I'd like to give more than a 7/10 but once you start reading the senseless praise visited upon Peep Show by other viewers then it simply becomes impossible not to correct downwards.
Was it 9-seasons of Peep Show, or were there more? It feels like there were more. It seemed to go on forever, like an American sitcom. I even wrote 'seasons' above, when traditionally British sitcoms offer series, not seasons, fewer writers and fewer episodes. The upside is that the writing is tighter and the show doesn't outstay its welcome, unlike literally all US sitcoms which just keep slogging away until everyone on every side of the camera is exhausted. It's interesting to note that a US version of Peep Show keeps getting tried and keeps failing to materialise, in the great tradition of US remakes of British material.
Peep Show, as you no doubt know, is a sitcom about two college roommates who wind-up living together as they're pushing 30, Mark a prematurely middle-aged fusspot, Jeremy an eternal teenage with a modicum of laidback charm to offset his laziness. This set-up is not remotely original. It is the odd couple situation, and it's most obvious antecedent is the BBC/ITV comedy, Men Behaving Badly.
However, Peep Show goes way beyong Men Behaving Badly, adopting a more confrontational style with its POV subjective camera and also the deployment of interior monologue for the two main characters. Much of the humour derives from what is thought, not what is said, and the dichotomy between private wishes and external actions is beautifully exploited by the excellent writing. The leading players, Mitchell & Webb, were a comedy duo taken-up to play these roles, and they also had an amusing sketch show on BBC TV during the run. And what a long run.
My estimate? Seasons 3-6 are the best of it.
The thing is, US shows that go on and on and on, they tend to offer the devoted (addicted) viewers some kind of pay-off, such as a happy or at least optimistic ending. Comedy, like any form of expression, has to be relatable, and that includes to our eternal need for hope. Peep Show, which is dark and very cringeworthy, especially in its early years, offers its two resident idiots no hope of escape. Correction, it teases them (and us, since we're invited to identify with them) with the possibility of a fresh start, redemption, and then wilfully pulls the rug out and dumps them (us) back on their bottoms. After twelve years of service, that is a little too much to bear. It feeds in to a problem with the show's comedy, which was also a trend of the time, the problem of mean-spiritedness. Peep Show is, deep down, a mean little show. It's very funny, but in a very cruel way. Peep Show was famously endorsed by the great figurehead of mean comedy, Ricky Gervais. That tells you something about it.
You could say that, in a way, it's fundamentally unlovable, insofar as the characters, relatable as they often are, remain too determinedly foolish and self destructive to be lovable. And maybe the interior monologue is key to why they are so unlovable, because we cannot hear the private thoughts of others and honestly we shouldn't because we'd go mad. Just look what social media (all that unnecessary, self-absorbed venting) has done to the younger 'gens'. Widespread mental illness, even psychosis.
Peep Show is something from which you can learn, but seeing as the characters do not learn, in the end, you must part company with them. If you don't you'll get sick.
Was it 9-seasons of Peep Show, or were there more? It feels like there were more. It seemed to go on forever, like an American sitcom. I even wrote 'seasons' above, when traditionally British sitcoms offer series, not seasons, fewer writers and fewer episodes. The upside is that the writing is tighter and the show doesn't outstay its welcome, unlike literally all US sitcoms which just keep slogging away until everyone on every side of the camera is exhausted. It's interesting to note that a US version of Peep Show keeps getting tried and keeps failing to materialise, in the great tradition of US remakes of British material.
Peep Show, as you no doubt know, is a sitcom about two college roommates who wind-up living together as they're pushing 30, Mark a prematurely middle-aged fusspot, Jeremy an eternal teenage with a modicum of laidback charm to offset his laziness. This set-up is not remotely original. It is the odd couple situation, and it's most obvious antecedent is the BBC/ITV comedy, Men Behaving Badly.
However, Peep Show goes way beyong Men Behaving Badly, adopting a more confrontational style with its POV subjective camera and also the deployment of interior monologue for the two main characters. Much of the humour derives from what is thought, not what is said, and the dichotomy between private wishes and external actions is beautifully exploited by the excellent writing. The leading players, Mitchell & Webb, were a comedy duo taken-up to play these roles, and they also had an amusing sketch show on BBC TV during the run. And what a long run.
My estimate? Seasons 3-6 are the best of it.
The thing is, US shows that go on and on and on, they tend to offer the devoted (addicted) viewers some kind of pay-off, such as a happy or at least optimistic ending. Comedy, like any form of expression, has to be relatable, and that includes to our eternal need for hope. Peep Show, which is dark and very cringeworthy, especially in its early years, offers its two resident idiots no hope of escape. Correction, it teases them (and us, since we're invited to identify with them) with the possibility of a fresh start, redemption, and then wilfully pulls the rug out and dumps them (us) back on their bottoms. After twelve years of service, that is a little too much to bear. It feeds in to a problem with the show's comedy, which was also a trend of the time, the problem of mean-spiritedness. Peep Show is, deep down, a mean little show. It's very funny, but in a very cruel way. Peep Show was famously endorsed by the great figurehead of mean comedy, Ricky Gervais. That tells you something about it.
You could say that, in a way, it's fundamentally unlovable, insofar as the characters, relatable as they often are, remain too determinedly foolish and self destructive to be lovable. And maybe the interior monologue is key to why they are so unlovable, because we cannot hear the private thoughts of others and honestly we shouldn't because we'd go mad. Just look what social media (all that unnecessary, self-absorbed venting) has done to the younger 'gens'. Widespread mental illness, even psychosis.
Peep Show is something from which you can learn, but seeing as the characters do not learn, in the end, you must part company with them. If you don't you'll get sick.