This Time with Alan Partridge

Just noticed on a re-watch that Ruth is faking the satellite delay because as soon as Jennie starts talking she responds immediately much to the ire of Alan.

I've not seen this weeks yet, but knew about the lookalike as Boyd Hilton was bigging it up as a highlight of the series in that podcast earlier in this thread.

As for it getting into its stride, well that's the problem with new sitcoms, they always take a couple of episodes to establish themselves. Even when the lead character is already well known like here the situation needed setting up, as did the story arc in the Partridge universe.

A lot of the problem I think is with people expecting something broad like Knowing Me Knowing You or I am Alan Partridge when, like a lot of what's gone between, it's a lot more subtle. And a lot of the jokes are very quick or subtle

Exactly. There's been a lot of talk of this being better suited on BBC 2. It would probably have been better as a Netflix Original due to the re-watch value. There are so many subtleties which are missed on first viewing.

Come out ye black and tans 5 minutes before the BBC 10 o'clock news

I'm suprised they got away with that.

Maybe if it was 1997 I would be.

I'm catching up with last night's episode, 10 mins in and there's been more belly laughs in that segment than in the previous three episodes.

Burping and correspondent Ruth who clearly can't stand him.

Yep, another example of the problem with first episodes. Her bit in episode 1 wasn't that funny as it was establishing their history and her dislike of him. Subsequent weeks have built on that

1.6m again last night, so it hasn’t dropped any further but it’s fair to say This Time is down to Partridge’s core fan base. Would probably get exactly the same on BBC Two and look moderately successful. Last week’s episode was an improvement I felt, but this week it was back to being utterly painful. The #MeToo jokes were just lazy.

I still think there’s potential for Partridge on TV, but this format certainly isn’t it.

What's Warren getting before it?

There are just some shows which suit BBC 2 better and Alan Partridge is the one. I know it is about a BBC 1 show like the One Show so they have it on BBC 1, but it suits BBC 2 so much better.

I remember when they attempted to have QI on BBC 1, and it eventually moved back to BBC 2. Just some shows have the BBC 2 edge.

Or in other words you end up with exactly the same audience regardless whether it’s on 1 or 2 ?