Derek (Ricky Gervais and Karl Pilkington Sitcom)

BaZmO* · 12-04-2012 10:35pm

There's a very fine line when doing something like this. Luckily enough he's stayed on the right side of it.

Drenched in pathos, and certainly not a laugh a minute sitcom. Definitely has potential.

mfceiling · 12-04-2012 10:35pm

I enjoyed this.

Thought gervais would really take the proverbial out of the more mentally challenged but he seems to have hit a sweet spot.

Karl is using some of his "normal" lines....he's like a wasp in the car, extra stress when you're driving!!

So far so good.

francois · 12-04-2012 10:35pm

Poor, cliched, lazy writing and for something advertised as comedy not particularly funny, in fact totally unfunny. The attempts at pathos lacked any cred after his "mong" episode-Pilkington may as well have been reprising his idiot role.

Paparazzo · 12-04-2012 10:37pm

When Karl was driving the bus, he should have pulled over and put Ricky in a wheelie bin.

K.C · 12-04-2012 10:38pm

yermandan wrote: »

Unbelievable acting by Gervais in this. Having worked with people with intellectual disabilities who do not have a voice anywhere, this will really help the cause. Unbelievable stuff.

I was balling at the end there. Very poignant.

Here's the music from the ending if anyone is interested

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdDDY5nVA3A

Thanks so much, I've been looking for this for the last half hour!!!

Paparazzo · 12-04-2012 10:40pm

francois wrote: »

Poor, cliched, lazy writing and for something advertised as comedy not particularly funny, in fact totally unfunny. The attempts at pathos lacked any cred after his "mong" episode-Pilkington may as well have been reprising his idiot role.

It was advertised as a comedy drama. Which is what it was.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWoagq8qhtI

yermandan · 12-04-2012 10:41pm

K.C wrote: »

Thanks so much, I've been looking for this for the last half hour!!!

No worries, Ricky put it up on his Twitter!

BaZmO* · 12-04-2012 10:44pm

francois wrote: »

Poor, cliched, lazy writing and for something advertised as comedy not particularly funny, in fact totally unfunny. The attempts at pathos lacked any cred after his "mong" episode-Pilkington may as well have been reprising his idiot role.

I'd tend to agree but I'm willing to give it another couple of watches to see how it pans out.

The love interest did seem very forced and a lot like a condensed version of Maggie's story in Extras. Plus, if ever anybody wanted proof that Karl's character in every other Gervais production is an act, his role tonight is proof enough.

Samich · 12-04-2012 10:44pm

Pilkington was acting in idiot abroad. First acting part :pac:

K.C · 12-04-2012 10:47pm

Is this a one off or will there be more episodes?

deisedevil · 12-04-2012 10:49pm

K.C wrote: »

Thanks so much, I've been looking for this for the last half hour!!!

Music was used in This Is England Series. What a rob in fairness.

BaZmO* · 12-04-2012 10:50pm

K.C wrote: »

Is this a one off or will there be more episodes?

Oh, I just noticed in the tv guide that it was a once off. Pretty weak if it was.

I was wondering why everything seemed so rushed and condensed.

K.C · 12-04-2012 10:51pm

deisedevil wrote: »

Music was used in This Is England Series. What a rob in fairness.

Yeah I was a big fan of This is England. Quality tv and movie too. Still, a great track

Richard tea · 12-04-2012 10:57pm

I was very disappointed with Derek. Its downhill for Ricky since The Office. I managed 3 episodes of lifes too short before I gave up on it. Derek was so bad im not even going to try and justify my opinion.

Ash.J.Williams · 12-04-2012 10:57pm

deisedevil wrote: »

Music was used in This Is England Series. What a rob in fairness.

definitely a rip off

Umekichi · 12-04-2012 11:00pm

Watched this purely by chance as I've never been a fan of Ricky Gervais and I have to say I loved it. I thought it was gonna be a "let's take the mickey out of the Intellectually Disabled" show but it wasn't.

His portrayal of someone with an ID was touching yet accurate. I have relatives(2 uncles and a cousin) with an ID and it was like watching them on the screen. I was crying at the end and would watch it again, I hope he does more stuff like this.

Will I Amnt · 12-04-2012 11:25pm

Ash.J.Williams wrote: »

definitely a rip off

Strange way of looking at it.
It's a well known original composition that just happened to be used in two different programmes,hardly a rip off.
I've heard it used elsewhere in at least 2 other things on television.

deisedevil · 12-04-2012 11:27pm

Umekichi wrote: »

Watched this purely by chance as I've never been a fan of Ricky Gervais and I have to say I loved it. I thought it was gonna be a "let's take the mickey out of the Intellectually Disabled" show but it wasn't.

His portrayal of someone with an ID was touching yet accurate. I have relatives(2 uncles and a cousin) with an ID and it was like watching them on the screen. I was crying at the end and would watch it again, I hope he does more stuff like this.

I am a Ricky Gervais fan and I think that is why his attempt at the character Derek just didn't work for me. Ricky Gervais never does serious, he does the exact opposite and takes the piss out of everything and it seems like nothing is off limits with him. Yet here he was acting as someone with an ID and I was just waiting for him to burst out laughing with his annoying laugh at times. I couldn't take the character seriously at all. He should have had someone else do it but probably wanted the limelight if there was to be any.

The caretaker was just Karl Pilkington from Idiot Abroad without the shaved head. Same style of comedy there.

They robbed what was a deeply moving theme song from This Is England because they knew it works in moving scenes, that particular piece of music alone would make you teary it's that good.

The potential relationship developing between the Care Assistant and yer man was poorly finished. It seems like they tried to cram things in and finish them off quickly imo.

I could go on but I don't want to start ranting. I really didn't think that was much good at all and it's no wonder it's a one off.

deisedevil · 12-04-2012 11:30pm

cambo2008 wrote: »

Strange way of looking at it.
It's a well known original composition that just happened to be used in two different programmes,hardly a rip off.
I've heard it used elsewhere in at least 2 other things on television.

It was used since This Is England in some documentaries I have seen but I never seen it in a drama.

Would you not agree that it was very lazy from Gervais et al to use the same theme music from another very popular and successful British drama?

darced · 12-04-2012 11:34pm

This post has been deleted.

Will I Amnt · 12-04-2012 11:35pm

deisedevil wrote: »

Would you not agree that it was very lazy from Gervais et al to use the same theme music from another very popular and successful British drama?

Not really,it's an emotional piece and worked really well and that's all that matters.To call it a rip off is a bit overkill.

deisedevil · 12-04-2012 11:35pm

darced wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

I think he's going to wait for some people to praise him for the role and then reveal that it was a piss take and laugh at everyone.

Basq · 12-04-2012 11:35pm

While it wasn't LOL-funny, it was an incredibly touching and accurate portrayal of the "Intelluctually Disabled".

Gervais was amazing in it... that's for damn sure!

Overall.. as a drama, it really worked. As a comedy, it was mediocre!

EDIT: Gervais mentioned on Twitter that:

It's only a one-off, but I am slowly writing a series

PS - People are honestly accusing Ricky Gervais of ripping off use of a classical piece of music... jesus fecking wept! :rolleyes:

I heard it in Insidious a few weeks ago and didn't think... "oh, look at James Wan there.. ripping off Shane Meadows... that hack!"

deisedevil · 12-04-2012 11:39pm

cambo2008 wrote: »

Not really,it's an emotional piece and worked really well and that's all that matters.To call it a rip off is a bit overkill.

He could have found another emotional piece that wasn't as tied to another series. Every This Is England advert had that music playing and it was playing all the way through that series also. All I could think of was Ricky Gervais is trying to be Shane Meadows.

By your logic it would be ok for another boxing movie to use the Raging Bull theme music because it would work well. Of course it would but that doesn't make it ok.

Will I Amnt · 12-04-2012 11:47pm

deisedevil wrote: »

cambo2008 wrote: »

Not really,it's an emotional piece and worked really well and that's all that matters.To call it a rip off is a bit overkill.

He could have found another emotional piece that wasn't as tied to another series. Every This Is England advert had that music playing and it was playing all the way through that series also. All I could think of was Ricky Gervais is trying to be Shane Meadows.

By your logic it would be ok for another boxing movie to use the Raging Bull theme music because it would work well. Of course it would but that doesn't make it ok.

No,another boxing movie would be a bit stupid.Im pretty sure This is England wasn't about an ID man working in an old folks home.
And the part in bold is just silly.

deisedevil · 12-04-2012 11:49pm

cambo2008 wrote: »

No,another boxing movie would be a bit stupid.Im pretty sure This is England wasn't about an ID man working in an old folks home.
And the part in bold is just silly.

Fair enough. That's what I thought of it anyway.

kitakyushu · 13-04-2012 1:11am

So what's the deal with this? Is it just 1 episode for now and hopefully more later down the road or is there a series coming soon?

If it's just a one-off I might check it out now. Otherwise I'll just wait until it finishes its run.

brian_t · 13-04-2012 1:29am

kitakyushu wrote: »

So what's the deal with this? Is it just 1 episode for now and hopefully more later down the road or is there a series coming soon?

If it's just a one-off I might check it out now. Otherwise I'll just wait until it finishes its run.

I'd imagine Gervais would be hoping to get a series but for now it's a one-off.

ricero · 13-04-2012 1:42am

i enjoyed it more of a drama then a comedy.bravo ricky

cianisgood · 13-04-2012 1:50am

sound kinda bad imo

RichieC · 13-04-2012 1:56am

You can watch this on 4od if you missed it, it was very good, quite sad.

The big laughs for me were from Pilkington.. just himself basically

Oat23 · 13-04-2012 2:22am

Gervais: Douglas..Douglas..Douglas..Douglas..Douglas..
Karl: What! What!
Gervais: I've forgotten...
Karl: I'm trying to drive the bus here! We have passengers, if I put this around a lamp, do you know how much sh*t I'd get into?! Just calm down, we can have a chat when we get back. We have NOTHING to do all afternoon!

The end was sad though, he was so excited after she won the 10 pounds

. Gervais was excellent. Karl isn't acting, he is just being Karl with is fantastic. Hopefully it'll be given at least 6 episodes.

tinyjiney · 13-04-2012 8:31am

Another masterpiece in writing and observation from Gervais.....if I had one criticism it would be that the part of Derek should have been played by another actor, possibly an unknown...imo

bnt · 13-04-2012 8:38am

I haven't seen This is England, so I don't know which music everyone's annoyed about. Lots of Erik Satie in there: Gymnopédies in the quieter scenes. (No.1 is famous and gets used in commercials a lot.) The music used in the bus scene is from a piece called Embryons desséchés, which French for "Dessicated Embryos". The guy was a bit of a surrealist, I guess ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4GBjUncqkI

As for the programme itself - OK, I suppose. Writing was a bit clunky, you can see where they're trying to push our buttons e.g Karl's rant to set him up as the negative character. I liked that it wasn't all about Derek, despite the title.

fryup · 13-04-2012 8:53am

and here's his inspiration for the show, autograph hunters

Gervais about Derek - "oh i'm not poking fun at people"

ya right:rolleyes:

pixelburp · 13-04-2012 8:54am

Ok so I was curious to know what people thought of this drama: I click into the thread and find ... uhh, an argument about a piece of music. Bit early in the morning for that sort of Pedantry.

Well I enjoyed last night's story, and that's speaking as someone who has hated most of Gervais' work. It was definitely a 'dramedy' as they call it, a mostly-dramatic story with some comic asides. No way was it a straight-cut comedy.

Either way, I thought it was touching, emotional and sweet; a heartening examination of the innocents that live in our society, that we also try to ignore & mock. I didn't buy Gervais as the lead character, but I appreciated the sentiment of the character. I'd be very surprised if any controversy or criticism fell from this.

WindmillWarrior · 13-04-2012 11:09am

pixelburp wrote: »

Either way, I thought it was touching, emotional and sweet; a heartening examination of the innocents that live in our society, that we also try to ignore & mock. I didn't buy Gervais as the lead character, but I appreciated the sentiment of the character. I'd be very surprised if any controversy or criticism fell from this.

Nicely summed up - and exactly what I thought of the show as well.

Vudgie · 13-04-2012 12:57pm

pixelburp wrote: »

Ok so I was curious to know what people thought of this drama: I click into the thread and find ... uhh, an argument about a piece of music. Bit early in the morning for that sort of Pedantry.

Well I enjoyed last night's story, and that's speaking as someone who has hated most of Gervais' work. It was definitely a 'dramedy' as they call it, a mostly-dramatic story with some comic asides. No way was it a straight-cut comedy.

Either way, I thought it was touching, emotional and sweet; a heartening examination of the innocents that live in our society, that we also try to ignore & mock. I didn't buy Gervais as the lead character, but I appreciated the sentiment of the character. I'd be very surprised if any controversy or criticism fell from this.

A balanced summary.

Some of the comments relating to the show in this thread are so negative that I doubt some people watched anything more than the youtube clips or obviously have a preconception of Gervais that isn't for changing.

There were no degoratory depictions in this programme that I was aware of, in fact it provided a pretty accurate insight into a world that most people have little or no experience of.

Gervais was excellent and I think an hour long feature would have been far better to flesh it out more, a full series may not be workable.

spurious · 13-04-2012 1:38pm

I'm no fan of Gervais and watched this expecting more of the same. The first 10 minutes or so I thought had a couple of cringe moments, but the last ten minutes were fantastic.

I think Ricky Gervais is very good at making us cringe inside where we recognise a bit of ourselves. For example the 'charming' ladies in the pub and their comments - they are not that rare and maybe they were saying out loud what many of us have thought even if only briefly now and then.

Derek did nothing to offend anyone, as many people like Derek don't, and yet some of us feel it's OK to poke fun.

There were so many little touches, like the fluffy hair, the holding hands, the tenner slipped into the purse, the picture frame finally fixed.

I loved it.

James T Kirk · 14-04-2012 7:01am

Am I a cynic, or did Gervais write this show especially to fend off the criticism he received for pulling 'mong' faces on Twitter?

This guy has always had a creepy and ambivalent fixation with disability throughout his career.

I always get the impression that himself and Merchant see themselves as some kind of Nietzschean supermen.

Two classic cases of reading too many philosophy books, and believing everything therein.

'Derek' was just Gervais pulling his mong face ('cos he ain't no Daniel Day Lewis) with Karl Pilkington stealing the show from under his pretentious arse.

And rightly so. Go Karl!

Deedsie · 14-04-2012 7:27am

I enjoyed it, I am a fan of Gervais, Merchant and above all Pilkington though...

It was a window into the highs and lows of the under appreciated people in society! It showed how tender and decent people can be. It also showed how cruel life can be to innocent people. "chavs down the pub"

It's not a comedy really but Karl in his first acting role stole the show...

brian_t · 14-04-2012 12:00pm

I enjoyed it too.

Deedsie wrote: »

It's not a comedy really but Karl in his first acting role stole the show...

I thought Karl was playing the exact same character he plays in An Innocent Abroad. Different name and with a hair piece of course.

NotorietyH · 14-04-2012 12:18pm

James T Kirk wrote: »

Am I a cynic, or did Gervais write this show especially to fend off the criticism he received for pulling 'mong' faces on Twitter?

You're a cynic. He was filming the show already when that happened or was filming a week or two after. I remember him posting pictures from the set on Twitter soon after he joined.

I don't follow him any more on Twitter, he became insufferable when Life's Too Short was airing, and I wasn't a fan of that show, but in fairness Derek was very good. When he wants to he can create fairly effective little dramatic moments, that seem pretty heartfelt. You just have to look at the Office to see that, especially the Christmas special. I think Derek was him exploring that side again. Don't think it was a cynical ploy, or at least not for the reasons you think.

IamtheWalrus · 15-04-2012 9:31am

Hamster on a piano, hamster on a piano.. HE CATCHES HIM!

MungBean · 15-04-2012 10:10am

Really wasnt expecting much with this thinking it was another out and out comedy but it was absolutely brilliant.

Basq · 15-04-2012 10:14am

NotorietyH wrote: »

You're a cynic. He was filming the show already when that happened or was filming a week or two after. I remember him posting pictures from the set on Twitter soon after he joined.

The character of Derek has been around much longer than that..

.. he made a short movie revolving around Derek in 2001. It was on YouTube up until recently too, but can't find it now.

leggo · 15-04-2012 10:22am

He's really, really onto something here. I think this could be his 'Forrest Gump', and when he proves he's not just a one-trick pony in terms of characters he plays. And given how much time he's taken to flesh this out, it shows how careful he's being with it to get it right. I'm looking forward to more.

MungBean · 15-04-2012 10:35am

James T Kirk wrote: »

'Derek' was just Gervais pulling his mong face ('cos he ain't no Daniel Day Lewis) with Karl Pilkington stealing the show from under his pretentious arse.

And rightly so. Go Karl!

I get the feeling this might go over peoples heads with a lot of people left wondering why the "retard" wasnt funnier after seeing it.

jack presley · 15-04-2012 11:16am

leggo wrote: »

He's really, really onto something here. I think this could be his 'Forrest Gump', and when he proves he's not just a one-trick pony in terms of characters he plays. And given how much time he's taken to flesh this out, it shows how careful he's being with it to get it right. I'm looking forward to more.

He might not be a one trick pony with the characters he plays but he's getting that way with the format of his shows. Mockumentary again!

KilOit · 15-04-2012 6:47pm

Watched this on 4od, how did they fit so much into 24 mins, hope to see more of this, didn't really laugh but didn't see it as a comedy really.

Derek (Ricky Gervais and Karl Pilkington Sitcom)

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