Motherland. To say I thought it would be funnier is an understatement.

[JMSA]

I've just started watching it today, and I'm on episode 5 of Season 1.

So far I've had one 'sort of' laugh out loud. But I don't think I can watch any more.

Kevin - irritating to the point of wanting to tear my hair out.

The Absent Husband - just why? And who would put up with that?

Julia - pretty good.

Liz - probably the least unfunny thing about it 👍

Is it just me who's not getting it?

I always thought the script came straight out of the pages of mn.

I watched the first series when it first came out, and found it amusing rather than funny. However, never found it laugh out loud either.

I like it very much but, thinking about it, it doesn't have that many laugh out loud moments (although the scene where drunk Meg gets in one side of a taxi and straight out the other side cracks me up!) But I think the beauty of it is that it's always full of amusing interactions between the characters without necessarily feeling the need to use big set piece jokes. It's drawing the humour out of the every day which in turn makes real life a bit less rubbish.

It's the same with Ghosts and Here We Go. Both brilliant comedies but gently highlighting the funny side of the every day to heartwarming effect. I believe the world is a nicer place because these comedies exist. See also Detectorists.

Wow! I seem to be in a parallel universe

No, you just don't find something funny that other people do.

I don't find it laugh out loud funny. Although I do love the bit where Julia's mum says something like "haven't you sorted out childcare yet?" And Julia says "sorry mother, I've been a little busy looking after your grandchildren."

YES YES YES. Phoenix Nights was phenomenal. I also feel that way about Only Fools and Horses.

I didn't get past the first ep so I salute you Op!

@LyndaSnellsSniff Completely agree re Here We Go, Ghosts and Detectorists and Motherland - they're all the funny, slightly absurd side of real life.

I love Motherland and find the characters relatable (or at least not totally unrealistic), exasperating and amusing in equal measure. I'm probably a cross between Liz and Anne, personally.

I really enjoyed Motherland and find it funny, more so second time around. Watch it if you enjoy it but don't bother if you don't find it entertaining.

If you’re irritated by Kevin I don’t think it’ll get better for you! They’re supposed to find him irritating, not the viewer!! I adore motherland but loved it from episode 1 and doesn’t change much! Maybe try Working moms?

I do love motherland and find it so relatable. There’s definitely an Amanda at our school. It’s one of my comfort shows, but as you say life would be boring if we all liked the same things. I cannot, will not even attempt to watch Gavin and Stacey and Mrs browns
boys (who watches it? I don’t know anyone who actually likes it.)

I love Anne. She’s so underrated. I love it when she bellows “what’s my baby’s name” and when they assumed she worked in Gregg’s and she tells them she was head of product development for GlaxoSmithKline

I agree with this, I also think the life stage you are in changes your humour response.

I absolutely love it, ‘take my kids Kevin, take my fucking kids’ gets me every time. And when Julia is on the phone to the absent husband who says ‘if you drop something I will always be there to pick it up…and toss it back to you’. And Gary the builder.

I quite liked motherland. Shows like that which capture the struggle of a particular point in your life hit differently depending on where you are in your life.

I remember watching The Letdown when DS was a little baby and thinking it was one of the funniest things I'd seen on TV. I just couldn't believe how relatable and hilarious the scenarios and characters were. I tried to watch it again a few years later and I couldn't watch it without crying uncontrollably. I was so struck by how difficult Audrey's life was, the relentlessness of it all, how alone she was. I tried it again a few years after that and found it kind of boring. Obviously the show hit very different when I was remembering the bad parts of newborn years, than when I was in them and looking for something relatable on TV, and again when it was all so far removed that I struggled to identify with it.

Anyway, I suspect that motherland is a bit like that too.

I'm with you @JMSA. I expected I'd love it, as a working mum of 3 with what feels like vast London school run experience, but it left me completely cold and I only watched season 1. I'm not averse to some silly comedy, but found all the characters overdone to the point of caricature, and Julia so over-the-top irritating, I wanted to shake her.

I did like the first season of Working Moms and love the early seasons of Outnumbered. I also like Here We Go and Mum. I was disappointed not to have liked this.

I really like Motherland, but it's one of those shows that makes me smile wryly, rather than roll on the floor laughing.. I also found the characters grew on me over time.

I loved motherland, I felt someone had taken my life and all the chaos and pressure and expectations placed on working mothers and playground politics and shown it for what it is. I found it laugh out loud funny and if you can't relate to it, that is fine, but so is being able to relate to it.

I don't like it either, find it really lacking in any nuance/sublety. And agree that it's pretty dated now .

I LOVE Motherland and find it hilarious. I’m just rewatching it at the moment. Humour is like music, very personal. My friends all like it too. Plenty of people find it funny!

I wanted to like it so much more than I was able to. I don't think it helped that appart from Liz all the characters grated on me and I was constantly waiting for Anne to evolve or tell Amanda to get fucked but it never happened. And lovely Anthony Head was criminally underused.

I thought it was excellent but struggled with how close to the bone it was.

I really wanted to like it, but I didn't find in the slighted bit amusing or interesting.

I binge watched it again recently and still found it hilarious. Different strokes for different folks and all that.

My Mum likes it. Says it reminds her of when we were at primary school. I’m not keen really.

"It's Minecraft Kevin, not Mein Kraft, Hitler didn't write it"

Maybe Kevin is triggering you because you know someone like him irl OP?😄
The swimming party episode is brilliant, I'm cringing at some points & Julia's coat really stresses me out!
When I watched No Mum Left Behind I couldn't think of Meg without snorting with laughter for ages! And I don't find many comedies funny.