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"Vicious" BBC Comedy (1 Viewer)

Eric Huffstutler

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I don't seem to come up with anything posted here on this new ITV-BBC British Comedy about an elderly gay couple played by Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi as Freddie and Stuart, an elderly gay couple (both gay in real life) who have been together for 48 years but endure a love/hate relationship.

It received positive reviews but I have seen mixed comments including mine. I find the show predictable in script and the Stuart character too much like the iconic Mr. Humphries of "Are You Being Served?" - including the telephone intros. Also it was a very short series of only seven 20-minute shows for season 1. I hope Season 2 is better.

Comments?
 

Matt Hough

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The set-up for the comedy is obvious and uninspired, and I have to admit I was afraid the series was going to seem like weekly half hour installments of the sour, hateful Burton-Harrison dramedy Staircase, but I'd be lying if I said it didn't make me laugh, and I felt the series got better later in the run. The episode where the two men entertain Ash and his vegetarian girl friend had me howling with laughter almost from beginning to end. No American comedy series has done that in a long time.

The comedy timing of these two British legends is beyond reproach, and there is affection there (unlike Staircase).

We actually posted some about this series in the gay-themed thread in the Blu-ray forum.
 

Josh Steinberg

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I love it. It's by no means groundbreaking, but both McKellen and Jacobi are actors I'd watch read the phone book, so to see them hamming it up in an old-fashioned kind of sitcom is just so much fun. I can't wait for the next season and I also hope the next one is a little longer.
 

nara

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Eric Huffstutler said:
It received positive reviews...
Not many, and not for long.

"Vicious made a promising start with about 6 million viewers in April, but audiences dwindled to half that figure over subsequent Monday nights.

Vicious was panned by a number of critics, with the Telegraph saying that the script "fell disastrously flat", and calling it "the least funny new comedy in recent memory"; the Guardian said it was "frankly, a bit lame" and a "Greggs doughnut of a show".


http://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/aug/23/itv-commissions-new-series-vicious



There was widespread astonishment, when a second series got commissioned.
 

Josh Steinberg

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bujaki said:
Not to forget the great Frances de la Tour, also having the time of her life. The great acting makes the series. My wife and I enjoyed it immensely and are looking forward for Season 2.
She's fantastic! Violet and Ash, their scenes together… "Ash, have you met Violet?"
 

Eric Huffstutler

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I also think that unless you have lived and experienced it then you may not get the humor or realize how true this all rings. I have been in a relationship for 28 years and had friends (now both gone) who were together for over 40 years and yes, what you see these two do really happens :)
 

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