matjpi
Joined Feb 2012
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Reviews37
matjpi's rating
Despite a slow start the premise holds and we're introduced to a houseful of kids (average age perhaps 700+) who are pampered by a Familiar who cannot see that his importance to his master (Nandor) is slightly less than a pair of socks (to be discarded when worn-out, another pair will always be available).
Despite being the only productive day-to-day interface between the Vamps and the real world Guillermo holds the household, and often the show, together with his ever-to-be-thwarted longing to become a vampire too despite a counterveiling dreadful secret.
Colin is a clever metaphor for the very real vampires today; those who feed on disappointment and anger and boredom, they're everywhere... blocking tweets, discarding reviews, throwing insults on social media, vectoring to cross bored swords in the break-room first thing on a Monday morning. Everywhere.
A clever premise with some star people. Kayvan Novak, Matt Berry (Toast of London, I Regress) and the endearing and surprisingly sexy Natasia Demetriou. Also plenty of special guest players to filip the viewership.
A fun series. Watch Colin, I suspect he's the vehicle for all the modern ills of the digital age.
Despite being the only productive day-to-day interface between the Vamps and the real world Guillermo holds the household, and often the show, together with his ever-to-be-thwarted longing to become a vampire too despite a counterveiling dreadful secret.
Colin is a clever metaphor for the very real vampires today; those who feed on disappointment and anger and boredom, they're everywhere... blocking tweets, discarding reviews, throwing insults on social media, vectoring to cross bored swords in the break-room first thing on a Monday morning. Everywhere.
A clever premise with some star people. Kayvan Novak, Matt Berry (Toast of London, I Regress) and the endearing and surprisingly sexy Natasia Demetriou. Also plenty of special guest players to filip the viewership.
A fun series. Watch Colin, I suspect he's the vehicle for all the modern ills of the digital age.
This show seemed slow to find its feet (perhaps I'm not a natural Familiar) but now that it has it's become something really entertaining.
Guillermo wants so badly to be made a Vampire and can't understand that living a mere 70 or so years (perhaps less unless he sees a cardiologist and switches diets) makes him about as valuable as a pair of socks to a master who has 1200+ years under his belt.
But Guillermo's dedication to the task at hand and his blindness to the moral compromise he's had to make to be good at what he does is a major driver in this show. Indeed without him we'd be looking at a bunch of spoiled kids who blunder their way through eternity.
Characters to love nevertheless. Colin was tedious at first but his tedium became more endearing once I knew why it was his core activity. He develops well and endearingly. Nadja is perfectly formed for the drug-fuelled night-circuit in New York circa 1990 onwards but she's a great companion to Lazlo and their tumultuous (and improbably gymnastic and omnisexual) love affair is what binds them. Nandor is the best Daddy of them all, a binding grumbler, older than his 1200 years (he's already in his 1800's perhaps even 2000's) who holds the house together with his paternal pottering.
Colin is a jewel. We've all known a Colin if we've ever worked in an office and he's truly an outstandingly splendid explanation for those Colins who have drained the life out of us by waving a cheery Monday morning greeting and swerved to revector and rendezvous with us in the Tea Room to whiten our hair with tales of his weekend.
I'm a fan of Matt Berry (Toast of London, I Regress) and of Kayvan Novak but Natasia Demetriou is sex on legs, she's perfectly cast for this role.
Looking forward to more.
Guillermo wants so badly to be made a Vampire and can't understand that living a mere 70 or so years (perhaps less unless he sees a cardiologist and switches diets) makes him about as valuable as a pair of socks to a master who has 1200+ years under his belt.
But Guillermo's dedication to the task at hand and his blindness to the moral compromise he's had to make to be good at what he does is a major driver in this show. Indeed without him we'd be looking at a bunch of spoiled kids who blunder their way through eternity.
Characters to love nevertheless. Colin was tedious at first but his tedium became more endearing once I knew why it was his core activity. He develops well and endearingly. Nadja is perfectly formed for the drug-fuelled night-circuit in New York circa 1990 onwards but she's a great companion to Lazlo and their tumultuous (and improbably gymnastic and omnisexual) love affair is what binds them. Nandor is the best Daddy of them all, a binding grumbler, older than his 1200 years (he's already in his 1800's perhaps even 2000's) who holds the house together with his paternal pottering.
Colin is a jewel. We've all known a Colin if we've ever worked in an office and he's truly an outstandingly splendid explanation for those Colins who have drained the life out of us by waving a cheery Monday morning greeting and swerved to revector and rendezvous with us in the Tea Room to whiten our hair with tales of his weekend.
I'm a fan of Matt Berry (Toast of London, I Regress) and of Kayvan Novak but Natasia Demetriou is sex on legs, she's perfectly cast for this role.
Looking forward to more.
The problem with revisiting Wodehouse is that Jeeves & Wooster set the bar very high. Fry & Laurie were exactly the right men at exactly the right time. A resonance like that might come once in a generation. Even so, Jeeves & Wooster took a significant downturn by Series 3 when the action moved to America and Hugh Laurie began to heavily over-blow his accent. Whether this was due to pressure from US money or heavy handedness/drinking by the director/producers I don't know. The upside was that it enshrined the first two series in the pantheon of near perfection.
So to expect Blandings to be a palpable hit is quite a tall order. To compare it to J & W is probably a bit unfair, if understandable, and if Blandings had been written by someone else it might feel less of a crime. To find it to play like Worzel Gummidge - which for children was fine - in more opulent surroundings but with similar numbers of pratfalls and physical comedy - was quite a disappointment. It might be possible to rescue the apparently shredded lettuce of a plot that gestures feebly from each of the episodes. Whether it's worth the effort is another question.
One thing that always worked for me was Bertie W's habit of "climbing outside" his breakfast or "trousering keys". The euphemistic brilliance of Wodehouse wasn't designed for video but it could easily be added as dialogue because J & W was, essentially, a diary which leaves the adaptor free to get creative with the language or, when sensible, put in what Wodehouse wrote. But here in Blandings I see no evidence that the writer(s) noticed this gift.
I don't entirely fault the cast here, though Jennifer Saunders is irrevocably Edina Monsoon and appears to play all subsequent roles in a similar windmilling centre-of-the-universe way. Celia Imrie outshines her effortlessly. But even the best cast can't make up for lacklustre writing that lacks the bite, symmetry and coherence of Jeeves & Wooster. So, to me Blandings feels a bit like listening to Elgar's Land of Hope and Glory played on an ocarina accompanied by a jaw harp.
I've watched the episodes several times to try to get a clear idea of what's wrong but basically it's an unloved cushion with the stuffing leaking out. There might be a generation who take it to heart and love it even so, and that would be good because it needs a kind home. I just don't have the space.
So to expect Blandings to be a palpable hit is quite a tall order. To compare it to J & W is probably a bit unfair, if understandable, and if Blandings had been written by someone else it might feel less of a crime. To find it to play like Worzel Gummidge - which for children was fine - in more opulent surroundings but with similar numbers of pratfalls and physical comedy - was quite a disappointment. It might be possible to rescue the apparently shredded lettuce of a plot that gestures feebly from each of the episodes. Whether it's worth the effort is another question.
One thing that always worked for me was Bertie W's habit of "climbing outside" his breakfast or "trousering keys". The euphemistic brilliance of Wodehouse wasn't designed for video but it could easily be added as dialogue because J & W was, essentially, a diary which leaves the adaptor free to get creative with the language or, when sensible, put in what Wodehouse wrote. But here in Blandings I see no evidence that the writer(s) noticed this gift.
I don't entirely fault the cast here, though Jennifer Saunders is irrevocably Edina Monsoon and appears to play all subsequent roles in a similar windmilling centre-of-the-universe way. Celia Imrie outshines her effortlessly. But even the best cast can't make up for lacklustre writing that lacks the bite, symmetry and coherence of Jeeves & Wooster. So, to me Blandings feels a bit like listening to Elgar's Land of Hope and Glory played on an ocarina accompanied by a jaw harp.
I've watched the episodes several times to try to get a clear idea of what's wrong but basically it's an unloved cushion with the stuffing leaking out. There might be a generation who take it to heart and love it even so, and that would be good because it needs a kind home. I just don't have the space.