More crude swearing and less tact or insight. It's like Ricky Gervais continues to "strengthen" the wrong parts, continuing to get further out of balance with the right chord he struck with Extras and The Office.
Is this some popular meme or something? Or is it to ascribe all the brilliant parts to Merchant instead of Gervais / downplaying Ricky's influence?
I've seen a couple of people post it so it has to be something really hip that only the cool kids know.
If you don't like the look of it be careful not to say anything on Twitter. Gervais' Google alerts will let him know he has to set his fan brigade on you.
Ricky hasn't done anything I would consider good in a while. I'm open to the cynic part, because I love characters like this, but so much of this just feels like Ricky having a moan at people he doesn't like.
Is this some popular meme or something? Or is it to ascribe all the brilliant parts to Merchant instead of Gervais / downplaying Ricky's influence?
I've seen a couple of people post it so it has to be something really hip that only the cool kids know.
I love Ricky, going by the trailer this seems like a bad attempt at making the best super hero ever "The Bullshit Man".
It would be better if it was closer to Karl's version. Just fly in during the meeting and say "Bullshit! You're talking bullshit mate.". More comedy less mopeyness.
Is this some popular meme or something? Or is it to ascribe all the brilliant parts to Merchant instead of Gervais / downplaying Ricky's influence?
I've seen a couple of people post it so it has to be something really hip that only the cool kids know.
It was decent. Like most of Gervais' shows the savage jokes are so much better than the sentimental stuff and he struggles to make the character turns convincing, but it was entertaining enough. Really weak production values though.
Watched it. Indeed darker than previous shows but also more humane.
I thought it was VERY good. The man knows how to study human behavior and he knows very well to put in words how i think about people and the world.
In this show he does it in a smart way. He lets other characters tell how he perceives the world. Mostly directed towards the main character, played by himself.
It still feels like there had to have been a big disagreement/fight between Karl, Stephen and Ricky, after which they just went their separate ways.
After being involved with seasons 1 and 2, Merchant simply vanished for An Idiot Abroad season 3. Karl only did a few episodes of Derek season 2, then bailed (at the time, I think he mentioned it's because he didn't like acting). Karl then went on to do his own thing with Moaning of Life and Sick of It. The three of them even set up a production company when An Idiot Abroad came about, but it went into hibernation afterwards.
A real shame, because I really like Merchant and Karl (and it felt like they always worked as a counter-balance to Ricky's much more mean-spirited stuff).
It still feels like there had to have been a big disagreement/fight between Karl, Stephen and Ricky, after which they just went their separate ways.
After being involved with seasons 1 and 2, Merchant simply vanished for An Idiot Abroad season 3. Karl only did a few episodes of Derek season 2, then bailed (at the time, I think he mentioned it's because he didn't like acting). Karl then went on to do his own thing with Moaning of Life and Sick of It. The three of them even set up a production company when An Idiot Abroad came about, but it went into hibernation afterwards.
A real shame, because I really like Merchant and Karl (and it felt like they always worked as a counter-balance to Ricky's much more mean-spirited stuff).
I've watched half of it now. Definitely an improvement over Derek but not nearly as comedic as The Office or Extras (intentionally so I suppose). The directing is generally quite clunky but the humour is spot on. Also the soundtrack is excellent, I'm assuming Ricky got a decent budget from Netflix for that.
I actually think Karl's Sick of It sitcom is substantially better and more deftly deals with the same themes.
Finished it, and really liked it. It's very different from what Gervais has done before (even forgoing the fake docusoap style his previous sitcoms had), and the drama takes center stage over the humor. It still has funny moments, but it all stings a bit more. Some character's could've used some more developing (the new girl in the office has barely anything to do but smile), and some dialogue is somewhat on the nose, but I overall I found it very touching and very human. It also feels very personal.
People like to shit on Gervais for his dickishnish on Twitter , his militant atheism and the crude humor he tends to make, but After Life proves again how humanitarian he is too. He really has a knack for creating believable, interesting characters, and putting some real humanity and emotions into his series. Loved the video bits with his wife for instance. It just felt so sincere.The fifth episode almost had me in tears too, because Tony's pain felt so real. It also shows what a great actor Gervais can be. The scene where
his boss/brother in law confronts him with the call from school and him threatening the kid is a great example. How his voice almost breaks. The look in his eyes. It's not to little, it's not to much. It's just spot on
Yeah, I really liked it. Way more than Derek, which is underrated imo (Derek is also very humane, but suffers from the face Ricky pulls as the character ad the obnoxious piano music :P)