MovieChat Forums > The Great Indoors (2016) Discussion > Insufficient Material for a Series

Insufficient Material for a Series

posted 8 years ago by Legendary_Badass
7 replies | jump to latest

Sounds like a decent sitcom idea on paper, but wow in practice this gets old fast.

Firstly, we're pretty much going to be stuck to one set. Every joke is about millennials in their odd work environment. Now I'm all for going after the soft generation, but there's no more jokes left to tell. All that can be done is to sub out one pop culture reference for another. Take that Blade Runner joke for example. Don't be surprised if there's a Star Wars joke next week and one of the office girls acts like there wasn't a Star Wars before The Force Awakens.

You simply can't build a sitcom on one joke. There needs to be interesting character with their own side plots, but here it's all looking at this one guy and watching him deal with kids.

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[–] toddt07 8 years ago

Agreed.This show is already stale. While I think you can have some fun picking on the self absorbed/oblivious douche bags that many millennials are, it's already been done and done better in other shows. Of course they also tossed in the classic employee was/will bang the boss's child plot line just to make sure nothing they did can be confused with original thinking. I don't see this show lasting very long.

[–] number1212 8 years ago

I agree. I honestly got bored of the first episode halfway through. I'm still going to check it out to see if it improves.

[–] Legendary_Badass 8 years ago

I'll try to see it through, suspecting it doesn't last but a few more weeks. However, cancellations are getting tough to come by these days. Networks aren't producing as many programs. This could make it through the season for lack of replacement.

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[–] jaynekranc 8 years ago

I think some of the characters have tons of potential. And there is no reason they have to stay on one set. Let the characters have a chance to develop.

I adored the bar scenes.

[–] MarlonBrawndo 8 years ago

I agree wholeheartedly, jayne. There are a lot of folks extrapolating a ridiculous amount about a show of which we've only seen about 22 minutes.

Much of the same criticism could be said about McHale's cult hit Community. No one could have predicted from the pilot that the show would posess such great potential, the chemistry between the Abed and Troy characters being a prime example.

Another reason I'm keeping an eye on this show is that I question whether comedic actors of McHale's, and especially Stephan Fry's, talents would have committed to a boilerplate sitcom. I'm expecting some pleasant surprises from TGI, and I hope the powers that be give the show a chance to reveal them.

.....
I was the kid next door's imaginary friend

[–] vinsane 8 years ago

Firstly, we're pretty much going to be stuck to one set.

Plus the obligatory bar/diner/coffee shop with a wise-cracking or oddball server.

Successful workplace sitcoms usually migrate to somebody's home life for at least one episode sub-plot on a regular basis. This way we'd get to see another bit of character depth. At work, everyone is some kind of simplistic caricature and, in the pilot typically, the sketching of those characters is quite heavy handed.

Hopefully they will tweak this show before it gets chopped. They definitely need to give Stephen Fry more to do. Also, Jack the bearded outdoors guy isn't quite pulling it off as the only sane guy in the room if that's what they're going for. His own frailties are too apparent for him to receive hero worship from the young web-nerd Clark.

The level of writing needs to climb up a few notches if this is going to last for years instead of just a handful of episodes. Right now it's not bad for a four-panel Dilbert comic strip with one simple gag per episode. As a sitcom, they need to be better.

Eeek!!! I'm getting dressed.

[–] I_Guard_Tanelorn 8 years ago

I agree as well. And I actually kind of like the show. But the Millenials in the Workplace idea is a one-off premise, best suited to a single character of the ensemble. Like Andy Dick being the weirdo on NewsRadio. Also, the premise of running this Outdoorsman website is incredibly limited, even moreso than Just Shoot Me which barely made it work with a fashion magazine. The appeal of Community was that it could be about anything and everything. This show has left itself no room to grow.

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