Derek

[SG.]

Yeah, watched for about 20 minutes and got bored.

Nice to see Karl Pilkington doing some acting though.

[EminemBase]

I was a little disappointed again yes.

Once an artist becomes predictable they usually become boring... and since Gervais simply doesn't alter his style enough, it's now beginning to feel too predictable, and too similar.

He kept emphasizing how Derek won't have this 'veil of irony' (which is mostly, but not entirely true) like The Office and Extras and that we're no longer laughing AT the characters.

He says it's different because everybody just says what they really mean but, if you look at Darren Lamb in Extras, or Maggie, they were saying what they really meant too, it was just funny because it was stupid / naive. Anyway, the bottom line is, it (Derek) just wasn't very funny.

There were 'smirk-worthy' moments and I did genuinely laugh at the hamster bit but, that was really just a 'one-off' giggle at something stupid and the attention he paid to it...

Overall it feels like he's going to produce another comedy thud with flickers of humour or little highlights here and there. Life's Too Short was really bad - there were some funny moments but some of the comedy was so flat that I genuinely cringed at how unfunny it was, but was trying to be.

I think mainly, Gervais really needs to ditch his 'style' of writing and performing dialogue where he has the characters consistently pause, and stutter and then has these awkward little silences.

If you look at like Louie or Curb, or Arrested Development - there are plenty of cringe moments, and they all feel very realistic, and are all consistently hilarious, and none of them employ that method of consistently pausing and emphasizing silences and the things Gervais is known for...

He needs to find a new way of presenting comedy in this format I think, because that way isn't resonating now. It worked for The Office due to the fact it was new and, a fake documentary that was very very realistic and you truly felt as if people were awkwardly shying away, or playing up for the camera. It felt very real and every glance, every pause and every murmur resonated.

With Derek, I think he just needs to write sharper dialogue.

Everything Gervais does now feels lazy. I feel he's spreading himself too thin. It's like he puts more effort and energy into promoting his new projects than he does working on them. And all of this 'ironic self-promotion' has lost its irony now, he really does count his Letterman appearances and he really does just make endless blog posts about his dining experiences with famous celebrities. He hides behind 'irony' lmao, because IT'S REAL. Sigh, I'm still waiting for Gervais to get back on form.

Derek has a little promise, and some of the sweetness and emotion that it has as its undertones and embodied in it are valid tones of exploration, I think he might be onto something with it (the series / idea). But, he just needs to put more effort in from where I'm standing lmao. I doubt any of that dialogue was hard for him to write, it feels like he's cruising on his talent and experience or maybe he thinks he's not, but to us he is. I hope Afterlife is better.

[SG.]

You speak as if there is more of Derek to come. I thought it was a one-off.

What is Afterlife?

[EminemBase]

You speak as if there is more of Derek to come. I thought it was a one-off.

What is Afterlife?

Gervais has begun to write a series for Derek. He said that he's 'slowly' writing it and Channel 4 can have it if they want, as he promised them that when he first showcased the character years ago.

This was a pilot episode. It was a pilot that he wrote and recorded, and then showed to Channel 4. They liked it so decided to air it, and advertised it as a 'one-off'.

So a series is to come, after Gervais writes it, so that probably won't be until 2013.

Afterlife is a new series (see what I'm saying about spreading himself too thin? - a stand-up show / Science, a film / Cemetery Junction, and THREE new potential series / Life's Too Short / Derek / Afterlife, within the space of a few years!) he's writing with Clyde Phillps (Dexter) where an atheist dies and ends up in heaven talking to god (Gervais will play god. Lol.).

It sounds more like another high-concept film premise or the premise of a single episode... and even though I like it, I'd be surprised / interested to see if they could sustain it for an entire series. A lot of his ideas lately feel half thought-out or short-sighted or, they have holes in.

Anyway, at least he has a decent writing partner to balance him out and probably help with making it more polished, and tight. So, I'm interested to see how that turns out.

[MikeNUFC]

Yeah, all too predictable. It was like aspects of all of Gervais' other shows shoved together too incoherently - the emotional stuff seemed far too forced as well, and the contract between that and the slapstick didn't work at all for me.

Also, I can't fucking believe he rehashed the Gareth/Maggie joke again ("suicide bomber vs shark")

[EminemBase]

Ricky Gervais seems so obsessed with the people who find his shows/jokes offensive. I just wish someone would tell him that most people know that he's not a bigot, and they're annoyed by his recent work not because it exploits midgets, but because it's simply not funny.

If you're going to respond to people who think you're a bigot, at least do it in a creative, interesting way. *Cough* The Marshall Mathers LP *Cough*

Exactly. It's like he's copping out - he only ever addresses very blatant bias or silly criticisms of him.

As, when Life's Too Short came out, he pretended all of the negative reaction was due to the subject-matter when in fact, most reviews I read praised his prior work and simply commented on the fact it wasn't funny and a lot of the material was just rehashed.

It's also ironic and stupid how he says critics don't matter and he doesn't care about reaction, and he dismisses the validity of reviews when they're negative but yet whenever anybody writes anything slightly positive or glowing of his work he plasters the reviews all over his site

He is a hypocrite. As most of us are. But the problem is he's SO confident and adamant in his views when he often contradicts himself and lately he's ended up making himself look silly.

He's right about all this 'noise' being boring, I just wish his work was good again.

[SliK]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Lose Yourself was playing in the pub when the girls were making fun of Derek.

As for the show, it wasn't great... but I enjoyed it.

[SliK]

Torrents, they really are the best thing on the Internet.