The humour is underplayed and enjoyable. A further development of the characters would have been fun. I really enjoyed it, Also recognising from Sabrina and Game of Thrones Some great scottish actors. It was a laugh
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ase-8116913 June 2019
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"The Book Group" is the sort of show that is completely unique, not in its content matter or style but in the way it makes you feel. This is the second of Annie Griffin's series I've gotten into after the very similarly themed "Coming Soon" and I can't quite decide which one I like, or hate, more.
Essentially it's a look at several unhappy characters, I won't go into them here. But they're all unhappy, or insecure, or sexually frustrated in some way, and the combined misery of all the members of this 'book group' formed by the Ohio depressive Claire all seem to clash in every meeting they have. The first series all dealt with each one's attempts to hit onto each other one; Claire was in love with Barney, Kenny in love with Claire, Dirka & Fist both in love with Kenny, it was quite a vicious love triangle. We've just started screening the second series in Australia and it seems this time everybody has found someone but naturally is still unhappy.
But that's not the way the show seems to deal with it. All the characters are portrayed as pathetic, almost ludicrous in many ways, despite the fact that the feelings they are expressing are not in any way unknown to anybody. But it's black comedy, it makes you laugh even though there's nothing funny about it. And for that reason, while I might spend an entire episode cackling away non-stop, every episode always leaves me with a hollow, empty feeling. Maybe it's the un-finite nature of every episode ending, or maybe it's the haunting theme music or just the fact that the things I'm laughing at end up striking a nerve with me, either way, it's a unique experience.
One thing that has to be noted; very little of the series has to do with books: there are occasional references to the books they are reading for the week, often in the form of a member of the group's fantasy or dream, but apart from that it is simply a character study and fun-poking at some of the most depressing and heart-breaking human emotions set in the surroundings of a group of people gathered together to talk about books. For one thing, you have to realise that at least quarter of each episode deals with professional football given that one member is obsessed with it and three others are married to professional footballers.
Personally I think that Annie Griffin is one of the most under-rated writers/directors around today. She blends comedy and drama in a way that nobody else can do and weaves such intricate, almost psychological plots, around such a simplistic premise. I eagerly anticipate each episode and her next project. 4 stars out of 5. -
azeemak19 September 2003I don't usually start my contributions like that, honest - but it's entirely merited. I've just watched the whole of the first series on DVD and been perhaps even more impressed coming back to it after a long gap. One of the things I love about the programme is that although the books they're reading aren't that important, the book group setting itself *is* crucial to the programme.
There are several laugh-out-loud scenes in the first series, none of them revolving around standard gags or punchlines. One scene gets its laughs from repeated use of the "c" word, which is an extremely hard trick to pull off!
The characters are beautifully drawn, starting with the pivotal figure of Claire, who is at once hugely irritating and sympathetic. All the actors are fine, though I particularly liked the louche and laconic Rab. The minor parts are well done too, for example Ben Miller as the writer, the guys who play Fist's and Dirka's husbands, and the vicar, whom we see in one episode.
One other thing: it's really exquisitely filmed.
I can certainly imagine myself getting more than one viewing out of this DVD (I am intrigued to know what the audio commentary will be like), and will certainly look to get the second series eventually, if nothing else for the interplay between Claire and her sister. -
felixnoir2 August 2009Not everybody will like this type of transgressive, subtle comedy rooted in appreciation of character, but those how do will find it one of the funniest things they have ever seen.
The comedy of this show is basically about delusion. Almost all of the people in it are deceiving themselves about who and what they are. They are building castles in the air and refusing to accept their lives. The main character in the show and the butt of most of the humour is Clare, the American girl who starts the book group. Well-intentioned but also vain and naive, she looks down on the other girls for their ignorance and open sexuality, and refuses to admit to herself that her motive in starting the group is basically sex. She believes she has insight into others while in fact she has none, coming from a protected background, romancing her own life and failing completely to understand the earthy Glasgow people. The only character who is not comic is Ken, who is a paraplegic who has had to be realistic about his own life and who is turning his dreams into reality.
This comedy is also very transgressive. In one scene, Lachlan and Clare are having sex while he explains to her where her G-spot is.
But the real butt of the comedy is the audience. It asks us to re-evaluate our own intellectual pretensions and lives. This is why some people react so strongly to it. The humour arises from understanding and compassion. The Book Group is true art because it asks us to examine our own lives. -
The_late_Buddy_Ryan8 August 2012This smart, dark UK comedy series showcased the fabulous Anne Dudek a couple of years before she made her bones playing meanies or crazies on American TV (most notably the hyperintense Dr. Amber Volakis on "House"). Here she's Clare, a prickly American expat and the instigator of the book group; another heavy hitter, Rory McCann (Sandor Clegane, "The Hound," on "Game of Thrones"), is exceptional as Kenny, a sweet-natured giant now confined to a wheelchair by a climbing accident; James Lance is suitably repulsive as Barney, a temperamental grad student, in the first season and again as Lachlan, Clare's overattentive boyfriend, in the second. Inspired by the group's first book, Kerouac's "On the Road," Clare and Kenny start writing novels (or pecking out their romantic fantasies) on their laptops; the fantasy sequences don't always add much, but Anne Dudek looks great when she lets her hair down as a tweedy Dryden scholar. A lot of the stuff aboot the fitba' went right by me, and the sexy soccer mamas are a bit over the top at times, but Michelle Gomez has some nice moments as Janice, a Real Housewife of Glasgow who goes all out for self-improvement, and Derek Riddell is adorable (if not always comprehensible) as Rab, a shifty guy in a tracksuit wha disnae much care for buiks. The first season has real momentum as the characters get involved (mostly in pursuit of unrequited crushes) in each other's lives, the second's a lot less focused, though partly redeemed by the presence of comic Karen Kilgariff as Clare's tough-talking sister. The second season ends on an ambiguous but upbeat note, and Anne D. gets to show her softer, gentler side with a little karaoke number in the series closer. Final grade: eight stars for the first season, six for the second, docked one star for the unsubtitled Dutch, Swedish, Spanish and Arabic. Finally, this is a bit off topic but how many would like to read a fanfic about a coed kickball league in Hell featuring rival captains Amber Volakis and Sandor Clegane (he must be dead by now, right?)? No longer available on streaming Netflix, I'm sorry to say.
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M0vieL0ver10 April 2013This showed up on netflix recently, and I watched the first season.
The show started out reasonably funny, a decent plot concept, but then, pretty much moved away from the original theme of book group, discussing books and meeting friends to how many different types of sexual behaviour can we put in a TV series?
What did it miss other than bestiality?
infidelity - everyone's cheating on everyone (dark humor? uh, no)
bisexuality - not only is everyone cheating on everyone, but cheating with both sexes, woohoo! so "progressive"
group sex
swapping partners
gratuitous sex
gay football player sex (whatever), but yeah, football players seem to be heavy in the marrying women as a front, and cheating on other men and women. yeah, okay.
party time
I watched this show because I also liked the Green Wing actress, and recognized the lead female from the old House series.
Sex in place of humor? yea And, it's not even that funny.
Can't write a good script? Character development? Just go for gratuitous sex, of all kinds. That will keep them hooked...
Dumb show. Too bad. It started out well. -
duckgirlie22 July 2005I really like this the first time, and have been staying up late to watch the midnight re-runs on Irish TV.
I always liked this show, because of the (sometimes unbelievable) pretension of some of the characters, and the excellent acting throughout, particularly from Michelle Gomez, who I adore.
And, aside from the stories, and the dialog, and the acting, what had me bouncing up and down in glee was that Dirka and Fist, when alone with their husbands, spoke their native languages. This pleased me no end, as I always find it slightly ridiculous when foreign characters speak English, even when alone. -
copperncherrio13 March 2011Not all British comedies are great, but the seasons are short! So there was ample time to watch all of it and judge it harshly. I only wanted to watch this because one of my favorite characters/actress from Green Wing is in this (Michelle Gomez).
However, this just turned out to be a complete disappointment. There was only 1-2 likable characters, and the plot was overly disappointing. Some scenes were way over drawn. And the "cold hearted bitch" (also known as Wilson' dead girlfriend) from House was the leading character. There was no coherent love lines or interpersonal relationship.
There were a few good lines and scene, but I was sorely disappointed. The writing is haphazard and the characters are randomly underdeveloped. Apparently there are failing shows in ever country, even in England. Sadness abounds. I HATE LIFE sometimes.
SORE DISAPPOINTMENT. -
dr_salter3 December 2006Hey! I have been sitting watching the TV series "The Book Group" (2002) & thinking how much I love their sarcasm & wit.
And now I have found that Annie Griffin directed an earlier series "Coming Soon" (1999) and 'The Book Group' (2002-3). Both series have that same brew of almost reality, where life is acted out through the comedic antics of the winners & losers within the screenplay.
The tone of truly delightful, witty sarcasm and creamy cutting wit is the thing that I unwittingly connected with in both series, and it is the characters in 'Coming Soon' (1999) & The Book Group's characters' continuous unveiling of how they try to remain true to themselves, & FAIL GLORIOUSLY that brings out what I love about the two series.
Gradually, we begin to get an idea of what is behind the characters' closed doors and understand that there could be a tenuous connection to what most people consider 'normal' but within these people there are many shades and depth of how we all try to connect with reality, maybe miss the mark, then struggle, but move onwards & upwards.
You know I did not know till I checked IMDb! that "The Book Group' was connected to my old favourite series "Coming Soon". AND here it is! Sorry about all the exclamation marks !!! but I am SO elated to find Annie Griffin's gooey, blueberry coated finger in both wonderfully told tales of Scottish (Glasgow) extremist, eccentric behaviours.
"The Book Group" brings us the great work of Derek Riddell as Rab: taciturn tracksuit wearer, who reveals little about himself, has stubble, and literally loves footballers. The wonderful James Lance (from TV's 'Absolute Power') as Barney Glendenning- pretentious, opinionated post-graduate student with blonde highlights & drug problem. Karen Kilgariff as Jean Pettengill Claire's awful, overbearing older sister, who arrives in Glasgow wanting to share Claire's exciting lifestyle and Rory McCann as the wheelchair bound Kenny.
James Lance also plays Lachlan Glendenning- pretentious, bearded, bespectacled brother of Barney, who claims to be an installation artist. Their lives are wonderfully wacky and I recommend you all try to find them on DVD & see how great both series really are. -
One of the funniest shows I have seen. The characters aren't likable nor are they particularly realistic. But the show still got me hooked. When I moved away from england, i truly missed it. All the sarcasm and black humor in it are so hilarious. but only because it seems so sad.. it somehow makes it funny! This show might not find much viewers in America as its humor is not obvious to everyone and it does take some commitment to watch it because the storyline does evolve (although nothing much happens!)I just had such a laugh, when seeing the American coming to Scotland and being so lonely she starts to meet up with people she doesn't even like and ends up not being so negative about Scotland after all. i definitely enjoyed it
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A lonely American girl living in Scotland advertises a book group in a local shop window to help her meet people. For the first meeting she has a strange mix of people arrive for the discussion. Kenny is a leisure center attendant in a wheelchair, Barney is a pompous English dope fiend, Fist and Dirka are Swedish football wives, Rab is a working class football fan and Janice is a football wife struggling to be seen as smart and as confident as everyone else. As the group gets to know each other better the characters come out more and the books provide only an excuse for the collage of feelings and experiences that are really exposed within the group.
This started it's run in the slot of the brilliant Black Books. Channel 4 were keen to keep the laughing Friday night audience it had captured with Black Books and Fraiser and hence launched The book Group as a comedy similar to that other Book title. However the two have little in common except the word book. The Book Group was initially a disappointment I spent the first ten minutes trying to laugh too hard, feeling I had to try because it was supposed to be wacky and hilarious. Once I got past this I found it was more comedy based on characters rather than surreal humour.
This has actually made it more rewarding and the comedy is better because it is more liberally scattered rather than the scattergun approach of Black Books. But the real money here is the characters and their stories. We find out more and more about them each week and get more and more involved in their stories. I've just finished watching the first (but hopefully not only) series, but I won't talk too much about the stories as it may spoil it. But the characters get more detailed each week some in surprising ways! It's a little stretched at times, but most of it works. Yes the series may drift away from the actual reading of books for some episodes but then the actually discussing of books was never the focus of the programme anyway.
All the cast are great Dudek (also popping up in ER) is great as Clare the first episode is an example of how she can play cool on the surface but let things bubble just beneath and then explode in an emotional overflow. McCann is great as Kenny able to display his frustartions and hurt (?) at his situation but more so at the different ways he is treated, as a sex object by some and a object of pity by others. James Lance is great as the least likeable of the characters while Mulder and Engstrom are great as the football wives. Riddell is brave as Rab. Gomez is mixed as Janice it's hard to tell. At first I thought she was poor because I thought she did a poor show of being confident then I realised that was the point, then her breakdowns etc and her efforts to show everyone how smart she is come off really well.
Overall it has it's weaknesses but it has developed over the 6 shows and would be a welcome return for series 2. -
feelinglistless12 April 2002'The Book Group' is one show which certainly didn't seem to offer anything. Channel 4 seem to have sat on it for at least a year (the IMDb entry has a production date from last year) and in pre-publicity it seemed to be trading upon the title of the preceeding series in the slot 'Black Books'. Which is a shame, because it's certainly that show's equal but in different ways.
The premise is promisingly simple. American Clare (Anne Dudek) is living in Glasgow and in a bid to make new friends advertises a 'Book Group' in a local book shop. The show is about what happens at each monthly meeting and is told in 'real time' The twist is that that the people who arrive seem totally mis-matched for occasion and are obviously there for something other than the book - footballer's wives, a smart-arse student, a wheel-chair bound fitness instructor and the slightly shady Rob whose job has yet to be revealed. On reflection there are similarities with 'Dear John' - in that show there was similarly motley crew of sitcom characters.
Here, there is a definite understanding of humanity. Strangely these people never appear to be cartoon character, a strength of writer/director Annie Griffin. True this feels like theatre at times, but this means there is a rhythm to the writing, for example the breaking up of scenes by one of the wives asking if people want tea or the subject of football coming up now and then. In some ways I'm reminded of the 'Friends' episode all set in Monica's apartment as they all get ready for speech Ross is giving. That had a nervousness about it, as though this team of writers don't know how to break up the action. In Griffin's work, this never happens, there is the surety you would expect from someone who had been writing for years.
Clare is not an intensely likeable character, coming across as the sort of control freak who would give Heather of 'The Blair Witch Project' a run for her money. She had an obvious picture of how this thing was going to turn out and these aren't the people she was expecting to meet. She's sarcastic and neurotic (best line - 'Oh soccer? You can make money from that?'). But its to Dudek's credit that we don't completely hate her - that there is a spark of pluckiness we might root for. Of the rest of the actors, James Lance (as the student) does his usual smart-alec patter, but here it seems less forced. Rory McGann (fitness instructor) is also particularly good - we feel for him, but don't feel sorry for him.
This is a show that will develop with time. By keeping back all of the important revelations about the characters we have something to return to. And I will. -
azaro6665 May 2002The premise is so simple that it would seem likely to be a snowballing success.
The fact that the first episode was such a well structured, delicately written and well acted piece, meant that it appeared there was every possibility it could be a well thought through character study over a six week, or however long, period.
Perhaps I am missing something as I have not read all the books that have so far been discussed by the group, but in any case the first episode was the only one that even touched upon the book at any level.
Since then the programme has descended into the characters outside of the group. More about how they react in other environments and the experience that the book group may have had on them. The episodes appear to have been cut very harshly. There are great wapping gaps, with no explanation.
The stuff about Kenny and Claire and the kiss has been forgotten. Barney and Claire and their immediate chemistry. The female obsession of Kenny's hands.
It has to be said that the acting is very accomplished and it is a pleasure to see new actors proving their worth. Perhaps at the end of the run all of the loose ends will be tied up and it will make sense as a whole?
Even so though it needs to be judged on each episodes merits, and doing that is so hard as each episode is so vastly different in genre and style.
It feels like it should have been a two part series, just like Men Only which is one of the best things Channel 4 has ever shown. -
210west1 April 2005The biggest problem with this disappointing miniseries is that the characters are neither believable nor especially likable. Each can be summed up in a few words -- and two of the characters, in fact, are so interchangeable that they can be summed up the same way, "empty-headed sexpot." During the course of the series, they pair up (or triple up) in various improbable and contrived ways, engage in feuds and rivalries with other characters, reveal some not-so-surprising surprises about their true sexuality, and -- for no logical reason except to keep the series' gimmicky premise going -- continue to meet together at one another's homes. The video that I watched includes, at the end, interviews with many of the cast members, and rather touchingly, they praise the show's writer/director and the supposed meatiness and unusualness of the characters they played. Well, as a friend who was watching with me said, "Actors always want to work," and so their expressions of gratitude -- especially in the case of Rory McCann, who as I recall had practically never acted before, and whose modesty and gratitude seemed quite heartfelt -- were understandable. All the actors and actresses seemed like nice, thoughtful, articulate people, and they deserved better than this glorified sex comedy.