Writers: Chris Addison & Carl Cooper
Director: Adam Tandy
Cast: Chris Addison (Dr. Alex Beenyman), Geoffrey McGivern (Prof. John Mycroft), Jo Enright (Cara McIlvenny), Dan Tetsell (Brian Lalumaca) & Selena Cadell (Dean Mieke Miedema)
Director: Adam Tandy
Cast: Chris Addison (Dr. Alex Beenyman), Geoffrey McGivern (Prof. John Mycroft), Jo Enright (Cara McIlvenny), Dan Tetsell (Brian Lalumaca) & Selena Cadell (Dean Mieke Miedema)
The traditional, studio-based sitcom has fallen out of favour in the '00s; overtaken by a trend for grittier realism (The Office/Peep Show), its tendency for exaggerated stereotypes spoofed by Extras' "When The Whistle Blows", and now relegated to toothless fluff like My Family. But, lest we forget, this style of sitcom has formed the backbone of British comedy for decades: Steptoe & Son, Porridge, Fawlty Towers, The Young Ones, Blackadder, Men Behaving Badly, et al...Lab Rats is a throwback to early-90s sitcom (with a faintly-'70s aesthetic), written by Chris Addison (The Thick Of It) and Carl Cooper, the former of whom also stars as Dr. Alex Beenyman -- an eccentric scientist working in the Arnolfini research lab of St. Dunstan's University. His colleagues are: faded scientist Prof. John Mycroft (Geoffrey McGivern), bearded ubernerd Brian Lalumaca (Dan Tetsell), and diminutive halfwit Cara McIlvenny (Jo Enright). They all work for the Dean of the University, a Dutch lady with an obsession with Toblerone's called Mieke Miedema (Selena Cadell).
To say Lab Rats is broad and outdated would be an understatement. The jokes are so painfully obvious and laboriously constructed, that it's almost a pastiche of the sitcom formula. You can see most of the gags coming a mile off, while the characters are strictly of the cartoon variety: personalities summed up in one sentence, and unlikely to develop beyond that.
Taken individually, its perceived failings might not be failings -- Blackadder's Baldrick was hardly a fully-rounded character, likewise Father Ted's Dougal, etc. And there's still an audience for easygoing comedy full of predictable, toothless jokes. But I'm just not sure the demographic drawn to a science-based sitcom belong to those crowds. Chances are Lab Rats attracted some curious IT Crowd fans (who were rewarded with a few moments of that sitcom's surrealism, I guess), but everything was just too clichéd and uninspired.
The cast did what was expected of them; hitting their marks, saying their lines, putting on the appropriate accent or bluster. Only likeable Addison showed promise as the startled-looking scientist whose lab coat had been accidentally dyed pink. Enright was the most obvious "comedy character", though -- a short, pigtailed, Brummie scientist who thinks a solar-powered calculator would have an 8-second delay. Think about it...
Tetsell looked visually promising, but didn't get anything interesting to do here. A recurring gag (that he fancies the Dean, but she can't even remember his name) didn't work because his unrequited love was hammered home, instead of allowing the audience to realize what's going on. Geoffrey McGivern was also given little to do, but Selena Cadell showed some spark as Dean Mieke Miedema -- even if her Dutch background was probably added just for silly-accent giggles. And, like all Dutch women, she displays a clog in her office?
This opener sometimes wobbled into zaniness (a "Russian Doll" clone of a scientist's grandmother, Alex's attractiveness to snails, a light bulb anomaly, etc.), and the comedy definitely picked up when Lab Rats played the mad science card -- even if it was never inspired nuttiness. However, total failure was salvaged by a strong climax -- involving a massive snail (FX courtesy of The Goodies), a giant lemon-powered fan, a booby-trapped chair, and an overgrown leg. Solid, goofy laughs. Shame they were all crammed into the dying minutes of the show.
Overall, I won't condemn Lab Rats for taking inspiration from the rich history of British studio-based sitcom, but the quality of written jokes was way below the standard of Porridge, Fawlty Towers, Only Fools & Horses... and, heck, The Brittas Empire. It had a surprisingly strong and silly climax; but that was too little, too late. Hand on heart, I can't see this improving -- but the lunacy of the last few minutes gave me mild hope it'll find its feet.
10 July 2008
BBC2, 9.30 pm
