This Life ten years on

[mwgdrwg]

Thought it was great!

I think it helps if you're the same age as the characters. 10 years ago I was cocky, at Uni, playing Portishead and Manics.

Now I'm a mid 30's dad and a bit fucked up still

 

[newbie]

funnily enough this is how I remember the targeted generation reacting to it first time round- not believable, overly stereotyped, full of holes, nothing like us, trite, embarrassing.

I quite liked it. It seemed to capture the arrogance of the 30-somethings rather well. :8

 

[g force]

The onyl bit that made me laugh was when they discussed Calre shagging one of the Kaiser Chiefs and Miles said "The what Cheese?"

Other than that it was pretty average.

 

[tarannau]

I thought it was alright myself - trying to do too much perhaps, but it was good to see the old crew again. It's not tarnished my (good) memories of the first two series at all, which is a little bit of an achievement in itself.

 

[Ms Ordinary]

It just made me remember how much fun the bit-players were.

Kira, Joe, the chubby receptionist who ate turkey drumsticks for lunch...

 

[breathbona]

I know what you're saying though, it just lacked something didn't it

It always did

funnily enough this is how I remember the targeted generation reacting to it first time round- not believable, overly stereotyped, full of holes, nothing like us, trite, embarrassing.

spot on

Thought it was great!

I think it helps if you're the same age as the characters. 10 years ago I was cocky, at Uni, playing Portishead and Manics.

I thought it was great I hope they do a series.

 

[marty21]

Do 30-somethings really use Botox???

this fortysomething doesn't

 

[breathbona]

funnily enough this is how I remember the targeted generation reacting to it first time round- not believable, overly stereotyped, full of holes, nothing like us, trite, embarrassing.

A better description of This Life wasn't written

Thought it was great!

I think it helps if you're the same age as the characters. 10 years ago I was cocky, at Uni, playing Portishead and Manics.

Me too, I thought it was great and I hope they do a series, it would only take a few months. There are a tonne of issues just waiting to be tackled like only This Life does.

 

[Tank Girl]

Do 30-somethings really use Botox???

yep, apparently you should start using botox before you actually start needing it

 

[ICB]

We enjoyed it, but then we were big fans from the start of the first series.

What I liked most about it then and now is how well adjusted, up together and just plain nice it made me feel in comparison to everyone in it.

I think it's obvious the actors enjoy working together and there were always some good original ideas in it without it trying too hard to say anything.

 

[MysteryGuest]

this fortysomething doesn't

I would never have guessed.


Well I enjoyed it, but I'd been down the pub first so this may have helped me feel more affectionate towards it. There was an aura of improbability about it all, as there was in the original, but so what?

 

[beeboo]

I felt like the writers got completely carried away with the freedom they had. I felt only Millie and Anna were realistically developed, and the other characters had just become parodies.

I felt like the writers had got together and brainstormed a load of daft ideas ("Miles is a multimillionaire!!! Egg is a famous author!!! ooh, mockumentarys are popular, lets throw a bit of that in!!"), which they should have just got out of there system, thrown in the bin and started again. Instead they seem to have gone all 'kid in a candy store' and kept in every dumb suggestion and crowbarred in a ridiculous amount of plot. The whole thing was farcical.

 

[colacubes]

I thought it was good but not amazing.

I though the Anna & Millie storyline was v interesting and quite well played out but I think Egg's change of mind towards the end was a bit twee

And Miles is still an arrogant cunt (he would definitely get it though - the 10 years seem to have improved him immesurably )

 

[Sweaty Betty]

I didnt get the hype back then and it was certainly lost on me this time round.

 

[Guineveretoo]

I found it really disappointing, despite being a fan of the earlier work

I am not sure why, really, other than that the stories just didn't work for me and the characters were unconvincing. Also, the camera work was just plain irritating. In the earlier series, there was only one camera in the room because that was all they could afford (or so they say). This gave it a particular style. Last night's feature didn't have that constraint, but they kept trying to do clever things with the cameras - like when Anna was ticking off things she had achieved - which was just plain annoying.

*shrug*

 

[Paulaviki]

I thought it was dreadful.

The characters hadn't developed at all, the storylines were totally unbelievable, the dialogue was cringeworthy (who uses the phrase "metrosexual" in an angry outburst?), the writer Amy Jenkins was trying way too hard to tick off a load of "cutting edge" reference points (reality TV? check. kaiser chiefs? check...the bit where she crowbarred the war in iraq together with the concept of carbon footprints was so clunky it was painful), there were too many chunks of dialogue where Jenkins was trying to make a grand statement about "our generation" that just ended up being trite and embarrassing. I could go on and on and on. It was full of holes, and full of shit. If that's possible...!

And I was a fan of the original series.

Exactly right, it was painful watching it at points.

 

[breathbona]

I felt like the writers got completely carried away with the freedom they had.

But the scene with the suicide which turned out to be something far more everday was more a nod in the direction of real life than the usual unimaginative TV fayre of murders, car crashes, etc.

 

[newbie]

yep, apparently you should start using botox before you actually start needing it

need??!?

It was mentioned in the script- fair enough they were scattergunning their way round contemporary themes- but also in one of the interviews. Made me wonder if it's a 30-40ish preoccupation.

 

[Matt S]

I'm surprised that so many people hated it. Yeah, it was never going to be like the original series, but it was good fun. Thats all I really expected...

Matt

 

[breathbona]

"Go away and read the Guardian" hahaha

It is being slagged off to high heaven on the Guardian blog

 

[Buddy Bradley]

I'm surprised that so many people hated it. Yeah, it was never going to be like the original series, but it was good fun. Thats all I really expected...

Ditto. Don't know why anyone would have watched it if they didn't watch the original 90s series, as I can't imagine it making any sense at all without the characters' backstories.

 

[Luciona]

It's charm was in the self-referential nature of it to make the viewer feel all smug and knowing. <smug, knowing>
Everyone has raved about the hand-held camera work since it came out, so they had a hand-held camera. The soundtrack tied in almost too neatly, and there were little jokes throughout about how they used to be and how they are now. I liked it. (Blimey, Millie's aged!!!)

Bang on, mate. Have read this thread with glee and you've summed it up there. Bleedin obvious stuff but who gives a flying fuck? It was loads a fun n i enjoyed it immensley! However I have to disagree on the Millie front - thought she looked more gorgeous now than before! Miles probably would not get it these days whereas when This Life was first shown he was fine. However Davenport is such a drip in Coupling it is not feasible to fancy him if you've ever seen this awful spectacle!
The true love was always between Anna and Warren. I confess I shed a tear when she finally popped the question to him about making a baby.. right, think i need to go and have a word with myself about that though! crying over the bleedin obvious. coulda been still up to my eye balls in post NY blues mind>>!

 

[May Kasahara]

I missed this because I was watching the series finale of CSI: Miami - can someone give me the potted version please?