Outnumbered - what's the appeal?

[catastrojb]

Have just been watching it on iPlayer - it's the first time I have seen it and it left me a bit cold. Sure, the kids are witty (and I know it's pretty much ad-libbed) but they are a bit irritatingly brattish and I usually just want to land one on Hugh Dennis's smug arrogant chops. Please come and defend it to me - everyone else thinks it's brilliant avant-garde TV so there must be something I've missed!

(Disclaimer: I'm in a bad mood tonight which might explain it; DH has gone out with his mates again and there was nothing on telly for me to do dd's ironing in front of. Humph.)

I agree. It's not funny at all. None of the characters is believable or likeable. They are vaccuous sorts who probably buy Boden. And they will end up paying for school but bore everyone stupid with their socialist conscience crises for ever more.

I suspect they buy shit wine.

I suspect she Mumsnets occasionally when she wants an answer to a problem and then she hoovers up a few unanswered threads because she's earnest. But she asnwers in two lines and thinks 'stupid cow' as she types her sweet answer. And never looks at the thread again to see whether the poor woman ever got her husband to back her up in an argument against the mother in law who didn't want children at her third wedding.

you take it too seriously

it is not real..
neither is mumsnet

I think their house is too nice on a teachers wages...and not even a HoD either - unrealistic.

Stillenacht

I find it funny. So do my DC - maybe that says something about my sense of humour

It's not funny in a clutching my sides rolling on the floor sort of way but there is wry recognition of the quirks of life with kids. Perhaps my kids are particularly brattish too.

BarryKent - same here

It amuses me a bit and irritates me a bit. But I recently read Julie Myerson's Living with Teenagers (the book of her columns) and I keep seeing the two families superimposed on each other, so that it looks less funny. Let your children ride roughshod over you now and what you'll get is children who ride roughshod over you later.

i love outnumbered but dh isnt keen because he says its a bit to like real life after the dc are in bed.i like watching other people deal with sometimes annoying,embarressing children,watching others deal with chaos of family life.i think characters are likable and funny.

plus i adore hugh dennis.

ooh, what have I started?! Suddenly I'm among outnumbered-hating friends, wonderful!

And now you mentioned about the house on a teacher's wage, I will always notice that too...

and i dont think the children can carry on in this ad lib way, there will just be too aware

I have watched it from the beginning and mostly found it funny. But it is patchy. Some episodes make me laugh out loud whereas others are a bit so-so. Hence, I think it a bit too early maybe to judge this series from one episode.

I agree though with the posters who think that as the children get older it may work less well.

Karen is now slightly too old to be funny and cute and is close to being annoying.

Ben I have always found a bit too bad to be believable

I quite like both parents though.

I totally don't get it!!

You don't have to anniebear, everyone had different humour, I am sure there are things you find outrageously funny that other people don't get.

I get it

Mumsnet is real.

I've watched this programme and definitely didn't get it. (Have two in early teens).

oh the house could be any number of explanations - loads of people (me for instance) have a house a bit bigger than they could buy on current salary alone.
One of them might have inherited a chunk of money from a relative, Sue's pre-children job might have been relatively well-paid, one of them might have had a flat before and made money on it, enough to get a big deposit. I think we know from discussions about money in the last series that they are living beyond their means and have a big mortgage.