:eek:
And Starship Troopers, don’t forget ST! It’s a masterwork.
I agree - - and with a spin off - - you have to take into account the parent show too… and I think Friends is guilty of the occasional lapse of reality - - - sadly I can’t think of any one thing in particular - -
I haven’t seen Joey - - living in the UK… dont think we’ve got it yet - - but I am coming to the states in November ( 2 weeks and 1 day I’ll be amongst you!!! ) so I’ll try and catch an ep then…
some sitcoms can pull off un-reality … by being realistic - - (I’m not sure if I’m making sense - – ah, blame the beer! )
The Office for example - - you may have heard of it - - it’s presented as a REAL documentary style show… but occasionaly David Brent does stuff that you KNOW wouldn’t really happen - - but… at the same time - - because of the character - - which due to the realism put in by the writers director and actors - - you DO believe it…
maybe if the call for Joey had been a month later - - and he had been slack and just not bothered to learn the words in may be more plausible - - all the other stuff could still happen… and maybe if other characters had reacted correctly and Joey had just ploughed on regardless… it may still have been funny - - and plausible ish in the realms of this world… (bear in mind I haven’t seen the show)
also - - does anyone know if an understudy would actually rehearse the part with the cast… I’ve only done amateur stuff - - where no-one understudies as such…
I would assume they would be required to turn up - learn the words and watch the main actor to see how the part should be played…
as a side note - Buffy and Angel have had some VERY realistic situations that provide comedy elements - - and they are fantasy shows - - as did Firefly too…
maybe Joss Whedon and co. should write ALL TV!
Yes - you see, it’s not that Joey is BAD. It’s deliberately bad. The atrocious nature of the writing and acting it itself a satire of situation comedies. The director’s purpose here is to make a sitcom that shocks the senses, that presents you with idiotic characters, absurd situations and poorly constructed one liners as a commentary on those things in true sitcoms. If you don’t see that, you must be a mouth-breathing dork who doesn’t understand TV.
(Please note use of sarcasm.)
No, but you’re leaving out such immortal classics as:
After MASH ,
What’s Happening Now!!* , and
Joanie Loves Chachi
Wait a moment… What was Happy Days a spinoff of? I thought it was the patriarch of its (rather extensive) spinoff family.
Love, American Style.
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Actually I think that episode of Frasier would be funny!
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How you doin’?
Bobby was trying to sell hair tonic door-to-door, with no luck. He wheedled Greg, whose high school graduation was the next day, into a sale. Greg’s hair turned orange and everyone panicked, but Carol’s hairstylist was able to change it back before the graduation ceremony.
Reed had been getting increasingly frustrated with the implausibility in some of the season 5 scripts (Peter meeting his exact double, Cindy doing a Shirley Temple routine in order to impress someone she thinks is a talent scout, Greg faking a UFO sighting), and this script was the back-breaking straw for him. He stated that door-to-door sales, cosmetic accidents played for laughs, and hair tonic itself were all straight out of The Little Rascals. “When the kid’s hair turns orange, it is Batman in the operating room. I can’t play it.”
I can’t say I disagree with him, but what I found even more implausible than the stuff he objected to was the idea that, as Carol said in the tag scene, “It’s too bad that your father had to be out of town and couldn’t see [Greg’s graduation].” As if any dad worth his salt wouldn’t juggle his schedule so he could see his first-born graduate from high school!
Also forgot to say that the situation described in the OP sounds like something out of a Warner Brothers cartoon, where much of the humor derives from leaps of logic. But it also calls to mind an early episode of Fresh Prince. I forget the circumstances, but Will was at a rap concert and Philip (his uncle, the lawyer) had to track him down. He’s running around backstage trying to find him, and somehow ends up on stage, before the act comes out.
Me: Like he could get all the way out to the stage apron without someone stopping him!
Friend: He just might, though, if people thought he was a producer or some kind of hotshot. You can get away with a heck of a lot if you wear a suit and act like you’re important.
So that’s barely plausible. But Joey standing around in his Richard III costume, without anyone wondering why such a person is in the cowboy-play theater simply is not.
Matt Groening hated this episode because he though it was (1) crass advertising for an unrelated show; and (2) implausible because of animation style differences. It’s the only one he’s had his name removed from. IIRC, the “another cheap cartoon crossover” line was a sop to Groening.
Plausibility is in the eye of the beholder, I guess.