Not Going Out - abysmal

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Staying with the folks at the moment. Had an episode of Not Going Out inflicted on us the other night. Could not get over how bad it was. It was like something out of the 1970s. Wife says she has made a special meal. Husband makes a face to the audience because she is a terrible cook. Audience in stitches. Why?

Electrified to see it's the second longest running sitcom in UK TV history, after Last of the Summer Wine. Again, why? What am I missing?

I couldn’t agree more. And Lee Mack is one of my favourite people on tv. It should be so good but it’s unbelievably bad!

Another odd thing about the one we saw - the couple are having a romantic meal together, and it's mentioned the children are out of the way. I assumed staying with grandparents or similar. Then one of them called out saying she couldn't sleep, could Mum come and lie down with her. I assumed a toddler. But then she appeared and it was a teenager! What? (a) How had they persuaded a teenager to go to bed that early? (b) Why would you go and lie down with a teenager to help her go to sleep?

Agreed, I cannot see the attraction. Obvious scripts, abysmal acting, stock characters. The only bits I liked were Miranda Hart as the cleaner in the first series, and Katy Wix as the brother-in-law's girlfriend. The rest of it was absolute shite.

Easy watching?

They did a live one a few years ago. Something went wrong and Lee Mack was incredibly good in it, he just ad libbed his way out of it and got a great response.

My DH loves it. I can't stand it. I think he likes it because it's so obvious and you can see it coming, like you're with your mates in the pub who always come out with the same stories/jokes.

It wasn't easy watching for me as I loathed it! I've occasionally seen bits of other episodes and it's never been great. Didn't see any of the very early series before they were married. The current ones seem similar to My Family, which had a similar effect on me (also only saw it here).

It should have quit when they were still housemates. Don't find any of the married episodes funny.

I like it. I think it's really good.

Each to their own...

I like Lee Mack on Would I Lie To You?

Do you remember the 70s, 80s, even 90s - before before streaming/on demand tv, and even before reality tv was invented?

When dull British sitcoms was our daily diet (in between a bit of news, wogan and the usual soaps).

That's why we spent so much time in the pub!

I certainly do, and the 1960s! We watched huge amounts of abysmal telly, which is why I am a connoisseur. Light entertainment was often even worse than the sitcoms and stand up comedians. Terry and June, Mind Your Language, On the Buses, that awful thing with Sid James as a father of daughters - I shudder at the memories.

I quite enjoyed some of the earlier ones with Barbara the cleaner but ones I’ve seen after that when they got married are so bad!

I still watch it occasionally, but it’s gone downhill since they got married and had kids.

Absolutely agree.

I was browsing BBC iPlayer the other day and there it was, listed with a huge link on the main page, I just can't believe it's BBC's flagship comedy show.

The bar is low....

It’s just awful.

Not a good programme imo - I've seen a few with my mum . Also, the one where he's buried alive is unpleasantly tense, not funny at all! However, Lee Mack is a very funny, quick witted guy.

I started on series one a couple of weeks ago because I think Lee Mack is brilliant and it is such a long running series and I couldn't believe how bad it was. I felt like I was in the twilight zone as how can it have been on so long. I ended up,watching about five in case it was a Schitts Creek situation but it didn't get any better.

The earlier series are funnier it's definitely had it's day.

Love the 1% club tho.

It was at it's peak when Tim Vine was on the show, from series 2 to series 5 (I'm ignoring series 1 as I don't like the American flatmate). Katy Wix and Miranda Hart were great too. Pre-marriage and post-marriage Not Going Out are two very different shows, so I'd suggest giving one of the early episodes a go before totally writing it off. 'Neighbour', 'Gay', 'Dads', 'Drugs' and 'Winner' are a few of my favourite episodes.

I still enjoy watching it, mostly for nostalgia and familiarity reasons, but if I'd only started tuning in during series 13 I'd probably think it was crap too. It's not a patch on the earlier days, but it has it's moments.

Oh this! The camping episode still makes me lol

I liked it a little at the beginning when they were flatmates not the more 'modern' version though

It was OK in the beginning......but I saw a recent episode which was beyond bad

Totally agree with pp that some of the early episodes are very good , the drugs one where Katy wix goes mad with a nail gun is really very good . We stopped watching when they became a couple as it went downhill fast .

I love that episode too. Daisy's uncharacteristic outburst at Tim in the car ('what were you going to do with a knife, posh nuts?...) was brilliant