Comedy Reviews: BBC3's CUCKOO & Channel 4's FRIDAY NIGHT DINNER

BBC Three's CUCKOO was my pick of the week not long ago, but I never got around to reviewing it. The premise has middle class couple Ken (Greg Davies) and Lorna (Helen Baxendale)—from the Midlands, just to further stress how intermediate they are—discovering their beautiful daughter has married an American hippie calling himself "Cuckoo" (Andy Samberg) while on vacation. From there it runs through the expected culture clash comedy check list: dad hates that his baby girl's married a New Age loser; mum's initially concerned but grows to like her daughter's exotic other half; and Cuckoo is oblivious to the division he's causing in this close-knit suburban family.

How did 'Friday Night Dinner' taste?

I reviewed Channel 4's new comedy Friday Night Dinner when it debuted, and quite liked it. It was nothing special, but it was likable, although I had concerns about the inflexibility of the concept (two young adult brothers have weekly dinner with their Jewish parents), and the lack of belly laughs. As a fan of the sublime '70s docuspoof Look Around You (co-created by FND's writer Robert Popper), I was prepared to stick around to see it grow. Sitcoms often take a few weeks to settle down and find their voice, particularly a character-based comedy like FND.

The final episode aired last Friday, what are more overall thoughts? Well, I grew to like it slightly more, as familiarity with the characters and their behaviour increased over time, but wouldn't say I loved it. Simon Bird is repeating his Inbetweeners character with such fidelity it makes Ricky Gervais look like Daniel Day Lewis, while grinning Tom Rosenthal has proven to be something of an uninteresting flop. The writing for the two "boys" doesn't ring true, either. The running joke of them continually trying to spike each other's water with salt is too childish, and wasn't funny the first time it happened -- let alone the third, fourth or fifth. Likewise, running gags about sending each other inappropriate text messages as "Mum" began to feel like crutches. It's true that families are full of in-jokes and horseplay, but there's a reason they're not funny from the perspective of an outsider.

I like Tom Ritter and Tamsin Greig as parents Jackie and "Dad" more, probably because it's inherently funnier having nutty parents in a family comedy. Mark Heap's loner neighbour Jim, who constantly finds excuses to call round and flirt with Jackie, was also good value, and it helped that the entire joke with him was the repetition of his thwarted attempts to get invited in for a meal. Heap's in his comfort zone, having played variations on Jim many times before, but he's amazingly good at playing twitchy oddballs.

Considering the insanity and razor-sharp accuracy of Look Around You, I'm surprised Robert Popper didn't play to those strengths for his first solo project, though. FND crawled along most weeks; each episode resembling a fresh attempt at crafting the perfect pilot. There's no obvious progression of anything, or anyone, or a reason to keep returning every week. It's just half-an-hour of faintly likable, but often plodding family interaction. The moment something seismic happened (Jonny's caught ravishing a girl Jackie invited to dinner to set her up with his brother), signals the end of the six-part series. It would have been nice to have a few such cliffhanger endings previously, to shake the mood up week to week.

Overall, FND has been recommissioned, so hopefully that vote of confidence from Channel 4 will give Popper the courage to push the boundaries next year, not let the show get too bogged down in repetition, and find ways to prevent it getting too stale. I do wonder why it was decided to constrain the show with this exacting premise, though -- as the prospect of a sitcom that's My Family-with-laughs is more appealing to me. Perhaps it was an easier sell keeping FND's scope so humble, because of the budget. If so, maybe now it's a success the constraints will be lifted slightly. Or as much as they can be with a show called Friday Night Dinner.

What did you make of this comedy?

TV Ratings: 'Friday Night Dinner', Channel 4

Great news for Channel 4, who scored a weekend hit with their new sitcom Friday Night Dinner. The comedy, about two twentysomething brothers who have a meal with their parents every Friday, attracted 2.2 million viewers on Friday night at 10pm. That's the best debut for a new comedy since Max & Paddy's Road To Nowhere in 2004. Let's see how many tune in for episode 2 this week...

Coming Soon: 'Friday Night Dinner', Channel 4

Channel 4 have a brand new six-part comedy on the way from writer Robert Popper (Look Around You), called Friday Night Dinner. It concerns two brothers in their 20s -- wannabe-musician Adam (Simon Bird) and estate agent Jonny (Tom Rosenthal) -- who still return home for the eponymous meal, cooked by their young-at-heart mum (Tamsin Greig) and eccentric dad (Paul Ritter), with interruptions from dog-loving neighbour Jim (Mark Heap).

You can watch a great three-minute preview of the show below, with an overview from Robert Popper himself:

Looks promising, right? I'll be covering this show.

Friday Night Dinner premieres on 25 February, Channel 4 @10pm.

Coming 2011: 'Friday Night Dinner'

Tom Rosenthal & Simon Bird [via Robert Popper]

I've received a press release about a new Channel 4 comedy called Friday Night Dinner, written by Robert Popper (co-creator of Look Around You). It's hardly worth me explaining more, as their blurb is already pretty comprehensive:

For the Goodman family, Friday Night Dinner is just like Sunday lunch: just ntake two days away, add on an extra course and you've pretty much got it.

This new Channel Four comedy is written and produced by Robert Popper, whose combined credits as a writer/producer/script editor include Look Around You, Peep Show, South Park, Inbetweeners, Him & Her, The IT Crowd and many more iconic series of recent times. Robert has a mum, a dad and a brother and it would be fair to say that any resemblance between them and the Goodman Family featured in the show is entirely intentional.

Adam and his brother, Jonny, view Friday night dinner as a necessary annoyance -- necessary because they get fed, and annoying because, well, they have to spend the evening with Mum and Dad. It's not that Mum and Dad aren't wonderful. They really are. But Dad slugs ketchup straight from the bottle, Mum is obsessed with Masterchef and even Grandma likes to wear her new bikini around the house.

As for the next generation, there is much consternation that Jonny's girlfriend, Alison, is nothing less than 'made-up' and not even the Internet can sort out a "female" for Adam. Maybe this is because Adam writes jingles for toilet roll adverts, and Jonny's favourite party trick is to jump out of bin-liners onto unsuspecting victims. Of course every family has its foibles, its rituals and its eccentricities. It’s just that the Goodmans have made something of an art form of theirs...

Wonderfully played by an ensemble cast including Tamsin Greig (Green Wing, Black Books), Simon Bird (Inbetweeners), Paul Ritter (Pulling) and comedy newcomer Tom Rosenthal, plus special guest star, Mark Heap (Green Wing, Spaced), Friday Night Dinner is a truly original series about growing up but not growing away. In the best traditions of Channel Four comedy, it successfully marries the ground-breaking with the familiar and best of all, it's really, really funny.

Friday Night Dinner is directed by Steve Bendelack, whose comedy CV includes The League of Gentlemen, The Royle Family and Little Britain.

Sounds great to me, just going on the talent involved, but we'll see how it turns out. Friday Night Dinner is scheduled to begin a six-part run next February.