Plus One vs. The original pilot
The original Plus One was an off-beat one off as part of Channel 4's "Comedy Showcase".
It was funny, well written and very original. The lead (Rory Kinnear) was perfect for the role; Dry, wittily funny and above all sympathetic and relatable towards - a quality that is essential in a sitcom's protagonist, especially considering Plus One's back story.
Above all, this show was great... SO WHAT THE *beep* WENT WRONG?
It's almost as if they sat down and said "Okay, we got a good show here, how can we totally *beep* it up for everyone? I know, let's change the lead"
Now Daniel Mays is not a bad actor... He's just a really bad comedy actor. Seriously, this guy can't carry a joke for *beep*. I've sat through both episodes and he hasn't made me laugh once. That can't be a good sign, can it? The lead in a sitcom has yet to make me laugh?
To be fair he's an actor outside the comedy genre and apparently a good one. I havn't seen him in anything else so I can't fairly comment - so he's dodged a bullet there.
But his comedy inexperience clearly shows on screen. Whenever he doesn't know what to do he just gurns at the camera like a turtle taking a dump, a dog chewing a toffee, or an old guy with autism having a stroke. I can't be certain but I'm pretty sure he's making the face I pull while I'm jacking off.
As for the overall plot, it worked well as a stand alone episode but stretching it to an entire series doesn't really work for me. The format of a different girl every episode resulting in a different mishap is kinda like 'My Name is Earl' with the people on his list. But to avoid any affialiation with that show they decided to leave out the profound sense of sentimentality or any jokes.
Oh the jokes. The trouble with the 'offensive' and 'uncomfortable' humour which this show relies upon is that it's been done to death and it's no longer offesive or shocking, rendering it redundant.
Like the whole racism joke in episode two... Christ, that's original, where have i seen that before? Peep show, 4 years ago? And the whole "peadophile in the park" bit in episode 1, hasn't peadophilia been touched upon enough. That's right, "touched upon", that's the kinda *beep* joke you'd expect from this piece of *beep* show.
I'm sure there are still people out there who thinks this stuff is still hilarious, but for those of us with the ability to recognise familiar ground its becoming stale and very cliched. What's gonna happen in episode 3? Necrophilia? Or perhaps some good old-fashioned beastiality? No, I'm gonna play it safe and say something to do with disability, why the *beep* not?
But the show isn't without it's good points.
First off, Nigel Harman is surprisingly good. In fact, he's the funniest thing in it. Even if he is reminiscent of GOB from Arrested Development, he pretty much holds this show together.
Duncan James plays an exagerated version of himself so well it's genuinely brilliant, and he's so charming I now pull my jerk off face over him.
Ingrid Oiliver (the sister) is perfect for the role, she's funny and likable, a good actor and she's hot too.
Now these characters were all in the original, thank *beep* they decided to keep these the same. But what's with rob's best friend, the geeky photographer? He's just so irritating. It's almost as if they couldn't be bothered to create a decent subsidarary character so they decided to mash all the stereotypical 'comic side-kicks' into one gormless anomoly. I hate him. Why the *beep* couldn't they have changed him???
So that's my view, if you like this show I won't/can't hold it against you. I like Lee Mack's 'Not Going Out' and that doesn't exactly break new ground.
I'm not saying Plus One is bad conceptually, the idea is original and the one off pilot held so much potential. Overall it's just a shame more than anything.
Still, we're only two episodes in so let's see where it goes from here. You never know, it might do a Duncan James and actually turn me.