Thursday night, not quite the weekend but not early enough in the week to blag a sickie, the day that feels a bit like Pippa Middleton to Friday’s Kate. (Thursday may have a cracking arse, but it still won’t be Queen of the week) Thankfully, the TV channels seem to know about the Thursday night slumps and has strived to make Thursdays the best nights on TV. E4 especially has had checkmated the teenage audiences to the TV with the likes of: Misfits, Skins, Inbetweeners, Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother all fitting nicely in the 9-11pm slot on E4.
But, it’s now the summer. The amazing Misfits won’t be back until November, (Minus the breakout character Nathan – but that’s for another time) Skins has gone downhill since the writers have ironically managed to create characters who are “edgy” yet completely one dimensional. The Inbetweeners are hitting the big screen and the american sitcoms are rolling on nicely but are soon to be leaving the screens and replaced with a long wait for the series, airing around 6months after they will in America. So, fans of some TV relief on a Thursday are stuck, right? Wrong.
Sky One has recently made it’s own push to output more original productions. I’m sure we all have cast a dubious eye over this idea, after all what does Sky and Murdoch know about original ideas? Most of the shows are bought from others or are a product of the channel FOX Shows such as: Glee, Simpsons and House have now all landed on Sky from Fox so something new really has to stand out. So, we have been showed (somewhat to death) the trailers for the two first original Sky shows: Trollied and Mount Pleasant. From the adverts, the latter looks somewhat car crash, an oddly cast Sally Lindsey throwing herself around a sitcom (some have called it comedy drama, as it’s got the same writers as Shameless but it’s an insult to Shameless comparing the two) full of one dimensional characters played by whoever Sky could get. (Needless to say, the insufferable Angela Griffin makes her umpteenth appearance on a Sky One show after two disasters of her own shows.) The show seems sloppy just from the trailers, an excuse for old people to talk about willies, boobs and sex whilst trying to convince us they’re still having it. Anyway, I have definitely digressed, we’re here to talk about Trollied.
On the surface, the show may seem a crossbreed between The Office and Supermarket Sweep but it’s also got a large dash of that slightly off center humour that has made the likes of Gavin and Stacey such a hit. Set in a fictional supermarket, Valco (a name like Tesco, a uniform like Asda), and full of a range of staff. A slightly out of her depth, Jane Horrocks, leads the cast playing a temporary manager who is besotted with her boss Gavin, he gives her no signals – not that she needs them – and unfortunately she comes off incredibly deranged, laughing at everything Gavin says and pining after a man who doesn’t really have much going for him. The weird and wacky staff are the real gems. The first two episodes were stolen by the brilliant Margaret, stating random information and not really understanding anything and yet smiling along contently. The disgustingly funny Lisa gets many witty and foul one liners: “Beetroot, I had that once – it turned my piss purple” and is obviously due a gross off with the lazy, incompetent Colin who again steals scenes with his petty theft, filthy tongue and constant rule breaking.
The butchers, Kieran and Andy are often given a bit too much screen time and their story lines are often weak and time consuming. It’s obviously blind to the writers but Kieran works best when paired up with the only sensible check out girl, Katie. It’s just a shame that all their story lines are filled with hints about their crushes on each other – a bit of subtly would be nice! The show on a whole is interestingly put together, scenes of comedy are book ended by scenes of normal, everyday shopping to make us believe that it’s a real store. The biggest shame about this show is that it’s on Sky. It screams BBC sitcom, where it would be right at home alongside the current likes of Miranda and Outnumbered. Due to the show being on Sky it misses a chance at a decent audience so the show will end up sinking into nowhere. Where as on the BBC it could flourish and easily build up a large cult following – see Little Britain and The Office for proof of those. So, will Trollied prove to be a surprise hit for Sky? – possibly. But with a small Sky audience and garbage like Mount Pleasant to contend with it could be soon on the ‘reduced to clear’ section, unfortunately.
What are your thoughts on Trollied? or anything else I’ve said, leave a comment or Tweet me. @superthings