Worst Week (new show)

Cafe Society
#1

Did anybody see the new show Worst Week last night?

My wife and I laughed harder than I can remember. I laughed so hard that I almost threw up.

The pilot episode was pretty much like Meet the Parents, but funnier. The only thing is, I don’t see how they can keep it up.

Highlights:

[spoiler]

  1. Getting thrown out into the street and forced to wear a shower curtain diaper…
  2. Peeing in the goose pot.
  3. Dragging his “dead” future father-in-law into the house:
    “Look what I found!”
    “Take him back!”[/spoiler]
#2

I’ve seen the British mini-series that this show is based upon.
Trust me, it gets worse.

#3

The British version was so funny that I made my wife buy me the DVD of it for Christmas last year. I had low expectations of the US version (anyone remember the “Coupling” disaster a few years ago?), but I was surprised how much I laughed at this one, even though it copied many aspects of the British show.

The original British series had two “seasons” - one a week leading up to the couple’s wedding, and the second a week leading up to the baby being born. Since they were only seven episodes each, the US version could chew through those quite quickly, so it’ll be hard to see how they’ll keep it up.

#4

There was also a three part ‘The Worst Christmas of My Life’.

I’ve not seen the new American version yet, but the third highlight mentioned by the OP sounds like it was taken from those Christmas episodes.

#5

We really liked it. We had watched the two British series, and loved them, and I was wondering if they could pull this off. They did. I laughed a lot.

I think the lead is really the key. He is perfect - charming, funny, sympathetic. He’s not a buffoon at all, just nervous, unlucky, and with a completely different point of view from his girlfriend’s parent’s. I liked that he handled the situation with the coworker just as I was thinking he should - tell what really happened, but say it was a guy, since the girlfriend was concerned about flirty females. I know it’ll come back to bite him in the ass, but it seemed sensible.

#6

Okay, I’m watching this now and it’s not too bad. Pretty good, actually.

It wasn’t just the third highlight that was based on one of the Christmas episodes, btw, but the whole thing.

Now traditionally, US versions of British sitcoms don’t work very well (the same is true for UK versions of American ones, trust me) but this one could stand a chance.

#7

There are such things? Can you give me an example as I can’t think of any.

#8

Off the top of me head:

The Upper Hand - based on Who’s The Boss? (Actually ran for a long time and was popular. Still, it was shite).

Brighton Belles - Golden Girls. (Awful).

Married For Life - Married With Children. (Fucking awful).

#9

I watched an episode of the British version since Sarah Alexander was is in it.

It was awful. Completely telegraphed “jokes”. E.g., you see the dog and you see the cement mixer and you know what’s going to happen later.

I watched the debut of the American version to compare to the British version and Red Foreman was in it. (I was curious if it was going to be ruined like the US version of “Coupling”.)

Awful, awful show. Completely pointless. So it’s just one stupid Bad Thing Happening after another. I can’t see any reason why anyone thought this should have been filmed.

#10

I gotta say, I found it only slightly amusing. It seemed like every joke was telegraphed a mile away:

“Hey, I’ll put a funny message on my answering machine.” Hmm, do you suppose somebody important might call?

“I’ll give the drunk girl who’s been hitting on me a ride home.” You know she’s gonna upchuck on something or somebody, especially since vomiting is the new spit-take.

“I’ll take a shower in this strange girl’s apartment.” You’re never seeing your clothes again.

I was, however, amused by the funeral-home part of the story. Although you’d think an undertaker would learn to choose his words more carefully.

#11

My husband and I both hated it with a burning passion. Well, hated it enough to immediately delete it from the DVR recording list. I had one mild chuckle for the whole show - when the mom told him to take the dad’s dead body back to the funeral home. The rest of the time I was bored, predicting what was going to happen next, and wondering why everyone was so stupid/such a dick. 1 out of 10.

#12

Hmmmm. Now that I’ve given up on Heroes, I’m thinking of giving this a shot (I love Kurtwood Smith). We’ll see…

#13

Completely agree. Some decent slapstick, and I love Kurtwood Smith.

but…

Amongst much else, there is a part where he tries to secretly replace a beloved pet that has died in his care. This is the single stupidest, contrived, worthless, brainless, unfunny concept ever thought up by a hack writer, and the fact that anyone thought it was a good idea to do it AGAIN, is reason enough to burn all copies of the scripts, prints of the video, and the sets it was filmed on.

I could accept relentless bad luck if it was explained as some sort of supernatural curse, but this show has that plus repeatedly stupid decisions made by the character. It’s not even funny in a trainwreck sort of way because of the stupidity.

I’m done. Sorry.