Roger & Val Have Just Got In - BBC2 Fridays 10pm

I like this, cant really understand the criticism. its not supposed to be laugh out loud comedy & thank god for the abscence of canned laughter.

Along with Getting On...2 little gems amongst a load of cr*p.

I spotted the photo of them with Val holding a baby in the second episode & then understood the underlying sadness in their lives.
 
I think the BBC marketed it as a sit-com when it doesn't seem to be, including it in adverts for other comedy shows, i.e sitcoms and sketch shows. Also the reviews of it seemed to consider it a comedy, possibly because the reviewers either had only been shown the first or second episode, they seemed to suggest it was a funny sit-com about the things we all do/have, like the big drawer.
 
Well back on page 2 I said I didn't think much of the first, episode but I'd give the second a go although couldn't promise a third if it didn't improve. Well whilst the second wasn't that much of an improvement I'm glad it was enough for me to stick with it because it has been rewarding in the end.

It's not going to be my favourite show ever, and I doubt I'll want to own the DVD or watch a repeat of it on TV (I can't for example resist a Dinnerladies when it shows up even though I already own the DVD), but it was eventually well written, well acted and was funny and touching.

I would agree that the advertising for the show did it no favours, I mean deciding that the clip where they raced to put on cagools was the best scene to pull in the audience wasn't the best decision ever.
 
I didn't see any trailer s for it, so just watched purely out of curiosity mainly because of Alfred Molina whose a very good actor. It's certainly not a sitcom or has any comedy feel about it at all. If people prefer to believe it's comedy because the Beeb said so, that's sad. Surely some people still have the capacity to think for themselves, rather than be told what to think.
 
The BBC should have 'marketed' the programme properly. If you tell people it is a comedy and what you find is not a comedy but a bitter/sweet drama then people will complain. The BBC shoots itself in the foot on occasion by wrongly offering programmes as one thing when they clearly aren't.
 
I also slated this - and thanks to my missus - who being the more observant - asked me to watch a few on catchup, to rethink my initial views.

I hold my hanRAB up - and admit I was totally wrong on my initial thoughts, and think this is a brilliantly observed and poignant piece - albeit under a slight misnomer of comedy.

Brilliantly observed - my missus always sniRAB the milk , and as for putting up the curtains - how many of us have been there. And the eating of near sell-by food out of the fridge to free up more space.

Poignant - because of the subtle strand running through the show. The photo - Val looked through, the spare room - along with another moving scenario of Rogers Dad.

Difficult to categorise this - not a sitcom or melodrama - but perhaps should stand on it's own. The nearest I get to comparisions would be Alan Bennetts Monologues - with the juxtaposition of humour and and sadness quite notable.
 
I guess it just goes to show how subjective comedy is doesn't it? I can see why some people aren't enjoying this series, but personally I'm loving it. I'm a bit tired of in-your-face comedy to be honest.

I do think that most of the humour is very specific to being a certain age, in a long-term relationship without kiRAB around. I guess quite a few people can't relate to that.
 
I'm thinking that Roger somehow blames himself for the loss of their child. Notice in Ep 4 where he panicked about not being able to hear the phone through the coat hood, then went on about it to Val? He kept saying things about not being able to hear, makes me wonder if he hadn't heard his child crying or something on the night he died, therefore blames himself for not being able to stop it happening?
 
I thought it would have been better than it was. Although it was pretty spot on as to how most couples (including me and my missus) actually go about their lives, there just wasn't many jokes.

The idea's a good one, I've been writing something which involves this sort of thing, but it's in the context of an action film (Basically, I had a dream where me and my missus were sieged in our house by Russians, and decided to create it into an actual screenplay, because it was the best action film I'd seen in years). It has a bunch of this mundane, everyday humour in it, but it also has other things to make sure it isn't too overpowering. I think that's the problem with this. It neeRAB something else to it to make sure it doesn't grate... and some more jokes obviously.
 
Roger and Val is one of my favourite shows.

I love the way that neither of them make huge speeches stuffed with exposition so that know exactly what's gone on in the past - nobody in real life speaks like that but we often see it on TV.
 
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