Douglas is cancelled: Discussion Thread for those who've binged it SPOILERS!

[FailBetter]

As Alex Kingston would say in mode: SPOILERS!!!

So...that joke:

"How did you know Madeline was going to be a huge star?"
"When I saw her coming out of my boss's hotel room."

Oof.

It was an interesting premise but struggling with the idea that Madeline would have been successful and not insisted on a change of producer at some point.
Or that Douglas's wife/daughter wouldn't have heard the "punchline" before.
Or that he'd never mentioned the sleazy producer and what happened to Madeline at any point to her afterward, even if he was ashamed of his (lack of) response. Or that he'd have kept on the agent, even if /especially if the latter had used emotional blackmail.
But it was a decent enough drama with the switch from cancel culture to me too.
And from feeling some sympathy for Douglas to him being complicit, even if he might have thought she was okay with the casting couch.
Wasn't so keen on the portrayal of the daughter.

It was originally written as a play and I can see that. It would have worked very well on stage.

Nick Mohammed tried for the producer role but was knocked back gently for being too young for it. Ben Miles nailed that part as Pervy Wankstain material.

It left me a bit nonplussed really. I can understand why she was bitter about Douglas making presumptions.

But was she bitter about not being rescued so her idol had feet of clay? Or did she just want a way to expose the producer and Douglas was just collateral?

To paraphrase what someone said on another thread there wasn't much comedy .

Loved the cab driver !

More drama than comedy, I agree.
She was bitter that her idol just left her too it then repeated the gossip for years after, despite knowing her by then. She was always tactile though - very much so - and seemed to be using her wiles in a way which would have confirmed his presumptions about her (I am aware how judgey that sounds but it was clearly written on purpose to amp the tensions between Madeline and the wife/make you wonder whether she had waded through coercive sex).
The producer wasn't exposed in public (unless Alex Kingston was going to report it). Madeline said she'd deny it.
There was an element of ambition in it too - revenge served cold but also becoming top dog as main presenter. His crime? She looked terrified, he'd asked about the producer holding interviews in the room, he clearly had some concerns to go back up (or designs on her himself, even if he would never have acted on them) but then abandoned her. Like all the people who turned a blind eye to Harvey's bedroom assaults, including the women who set other women up.

As a Steven Moffat/Sue Vertue production I expected more humour but enjoyed the parody of the media circus and the impact of Twitter. The comedian's non jokes were brilliant. Apart from Downton Abbey I don't like Hugh Bonneville's roles as he always comes across as someone with no self-awareness and thinks he's cute in a nauseating Boris Johnson way, so I'm glad he was cancelled. They all played dislikeable characters apart from Claudia so I suppose it was successful in a way.

It was originally written as a play and I can see that. It would have worked very well on stage

Thats interesting as I thought, especially during episode 4, that it felt very much like a play

Madeline was supposed to be experienced and worldly enough to be considered for a plum TV role. Yet she allowed herself to be played by creepy producer. If she was so terrified why didn't she walk out earlier?

I thought she was up and coming, fresh new talent and wanted the job in order to present with her idol. I thought she was good in episode 3. You saw and heard her try to extricate herself several times. It meant such a lot to her, she was trying to deal with it professionally and stay polite/not burn bridges and was wondering what the hell as the penny dropped he'd sent the PA home. But I was surprised she didn't just take up the offer of going down for a drink and leave old Pervy in the bathtub alone.

Isn’t that what men would say to defend themselves?

but that thought crossed my mind too. However you have to remember that she did walk out, but it was made difficult by the producer being in such a position of power. If she hadn’t walked out it wouldn’t have been her fault. She was scared. And she didn’t deserve to be a throwaway joke.

i thought it was clever. But could’ve been edited down. And I think Alex Kingston’s character had heard it before

I thought it was generally excellent
rhough agree some flaws. Episode 3 was horrible and really well done in showing that gradual drip of pressure from the producer and uncertainty and growing tension about where things were headed from Madeline. The whole power play of knowing she should just leave but also that that would scupper her chance at getting this great job and possibly other jobs.

Douglas was there to be “not all men” I think. The reasonable guy who agrees with his wife or female friends that women are treated badly - but who does absolutely nothing professionally or personally to try and improve things. Just sails along in his own world never stopping to think about the fact that he can get a job without having to be interviewed in a hotel room and worry about where things are going or what people will think or say or speculate about him.

I also liked the mirroring between how Toby manipulated language and reverse statements in his “interview” with Madeline and how she used the same techniques to manipulate Douglas later.

What a mess of a shit show. Nothing really worked - it wasn’t funny, tonally it was all over the place, and the messages were boring and clunky, just no impact at all. Alex Kingston was ridiculously OTT to the point it seemed she was in a pantomime. The dialogue felt completely unnatural as well.

To be fair, I think Alex Kingston did a good job with what she was given.
The interview was well shot. But DD’s and I were shouting ‘get out now’ ‘cue to leave’ lots of times before she did. An inkling of what she was going to do (blackmail) would have been good to dangle.
Most of episode 1 and 2 could have gone and the series better for it.

I actually thought this was really good!

Claudia was still incredibly dislikable, surely?

Ah, interesting to hear that it was originally a play as that is what it felt like and it annoyed me! It had a real choreographed feel to it and lots of 'performing' rather than any realistic dialogue.

We're just watching episode 4 - I agree that episode 3 was incredibly disturbing and true to life.
Unless there's a huge back story or I'm being very clueless I don't get why Madeline is out to get Douglas not the producer.

She could cope with the producer being a predatory arsehole but not her reason for going into broadcasting in the first place being such a let-down.

"And you saw that I was terrified and just turned your back and you walked away. I knew. The moment I heard you were telling stories, I knew it was a story about me. You were making them all laugh...at me.
Him I can take. I hate him but he's hardly worth the effort. But you. You were supposed to be my friend."

I'm not saying I necessarily agree with her thinking but the "reveal" of their argument is when he admits that he could see in her face that she was terrified.
And still he did nothing.
At that point, you see his daughter also feeling betrayed that her father could be, at best - a "not my problem" bystander, at worst - an enabler of rape.
It isn't like The Accused: he didn't encourage it/make it happen but he didn't try to stop it either. One could argue that an older man/father figure/daughter of his own/knew the producer/had some power of his own: that morally he should have helped her rather than turn a blind eye. That makes him complicit and for her, even worse than the bad guy because he was meant to be one of the good ones and knew she was in danger.

I'm just watching ep4. It was a bit slow and clunky but the interview was good with him realising he'd actually sent the tweet.

its good
though started funny
second episode very frustrating
the end result was good

Absolutely excellent. I nearly cried on episode 3.

Stopped watching as it's quite dull..

Episode 3 and 4 are much better than 1 and 2.

Really uncomfortable watch. But very well done.

very uncomfortable

I felt episodes 1 and 2 could have been compressed into one episode. So a lot f of 3 act play. I could totally see it working as a play.

It was amazing how I felt so angry with Madeline at the start and found her so manipulative. Then I saw how there was a major attempt to manipulate Madeline! She handled it all so well. All her answers were so clever and procise.

I felt the way she handled the casting couch was brilliant. Even how she handled the interview with the real Kirsty was amazing.

Yes just saw ep 3.. much better