Supernova

The above review is misleading. After a slow start, BBC2's quirky comedy improved steadily throughout its first series, not just by giving Rob Brydon the space needed for him to show his talents, but also to give room to his more than able co-stars.

The second series, currently showing on BBC2, hit the ground running - without the need to establish the characters or introduce new ones, the entire cast seemed to have moved up a gear. The plots are more ridiculous and far-fetched, the budget, which stretches to racing camels in one episode, improved and the scripts give all the actors the opportunity to shine.

If there's one criticism, its that six episodes in a series is not enough - roll on series 3!

Being a fan of Rob Brydon I watched the first episode and it wasn't quite what I expected and I wasn't sure whether I was too keen on it. I Sky +'ed (Is that a verb, I think not) the rest of the series and was in two minds whether to watch them, thankfully I did and I started to really enjoy it. It certainly doesn't contain many big laughs but it is quite unusual and nicely filmed. The episode where he stands up to the local thug (and murderer) is probably the best. I think for anyone who quite enjoyed it, I would say that it is worth another watch as you may enjoy it more the second time. If your expecting a real laugh a minute, hitting people over the head with a frying pan sort of show then don't bother, but if you like to see people trying something slightly different to the normal then give it a go, and yes I hope they make another series.

A comedy about Astronomy professors in an observatory?

Yup that is exactly what it was! I enjoyed the sheer wackiness of this brilliant little gem.

Some of its humour comes from clever in-jokes about matters astronomical - some from the cultural interplay between the English professor and his Australian colleagues and some from the lovable eccentricity of all seven characters.

Occasional contrived situations did occur but the excellent cast carried them off with verve.

The BBC decided that the show might have limited appeal only and so, giving it little publicity, consigned it to a graveyard slot on a minority channel.

What a shame they hadn't the guts to substitute Supernova for one of their multitude of prime-time soaps - they might have got a pleasant surprise.

It's really interesting to read what others have said about this program. It could be because i'm Australian, but i really didn't see what was so great about this program. I'm a huge fan of Rob Brydon, and usually i find his comedy hilarious, as well as that i've enjoyed work by many of the Australian actors in the show, but to me it seems like a lot of corny jokes and bad attempts at laughing at Australian outback culture. I'm not getting on my high horse because i'm Australian either, i love making fun of Australian culture particularly bush culture (that sounded horrible of me), but it has to be done properly, and i just didn't think this was. It just seemed to me that the writing was a big let down for an idea that could have been amazing.

"Supernova" is a refreshing series, filled with excellent (and intelligent) witty lines. I never knew "astronomy" could be so enlightening! The cast is quite well suited for the situations and their relationships with each other is at times intriguing and at other times amazing--all in all, an excellent series, but, alas, it didn't seem to catch on enough for it to continue. Perhaps there is something especially intriguing about Australia. Certainly, the show not only shows a few "Aussie stereotypes" but the witty satire takes care of all this. At the same time, it doesn't revert to dialogue that only Australians can understand. This is almost a "Monty Python" meets "2001: A Space Odyssey" with Max substituting for Hal. The innuendos also score a hit!

PBS does a credit by showing it (and re-showing!).