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 Derek is Ricky Gervais' new comedy, written, directed by and starring himself as the titular character. More notably perhaps for some people, it stars Karl Pilkington pretty much playing himself. A pilot for this show aired last year on Channel 4 and shortly after was commissioned for a full series by Channel 4 and also picked up by Netflix. It's described as a bittersweet comedy-drama hybrid following the lives of Derek and other people in the carehome.  Derek (Ricky Gervais) is a care worker in a home for the elderly. He loves celebrities, YouTube and his best friend is Dougie. Dougie (Karl Pilkington) is the caretaker and bus driver for the home. He and Derek live in Dougie's council flat. Hannah (Kerry Godliman) is also a care worker and friend of Derek's.  Here are some Youtube links:Episode 1 on Youtube - UK only The making of Derek A first look at the new series Clip (Hit It Now) Clip Clip Tychtrip fucked around with this message at Jan 28, 2013 around 12:28 |
| # ? Jan 26, 2013 13:38 |
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| # ? May 18, 2013 12:42 |
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This show is in a weird place because it's not entirely a comedy. The parts that are funny aren't typical Gervais laughs and he's not playing a caricature of a mentally disabled person. It's more drama than comedy. I watched the pilot when it came out last year and thought the pacing was a bit off, but by the end I was impressed. The reviews haven't been kind but I think most people are either expecting Extras-level comedy or are slamming Gervais for making fun of disabled people, which he isn't.
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| # ? Jan 26, 2013 20:12 |
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I'll have to hunt this up on Netflix when it gets there. This looks promising. That first youtube is indeed region-locked, by the way.
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| # ? Jan 26, 2013 20:35 |
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Syjefroi posted:This show is in a weird place because it's not entirely a comedy. The parts that are funny aren't typical Gervais laughs and he's not playing a caricature of a mentally disabled person. It's more drama than comedy. I watched the pilot when it came out last year and thought the pacing was a bit off, but by the end I was impressed. The reviews haven't been kind but I think most people are either expecting Extras-level comedy or are slamming Gervais for making fun of disabled people, which he isn't. I agree. It is more of a drama than a comedy but the small amount of comedy is gold for me. Though the parts I'm laughing at most are Karl's parts, as he's just playing himself and he's hilarious in everything. It works very well. I guess I should have thought about the thread title a bit more. My bad. Sighence posted:I'll have to hunt this up on Netflix when it gets there. This looks promising. Ah right. I don't know how people would watch the pilot outside of the UK then. Hmm. Tychtrip fucked around with this message at Jan 28, 2013 around 12:30 |
| # ? Jan 28, 2013 12:28 |
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Is this airing in the US?
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| # ? Jan 28, 2013 13:57 |
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chesh posted:Is this airing in the US? I'm holding my reservations until I see it. Karl Pilkington's bits are guaranteed to be great and while I have nothing against Gervais and I quite enjoyed the pilot, though it smacked a little bit manipulative at times when it came to the drama. The documentary aspect of the show works slightly better here than it did in Life's Too Short (which was ruined by it in my opinion) but it's really starting to grow quite thin. Also I didn't feel like Gervais was making fun of anyone which surprises me as that seems to be the most prominent argument against the show's quality. I'm not sure about the show's use of Ludovico Einaudi, though. It's some beautiful music but I can't put it into context in the show after listening to it so much independently.
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| # ? Jan 28, 2013 14:08 |
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I was just confused because it's not listed on Netflix. Apparently it has no release date, just "sometime this year."
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| # ? Jan 28, 2013 19:07 |
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chesh posted:I was just confused because it's not listed on Netflix. Apparently it has no release date, just "sometime this year." Apparently it's also on Channel 4 on Wednesday so I was talking out of my rear end when I said it was a Netflix exclusive, but I recall Gervais saying it should be on Netflix around the same time.
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| # ? Jan 28, 2013 19:13 |
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I really enjoyed that episode. The story was kind of predictable but it does a great job of tugging at the heart strings and also making me laugh. Dougie's rant at the councilor the end was loving great.
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| # ? Jan 31, 2013 16:11 |
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Not convinced with this yet. I know Pilkington is playing himself but he's still the most entertaining thing about the show. Possibly the only one actually. Derek doesn't feel like a character, just Gervais doing a character. Kev is overly perverse to be funny and there's a constant sense that the show is trying so hard to be touching. "Tadpole Hitler" wasn't bad, I'll admit.
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| # ? Jan 31, 2013 17:07 |
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Damned surprised at how much I liked this - thought the original pilot was too slight to be interesting, but this is the best thing Gervais has done since the end of Extras. It's not perfect - Kev is somewhat of a stock character, Hannah isn't given any chances to be funny, Derek himself isn't that well-developed, occasionally the music is mixed really loud as if to say [i]look it's not nasty or offensive this is a NICE series okay[i] - but it was very genuine and sweet. I laughed a fair bit more than I was expecting, too, although Pilkington's frustrated rants were easily the highlight.
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| # ? Jan 31, 2013 22:32 |
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It's awful. The whole point of s2 of Extras was that an actor typecasted himself into a role he loathed... This might be Gervais taking a step in the wrong direction, and that kills me because I usually love his work.
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| # ? Feb 3, 2013 02:33 |
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After seeing episode 2, I could just go ahead an repost what I posted two posts ago. Post post post. But what really threw me back with this episode was a particular choice of music (mainly because it bugged the hell out of me as I couldn't remember where it was from); it's a piano version (by Einaudi I assume) of James Newton Howard's track "The Gravel Road" from M. Night Shyamalan's "The Village". What a bizarre choice.
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| # ? Feb 7, 2013 12:49 |
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I think I've enjoyed this show less and less every episode. I loved the pilot but from then on it's felt more and more heavyhanded with Ricky's moralizing. This week's episode felt like one of those "very special episodes" with the girl that wanted to be a Kardashian who had never had anyone give her a 10/10 before.
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| # ? Feb 7, 2013 15:12 |
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Yeah, the show jumped the gun something fierce with that stuff. Unlike in The Office or Extras, there's no buildup to anything emotional throughout a series but instead there's one in every episode which diminishes the effect way too much and comes across as "Look! Isn't this heartbreaking and sweet? Right? Right?" Credit where credit is due though, if this show was called "Dougie" instead of "Derek", it'd be miles better. Pilkington is phenomenal.
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| # ? Feb 7, 2013 15:17 |
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Jesus Christ. I watched one episode of the last series and had to switch over. I watched last night just to see how they'd justified another series and... well, Jesus Christ. The schmaltzy stuff was just too much. We were supposed to have warmed to the community service girl in just a few minutes? Sad music? Really? It started with a guy making GBS threads his pants and ended with an old man having pissed his pants. The only other attempts at humour were "old people dancing to Robbie Williams" and that Gervais brand of humour that now looks really embarrassingly dated (woman flashed twice in the toilet - just looks deadpan at the camera and says "unbelievable"). Why in the gently caress is he doing this? It's actually worse than When the Whistle Blows. 
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| # ? Feb 7, 2013 16:50 |
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I quite like the show, sure it is overly sentimental but I don't mind. The Kev character is easily the worst part about it - A sex crazed, pants making GBS threads idiot-perv? It sucks. Pilkington is easily the best part, his character is so wonderfully stoic. I did laugh at '60 is the new 70, 70 is the new 60 but when your 80, you're hosed'.
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| # ? Feb 8, 2013 10:18 |
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I can't help but remember Kate Winslet's advice to Gervais' character in "Extras"... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSaoLXC9dzs
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| # ? Feb 9, 2013 16:50 |
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I do really like this show, but it's kind of the most depressing show on TV.
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| # ? Feb 14, 2013 04:58 |
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Well, I'm about to watch this piece of poo poo. I don't know why I do this every week. Probably because I'm too knackered on a Monday evening to move off the sofa. I can't remember the last there was a TV comedy that I couldn't wait to see every week. Grim times  edit: It was better than the last one I watched (the community service girl episode). I watch this and I wonder if it's that very special kind of show that you think is wank at the time but it really grows on you and then you watch it some years later and love it. But I really don't feel like that's going to happen. I think this is just shite. sex pervert fucked around with this message at Feb 27, 2013 around 00:53 |
| # ? Feb 26, 2013 23:54 |
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Dont know where my last reply went, but who is writing this thing? It's pretty horrible, almost a farcesex pervert posted:Well, I'm about to watch this piece of poo poo. I don't know why I do this every week. Probably because I'm too knackered on a Monday evening to move off the sofa. I can't remember the last there was a TV comedy that I couldn't wait to see every week. Grim times I need to put knackered in my regular vocab
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| # ? Feb 27, 2013 07:21 |
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Genderman posted:Dont know where my last reply went, but who is writing this thing? It's pretty horrible, almost a farce In last night's episode we're supposed to believe that the new resident's daughter sat on that same chair for an entire day for no good reason. They're not even trying. I suppose it's reached the stage where Ricky Gervais can produce literally anything and it'll get put on telly. I'd be fine with that if he hadn't spent years bitching about people who do exactly loving that.
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| # ? Feb 27, 2013 22:17 |
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I thought the latest episode was actually not bad. It was probably the best episode since the pilot. There weren't any heavyhanded messages, cartoon villains, or Hannah talking about how kind and selfless Derek was despite Derek acting like a twat. I actually laughed during the cabaret night bits.
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| # ? Mar 2, 2013 20:14 |
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Welp, it's been renewed for a second season. I quite like the show anyway. It's my only KP fix for the moment so that might be why. If The Ricky Gervais Show was still going that'd probably diminish the value for me. And An Idiot Abroad 3 wasn't so great.
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| # ? Mar 4, 2013 13:20 |
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| # ? May 18, 2013 12:42 |
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loving hell that was an awful final episode. In what universe is Ricky Gervais OK'ing ten minutes of constant Coldplay?
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| # ? Mar 26, 2013 01:27 |
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