Black Looks
Graham Linehan is responsible for some of the best things on British television. He co-wrote the entire Father Ted series, which is the funniest thing involving Irish people that we'll probably ever see (apart from Crystal Swing). He was responsible for making the first series of Black Books by far the best. Fans don't like to admit it, but the only genuinely hilarious thing in series two was when Bill Bailey found out he could play piano. I don't see that working with any other comedian, which leads me to believe that the idea came from Bailey himself. Conversely, season one was filled with hilarious moments, for which I blame Graham Linehan. He was also a writer of the Brass Eye: Paedophile Special, (which was not only very funny, but also very relevant) and helped create the best thing about The Fast Show, Ted and Ralph. In other words, I admire him greatly.
He has a blog, and well-maintained Twitter account, in which he makes quick jokes, talks about politics, cultural issues, and his own shows. His current project is a show called The IT Crowd, and yes, it's funny.
However, the latest series suffered a noticeable dip in quality, maybe because he's working on his own, or the premise just isn't fresh and exciting anymore; I don't know. It's still funny, but you expect more from a comedy genius like Graham Linehan. You expect consistent hilarity, simply because you know for a fact that he's capable of it. Recent episodes have been marred by an intrusive laugh track and (for instance) copying viral videos (as he admits himself). The final episode (season 4 episode 6) was especially weak, relying on crass sexual jokes, obvious slapstick comedy (someone fell off a chair), Matt Berry's mugging to the camera, and a curiously awkward joke based around a mispronunciation of the word "pedestal", which smells a lot like Community's "bagel" joke, even though it turned out to be a set-up for a much funnier joke later on. I will admit when I saw Matt Berry's jacket in that court scene, I did LOL. Linehan seems to be aware of the patchy nature of this season himself, which has been noted by many, but I've never seen him angrier (and this includes all the stuff he's posted about the Iraq war and the oppression of women by organised religion) than when fans complained about the laugh track.
While watching season four, episode four of The IT Crowd, I noticed that the laugh track was getting more and more intrusive. It was too loud in the mix, frequently drowning out dialogue and sometimes stepping on jokes. I wanted to tell him, because it's something he might like to know: maybe he could do something about it. If I was a writer, and some production process was fucking up my script, I would not be happy. Lucky for me, I checked his Twitter before writing anything! Many people were voicing their concerns about the laugh track. He answered them variously by telling them not to watch the show anymore, telling them to shut up and go away, and telling one poor girl he would prefer to keep the laugh track rather than keep her as a fan, and blocked a number of The IT Crowd fans. All of this is delivered with entirely uncustomary unpleasantness, for no real reason that I can see, other than he disagrees with everyone's assessment.
He then proceeded to defend the laugh track in the most peculiar manner. I asked him if he had any control over these things as a writer, and he directed me to his blog post about laugh tracks. For Linehan, the bone of contention is the implication that the laugh track was fake. To be honest, I had assumed that this was the case, and I was wrong. However, it's irrelevant. The problem was never that the laughter was fake, it was that the laughter was getting in the way of the script. It was actively interfering with my enjoyment of the show. And apparently I'm not alone.* However, when the following week's episode (last week's episode) rolled around, he had a snide recall to the unnecessary drama.
So we are left with some unanswered questions:
Does Graham Linehan accept that the laughter (which I now understand is provided live by real people in the studio) is getting in the way of his script, and comes across as artificial and forced? How much control does he have over these things that are not directly related to the script? And does he feel that he over-reacted to a bunch of fans who were sincerely suggesting ways to improve his show?
If you see Graham Linehan's name attached to a TV show, you should, without exception, watch it. Just don't say anything about the laugh track.
____________________________
* Update 2nd August, 19:39: I just noticed that Cory Doctorow (another man I admire) responded to this comment by making the same category error as Graham Linehan - by insisting that the laughter track is real. Argh! You guys! It's got nothing to do with the problem!
Update 3rd August, 11:47: He's doing it again. He answered this relevant question with unpleasantness. This time, however, he seems to be admitting that he does have control over the (not fake!) laugh track.
He has a blog, and well-maintained Twitter account, in which he makes quick jokes, talks about politics, cultural issues, and his own shows. His current project is a show called The IT Crowd, and yes, it's funny.
However, the latest series suffered a noticeable dip in quality, maybe because he's working on his own, or the premise just isn't fresh and exciting anymore; I don't know. It's still funny, but you expect more from a comedy genius like Graham Linehan. You expect consistent hilarity, simply because you know for a fact that he's capable of it. Recent episodes have been marred by an intrusive laugh track and (for instance) copying viral videos (as he admits himself). The final episode (season 4 episode 6) was especially weak, relying on crass sexual jokes, obvious slapstick comedy (someone fell off a chair), Matt Berry's mugging to the camera, and a curiously awkward joke based around a mispronunciation of the word "pedestal", which smells a lot like Community's "bagel" joke, even though it turned out to be a set-up for a much funnier joke later on. I will admit when I saw Matt Berry's jacket in that court scene, I did LOL. Linehan seems to be aware of the patchy nature of this season himself, which has been noted by many, but I've never seen him angrier (and this includes all the stuff he's posted about the Iraq war and the oppression of women by organised religion) than when fans complained about the laugh track.
While watching season four, episode four of The IT Crowd, I noticed that the laugh track was getting more and more intrusive. It was too loud in the mix, frequently drowning out dialogue and sometimes stepping on jokes. I wanted to tell him, because it's something he might like to know: maybe he could do something about it. If I was a writer, and some production process was fucking up my script, I would not be happy. Lucky for me, I checked his Twitter before writing anything! Many people were voicing their concerns about the laugh track. He answered them variously by telling them not to watch the show anymore, telling them to shut up and go away, and telling one poor girl he would prefer to keep the laugh track rather than keep her as a fan, and blocked a number of The IT Crowd fans. All of this is delivered with entirely uncustomary unpleasantness, for no real reason that I can see, other than he disagrees with everyone's assessment.
He then proceeded to defend the laugh track in the most peculiar manner. I asked him if he had any control over these things as a writer, and he directed me to his blog post about laugh tracks. For Linehan, the bone of contention is the implication that the laugh track was fake. To be honest, I had assumed that this was the case, and I was wrong. However, it's irrelevant. The problem was never that the laughter was fake, it was that the laughter was getting in the way of the script. It was actively interfering with my enjoyment of the show. And apparently I'm not alone.* However, when the following week's episode (last week's episode) rolled around, he had a snide recall to the unnecessary drama.
So we are left with some unanswered questions:
Does Graham Linehan accept that the laughter (which I now understand is provided live by real people in the studio) is getting in the way of his script, and comes across as artificial and forced? How much control does he have over these things that are not directly related to the script? And does he feel that he over-reacted to a bunch of fans who were sincerely suggesting ways to improve his show?
If you see Graham Linehan's name attached to a TV show, you should, without exception, watch it. Just don't say anything about the laugh track.
____________________________
* Update 2nd August, 19:39: I just noticed that Cory Doctorow (another man I admire) responded to this comment by making the same category error as Graham Linehan - by insisting that the laughter track is real. Argh! You guys! It's got nothing to do with the problem!
Update 3rd August, 11:47: He's doing it again. He answered this relevant question with unpleasantness. This time, however, he seems to be admitting that he does have control over the (not fake!) laugh track.