I have recently caught up with the first three series' of Lee Mack's sitcom "Not Going Out" on DVD and it has got me thinking about how hard sitcom is to get right.
The really nice premise of "Not Going Out" is all in the title. Lee Mack is the layabout who shares a flat with a really attractive girl he is 'not going out' with. In the first series, the girl is his best friend Tim's ex-girlfriend. In series' two and three, it's Tim's sister.
In true sitcom style, the jokes come in quick succession and enough of them are laugh-out-loud funny enough to have me reaching for the fourth series. The production is slick too, with a docklands flat set which oozes New York cool even if the overhead shots of the surrounding city feature Canary Wharf.
So it's a good sitcom but there are a couple of things which, for me, stop it being great.
One of those things is probably a hangover from Lee Mack's life as a stand-up - there are a lot of lines that are clever but rather unnaturally set-up. The dialogue is often quite obviously worked round to deliver a gag, rather than a gag re-worked to develop it into dialogue. As a result, people say some pretty unnatural things and then wait rather awkwardly for the laugh to subside before carrying on with the story.
The other thing is the romantic storyline. Now I love a good romance and the careful plotting of a romantic moment in each episode did keep me coming back for more. Unfortunately the curiously chaste kiss which finally came at the climax of series three was a poor reward for my devotion. "Friends" really understood how much a believable romance could add to a sitcom but Lee and Lucy are no Ross and Rachel.
On paper, "Not Going Out" must read like it has everything it needs to succeed - the situation, the characters and the jokes - but it needs a spark of something extra too. I just hope to see that spark in the next series...
I liked Not Going Out - mainly because Miranda's in it! But then I saw the 'lesbian' episode and complained to the BBC, logging my complaint with Stonewall's TV monitoring campaign too. Lucy is curious about the idea of kissing another woman so she tries it, it doesn't work for her. Presumably there was some kind of discussion between Mack, Bretton and others about how she should react to show this - quizzical? bored? Lucy grimaced as if revolted. I was shocked at how dated that was. The reaction didn't need to be for laughs as the gag was about Mack secretly watching. I was also disappointed that the production team and BBC were reinforcing the school bully's equating of Gay and disgusting. My reply from the BBC was disheartening - apparently there can be no guidelines for comedy! Maybe a blog topic?
ReplyDeleteThanks for your commments - they show that comedy certainly can be a serious business sometimes.
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