[Virgil Tracy]

Originally Posted by Digital Sid

An actor's job is to convince you that a character's convince. His name was trending for about an hour after the show aired yesterday and the majority of them were praising him for, or expressing surprise that was, doing just that.

can't tell what you're saying there , are you now arguing that he's a good actor ?

The documentary in Derek is about the work of the carers of Broad Hill, who are the foreground characters.

yeah , the elderly are treated as background characters .

The mock in mockumentary (a portmanteau of mock documentary) means fake, not mocking, Derek isn't parodying those documentaries, it's just styled as one. The humour doesn't come from the presentation of the documentary but from the people in it.

not sure how that relates to what I said . I was saying the music is sh!t .

[Supratad]

Originally Posted by technoguy

This is the best programme i've seen for a long time. I loved it, some of the lines were exceptional. Great social commentary runs through it also, that seems to go over a lot of peoples heads.

The only thing is i've seen two episodes now and ended up crying during both of them. I'm someone who very rarely ever cries so its weird to me how much power this show has over me. I never expected that to happen.

5 STARS ***** unmissable TV

Absolutely agree. RG did the same thing with the Office and Extras, just a few scenes that go right to your heart, and as you say it goes over so many peoples heads due to their pre-conceptions and desire to slag off RG at every turn.

The scene with Dougie and the toaster was brilliant. We have all this red tape wrapping up everything and making life so much more difficult and expensive, but there he was, just a bloke who knew how to wire a plug, doing it so that the old folks could have some toast.

[niceguy1966]

Originally Posted by Supratad

Absolutely agree. RG did the same thing with the Office and Extras, just a few scenes that go right to your heart, and as you say it goes over so many peoples heads due to their pre-conceptions and desire to slag off RG at every turn.

The scene with Dougie and the toaster was brilliant. We have all this red tape wrapping up everything and making life so much more difficult and expensive, but there he was, just a bloke who knew how to wire a plug, doing it so that the old folks could have some toast.

BIB: The best part of the show. Not sure there is enough in this to keep me watching. I'm sure there will be a few more classic moments in the series, but far too much dross to wade through for the nuggets of gold.

[egghead1]

Originally Posted by technoguy

This is the best programme i've seen for a long time. I loved it, some of the lines were exceptional. Great social commentary runs through it also, that seems to go over a lot of peoples heads.

The only thing is i've seen two episodes now and ended up crying during both of them. I'm someone who very rarely ever cries so its weird to me how much power this show has over me. I never expected that to happen.

5 STARS ***** unmissable TV

Get a grip.And get out more.

[junnja]

Originally Posted by technoguy

5 STARS ***** unmissable TV

This is only unmissable, if you're firing a gun at the telly.

[bongo essex .]

Ricky Gervaise is clever and perceptive, but I don't think he likes people like that much.

[Phoenix Lazarus]

Originally Posted by bongo essex .

Ricky Gervaise is clever and perceptive, but I don't think he likes people like that much.

Perhaps he likes John, Paul and so forth, though.

[Digital Sid]

Originally Posted by egghead1

Get a grip.And get out more.

Says a poster on a forum .

[Digital Sid]

Originally Posted by Virgil Tracy

can't tell what you're saying there , are you now arguing that he's a good actor ?

I'm arguing that many seem to think so.

yeah , the elderly are treated as background characters .

Because it's a documentary about the providers, not receivers.

not sure how that relates to what I said . I was saying the music is sh!t .

You asked if it was a parody of documentary music, I pointed out that while it was clearly chosen for it's similarity to it, the documentary style was just a plot device, so probably not.

[Woodentop]

The Office hit the ground running and just got better with a good suited cast in roles that were each a contribution to the success.

This is far more limited so it would seem, with weirdly, some small characters who are not going to be popular, adding nothing to draw and retain viewers. Might improve, but seems hurried and whilst Gervais wants to make his social and political points, his central platform is comedy, not pathos and without, find it hard to expect more series.

[egghead1]

Ricky Gervais' Derek is the Emperor's New Clothes for the modern era.

[Ænima]

Originally Posted by egghead1

Ricky Gervais' Derek is the Emperor's New Clothes for the modern era.

How'd you figure that out? It's not exactly critically acclaimed, and who is pretending it's great? Most people seem to think it's pretty bad.

[Virgil Tracy]

Originally Posted by Digital Sid

I'm arguing that many seem to think so.

so you're arguing against your own point

Because it's a documentary about the providers, not receivers

.

it really isn't a documentary you know .
and that supports my point - the elderly are just background which doesn't help the patronising twaddle about how important the elderly are .

You asked if it was a parody of documentary music, I pointed out that while it was clearly chosen for it's similarity to it, the documentary style was just a plot device, so probably not

.

yeah , that's what I was saying , and it was awful .

[Heavenly]

Originally Posted by egghead1

Ricky Gervais' Derek is the Emperor's New Clothes for the modern era.

I don't agree with this at all. Ricky Gervais has always been a marmite character, no-one seems to be in the middle. I am a massive fan, ever since his XFM days.

Have loved everything he has done but did not like Life's Too Short at all. I absolutely adore Derek, but I am in the minority in my circle of friends. Luckily, my OH feels the same as me about him which makes for easier tv viewing.

[cal4751]

I watched the pilot and thought that Ricky Gervais has done a wonderful job with the character called Derek. Funny and very moving in parts.

Nicky Clark summed it up nicely and with her interview with Ricky Gervais.


http://www.newstatesman.com/culture/...e-ever-written

[jsmith99]

Originally Posted by Heavenly

............Have loved everything he has done but did not like Life's Too Short at all. ...........

Err....yes.....okay.

[Northcroft]

Fantastic
Backstory showing if things were left to those of us without an agenda, or wrapping people up in cotton wool in the name of safety, then life would be a lot better and less frustrating

[Davros Smith]

Derek is the best show Ricky has ever made

This ones only dreadful

[sheff71]

Originally Posted by cathrin

I loved parts of it (the compassion, the kindness and the performances of the actors playing Hannah and Dougie).

Like other posters, I found Kev a really jarring presence, introducing a completely incongruous coarseness that seemed to belong to a different show, and spoiling every scene he appeared in. I got the feeling he was doing the job previously played by Finchy in The Office or Greg in Extras: the obligatory unsympathetic character so we had someone to loathe.

The real revelation for me was Karl Pilkington. He was totally convincing and incredibly natural.

Pretty much what I thought (having seen the pilot and episode 1 for the first time today).

Dougie and Hannah do stand out, Kev appears to be there just to provide a hate figure - which seems to have worked!

As for Derek, RG is far better than i'd expected after reading some of the posts on here, and seemed to have toned down since the pilot. Seems much more sympathetic than i'd expected, and quite a likeable character.

The scenes when they brought in the pets were really sweet, and there were a few moments in both episodes that brought a lump to the throat - much more sensitively handled than i'd feared.

I can appreciate why many don't like it, particularly those who didn't like RG too much to start with - but it's a million miles better than Life's Too Short. When I first heard about the show, I like many others probably thought it could be 30 minutes of mocking the disabled or elderly - it's good to see it's not like that. It has areas where it could improve, but it's a pretty good start in an area where it's easy to cause offence...

[picklesandginge]

I actually quite liked it!

The one thing I'd say is, I don't think Derek's character is even needed in it! He was quite jarring for me and I didn't feel like he added anything. Maybe it's just the way RG is playing him. I think it would have worked amazingly as a comedy set in a carehome with the few odd (subtle) characters.

[Alrightmate]

Originally Posted by picklesandginge

I actually quite liked it!

The one thing I'd say is, I don't think Derek's character is even needed in it! He was quite jarring for me and I didn't feel like he added anything. Maybe it's just the way RG is playing him. I think it would have worked amazingly as a comedy set in a carehome with the few odd (subtle) characters.

I think I agree. I think they could make a great show mainly focusing on Dougie and Hannah as the main characters. Give them more time to flesh them out more. It feels like the Derek character doesn't seem to fit and that everything seems to stop for a 'Derek scene' until it restarts again. It doesn't seem to flow very well for me. Unlike the scenes with just Karl in, or Kerry in, or Karl with Kerry, which I find to be a lot more engaging to watch.

I think it probably is just the way he's playing him. If they just got a very good actor playing a character who's very nice but perhaps not that bright, it could possibly work a lot better. The way Ricky's playing him seems just too cartoonish, if you know what I mean. Which might work if the other characters were cartoonish as well, but they're not.

[picklesandginge]

Originally Posted by Alrightmate

I think it probably is just the way he's playing him. If they just got a very good actor playing a character who's very nice but perhaps not that bright, it could possibly work a lot better. The way Ricky's playing him seems just too cartoonish, if you know what I mean. Which might work if the other characters were cartoonish as well, but they're not.

Exactly!
It's like everything else is quite dry and dark, and then he's just trying to be slapstick and it just doesn't fit with the rest of the show.

[Alrightmate]

Originally Posted by picklesandginge

Exactly!
It's like everything else is quite dry and dark, and then he's just trying to be slapstick and it just doesn't fit with the rest of the show.

I guess his reasoning would be that's the purpose, that he's there to act as a counterbalance. But for me it doesn't really work. It's as if he should be in Father Ted, or as a character Jim Carrey might play in a wacky comedy film or something.

[Lucidia2011]

Yeah, i don't 'get it' yet, but also i'm not really paying much attention, that's probably the problem

[candyfloss2000]

Originally Posted by Alrightmate

I think I agree. I think they could make a great show mainly focusing on Dougie and Hannah as the main characters. Give them more time to flesh them out more. It feels like the Derek character doesn't seem to fit and that everything seems to stop for a 'Derek scene' until it restarts again. It doesn't seem to flow very well for me. Unlike the scenes with just Karl in, or Kerry in, or Karl with Kerry, which I find to be a lot more engaging to watch.

I think it probably is just the way he's playing him. If they just got a very good actor playing a character who's very nice but perhaps not that bright, it could possibly work a lot better. The way Ricky's playing him seems just too cartoonish, if you know what I mean. Which might work if the other characters were cartoonish as well, but they're not.

the show is called derek - if you dont like how derek is being played, and you dont like derek then dont watch this show and go write your own maybe....Seriously, talk about pulling something to pieces till there's nothing left.