To be disturbed by Netflix 'Breeders'

It IS slightly based on his parenting life @30percent which you keep skirting. Also very invested for someone who had never watched it.

c’mon, you’re one of the writers????

Nobody's laughing at the abuse though? No one's watching and thinking 'haha, what a funny man verbally abusing his children' are they? The comedy comes from elsewhere.

But did you laugh?

I've heard parents say worse in supermarkets and on the street. Not often but I have.

Yes apparently it’s based on his own parenting experiences so that says a lot.

People are allowed to discuss their views on a TV programme, it’s kind of what a forum is for. Get off the thread if you don’t like it & leave everyone else to share their views. Any reason you’re so particularly offended by this thread?

i imagine him to be like that in real life I’ve never taken to him.

It’s awful & just not funny. I agree that it’s abuse dressed up as entertainment.

I agree OP. I felt the same and couldn't get through the first episode.

After finding the first few episodes very difficult I grew to like it a lot. There's significant character development and some genuinely moving moments. I think he represents (albeit in an exaggerated way) a middle class angst about parenting when it isn't all unicorns and rainbows and you let yourself down in handling things.

It's not their dad though is it? He's an actor and they're actors and they know it's not real.
Thats assuming they're even in the same room when he is shouting and the directors haven't been doing some fancy editing so the children don't hear it.

Seriously this thread is ridiculous I was hit with a belt as a child and turned out fine (not saying that's ok) and you people think the actors are going to be traumatised because they heard sone shouty swear words.

Good god if you don't like it just dont watch it

If it was reclassified as a drama, that wouldn't actually change the content though? I don't base my opinion of things on how they're categorised, just how much I enjoying watching them. There's an awful lot of TV which treads the line between comedy and drama, they tend to be the things I enjoy watching the most.

There's also a few people on here who are suggesting this is an exaggerated version of normal life. Which it may be to most people, but this is normal life for plenty. It's not a relationship I'd want to be in and it's not a life I'd want to emulate but of course there are families like this. Angry men fucking up their children while their wives hang around hoping it will get better. It's real life, just not a very palatable part.

Showing stuff like this on TV isn't an endorsement, not everything has to be fluffy and sanitised.

This! I watched it and I enjoyed it.

I've never thought of it as a comedy. I thought it was a drama, gulps. No started series 4 yet

I think it's absolutely brilliant! We have been really laughing out loud, at so much of it. It's clearly a dark comedy. My own Dad was far more vocal than "Paul" when we were growing up - maybe I have a thick skin? His parents are so similar to how my Dad is now. Best thing I've watched in years. Martin Freeman is the best actor ever, imo. His facial expressions tell you everything he is feeling.

The Simpsons actually has had a lot of criticism over the Homer strangling Bart gag over the years… kids knowing a few swear words isn’t the same as their dad regularly screaming obscenities at them for simply being kids because he can’t regulate his adult emotions.

How do you know she doesn't

I mentioned fawlty towers earlier, which whilst having more laughs per minute, is essentially about a monster of a man

Interestingly I thought this when I watched the programme on Sky. I think that Freeman's character is being presented as a troubled and stressed man, when what I often see is someone delivering significant abuse to all members of his family and his language is vile. LTB in my view.

Wholeheartedly agree. A few posters seem to implying this show is a reflection of Freeman's real-life parenting, which is revolting.

Hated it. Hideous unfunny rubbish.

I could only watch a couple of episodes. It reads like a dramatisation of the Lundy Bancroft book “Why does he do that?”. Maybe he gets his comeuppance eventually, but I didn’t get that far. In the early episodes it just felt like the writers thought abuse was funny.

Haven't watched it don't know anything about it I see on this thread people saying the dad shouts and swears at the kids well homer straight up strangles Bart!! And I'm yet to see anyone claim the Simpsons disturbs them. I mean it being a cartoon is irrelevant because I imagine breeders was filmed using split screens so the kids probably didnt hear any swearwords.

Although let's be honest most kids already know swearwords from their classmates at school

@30percent I love the Simpsons, it being a cartoon and all.

I have read that while Breeders is not fully autobiographical, it is somewhat based on your, sorry. I mean Martin Freemans own personal life.

Can you confirm or deny?

Do some people not understand the difference between fact and fiction? Breeders is a TV series, not a reality show featuring Martin Freeman’s parenting style 🙄

And the children weren’t present during the swearing scenes.