Episodes: Matt le Blanc's new show.

Dman001

A three minute preview of Matt le Blanc's new show Episodes has been released. Le Blanc plays himself as a struggling actor, along with Tasmin Greig and Stephen Mangan The show is due to air next January and is a Co-production between BBC and Showtime.

Preview is here:

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/tubetalk/a288338/fancy-a-peek-at-matt-leblancs-new-show.html

Doesn't look brilliant by any means, but looks like it has potential.

OpenYourEyes

My instincts tell me it's not going to be great, but I'll definatly watch the first ahndful of episodes. That clip makes me think it has more potential than i was expecting alright!

JonathanAnon

Dman001 wrote: »

Doesn't look brilliant by any means, but looks like it has potential.

Hi Dman, it has certain similarities to Extras I think... like the way they talk about other TV shows, and there's similar banter with Joey as the banter that they had with Shaun Williamson (i.e. calling him by his character name).. It's certainly has potential... I'll watch the first few episodes on the basis of that trailer anyway..

Matt le Blanc looks old in it, apparently he was dying his hair but stopped recently... He surely must be SICK of Joey at this stage, if he truly considers himself a serious actor..

pickarooney

Another trans-Atlantic co-production. I might give this a shot.

Mr E

That trailer was really good. The fact that it's on showtime means it will be more adult and there will be no canned laughter too. I'll definitely give it a shot.

Panthro

That preview looks pretty slick.
I'll give it a whirl when it airs.

iMax

That looks interesting. It's a lift of extras though. LeBlanc might be able to shake off Joey with it. Anyone else think he looks like he could play George Clooney's younger brother ? Hope they don't go for stunt casting, unless it's done in a self referencing way

JP Liz V1

Episodes begins on January 9 at 9.30pm on Showtime in the US and will air on BBC Two in the UK

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BaZIAlQnAY

ziedth

^ any idea of a UK airtime?

JP Liz V1

ziedth wrote: »

^ any idea of a UK airtime?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2010/07_july/14/bbctwo.shtml

BBC Two this autumn and winter 2010/11 - I guess it will start around the same time as in the US

tvnutz

Looks good. I like how Matt LeBlanc is taking the piss out of himself as well.

the whole year inn

I think it has potenial,Ill give it a shot

Minstrel27

It looks interesting.

don ramo

i was gonna overlook this show, untill i heard it was on showtime, and that clip has stirred my curiosity, i assume its gonna be runing with californiaction on sunday nights, thatll deffinately help,

people are saying its gonna be like extras, but he isnt playing an extra hes gonna be the lead in a show, and hes also not a nobody, he playing himself, a very famous actor trying to get back in the game,

and ricky gervais is nowhere to be seen so, great start

This seems to have a very big English influence. Hopefully this is the case, because they've proven themselves capable of shows like this numerous times.

dlambirl

Hmmm actually looks good enough, I'll be giving it a try for sure!!

Dman001

Hope it works out for him, after the disaster that was Joey. I'd like to see Matthew Perry's new show take off too, it doesn't look half bad either. Studio 60 was a very good show and they cancelled that so would like to see him do well. That would be then half the Friends cast doing well for themselves.

telekon

Went to see a live taping of joey (hey it was free and got free pizza) and it was terrible beyond belief, matt le blanc looked like he didnt want to be there and knew how sh*te it was.

But this actually looks promising and will be checking it out.

Venom

I'm looking forward to this show now after seeing that preview as it doesn't look like the usual explain the joke style comedy crap with a laugh track the American's usually make.

Basq

Bump for this... I've seen the first two episodes, and it's really a bit disappointing!

From the opening scene which contains a joke about

the British driving on the wrong side of the road in the US

.. the jokes don't really get much original than that! :rolleyes:

LeBlanc only really comes into it in the 2nd episode, and he's actually quite good. He's a natural at playing at just an bit of an arsebag but endearing, and the exchange about the "

little kids with dyslexia

" was mildly funny.

Tamsin Greig plays Tamsin Greig to be honest.. she's funny but her characters rarely change greatly.

Stephen Mangan is decent, although I'm not really a fan of his. But between this and Dirk Gently, he's going up in his estimations.

Not the strongest Showtime series.. it may improve, but absolutely nothing stands out in it so far unfortunately.

expectationlost

remember when they just name it after the ex-star give them a troublesome family and just leave it at that.

ArmaniJeanss

Anyone know when we might get to see this?

It was on BBC2 at 22.00 tonight, but NornIron opted out to show regional sh1te instead.

FreudianSlippers

I enjoyed the first episode. Not hilarious, but it certainly has potential.

Basq

ArmaniJeanss wrote: »

Anyone know when we might get to see this?

It was on BBC2 at 22.00 tonight, but NornIron opted out to show regional sh1te instead.

It'll be on at 10pm on Thursday night.

Rjd2

basquille wrote: »

Stephen Mangan is decent, although I'm not really a fan of his. But between this and Dirk Gently, he's going up in his estimations.
.

Most of his output has been awful, especially his performance in the dismal Jam Rip off Jam. :mad::(

Basq

Rjd2 wrote: »

Most of his output has been awful, especially his performance in the dismal Jam Rip off Jam. :mad::(

Like I said, I'm not a fan of his.. but he's decent in both this and 'Dirk Gently'.

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Thought the first episode was decent enough - it shows potential.
What else has the blonde girl who plays the head of comedy been in? Spent the majority of the episode trying to figure out where I knew her from.

CaptainNegative

CaptainNegative wrote: »

Thought the first episode was decent enough - it shows potential.
What else has the blonde girl who plays the head of comedy been in? Spent the majority of the episode trying to figure out where I knew her from.

This is her IMDB page. Seemingly she's actually Scottish.

OHHH! I think I recognise her too - she was in Man Stroke Woman. Could that be where?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmBcp20UfJc

pickarooney

Yeah, she's been in a couple of those sketch shows, usually playing a posh ditz. She's funny enough when she's allowed speak. If you watched Psychoville she was in that too and I think she had a small role in Green Wing with Mangan and Grieg.

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Ah, it was that episode of Doctor Who with James Corden. I was watching that ep last week, but couldn't picture her.

pickarooney

She's one of those strange sort of people whom you can't decide if she's good-looking or ugly.

Richard Dower

Deleted User wrote: »

This is her IMDB page. Seemingly she's actually Scottish.

OHHH! I think I recognise her too - she was in Man Stroke Woman. Could that be where?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmBcp20UfJc

^ jammy git!

S.M.B.

Thought the pilot was abysmal, you could see each joke coming a mile away.

Venom

Having watched the first two episodes Im not sure what to make of this show. For a start its not funny at all and while some of the lines were very witty others were just awful. The closing of episode two where the female writer (can't remember name of character) goes on a foul mouthed rampage at a security guard for being locked out but there is no cleverness to the ranting just a random spewing of every curse word known to man.

Matt le Blanc's character is way to Joey like for something that is ment to be about the real life him and not him playing a tv show character. Another issue I have is how god damm slow going this programme is as it takes forever to get through the plot of the show.

While the idea for this show is great the execution is just painful.

ronnie3585

I watched the first episode played on BBC2 tonight. It was very disappointing. There was nothing funny about the jokes, they were just contrived and dumb.

It took me a minute to recognise where I know Stephen Mangan from.... DAN........DAN..........DAN.........DAN..........DAN.........DAN...........DAN!!!!!!!!

Skid

Episodes looks to have suffered from the same problems which beset The Increasingly poor decisions of Todd Margaret.

Another US/UK production which sounds good on paper but doesn't meet the some of it's parts.

Too many executives are involved and somewhere along the line it ends up being over-produced and the comedy is watered down.

Not unlike the show within the show.

Hope I'm wrong, maybe it will pick later in the series.

mdwexford

First episode was very meh, dont know if ill bother with another.

Basq

For what it's worth, the second is marginally better than the first!

But the second episode has a terribly cringey closing scene in which

Tamsin Greig's character shouts every swear word in her vocabulary at a security guard, and it's just all very familiar and poor.

.

Venom

Judging by the pacing of this show its almost as if it was written as a one hour show then changed to a 30 minute one without the script being adjusted.

dmaxontour

I wouldn't have minded seeing this. Is it repeated on NornIron BBC? I would have seen it if they hadn't changed times :rolleyes:

Skid

dmaxontour wrote: »

I wouldn't have minded seeing this. Is it repeated on NornIron BBC? I would have seen it if they hadn't changed times :rolleyes:

If you have the BBC HD channel it's on at 12.30am Saturday night (early Sunday morning)

Don't think it's repeated anywhere else on the BBC.

jighooligan

Rumor has it that it all falls into place in episode 3

don ramo

jighooligan wrote: »

Rumor has it that it all falls into place in episode 3

rourmour has it episode 4 will be even better:D

what exactly has to fall into place, joey is doing the show, its a done deal, the writers will remain for 6 weeks as we already saw at the start of the first episode, when yerone crashes into joey,

id say this show is dead, unless i hear something great about episode 3 im done,

mike65

I didn't see part one and avoided this and other reviews/threads so came to it "clean"

I liked it but I like Tamzin Greig and Stephen Mangan, the former has excellent timing. I thought the jokes were decent and the swearing fulsome.

Syferus

The second episode has defintely continued the warming up process for me. I was enjoying it by the end of the first episode after a mostly witty but slightly aschew and slow start. LeBlanc obviously adds something extra to it in the second episode and I'd disagree with someone who said his character is too much like Joey, especially given both the writers and LeBlanc himself will have been at pains to avoid just that happening.

The teaser for the third episode had some of the best lines I've seen so far in the show so my hopes for it to continue on an upwards curve haven't diminished.

jaykhunter

Might give a few episodes a watch, with lowered expectations from reading this thread!

Maybe Ricky Gervais has changed comedy. It seems like it's affected the way some comedies have to be nowdays. Extras portrays Ricky as a less successful version of himself, in a comedy with some drama. Much like Tina Fey in "30 Rock", "The Trip" has Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon playing less successful versions of themselves in a comedy with some drama. And now Matt LeBlanc is playing a down-and-out version of himself in "Episodes".

Just a trend I've noticed when watching the Trip. I wonder if any of the producers/writers etc of "Episodes" are big fans of Gervais/Extras.

colinod0806

jaykhunter wrote: »

Might give a few episodes a watch, with lowered expectations from reading this thread!

Maybe Ricky Gervais has changed comedy. It seems like it's affected the way some comedies have to be nowdays. Extras portrays Ricky as a less successful version of himself, in a comedy with some drama. Much like Tina Fey in "30 Rock", "The Trip" has Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon playing less successful versions of themselves in a comedy with some drama. And now Matt LeBlanc is playing a down-and-out version of himself in "Episodes".

Just a trend I've noticed when watching the Trip. I wonder if any of the producers/writers etc of "Episodes" are big fans of Gervais/Extras.

Yeah I'm sure they love their show so much they want to have sex with it...even though they haven't actually seen it:pac:

Syferus

jaykhunter wrote: »

Might give a few episodes a watch, with lowered expectations from reading this thread!

Maybe Ricky Gervais has changed comedy. It seems like it's affected the way some comedies have to be nowdays. Extras portrays Ricky as a less successful version of himself, in a comedy with some drama. Much like Tina Fey in "30 Rock", "The Trip" has Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon playing less successful versions of themselves in a comedy with some drama. And now Matt LeBlanc is playing a down-and-out version of himself in "Episodes".

Just a trend I've noticed when watching the Trip. I wonder if any of the producers/writers etc of "Episodes" are big fans of Gervais/Extras.

LeBlanc's lack of credits post-Joey indicates it's more art imitating life than art imitating other art. I imagine he was somwhat burnt out, though, given he'd spent 12 years making 20+ episodes a year.

It should also be said in a majority of those cases the people who started in those roles weren't particularly well-known or sucessful in a mainstream sense beforehand.

Dman001

It's ok, the second episode was slightly better. Im hoping the next few episodes wil be better and pick up the pace a bit. I can't really see it getting a second season though.

Jesus Wept

Think I've this before.... It's called Joey?

At least he being honest in that he is playing a 'struggling actor'.

killbillvol2

I watched both episodes, mainly because I couldn't believe the first was so awful. Christ it's bad, really bad. I won't be wasting any more time on it.