When it comes to TV sketch shows, generally they are a very hit or miss affair. For example, "Little Britain" . . . people may gasp in horror when I say this but a lot of the time, I don't find it all that funny. Perhaps it's because I can't quite RELATE to a lot of the situations they portray? Who knows.
However, when "Spoons" hit Channel 4 a couple of years ago, I instantly felt an affinity for it. It may have been panned by some critics but I thought it was HILARIOUS!!! Unfortunately it was never recommissioned for a second series due to low ratings (which is what happens these days when you put something on a Friday night - let's face it, Friday night TV isn't what it used to be, no one IS going to stay in for it!)
The cast of "Spoons" comprises some familiar faces as well as some you may not recognise immediately . . . There's Kevin Bishop, who not only has his own self-named show, he is probably most familiar as playing multiple famous characters in the awesomely funny "Star Stories". Former CBBC presenter Josie D'Arby shows a very funny side, as does Rob Rouse, the ORIGINAL presenter of "The Friday Night Project". All of them, whether people you recognise or not, put in fab performances and go all out to try and make you laugh.
Like most sketch shows, there is a mixture of one-off sketches, as well as ones which run throughout the series. These include the man who is too scared to ask what his other half wants at any point because her reply is inevitably "a f*cking BABY", a man who retreats to storage space on a regular basis to escape his girlfriend/wife, and (my personal favourite) a man who feels so trapped in his relationship that he begs strangers to rescue him and "call the police" whenever her back is turned. Of course, the fact he could just have, I don't know, RAN AWAY when her back is turned seems to have escaped him.
As you can probably guess, "Spoons" deals mainly with relationships between men and women, and there are a lot of moments where you find yourself nodding along in recognition. Like the scene where the distinction is made between a "drink" after work or a "DRINK" after work (one is just a drink, the other ends the next morning with both of them in the same bed). Or facing someone you used to go out with when they are with their new partner and trying desperately to save face. Or (in another frequently recurring sketch) meeting the difficult-to-please mother of your new boyfriend - and coming up distinctly lacking in her own estimation . . .
Okay, so there are a few moments that are more hit than miss, but generally "Spoons" hits the spot in terms of laughs. I have owned the dvd for about a year and have watched it through on several occasions and STILL find myself laughing at it. Unfortunately, as I stated at the beginning, this was never re-commissioned for another series, which is an utter shame as far as I'm concerned. So I will have to continue to keep re-watching series one. But I am completely happy to do that!
If you like sketch shows and are partial to some laugh out loud moments, I would definitely recommend "Spoons". Okay, so it's no "Friends" but it certainly fills a hole - at least temporarily!!!
"Spoons" currently costs 7.97 from amazon.co.uk OR an incredible 2.99 from play.com!!!! I'm sure you would agree that's a fabulous bargain!
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Comedy - Director: Richard Boden, Mandie Fletcher, Martin Shardlow - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Hugh Laurie, Miranda Richardson, Stephen Fry, Brian Blessed, Tim McInnerny, Tony Robinson, Rowan Atkinson
Comedy - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: Tessa Peake-Jones, Buster Merryfield, David Jason, Nicholas Lyndhurst
very helpful by (100%):
