The last episode of the current "Thick of It" tonight. One assumes it's "Tucker's revenge". I'm really looking forward to it. keep to the Fen Causeway
I'm also working slowly through the HBO series 'John Adams' which presents a rather more nuanced history of the Founding Fathers than hitherto. Patriotism tends to intrude into much American storytelling, but this series asks some more basic questions about the birth of democracy.
How true to fact it is I am not qualified to say. But it certainly feels to be based on the historical record - with the usual elisions for dramatization. You can't be me, I'm taken
It actually wasn't particularly funny. Very odd. keep to the Fen Causeway
If the plot starts to intrude, it takes the sting out of the jokes. You can see it when characters start dialogue 'signposting' i.e explaining why the story is going where it is. That can be funny too (Billy Wilder was a master), but Thick of it, from what I have seen, is enjoyed by familiarity with the characters and the situations - it gets better the more you know them. So by plotting to have them do unfamiliar things, it means you lose the familiarity. It's not that Tucker's tantrums are funny, but the fact that you know they are coming and are amused by their creativity. Repeats with a twist. Like all so-called original creativity. You can't be me, I'm taken
