"Cashback!"

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(apologies to non-Englishers) Alan Partridge - the new Series. What did you think?

― Mark C (Mark C), Monday, 11 November 2002 22:14 (twenty-two years ago)

"Back of the net!"

not bad so far...

― michael (michael), Monday, 11 November 2002 22:28 (twenty-two years ago)

Very good indeed in parts, but seemed a little knackered after six weeks of The Office.

Two of the best moments already mentioned on this thread, btw.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Monday, 11 November 2002 22:36 (twenty-two years ago)

Funniest line falls to Lynn: "Eight minutes".

A couple of clunky moments and *oh boy*, are the comedy web-geeks gonna hate it, but I thought it was pretty good. Loved the overweight Alan and the "he never sees the kid" perfect moment of off-the-cuff crassness. And there's never enough Amelia Bullmore on telly.

― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Monday, 11 November 2002 22:38 (twenty-two years ago)

I actually felt exhausted from laughing too much during that. The Clarkson pisstakery was just too much. A stone cold classic already.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 11 November 2002 22:54 (twenty-two years ago)

Mostly very good, and I'm looking forward to the game show.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Monday, 11 November 2002 23:26 (twenty-two years ago)

hmmm... I only caught the last five or so minutes of tonights episode so i don't know too much. He seems to be a lot more confident these days and a lot less "Mr. Bean"-y - Which i'm not so sure is a good thing. Also my personal opinion is that laugh-tracks should be banned. They're horribly tacky and when I watch TV late at night with the volume low the laughter drowns out half the jokes. If something's funny - I'll laugh. I don't need some dude with a cacklebox telling me when all the jokes are.

― dog latin, Monday, 11 November 2002 23:55 (twenty-two years ago)

i though the opening lord of the flies/rings joke was great...

― robin (robin), Tuesday, 12 November 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

It's the best thing on telly, but it's kind of tired and pointless, in a way. I don't see what they can do now that's original. Still, I'm not complaining. Oh, wait, I am.

Aside from that, I love the fact that Alan wears Lynx Africa, the same as me. 'You drove to Dundee in bare feet'. Back of the net indeed.

― Ally C (Ally C), Tuesday, 12 November 2002 00:43 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh and Mark - why are you apologising to me?

― Ally C (Ally C), Tuesday, 12 November 2002 00:43 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah the canned laughter was a miserable addition. Especially since reading in Chuck Palahniuk's last book that (American) laughter tracks were mostly recorded 50 years ago, meaning that a lot of the people you hear on them are now DEAD. I can't stop thinking about that now. But otherwise, GREAT. Lynn's facial expressions now rival Tim's from The Office in Speaking Volumes.

― Archel (Archel), Tuesday, 12 November 2002 10:07 (twenty-two years ago)

damn, forgot this.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Tuesday, 12 November 2002 10:39 (twenty-two years ago)

Has he always been quite so cruel to Lynn? I'm not sure what the point of that was.

― Graham (graham), Tuesday, 12 November 2002 10:59 (twenty-two years ago)

Lynns facial expressions = some of the best touches in the whole show.

I'd forgotten about the game show, that could be fantastic.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Tuesday, 12 November 2002 11:12 (twenty-two years ago)

Everyone was talking about the laugh track beforehand, but I honestly didn't notice it until towards the end of the programme I was laughing so much. I think laugh tracks sound more intrusive the lamer the comedy.

Definitely up to the standards of the last series.

― James Ball (James Ball), Tuesday, 12 November 2002 11:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Alan seems to be crueller to Lynn when he perceives that things are going well for him. When he is down (ie. towards the end of the last series) he appreciates her more. (Though I'm not sure I could bear this out with examples, come to think of it.)

― Archel (Archel), Tuesday, 12 November 2002 12:56 (twenty-two years ago)

i did laugh -- which i can't say for the Reece Shearsmith medic thing before it. the last AP series was about his slow deterioration, and now they're showing him getting more and more confident. i hope it doesn't all get pulled away from under him, but i suspect that's what they'll do in the last ep anyway.

People unfairly (to my mind) said that the Office owed a lot to AP, when I saw very little in common other than them both being very good and having central "monster" characters (something common to a lot of british comedy). But in the wake of Office II, there is a danger that this new cocky AP making gauche "with it" comments and heading for a humilitaing fall is going to be compared back to Brent. Like I say, I hope this doesn't happen.

― Alan (Alan), Tuesday, 12 November 2002 13:29 (twenty-two years ago)

i enjoyed it, but felt it rushed. i read somewhere there was about an hour's worth of footage filmed which would explain a lot of this. probably should have been brave and had one episode with the videos (i loved "titznade zoo") and one with the school speech. it seemed to panic a bit and desperate to work immediately as opposed to the last series which kind of developed organically over the weeks. i just hope they can match an episode like "basic alan" of the last series which i thought the best study of boredom in comedy since "hancock alone/ the bedsitter"...

― chris browning (commonswings), Tuesday, 12 November 2002 13:31 (twenty-two years ago)

study of boredom: i'm not an avid fan of One Foot in the Grave, but I have caught on my random viewings quite a lot of "boredom" "doing nothing" episodes -- there was one set in a waiting room. (ha ha DYS.) one in a car. another i think just in the bedroom.

mmm... Seinfeld, /The Chinese Restaurant/

― Alan (Alan), Tuesday, 12 November 2002 13:37 (twenty-two years ago)

Are they really laughter tracks though? There's certainly a live studio audience for the filming of the likes of IAP (they were giving the tickets away about six months ago for recording) - and you can spot the moments when Coogan has to pause for the chuckling to die away. I wouldn't be surprised if the taped audience reaction has been embellished in some way though, but it's hardly M*A*S*H (that one series).

― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Tuesday, 12 November 2002 14:09 (twenty-two years ago)

I'd be very surprised if it isn't entirely authentic laughter, having worked in TV comedy. While it's obviously not all filmed on a set, it's not hard to get an audience into a sudio, give them a few beers and playback the ep on a plasma screen...

Sorry. Britishers. And anyone else who watched it last night.

― Mark C (Mark C), Tuesday, 12 November 2002 15:40 (twenty-two years ago)

Cookie's comments are somewhat persuasive. I am minded to try to be favourable: it's so predictable and dreary to be disappointed, in a case like this.

Still: I think the problem is that since 1997, we are ALL Alan Partridge. So this is "watching Steve Coogan be Alan Partridge" rather than "watching Steady Mike be Alan Partridge", or even "listening to the Dirty Vicar's pals be Alan Partridge". Is Coogan better at it than them? Well -- he's worked longer on the script. I think.

― the pinefox, Tuesday, 12 November 2002 16:22 (twenty-two years ago)

Taking Sides: Episode 1 vs Episode 2

― the pinefox, Tuesday, 19 November 2002 13:17 (twenty-two years ago)

opening gag about a funny story that finishes too
quickly thus leaving alan with a minute exactly
of awkward laughter was goldren age stuff, then
for 25 minutes - no laughs at all.
so much sit. and v little com. - what was all that
with a table and torches about ? it redeemed itself
with the speech bit. see when it's based on coogan's
abillities as an actor/comic performer it's good, but all that
...*other shite* i mean who cares ?

― piscesboy, Tuesday, 19 November 2002 14:18 (twenty-two years ago)

I found myself laughing at one section - was it Partridge's emetic presentation after losing a pint of blood? - and then thinking, why are you laughing? It's not that funny, is it?

― the pinefox, Tuesday, 19 November 2002 14:20 (twenty-two years ago)

The geordie guy is AWFUL.

― Graham (graham), Tuesday, 19 November 2002 15:27 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah, they're adding too many other factors which are just getting in the way. none of the "new" characters seem to work at all and the speech certainly wasn't a patch on david brent's presentation routine.

― Marcello Carlin, Tuesday, 19 November 2002 15:31 (twenty-two years ago)

disappointing in a most predictable way. why did they bother?

― michael wells (michael w.), Wednesday, 20 November 2002 11:03 (twenty-two years ago)

B-b-but: 'Mary Poppins! What's THAT?'

― Archel (Archel), Wednesday, 20 November 2002 11:11 (twenty-two years ago)

hmmm, but "SPICEWORLD!" was lame.

― michael wells (michael w.), Wednesday, 20 November 2002 11:20 (twenty-two years ago)

Was the guy in the petrol station the same bloke who used to work at the Travel Tavern?

― Madchen (Madchen), Wednesday, 20 November 2002 12:03 (twenty-two years ago)

Yes.

― Archel (Archel), Wednesday, 20 November 2002 12:08 (twenty-two years ago)

This week'e episode a bit of an improvement, no?

― Marcello Carlin, Tuesday, 26 November 2002 08:54 (twenty-two years ago)

I didn't think so. Well, I laughed a lot less anyway and I was for some reason just bored by replica Alan/the 'sex people'. But I did like the cup of beans/savoury flake bit - Michael is improving as a character I think.

― Archel (Archel), Tuesday, 26 November 2002 09:21 (twenty-two years ago)

I thought last night's episode was as good as any of the old ones.

"No Lynn, these are sex people!"

I like the Geordie guy.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Tuesday, 26 November 2002 10:03 (twenty-two years ago)

Yet again though its a compare and comtrast the Office and Partridge wrt the girl in the wheelchair. AP is sometimes too calculating, as a comedy grotesque he works in the situationd we understand (the radio station, with Lynn), but the rest of the show seems to make him just jump through hoops.

― Pete (Pete), Tuesday, 26 November 2002 11:16 (twenty-two years ago)

I'd like to see a whole episode where he just does his radio show; those sequences are still by far the funniest - at their best, nearly as good as Peter Cook's "Sven the fisherman" LBC phone-ins.

― Marcello Carlin, Tuesday, 26 November 2002 12:22 (twenty-two years ago)

A whole half-hour devoted to the quiz show would be amazing. I'm really looking forward to Skirmish now, and I suspect they're keeping the best bit under wraps till later.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Wednesday, 27 November 2002 11:09 (twenty-two years ago)

"i hope it doesn't all get pulled away from under him, but i suspect that's what they'll do in the last ep anyway."

That house is never going to get finished.

Michael is great.

― tigerclawskank, Wednesday, 27 November 2002 11:41 (twenty-two years ago)

"Classic intercourse!" was a wonderful line. And the bit where he says "Worth of boast worlds" and tries to justify it. And the bit where Michael wouldn't let him in was great too, and I think it suggests there are plot developments to come there.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Wednesday, 27 November 2002 13:58 (twenty-two years ago)

People seem to be searching for cherishable catchphrases in this (or, perhaps, Baynham, Ianucci and Coogan have rather cynically chucked a load in - some good, some bad - and you just can't help noticing; I'm reminded of the last Blackadder series, when an overloaded simile turned up every five minutes); for me the best Partridge exchanges are when he's completely panicked, or fumblingly defensive, or it's just absurd excess (calling out, again and again and AGAIN, to the kitchens guy: best moment of the series so far; or the frightened child dialogue with Lynn after the spike incident)

Maybe I'm just a sad comedy geek, but something's a success if I can imagine the writers wetting themselves over their own script - and I can hear Peter Baynham practically choking, like he used to on Morris' R1 show, as he relates his idea (I don't know why I assume it was his) for Alan turning up at Michael's house... cup of beans, TV show on the Triads, burly man exits wordlessly, peering out through frosted glass. Just terrific.

It's rich stuff and it grows in the memory.

― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Wednesday, 27 November 2002 20:33 (twenty-two years ago)

The fact that Mike likes it is encouraging. Maybe it's good after all.

My reaction has been sth like "this is funny - cor, this is a good comedy programme - I bet that not much else around is as good as this", vs "it's I'm Alan Partridge - it has impossible standards to match - it can't succeed". I don't know how the balance should or will work out.

But I guess what I keep coming back to is that the canonization of earlier Partridge is what makes it hard for this series, and is maybe stopping me seeing the true worth of this series, which may be considerable.

― the pinefox, Wednesday, 27 November 2002 21:38 (twenty-two years ago)

Have you really been saying "cor", the Pinefox? I do hope so - it's made me quite happy.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Wednesday, 27 November 2002 22:02 (twenty-two years ago)

I always say it, Martin. And happiness is good.

Last night: possibly the funniest - but also the most extreme and exaggerated... going too far into farce by the end?

― the pinefox, Tuesday, 3 December 2002 16:22 (twenty-two years ago)

"Abso-bloody-exactly!"

"Butter my arse!"

― dwh (dwh), Tuesday, 3 December 2002 16:52 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm not sure the kind of awkward rude comments stuff really works anymore. I mean the episode a few weeks ago where he said "you better put a hat hard on, oops I mean, a hat hard on, oh I said it again". It just isn't really that funny, it was sort of amusing when he put his foot in it with the "celebs" on his chat show.

Same goes for last night's "he's talking about his cock". I mean I don't think this sort of thing has worked this series and thus it's just a man saying rude words.

― Ronan (Ronan), Tuesday, 3 December 2002 16:53 (twenty-two years ago)

"aboot"

― dwh (dwh), Tuesday, 3 December 2002 16:57 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah I agree with Pinefox -- this gets better and better.

― alext (alext), Tuesday, 3 December 2002 17:12 (twenty-two years ago)

I thought last night's was the worst ever. There are no straight characters in the programme. Everyone's a loon. It doesn't work.

― Eyeball Kicks (Eyeball Kicks), Tuesday, 3 December 2002 17:34 (twenty-two years ago)

OK, surely time for yet more revisionism. Last night's was the best yet. Wasn't it?

Worst bit, maybe: the 'fake Bono' was somehow rather 'trad sit-com' in a bad way - it felt a bit like, say, Only F&H. Yet it still had some comic worth.

Best bit, maybe: Partridge's conversation with his builder, re. smoking and cancer. "... and if you *have* got cancer, then... take the rest of the day off!"

― the pinefox, Tuesday, 10 December 2002 19:52 (twenty-two years ago)

I have only seen the second half of one episode so far (last week's) but I couldn't get over how ODD it was. It's completely changed from the last series. Plot and dialogue seem to have become quite surreal and he and Lynn seem to have had major personality transplants. Dog Latin and Graham kind of alluded to this above, but it totally weirded me out.

I'm not sure that this isn't a healthy development. I tend to have a lot of sympathy for long running things taking bizarre 'fuck it' turns (eg. Belle & Sebastian getting Trevor Horn in). But I'm surprised that other people don't seem to have seen it as that. Maybe it was just a particularly strange episode last week. Lines like "STOP GETTING BOND WRONG!" as quotable as ever, of course.

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 10 December 2002 23:05 (twenty-two years ago)

How is that quotable? Heat are going on that "Cashback" and "Back of the net" are part of the public conciousness now, and they're so not. All of the humor seems inevitable rather than imaginative.

― Graham (graham), Wednesday, 11 December 2002 13:58 (twenty-two years ago)

Conversation with the builder was classic, really excellent.

― Ronan (Ronan), Wednesday, 11 December 2002 14:10 (twenty-two years ago)

it didnt stand out for me...the series has really been quite aimless and somehow lacklustre on the whole - even Michael and Lynne seem flatter than they were before. it IS annoying that Heat and co. are going on about "cashback" and "back of the net" so much (tho not as annoying as the way everyone goes on about Gervais' dance routine in The Office being already-legendary) - and the fact that these both came from the first episode and havent been used again makes it worse. i think the problem is that because its based on the same formula as the first series its lost that air of unpredictability that made I'm Alan Partridge - in my opinion - so fucking phenomenal. i think Gervais and Merchant, being a bit fresher, have overtaken Coogan in this niche and Coogan should move on - sod Skirmish even, perhaps consider a new series of Coogan's Run with new characters?

― stevem (blueski), Wednesday, 11 December 2002 14:47 (twenty-two years ago)

and i agree that its definitely 'gone weird' but not in a good way really

i'm finding Bo Selecta funnier, sigh!

― stevem (blueski), Wednesday, 11 December 2002 14:49 (twenty-two years ago)

Surely the air bass playing, in a Mark King stylee made this episode classic on its own although on the whole the series has been a disappointment.

― mms (mms), Wednesday, 11 December 2002 15:31 (twenty-two years ago)

haha that reminded me how fab level 42 are, certainly

― mark s (mark s), Wednesday, 11 December 2002 16:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Mark King? Pah, that was pure Pallidino fretless warble.

I can't make my mind up either, I think the last two were really very weak. I'll still stand up for the exchanges with Lynne and Dave Clifton, but not much else works. I think Eyeball is close to the money (in the queue at the bank, at least) with his/her call for a straight character - Martin Freeman's role in The Office; Sally Philips and the receptionist woman in the last series of IAP.

Could be worse - you could be David Cann, reduced to appearing in that dreadful med-com that precedes IAP.

― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Wednesday, 11 December 2002 17:18 (twenty-two years ago)

I think this series has been a bit of a mess, but I've laughed out loud more frequently than the previous series.

The idea of a plot seems to be a bit of an afterthought. Like what was the point of the tax inspectors on Monday? It was abandoned halfway through. was wondering what would happen to them after Partridge did a runner, expecting his girlfriend to have kidnapped them or something. Instead we get a series of vignettes which have only the loosest of relations to what went on before.

Still always nice to hear Gary Numans fretless bass period .

― Billy Dods (Billy Dods), Wednesday, 11 December 2002 17:53 (twenty-two years ago)

I thought the Shit Fake Bono bit was great. I loved that he didn't just do a full hopeless, 'Oh, begorra, t'be sure' Irish accent, he just talked like a 70 year old. 'Oi saw dem last Tursdeh at a pap cancoert' was my favourite bit.

― Ferg (Ferg), Wednesday, 11 December 2002 18:43 (twenty-two years ago)

what a waste...

― DG (D_To_The_G), Tuesday, 17 December 2002 13:36 (twenty-two years ago)

...and we're not just talking about the 14,000 pulped books, either.

― Marcello Carlin, Tuesday, 17 December 2002 13:42 (twenty-two years ago)

I can't altogether agree. Once again, I found last night's chock-full of laughs. The very end threw me a bit: watching Partridge at the pulping factory, wondering what it all meant, thinking about how these were the last ever seconds of Alan Partridge...

So I went and listened to an old Partridge radio programme. It was good, but I don't think it was better than last night's episode.

― the pinefox, Tuesday, 17 December 2002 13:45 (twenty-two years ago)

explain the toblerones, please, if anyone can.

― Marcello Carlin, Tuesday, 17 December 2002 13:52 (twenty-two years ago)

worst ever. what a rotten show.

― piscesboy, Tuesday, 17 December 2002 14:04 (twenty-two years ago)

The Toblerone sequences were beyond rub. The whole thing has been clumsy and just didn't work.

― Graham (graham), Tuesday, 17 December 2002 14:56 (twenty-two years ago)

I think that's fair

― DG (D_To_The_G), Tuesday, 17 December 2002 15:00 (twenty-two years ago)

And there was no Skirmish at all in the series, surely the biggest wasted opportunity since... well, Alan's girlfriend.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Tuesday, 17 December 2002 15:52 (twenty-two years ago)

as silly as it sounds I do feel cheated

― DG (D_To_The_G), Tuesday, 17 December 2002 16:14 (twenty-two years ago)

> Could be worse - you could be David Cann, reduced to appearing in that dreadful med-com that precedes IAP.

he's the doctor from Jaaaam, right?

saw the curious orange from Lee and Herring on last night's show, as the pizza boy. tlc - bbc2's 'care in the community' scheme for situation comedians.

as for AP i think the grower is Mary, the phone-in voice.

andy

― koogy, Tuesday, 17 December 2002 16:30 (twenty-two years ago)

agreed on the Toberone bits. i thought it was going to lead up to a total breakdown, but... nothing! was that definitely the last one?

― michael (michael), Tuesday, 17 December 2002 16:33 (twenty-two years ago)

I thought there were quite a few laughs through the episode and indeed the series but there was definitely problems with the overall story arc and the end was a complete anti climax as it looked like he was heading towards another drive to Dundee and instead it was all rather disappointing. Much like Alans life I suppose.

Peter Purves anecdote was good though.

― mms (mms), Tuesday, 17 December 2002 16:47 (twenty-two years ago)

So many wasted situations, frittered away in weak writing and aimlessness - I suspect a few people here, gifted a situation like "Alan addresses the gathering following Lynne's baptism in a craven attempt to get in with a local radio religious presenter" would have a field day.

I laughed often through the series at isolated pockets of inspiration (shows 1 and 3 in particular), but, as Alexei Sayle called his own 1989 effort, this will be known as the award-losing second series.

― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Tuesday, 17 December 2002 17:18 (twenty-two years ago)

And on THAT bombshell...

― the pinefox, Tuesday, 17 December 2002 17:23 (twenty-two years ago)

Rob Brydon was wasted, funny how those two women (whose names i never remember) FINALLY cropped up in the last episode too as well - it had been quite scant on the familiar faces until that point (perhaps we'll see more of the guy who played DAN in other things?)

overall a stilted series with a few good albeit predictable laughs but a shame it felt so 'pointless' really (not in terms of Alan's own life, but the series and its meaning itself) - most things in the series had either been done before or just were not worth saying in the first place anyway

― stevem (blueski), Tuesday, 17 December 2002 19:46 (twenty-two years ago)

one year passes...

I think *this* was the thread I earlier sought.

― the timefox, Tuesday, 6 January 2004 15:40 (twenty-one years ago)

You were all quite harsh. It was better than Office Series Two. My dad used to play me tapes of 'On the Hour'.

It was more than textbook.

― Enrique (Enrique), Tuesday, 6 January 2004 15:45 (twenty-one years ago)

My dad used to play me tapes of 'On the Hour'.

Christ, make us all feel old, why don't you. If my cassette recorders had been available, my Dad probably would've taped Hancock's Half Hour and Frank Randall.

― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Tuesday, 6 January 2004 16:41 (twenty-one years ago)

I mean I could have listened to it (I was 12-13) but, erm, wasn't an R4 listener. Also the under-rated 'Little Blighty on the Down', which I don't think anyone else remembers. Satire of Majorism.

'Desk of sport'

― Enrique (Enrique), Tuesday, 6 January 2004 16:43 (twenty-one years ago)

I expect Robin C remembers it, if it really existed, or indeed if it didn't.

― the timefox, Tuesday, 6 January 2004 16:48 (twenty-one years ago)

haha! it can be googled, but then maybe i worte all those sites...

― Enrique (Enrique), Tuesday, 6 January 2004 16:49 (twenty-one years ago)

"Skipjack Sonia in brine" always makes me smile at least

― stevem (blueski), Tuesday, 6 January 2004 16:49 (twenty-one years ago)

Glang...
Glan-a-lang-a-lang-a-lang-a-lang-a-lang,
Glang-a-lang...
Lang-a-lang-a-lang
Nobody does it better...
And I'm a naked woman, in silhouette, with a gun, spinning round.
Makes me feel sad for the rest. Nobody does it...
Ooh, bit of nipple!
...quiet as good as you, baby you're the best.
Da-da-di-da-der...
And now a really big bounce, right over and I land on my feet.
Di-da-der-di-der...
I wasn't looking, and somehow you found me,
Ooh, bit of bush!
I tried to hide from you love life,
And then a woman swinging on a Luger, a giant Luger. Ooh, look at that!
like heaven above me...
And now another naked woman walking along the top of a gun. Completely billy bollocks!
...the spy who loved me, is keeping all my secrets safe tonight.
And then one more big swing from a woman, legs apart. Oh what was that? Too late!
Nobody does it half as good as you, baby you're the best.

― Alfie (Alfie), Friday, 9 January 2004 09:16 (twenty-one years ago)

seven months pass...

> Could be worse - you could be David Cann, reduced to appearing in that dreadful med-com that precedes IAP.

or talking dot cotton through possible treatments for cancer in last night's eastenders...

― koogs (koogs), Friday, 13 August 2004 11:19 (twenty-one years ago)

i have been saying 'big plate scam' more in the last few weeks than i ever did before, this is bad i think

― the neurotic awakening of s (blueski), Friday, 13 August 2004 11:42 (twenty-one years ago)

or talking dot cotton through possible treatments for cancer in last night's eastenders...

No way! You'd have thought he'd have been struck off for the whole 'synchronised cocks' incident.

Funnily enough I did have this on last night, briefly and in sound only (it's complicated), and I was reminded of June Brown's great appearance in a very similar role/situation in Schlesinger's Sunday Bloody Sunday when Peter Finch was the doctor. And Cann and Finch share some qualities, don't they? Hmmm. Very slightly interesting.

― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Friday, 13 August 2004 11:56 (twenty-one years ago)

I watched the Bond marathon ep last night and have been trying to find or engineer a situation at work in which I can exclaim "Oh, butter my arse!"

We've got butter in the office fridge...

― Barms, Friday, 13 August 2004 13:19 (twenty-one years ago)

Er, you don't want people to be able to take you literally though, do you? Or do you?

― Archel (Archel), Friday, 13 August 2004 13:33 (twenty-one years ago)

I just slid across the office corridor on my arse. I now have the day off. So, what do you think?

― Barms, Friday, 13 August 2004 13:55 (twenty-one years ago)

No, c'mon, I did wanna know what you thought!

― Barms, Saturday, 14 August 2004 16:26 (twenty-one years ago)

old news for some of you, i know, but radio7 are repeating "On The Hour" on Mondays and it's available via their listen-again stuff here.

(it's the radio show that became The Day Today, lots of stuff i hadn't heard before. Swimming is illegal in Ireland apparently)

― koogs (koogs), Wednesday, 25 August 2004 13:45 (twenty-one years ago)

and the radio1 very-early-in-the-morning comedy slot i mentioned somewhere is also available online here and is funny enough. this week they did a mashup using the acappella bit from a Shadows track and the instrumental bits of a Flying Pickets record. ok, you had to be there.

― koogs (koogs), Wednesday, 25 August 2004 14:00 (twenty-one years ago)

one month passes...

http://www.alan-partridge.co.uk/whatsnew/dandandan-small.gif
DAN! DAN! DAN! DAN! DAN! DAN! DAN! DAN!

― roxymuzak (roxymuzak), Sunday, 10 October 2004 13:00 (twenty years ago)

Dan Moody

― Tannenbaum Schmidt (Nik), Sunday, 10 October 2004 13:42 (twenty years ago)

"don't shine that torch in my face mate, i've just lost a pint of blood"

"ooooh, i sound like the devil"

"you might want to read your sunday express...OOOOOOOH its a good paper"

has to be the best episode.

― Hari Ashurst (Toaster), Sunday, 10 October 2004 14:19 (twenty years ago)

Dan Moody....

― Tannenbaum Schmidt (Nik), Sunday, 10 October 2004 14:20 (twenty years ago)

I really must start collecting the various show DVDs.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 10 October 2004 14:20 (twenty years ago)

Lexi. Plural.

― Tannenbaum Schmidt (Nik), Sunday, 10 October 2004 14:23 (twenty years ago)

The Lexfiles.

http://www.sleeve-notes.com/ilm/danmoody.jpg

― Tannenbaum Schmidt (Nik), Sunday, 10 October 2004 14:28 (twenty years ago)

Voodoo!

http://www.sleeve-notes.com/ilm/voodoo.jpg

― Tannenbaum Schmidt (Nik), Sunday, 10 October 2004 14:30 (twenty years ago)

Java!

http://www.sleeve-notes.com/ilm/java.jpg

― Tannenbaum Schmidt (Nik), Sunday, 10 October 2004 14:31 (twenty years ago)

Flavia

http://www.sleeve-notes.com/ilm/flavia.jpg

― Tannenbaum Schmidt (Nik), Sunday, 10 October 2004 14:31 (twenty years ago)

King of coffees.

― Richard C (avoid80), Sunday, 10 October 2004 14:32 (twenty years ago)

Well smelt.

― roxymuzak (roxymuzak), Sunday, 10 October 2004 15:10 (twenty years ago)

three weeks pass...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/primrosehill/ALAN.jpg

― roxymuzak (roxymuzak), Sunday, 31 October 2004 16:40 (twenty years ago)

two months pass...

that photo really is astounding...

anyway, the DVD design is ATROCIOUS tho the music and dance routine IS funny. i've warmed to the second series more after seeing it again after much time passed and have been unable to go an entire day without remarking "it's basically sex music", if only to myself...

― I'VE GOT YER KIDS DAN (blueski), Tuesday, 4 January 2005 13:58 (twenty years ago)

Been watching 'The Day Today' again on DVD and I think Alan might be the best bit of all.

'Like cattle in a mad way... but cattle on bikes.'

And all the awkward cruel handovers from Morris to him. Which were even funnier on 'On The Hour' maybe.

― Archel (Archel), Tuesday, 4 January 2005 14:11 (twenty years ago)

how is the DVD design atrocious steve?

― ken c (ken c), Tuesday, 4 January 2005 14:29 (twenty years ago)

it takes too long to select anything because they insist on triggering video transitions between every option on the main menu. further in you have to watch sequences of around 5-10 seconds before being able to pick anything.

DVD design is currently in the same position web design was in 1999/2000 i.e. form over function, flashy crap equating obstacles rather than entertaining tangents.

the Peep Show first series DVD interface is much better designed.

― Frankenstein On Ice (blueski), Tuesday, 4 January 2005 14:33 (twenty years ago)

I could hardly get any of the extras on the Day Today DVDs to work at all, or the scene selection. It seemed like it wasn't finished - only one of the options would come up or they'd be there and you couldn't select, and the internal structure was baffling anyway. Very frustrating.

― Archel (Archel), Tuesday, 4 January 2005 14:37 (twenty years ago)

a whole ep of 'tdt' is fucked up because of the lame signalling split screen option thing. every edit is a bit 'off'.

― henry miller, Tuesday, 4 January 2005 14:39 (twenty years ago)

Father Ted = worst dvd interface ever, with a premise that if you can't guess what you want to watch it's not worth it.

― Starry (hello chickens), Tuesday, 4 January 2005 15:06 (twenty years ago)

i thought the alan DVD menu was pretty clever and it made me laff mucho. i mean.. it's an extra 10 seconds of menu that leads you to like a 30 minute episode.. hardly significant?

― ken c (ken c), Tuesday, 4 January 2005 15:10 (twenty years ago)

bad design. it would be fine if they just had Alan dancing and the options all clear to see below. i may become the Jakob Nielsen of DVD design at this rate...

― Frankenstein On Ice (blueski), Tuesday, 4 January 2005 15:34 (twenty years ago)

haha. I'm with you steve. Usability is all!

― Archel (Archel), Tuesday, 4 January 2005 15:47 (twenty years ago)

anything with 'stings' between menu and item is for shit. 'spaced' is a real offender. i don't want to hear the same 'skip to the end' remark 500 times much. 'zoolander' has this problem but makes up for it by having a zoolander narration over the menu.

― henry miller, Tuesday, 4 January 2005 15:50 (twenty years ago)

I know, it's a MOVIE, not a PLAY.

― Starry (hello chickens), Tuesday, 4 January 2005 15:51 (twenty years ago)

Oh, and here's another minor annoyance - these stings are usually presented in stereo LPCM at a level way louder than the actual program material. KCCCHKK, BOOOOM, SKIP TO THE END then some comedy.

― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Tuesday, 4 January 2005 16:10 (twenty years ago)

agreed on the Father Ted DVD, watched this on Sunday night and after a ruck of ale it took me ages to figure out how to play the episodes.

― Ste (Fuzzy), Tuesday, 4 January 2005 16:12 (twenty years ago)

and DVD sound quality is poor (read stupidly quiet compared to standard analogue TV) enough as it is.

― Frankenstein On Ice (blueski), Tuesday, 4 January 2005 16:14 (twenty years ago)

Steve, the dvd design is on that second series disc is priceless!!! The looping is great - sound and video - and "Music for Chameleons"!!!! I know what you mean by flash-y dvd design, but this is one of the few discs where any 'creative' thought was put into the menus.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Tuesday, 4 January 2005 18:07 (twenty years ago)

two months pass...

I want this painting.

http://www.eyecandy.co.uk/Lee%20Woodgate/Images/mini-Alan-Partridgefull.jpg

In my living room.

― roxymuzak (roxymuzak), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 00:35 (twenty years ago)

Hahah. Very suave. :-)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 00:39 (twenty years ago)

three weeks pass...

So, there is an Alan movie being made?

― roxymuzak (roxymuzak), Thursday, 21 April 2005 20:05 (twenty years ago)

Apparently so, Ianucci won't have anything to do with it though, which means the movie will be lacking the bigger part of the character's writing team, I don't expect much.

― Ed (dali), Thursday, 21 April 2005 20:11 (twenty years ago)

four months pass...

I just happened upon this deleted scene, rejected cause I thought I looked too suave:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/primrosehill/alan2.jpg

― roxymuzak (roxymuzak), Sunday, 21 August 2005 00:08 (twenty years ago)

one month passes...

Ok, so I just found Alan Partridge on MySpace: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=1716980

THEN I noticed that his #1 friend is SPENCER CHOW.

― Roxymuzak, Mrs. Carbohydrate (roxymuzak), Wednesday, 5 October 2005 22:25 (nineteen years ago)

Haha, I am a very early adopter, so unless you specify otherwise (a new feature), I will almost always appear first on anyone's friend list.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Wednesday, 5 October 2005 22:32 (nineteen years ago)

four years pass...

the alan movie is being filmed in america

― S.E., we runnin' this FAP shit (roxymuzak), Monday, 28 December 2009 00:27 (fifteen years ago)

Ha those Roxy Partridge pix remind me of this

http://www.artinfo.com/media/image/31788/007_WearingGillianSelfPortraitAsMyUncleBryanGrego.jpg

http://www.artinfo.com/news/enlarged_image/25342/31788/

― I can't turn my shart into a faece (Noodle Vague), Monday, 28 December 2009 00:35 (fifteen years ago)

interview with the AV Club: http://www.avclub.com/articles/steve-coogan,36423/

― kingfish, Monday, 28 December 2009 00:35 (fifteen years ago)

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