Us & Them

I have seen more than my share of UK comedies translated to the US. For every Steptoe and Son (Sanford and Son) there's a Coupling. For every The Office, there's a The Inbetweeners. I thought I had seen the worst that could be done... until just now. I found this monstrosity by accident today and there's not enough mind-bleach in the world to take it away again. Gavin and Stacey was a beautiful, gentle, hilarious comedy. This? This has taken the basic conceit and stripped away everything that made it work. Was this some condition of taking James Corden off our hands? "Jimmy, come over, do a late night talk show, we love you - one thing though, we want you to agree to us destroying what you love most. Just sign here." It's taken us over fifty years to forgive Dick Van Dyke for his accent in Mary Poppins; this may take millennia.