I discovered this show on Hulu. The show doesn’t give me a whole lot of chuckles I do still feel compelled to watch. Mostly because it’s just something different and hey, Ireland!
I also find it interesting that one of the main charters smokes like a train. I don’t think a US sitcom could get away with that. (Not since Married with Children anyway.)
I am in the UK and I never heard of it before. I had to Google it. Apparently it is on Sky, which means that one would need either a satellite or a cable subscription to view it. I am not sure how many people have those these days. A few years back that would have been worth it, as there were a limited number of broadcast channels, but now we have the digital broadcast Freeview system in Britain we get a fairly good selection of channels without having to pay extra.
We watched the first season of it on Hulu, mostly because we’ve liked that big Irish guy (whatever his name is) since “The I.T. Crowd.” Like many Britcoms, it wasn’t laugh-out-loud funny, but it was enjoyable and moderately amusing. Not saying that’s a bad thing. We like Britcoms. When the second season showed up we watched one episode but kind of lost interest.
I love it. I admit it took me until the 2nd episode to realise it was a period piece and not set in the present day. :o
Oh God, I know, and am related to, those people, especially his sisters. Especially Trisha, who might be my cousin’s homelier* clone. A right charmer, her. They lost their accents a couple generations ago, but yeah, it’s like a trip back to junior high.
First episode: http://www.hulu.com/watch/469236#i0,p0,d0
As for not knowing it’s a period piece, I think it’s probably been the 1980s in Boyle since 2005, when it stopped being the 1970s.
I was never clear, is Chris O’Dowd supposed to be the kid’s imaginary friend or is he who the kid grows up into and O’Dowd is flashbacking to his childhood?
He’s the imaginary friend, period.
Yeah, I just watched the episode where Martin “takes down the wall”, it was funny how they paralleled that with the Berlin Wall.
It’s popular here in Ireland but I have never much warmed to it. The amount of lazy anachronisms in it puts me off even if I can accept it isn’t always meant to be uproariously funny. Kid annoys the fuck out of me too.
Interesting to ponder whether it is accurately referred to as a Britcom. British production company involved and airs on British station but almost entirety of cast, writers, locations, and other personnel involved are Irish.