MovieChat Forums > The Royle Family (1998) Discussion > Did the writers deliberately 'sh*t on th...

Did the writers deliberately 'sh*t on their own doorstep'?

posted 16 years ago by ruth-261
27 replies | jump to latest

Does anyone else think that this episode was written in an attempt to end the series forever?

It was such a departure from the previous excellent episodes, it crossed my mind they wrote it so badly so they wouldn't have to do another. There was some good lines, but it was basically overblown farce with unbelievable characterisation and casting. Maybe Tom Courtenay is blackmailing Caroline Aherne and made her cast him?

I love the Royles, and this was the only episode I have seen where it didn't all seem totally believable, touching and funny.

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] kfitz1976 16 years ago

they weren't forced to do it nor were they under contract to do it so i don't see the need for sabotaging the series. They didn't make an episode for six years before queen of sheba so why would they feel like they were in a position to end it that way! Think before you type for *beep* sake!

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] Island_Of_Ireland 16 years ago

Yeah it was bad,but so was QoS with the stupid cutesy music that kept playing every minute, and Jim over-acting far too much.

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] baronvidler 15 years ago

Yeah. New Sofa was really bad. No wonder hardly any of the original cast came back like Antony and Cheryl.

[–] Bobryshev_777 15 years ago

Eh, I thought this was easily one of the better episodes. Miles funnier than the pathetic Queen of Shiba. But now it's been surpassed by the Golden Eggcup which was pure brilliance tonight!

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] 15 years ago

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[–] imdbaddict 14 years ago

A big yes - especially with the Christmas episode this year. The worst yet.
It's like some amateurs doing a spoof of the Royle Family.
Please no more ...

I wonder how long this will stay up as all other negative comments 'have been deleted by an administrator'

[–] Gobiastia 14 years ago

I agree, it's just making a mockery of this classic series now. It should have ended with the Queen of Sheba. The show died with Nana.

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] tracee-garside 15 years ago

It was $hit! Not funny, characters not acting themselves (Joe, anyone?), and just plain boring.... they need to draw a line under it.

Pain and truth? I'm a fat fuqqin' crook from New Jersey!

- Tony Soprano

[–] kevin-casson 15 years ago

Didn't like it. Totally agree about characters changing - since when has Joe been so chatty? Cheryl's accent seemed different too.

Too forced. Timing off. Jokes going on for far too long (the bit at the beginning with them under the table and the interminable "Golden Egg Cup" conversation in the caravan) and the degeneration from beautifully subtle to farce.

[–] Gobiastia 15 years ago

It was very disappointing. Can't believe I'm saying this, but the New Sofa had more laughs in it than this.

The last great Royle Family was the Queen of Sheba. The magic of the show died with Nana.

[–] jcmason87 15 years ago

Agreed with above. We watched it as a family. Straight after I made the comment "That was an hour of my life wasted". I was bored all teh way through.

Joe had completly changed. The characters were dumbed down. The "jokes" went on and on.

They should have stopped 2 Christmas's ago.

[–] gut-6 14 years ago

I've only ever seen one other episode of the Royle family, but "the Golden Eggcup" is the funniest thing I've seen in a British sitcom since series 4 of "Teachers". I was laughing very hard pretty much all the way through "The Golden Eggcup". It was like the best aspects of "Curb your Enthusiasm" mixed with the best aspects of "the Simpsons" and "Beavis and Butthead", but British.

Like this episode of the Royle Family, the final series of "Teachers" was panned by longtime fans because it strayed slightly from the original "heartwarming" formula and was less "believable", even though it was much funnier. I think a similar reason for the whining is at play here.

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] hvg-1 14 years ago

Man, you people complain a lot.

To me, it seems that you have put the first few series on this huge and high podium that if anything 'new' comes out its automatically panned.

Jesus, just enjoy it. Its not like you paid to see it.

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] Bobryshev_777 14 years ago

I don't get all the love for Queen of Sheba compared to New Sofa and Golden Eggcup. I loved NS and GE; couldn't stop laughing in a lot of parts. I hated QoS!

I get the impression that some people here like a few spoonfuls of serious drama in their comedies, which there is nothing wrong with of course. For me though, I couldn't care less if an episode had the most ridiculously far-fetched script that somebody could imagine, with hardly any story to it whatsover... IF it makes me laugh, a lot. IMO comedy is the only genre where story matters very little. Sure you need storylines for the basis of any comedy, but it doesn't have to be oscar worthy with people shedding tears about someone's death, to be funny.

[–] MarkAnthony1990 14 years ago

Who said that you need people shedding tears over a death to find it funny.
One of the things that made The Royle Family popular was because people related to the characters so the death in QoS wasn't a random death storyline. It was a well loved character, like end of an era. This was back when RF was realistic and this was done very well in the episode.

Babies kill TV shows!

[–] Bobryshev_777 14 years ago

That was just a representation. I'm really getting at serious moments in general. Call me cynical if you like, but I don't like to see too many of these in comedies. I just like to laugh when I'm watching them. I remember watching the Queen of Sheba and thinking ohhh there's gonna be a lot of unhappy people with this, and then I see all these comments about how they cried etc. Very bizarre! I'm not one of these that has to have laughs every few seconds, but I was sitting there wondering why the last two thirds was all serious (I refrained from using the two year old 'Joker' phrase).

Joe's Crackers only had a short serious bit at the end, so didn't spoil it too much.

[–] MarkAnthony1990 14 years ago

Well, Nana died so that's why it was serious. But they had the subtle black comedy all through it (not the laugh out loud moments).

Babies kill TV shows!

[–] BlackTaterTotallyBlue 14 years ago

You must be talking about another of the Xmas eps. This one 'Queen Of Sheba' was about the death of Grandma and it was hands down one of the finest episodes of Royle Family ever made. The specials that followed however were AWFUL.

EDIT: Seems like the discussion boards for Royle Family are all mixed up. I guess you could be talking about one of the newer ones...

[–] LittleMissObsessive 14 years ago

I liked Joe's Crackers, I thought it was funny :)

[–] Gobiastia 14 years ago

You must be talking about another of the Xmas eps. This one 'Queen Of Sheba' was about the death of Grandma and it was hands down one of the finest episodes of Royle Family ever made. The specials that followed however were AWFUL.

They were awful. I always felt Queen of Sheba gave the series a bit of closure because season 3 ended and it didn't feel like an end to the show. The last episode was just Jim getting Sky digital.

In Queen of Sheba you see Anthony has become a success, Dave and Denise have another baby and Jim finally shows emotion towards Nana when she passes away. You knew he always loved her even though they fought like cat and dog.

The subsequent Xmas specials added nothing and made the characters look like cheap comedy cardboard cut outs.