Thanks to the use of some unique camera angles and inside looks at the characters’ thoughts, Peep Show – Series 1 is a pretty funny look at the world of two ordinary guys with a knack for getting themselves into outrageous situations and extremely bad luck.
Peep Show is a comedy series from BBC America and focuses on a group of core characters - mainly two friends played by Robert Webb and David Mitchell. It gives the audience a look into the characters’ thoughts through voice over where the actors express their feelings on the situations – good or bad.
The DVD collects six episodes from the series that are basically “stand alone,” and don’t really build on one another. The first episode sets up the basic characters of the show, and quickly demonstrates the unique filming and dialogue that has become a trademark of the series.
The DVD includes the episodes: “The Lord Of The Bus,” “The Gloves Are Off,” “Toni’s Party,” “Let’s Get It On,” and “Bloody Hilarious.”
The show also takes the first person camera angle of the different people talking to bring you into the character. This helps give you an inside look at the person’s inner feelings, even when they are stupid or embarrassing, and how they see the people around them.
The show’s main two characters are Jeremy (Webb) – a wannabe popstar without the drive to actually make his big ideas come true, and Mark (Mitchell) – who goes through life stressed out and waiting for the sky to fall. Both characters are obsessed with trying to land the perfect girl, and both end up normally making complete idiots out of themselves in the process.
A lot of the show focuses on the two friends’ pursuit of their “perfect” woman, and their often bumbling attempts to impress. Mark is in love with his co-worker Sophie (played by Olivia Coleman), and Jeremy is spell struck by his mate “Super Hans” and by the two guys beautiful neighbor.
Mark is often stressed and expecting the worse
The two actors successfully make their characters truly seem like the two biggest losers walking the planet right now – such as when Jeremy makes an audition tape for the reality show Big Brother or the way Mark is tormented by a group of boys whenever he goes home.
Jeremy has all these big ideas about himself, but is basically just a self-centered jerk, and Mark is basically just an obsessive guy that has a depressing view of himself and the rest of the world around him.
With its use of dialogue and inside look at each character, Peep Show reminded of some of the programs running on networks like HBO, such as Curb Your Enthusiasm, and demonstrates that you can have a funny series without it being nothing but slapstick humor.
At the same time, the show may not be for everyone. The use of dialogue provides some really funny situations, but that is about all the show has to offer.
The humor is very British and not always appreciated by everyone – in the same way Monty Python is a required taste with some people thinking it is brilliant while others find it just insane.
Also, the “first-person” camera angles is used quit a bit in the show, and can become annoying. While it gives the impression of seeing the other characters through someone’s eyes, the camera technique started to give me a headache after awhile and became a distraction as I watched the DVD.
Jeremy is a wannabe popstar without the drive to succeed
The DVD is a little light on special features consisting of only six specially filmed “stand-alone” scenes and audio commentary by some of the writers over two episodes.Overall, I would recommend Peep Show to any fan of British humor or anyone who enjoys some of the different unique series that are running on the networks today. With its odd filming and use of dialogue, the show isn’t for everyone, but is worth checking out.
Peep Show – Series 1 is now available at Amazon and at AmazonUK . Visit the film’s database for more information.
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