In which Royce finally meets his match in British humour

[jeriendhal]

Attempted to watch A Very Peculiar Practice with Jim over at his house last night, and I think I finally reached my go/no go limit for British comedy, because I didn't get it.

I know it was a comedy. It said so right on the back cover of the DVD. It had sterotypical characters. It had oddball situations. It just wasn't... funny. It stars Peter Davidson as a GP doctor at a University medical center, where the other doctors and nurses are either clueless, or so stuck pursuing their own agendas (a shrink who only sees ills as psychological disorders, a feminist so caught up in her creed that no man on the planet is worthy of anything, and pitifully few women are either, a schemer that resents anything and everything better than he, which is pretty much anyone) that they barely acknowledge that they're there to help people. Actaully the best description is "Viper's Nest" with the stakes so low that the worst of the lot (a Dr. Buzzard played by Patrick Troughton's son) is cheerfully willing to lie, mislead, and destroy Peter's character within five minutes of his arrival.

I didn't get it, and I had to ask Jim to turn it off halfway through because I just couldn't take Peter Davidson's character get socially doormatted for the fifth time in ten minutes. If this is what The Office is like in anyway, I have to wonder how it ever became such a hit. Who could stand to watch it?

Comments

[glenbarnett.livejournal.com]

It's not particularly like "The Office" to my way of thinking.

That's not to say you'll necessarily find The Office funny either, though.

[jvowles.livejournal.com]

It's a journey, really. By the end of that first episode, Stephen Daker's mindset is vindicated. Old Jock, of course, is well meaning but beaten down by the system when we first meet him; Bob Buzzard, for all his loathsome pettyness and, well, 80s-ness, is unhappy and likely to remain so; Rose Marie's scheming gender warfare backfires on her and costs her a chance at happiness.

Stephen's rescuer becomes a love interest -- she's actually a cop -- and she helps Stephen recover from his post-divorce nervousness with woman.

Invariably, the honesty and dedication Daker brings in lifts all of them up, and makes the practice better all around. He's able to coax the best out of his coworkers, and eventually triumph over a clearly broken system.