The Scum Also Rises News Posted by John Hoare on 26th May 2007, 09:54 Sitcom pilot. BBC THREE. This coming Monday, at 9:30pm. Featuring Adam Buxton – and directed by Tim Kirkby, who directed Look Around You. Oh yeah, and it also stars CHRIS BARRIE. Listing is as follows: Stealing Happiness: Set in the successful ad agency HHH&H, the series focuses on creative Billy, who is suffering from writer’s block, an account executive and a neurotic producer. I have no idea whether this will be any good or not – BBC THREE hardly have a great track record with sitcoms (although I liked Swiss Toni, and five doesn’t have a great record either, but came up with the brilliant Respectable) – but Chris Barrie returning to sitcom? I’m there. Thanks again to Jonsmad for the info. What a nice guy.
> Set in the successful ad agency HHH&H That name has already got a laugh out of me so I might just tune in.
Will Chris be playing another neurotic producer? Let’s hope there’s a timid woman to give him pencils and cry.
I thought the show had potential, but that this wasnt a pilot ready to be broadcast yet. I’m glad to know at this stage this wasnt the first of a series we were watching. I like the ad agency setting. Adam Buxton faired best in the story line about deliberatly looking to pull someone who doesnt like him, but will still sleep with him. The female office character who suffers the humiliation of desk shrinkage, also had a nice surreal rant against the office fat gang trying to induct her. Now I’m a fat bastard myself but I can take a joke and I enjoyed her stance against how much extra aviation fuel fat people take up and these bigoted opinions esculated to the absurd ramblings of “They Hide in trees!” Eventually this thread payed off the diet ad campaign problems the other male lead character was having. After some rather poor early humour about random word use to create ideas, that fell flat for me, his character wasnt really well established after that, but he is probably “The sane one” Kevin Bishops bad boy character was the biggest problem with the show, 250% annoying twat. The suppossed wacky comedy of his mad evil character wasnt fun it was painful and made me want to pull out a shot gun and blow his avid merion like over acted fake dutch accent head off. His character need removing, and would have made me switch off if I wasnt wanting to see all of Chris. Ultimately though watching this for Chris Barries part wasnt worth tuning in for. Chris has little screen time, so cant really establish a character. It did give me a warm glow to see him act in comedy again but then just turned my stomach what material he had been given to work with and where it got him. His role is the scary boss upstairs,(this is established even by his metaphorical horns seen in the title sequence), and it’s too similar an idea to Chris Morris in the IT crowd or the guy upstairs in the sitcom Perfect World. Now seeing Chris play an outright confident bastard boss could have been an interesting difference to neurotic Rimmer or well meaning but annoying Brittas, but 2 weird costume changes didnt help get a handle on the character. He achieves an air of unpleasant condensending slimyness which he was no doubt trying to build into the character but it felt like an uncertain character or just unpleasant person not really a funny one. And ended up like stephen fry in black adder shouting BAH down the corridor at one point. Shame really. Chris could perhaps develop more from this, character but based on pilot I’m probably hoping the scum sinks.
It has potential imho, although I have to say that it’s type of humour is going to be to very few peoples taste. I have however not long watched the repeat with a room full of students and quite a few subtle little things had us lauging our tits off. Very much a Marmite show, I loved it.
>Now I?m a fat bastard myself but I can take a joke and I enjoyed her stance against how much extra aviation fuel fat people take up and these bigoted opinions esculated to the absurd ramblings of ?They Hide in trees!? Well, likewise, but the general lack of jokes and crapness of the execution meant that I was actually offended, which is pretty rare for me. It just seemed really, really lazy, and the lack of a studio audience seemed to result in a general ‘flat’ feeling. Adam Buxton and Chris Barrie put it some good performances, but it wasn’t enough to make me want to watch it again. If they use a studio audience for a series, perhaps it’ll provide the pressure to put in some good jokes.
Now I switched on my TV late, maybe 5 mins into the show and I thought it was fantastic. Although some seemed to be borrowed from other shows, the majority was original and very funny. Similar to a evolving comedy. The idea about the happiness was great, and Kevin Bishops pulled it off to a treat. It was just a nice strange but funny feeling I got when watching the show. The jokes about the fat people were very funny. I had images of collegues who had recently dieted facing this onslaught of food abuse. hehe The humour is different but hey, people hated the Peep show when it first came out and look how high that is sitting in its tree now. Top show, made me laugh my head off and I enjoyed it so much that I awoke early to find it on the internet, and see when the next showing was on. Quality show, but like above, may not be to everyones taste. From me a solid 9.2/10 Craig
I honestly found no redeeming features in this apart from Adam Buxton and Chris Barrie’s performances. I can often see why someone would like a show, but not like it myself – stuff like Saxondale, or The Office – but I’m having a lot of trouble figuring out how anyone could find this remotely funny! I’d like to write a review, but I’m not sure how much more I could say apart from “Needed more jokes, better characters, a better plot, and a studio audience…”
>The humour is different but hey, people hated the Peep show when it first came out and look how high that is sitting in its tree now. How you could compare that crap to Peep Show is beyond me, frankly. I would call a lot of the jokes in TSAR ‘cheap’, but even cheap jokes are funnier than any of the jokes in that show. And your reaction to the fat jokes is slightly worrying, to be honest. Perhaps an audience of unthinking morons is what they were aiming for.
It wasn’t a dig at ‘fat people’. It was taking on the plight of a person who is dieting and the troubles they may face. Tanya, if you were offended by that humour, just dont watch it. But jokes about, fat, thin, small, tall, ugly beautiful, gay, straight will always be around. ie Little Britain, ‘gay david’ The show was original and funny. Maybe you were watching just to be a critic. Brighten up, that show was good. ‘Unthinking morans’ I think not. People who look beyond a show with indepth analysis, maybe so…… TSAR >>>top show
Why do so many people spell “moron” as “moran”? It completely undermines your argument when you’re trying to prove you’re not one.
FFS, did noone here even like the show???? I’m just a regular guy watching TV who thought it was good. Oh for seb, get a life mate. Nit picking is for nurses. Again TSAR >>> top show. Based on the fact that whilst not under the influence of drink or drugs, I thought it was very funny. Haha. Nue
That wasn’t nitpicking, though, it’s just that that’s the second time in as many days I’ve seen someone on the internet spell it that way. And he was quoting the post directly above him, so he even had a point of reference.
I think this was the worst pilot I’ve seen since Starhyke. I found a few brief moments of amusement and a couple of characters showed promise but overall, I thought it was awful. The whole ‘fat’ theme was overplayed to the point that I found it pathetic, the thought that these fatties may have been out to get her started off quite well but then went completely over the top. I felt that the few good ideas were either overplayed or poorly played. Chris Barrie for me, didn’t seem to know which way to go with his character, starting off as a kind of Brittas and ending like one of those repetetive Harry Enfield type characters (maybe this was the directing and not CB)… Imo, very poor, but each to their own of course…
FFS, did noone here even like the show???? I?m just a regular guy watching TV who thought it was good. Oh for seb, get a life mate. Nit picking is for nurses. Again TSAR >>> top show. Based on the fact that whilst not under the influence of drink or drugs, I thought it was very funny. Haha. Nue This post is funnier than the entirety of The Scum Also Rises.
>>Why do so many people spell ?moron? as ?moran?? It completely undermines your >>argument when you?re trying to prove you?re not one. >Oh for seb, get a life mate. Nit picking is for nurses. It’s called spelling you prick, maybe you should pay attention to yours. The word you were searching for was “moron”, ironically. “Moran” is a name.
I also said rupturous instead of rapturous, what a fat, stinking, illiterate peasant I am. I shall go straight out tomorrow and trade in all my records for R&B compilations, baseball caps and a lowered Vauxhall Nova. That should make my social and intellectual status more clear to everyone.
Yes Mick, but do you not see the inherent irony in claiming you’re not a moron, and then misspelling the word moron? If I was trying to convince people I wasn’t stupid, the first thing I’d do, even if it wasn’t something I bothered with normally, would be to make sure I spelled things right, because the internet being what it is, there’s always a pedant waiting to poke fun at you.
Get new writers, get an audience in, get Chris in it more. Seeing as all of those won’t happen just don’t commission the fucker. Don’t you just hate it when shows are desperately trying to be something else instead of concentrating on the HUMOUR. Speaking of The Office, that was primarily about the humour (I know you didn’t like it John but…well you know what you can do) I still think it’s the funniest thing I’ve seen with realistic/naturalistic dialogue, characters and situations. I suppose it helped that I could relate to it a lot. Oh, and does anyone else (who actually liked it) think that ‘there’s been a rape up there!’ is possibly the greatest line in any show ever? In fact, that whole episode is so unbelievably brilliant. I don’t care if Gervais is a smug fucker or if Extras series 2 was a bit crap, he can do what he wants and it doesn’t matter because that episode (episode 4 of series 1, the one where they have staff training and Brent brings the guitar in) makes up for anything.
Honestly – I don’t like Gervais, and I don’t find the show that funny, but I can at least see what people see in The Office. It’s clearly a good show – just not my kind of thing, that’s all.
You guys are funny!! hahaha. By the way John, my lowered Vauxhall Nova is out of commission for a while, waiting on my low profile 17’s. Seb & co, your slating me for the way I spelt ?moron?? You guys seriously need a life, (or a lowered Vauxhall Nova perhaps?). Seb also wrote above; ‘That wasn?t nitpicking, though, it?s just that that?s the second time in as many days I?ve seen someone on the internet spell it that way.’ So Seb, you sit at home reading reviews looking for the misspellings of words in order to slate the writer. Is this because he doesn’t share the same opinion as you, as you are FAR superior to all? Hmmmm, I ponder. It?s probably because you?re just a prick really. Oh, and how?s the head investigations going mate? Your mate Nue x
> because the internet being what it is, there?s always a pedant waiting to poke fun at you. Can’t argue with that, doesn’t make it right though does it? Oh how I miss the good old days, when the only people you communicated with online were like minded computer nutters, all websites were just text, and an image was a nights worth of downloading at 9600 baud… *sigh*
Anyway Dylan Moron is brilliant what are you lot on about?? I didn’t find it funny TBH. Chris went in out of character almost every time he was on screen, and couldn’t decide who or which one he was. The setting was fine, but was this in contrast to the likes of Peep Show, and more over the IT Crowd? I felt it was a ugly cousin to anything that has been before. The funny thing was a warning was announced beforehand, be advised strong language! Where?! It might have been funnier if it had a fook here and there. Pilot episodes can make or break, I think this one broke.
>I love it when the Potato talks rude. :o) Easy tiger! >Seb & co, your slating me for the way I spelt ?moron?? You guys seriously need a life Bugger off Nue, I’m very happy with my life thanks. If your Mother’s surname was Moran, it would probably piss you off a bit when people got the two mixed up.
