One thing that I find quite interesting about discussing comedy is that the more you do it, the more you start to see how it's evolved over time. That was one of my aims with the Britcompilation, to kind of give a general sense of where British comedy was, how it has changed, and maybe even get a sense of where it's going. The shows that I picked, for the most part, are ones that I think affected the landscape of comedy in a significant way. And I think that The Inbetweeners is a very good example of a show that shows how the Britcom evolved over time.
It isn't family entertainment, and it isn't general viewing, but I think that it does give a sense of how far things have come. Just like how Steptoe defined the kitchen sink realism of the 60s, and The Young Ones defined the anti establishment mindset of the 80s, I think that the laddish humour of The Inbetweeners will make it one of the standout Britcoms of the 2000s. Because it does make good use of this very crass humour, and it isn't afraid to be awkward, which I think is fitting for a coming of age series. It captures the general experience of being an awkward teenager very well. The four main characters are actually really realistic, and the performances are fairly believable.
Unfortunately, it's not one that I really enjoy all too much. Yes, it's a good coming of age show, and yeah, I think that it'll be a key sitcom of it's time, and one that probably will be looked back on as a landmark series, but I just don't enjoy watching it. I think that it's unnecessaryily crude. I don't have an issue with crass comedy, or cringe comedy (I love it when it's done well), but I personally I think that The Inbetweeners takes it further than it needs to. I think that it's cruder than it often needs to be. Like it has a legitimately funny situation, but then it'll make a joke that just feels like it's in bad taste, at least for me.
Yeah, I get the appeal, but I think that the jokes here are a little poorly timed, and a fair few of them feel like they're too much. For me, it feels like it doesn't know when to stop. Because the thing about cringe comedy is that the further you take it, the more you need to be able to handle it. And I think that this show just doesn't hit the mark for me. And while I do think that the performances are really good and authentic, I don't actually find any of the characters too likeable. I never find myself wanting to follow these guys, or being that invested in their adventures. Again, I think that it is a good show for defining the modern Britcom, but it just isn't one that appeals to me. It's not bad, I definitely get why everyone loves it, but I just don't care for it that much. Don't think I have too much more to say about it, except Greg Davies is pretty great in it. Yeah, that's kind of all I have to say about this one.
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