, with a great cast of British actors and comedians masquerading as Americans.

Stick with it. It has some brilliant moments. But it doesn't reach the sustained peaks of Toast of London.

ToT sees the return of Steven Toast in a new setting - sort of.

The original Toast of London was pure genius and the best comedy I've seen on tv in the last decade. Well, Steven is back but this time he's across the pond - as the title implies - with some of the old supporting cast but quite a few new faces too, some of whom in my opinion work, some don't.

Matt Berry and all the old cast still sparkle but there a few too many dud performances amongst the new faces to make this quite as good as the original series, which is a shame.

Head back to London Toast, you're missed :)

Toast heads to Hollywood, landing a part in the new star wars movie, but until that time he has to make his way, that involves acting, training and of course voice overs.

Overall, I quite enjoyed it, in real terms, it's taken me almost eighteen months to watch the complete series, there is something in that, whereas the original series I have seen many times over.

The best thing about Toast of Tinseltown of course is Matt Berry, and he is great, if the show comes back I'd love to see the setting switch back to The UK, I'm not quite sure The Hollywood setting works.

There are several funny scenes throughout, but I'd argue the best of them come with the show's originals, Ed, Ray Purchase, Danny Bear and of course the wonderful Clem Fandango. There are some big names to watch out for, I'm not sure they help drive the humour, or are simply there as a big name, make your own minds up.

It's surreal, it's even more off the scale than the original series, sometimes it works, sometimes, like in the fifth episode, it's just baffling.

I get why some raved about it, and why some hated it, in the scale of when it was made and how, it's decent.

7/10.

What's with the one star and ten star reviews?! If it's "I liked it, ten stars," why are we using a 10-point system? It's not a 1 star show either, man, sheesh. It's thoughtful and humorous, and has Larry David appear in the first two minutes. Come on. Ten stars tho? How about saving that for something transcendent and amazing and, well, perfect... I always enjoy Stephen Toast (and pretty much anything Matt Barry is in) so I'm biased in giving it an 8, but if you like absurd, exaggerated comedy- aka British humor- it's probably worth your time.

The Toast Of Tinseltown ..

Matt Berry leads the cast as the washed up, flaky thespian on the search for work more interesting than voice-over work, that appears to be matched with his limited skills.

He pursues his particular brand of quirky surreal situation comedy and it's a winning and inventive formula.

I'm giving this a firm 8 outta 10.