STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning
And so the LB duo have crossed over the Atlantic and brought their peculiarly disgusting humour to the yanks. We've known about it happening for a while, but it's interesting how after about the third series, all the hype and mania about the show (a direct result of them selling out) died down and the series disappeared off our screens for a bit. Lucas got all the publicity for his five minute wedding while Walliams tried (with some success) to pursue serious acting roles, including that of comedy legend Frankie Howard. The series seemed to survive on the occasional comic relief/Christmas special here and there, but the height of it's success, during the 2004/2005 sort of time, just came and went. I must hold my hands up and say I got caught up in it all and loved the series when it first started. While it relied on juvenile gross out sort of humour a lot more than any genuinely intelligent comedic writing, the characters were very well realized and it was a generally good reflection of the state of Britain today. But with Little Britain USA, the signs of a dead horse being flogged are all but clear to see.
It's interesting, I note how all the good reviews on this homepage seem to be coming from Americans, who are used to this sort of humour, and all the bad reviews seem to be coming from the British reviewers. This sort of reaction after just two episodes should be saying something. The devil's really in the title: Little Britain USA. As well as the novelty, the perspective has also been lost: it was meant to be a satire of British caricatures and mannerisms, with an emphasis on certain exaggerated characters who embodied them. By lampooning American stereotypes, the boy's have accomplished no more with their style than your average Eddie Murphy film and a lot less successfully. They've also exposed a pathetic desperation to keep their cashcow going by reflecting little 'Britain' in America, including inexplicably moving characters from the UK series, like unhelpful desk clerk Carol Beer (how did she get a transfer to the States if she was so bad at her job?) over there seemingly permanently, as well as favourites Lou and Andy (the same old gag again and again!) and Daffyyd (how he'll stay 'the only gay in the village' is anyone's guess???) in amongst new American characters, all of whom fail to make an impression. All this, by definition makes the show lose all meaning but since the objective now seems to be to sell out as much as possible (they way it's always been, some might say) maybe that happened a long while ago.
It was never the most subtle or sophisticated of shows, and stood as much chance of winding you up and getting on your nerves if you weren't in the mood for it as it did making you laugh out loud and that's definitely the feeling here. I've discovered Mitchell and Webb, and in particular Peep Show, since then and comedy with something to fall back on when the gross out stuff fails is definitely the better option. Everything has it's day, but Little Britain hasn't just had it's cake, it's tried to eat it too and in the process spilled the bits everywhere and sent a once enjoyable franchise down the swanney to, well...America. *
And so the LB duo have crossed over the Atlantic and brought their peculiarly disgusting humour to the yanks. We've known about it happening for a while, but it's interesting how after about the third series, all the hype and mania about the show (a direct result of them selling out) died down and the series disappeared off our screens for a bit. Lucas got all the publicity for his five minute wedding while Walliams tried (with some success) to pursue serious acting roles, including that of comedy legend Frankie Howard. The series seemed to survive on the occasional comic relief/Christmas special here and there, but the height of it's success, during the 2004/2005 sort of time, just came and went. I must hold my hands up and say I got caught up in it all and loved the series when it first started. While it relied on juvenile gross out sort of humour a lot more than any genuinely intelligent comedic writing, the characters were very well realized and it was a generally good reflection of the state of Britain today. But with Little Britain USA, the signs of a dead horse being flogged are all but clear to see.
It's interesting, I note how all the good reviews on this homepage seem to be coming from Americans, who are used to this sort of humour, and all the bad reviews seem to be coming from the British reviewers. This sort of reaction after just two episodes should be saying something. The devil's really in the title: Little Britain USA. As well as the novelty, the perspective has also been lost: it was meant to be a satire of British caricatures and mannerisms, with an emphasis on certain exaggerated characters who embodied them. By lampooning American stereotypes, the boy's have accomplished no more with their style than your average Eddie Murphy film and a lot less successfully. They've also exposed a pathetic desperation to keep their cashcow going by reflecting little 'Britain' in America, including inexplicably moving characters from the UK series, like unhelpful desk clerk Carol Beer (how did she get a transfer to the States if she was so bad at her job?) over there seemingly permanently, as well as favourites Lou and Andy (the same old gag again and again!) and Daffyyd (how he'll stay 'the only gay in the village' is anyone's guess???) in amongst new American characters, all of whom fail to make an impression. All this, by definition makes the show lose all meaning but since the objective now seems to be to sell out as much as possible (they way it's always been, some might say) maybe that happened a long while ago.
It was never the most subtle or sophisticated of shows, and stood as much chance of winding you up and getting on your nerves if you weren't in the mood for it as it did making you laugh out loud and that's definitely the feeling here. I've discovered Mitchell and Webb, and in particular Peep Show, since then and comedy with something to fall back on when the gross out stuff fails is definitely the better option. Everything has it's day, but Little Britain hasn't just had it's cake, it's tried to eat it too and in the process spilled the bits everywhere and sent a once enjoyable franchise down the swanney to, well...America. *