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Staged - General Discussion


cardigirl
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I just finished binge-watching this delightful series on Hulu.  Has no one else watched it?  David Tennant and Michael Sheen star (on Zoom!) as themselves (sort of) trying to rehearse their West End play during the pandemic since all the theatres are closed. 

I thought I'd start a topic and see if there are others who enjoyed this series. 

Series 2 just started in UK, so I'm not sure when I will be able to view it, but I'll be sure to watch when I am able. 

  • Love 2
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I just finished episode 5. (Actually “watched” it twice. Fell asleep the first time) I can’t believe it took me this long to watch. Glad I watched Graham Norton last week.  
My favorite part is the changing credits, depending on what was decided last episode. 

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I've watched the first three episodes so far. It is absolutely hilarious! I honestly can't remember a comedy that was so funny all the way through. My jaws hurt from laughing so hard!

The one thing I will say is that IMO you should have an affinity for both Tennant and Sheen and know a bit about their friendship to truly "get" the show. I'm not sure it's for everyone, but I'm sure glad I found out about it!

I wonder if Season 2 might show up on BBC America before it hits Hulu. Fingers Crossed.

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Oh man, I'd been seeing clips of this online for ages, but I didn't realize it was a full show until recently. Just binged the first season. This is one of the funniest shows I've ever seen--I think I laughed more in the first episode than I have through whole sitcoms. Can't wait until season two is available.

Do agree you probably have to enjoy/be familiar with Tennet and Sheen to enjoy this. But if you do, this is hilarious.

  • Love 2
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The birds are coming back to Port Talbot. 
and that large blue finch is the leader, it seems. 
I see you little feathery $#!t
🤣

loved that show. I already watched it 3 times. 
I’m more familiar with Sheen, than with Tennet. Though I saw Good Omens so I’m aware of crazy chemistry and comedic timing. 

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I've seen March 16th as the premiere date for Season 2 on Hulu.

I had posted clips of Sheen & Tennant on another forum I frequent, thinking they were just weird little "isolation" clips they did.  I had no idea til recently this was a whole series.

I've watched the first 3 episodes of S1 so far and it has to be the funniest thing ever.  The Samuel L. Jackson stuff was epic.

Good Omens was a great adaptation with these two, and I reckon they could read the phone book to each other and be more entertaining than 95% of TV nowadays.

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13 hours ago, vavera4ka said:

The birds are coming back to Port Talbot. 
and that large blue finch is the leader, it seems. 
I see you little feathery $#!t
🤣

loved that show. I already watched it 3 times. 
I’m more familiar with Sheen, than with Tennet. Though I saw Good Omens so I’m aware of crazy chemistry and comedic timing. 

My favorite part was how periodically throughout that scene, Sheen would just be staring out the window at the birds.

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Oh my---this is my new obsession! It kind of reminds me of Extras in the sense that we get to see well-known personalities and how they "really" are....hee. I know it is poking fun at their fame and fun making, but I sure do enjoy it.

 

I totally love their interactions, it almost makes me wish that the lockdown would continue so we would get a third season.

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This is great. I hope that after lockdown, they will do a third season at some point, about slightly missing some aspects of it. 

I admit that during the first season I had a bit of trouble getting that all of it was scripted and had to check online whether some parts of it were true, such as the closed play, Georgia writing a novel, or David writing a script. LOL. I felt a bit stupid afterwards, but I blame it on actors being so believable in their "roles".

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19 hours ago, JustHereForFood said:

I admit that during the first season I had a bit of trouble getting that all of it was scripted and had to check online whether some parts of it were true, such as the closed play, Georgia writing a novel, or David writing a script. LOL. I felt a bit stupid afterwards, but I blame it on actors being so believable in their "roles".

Blame it also on them creating a show about fictional versions of themselves - they deliberately blurred the line between fiction and reality!

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On 4/13/2021 at 8:21 AM, JustHereForFood said:

I admit that during the first season I had a bit of trouble getting that all of it was scripted

I didn't know it was completely (mostly?) scripted until season 2, and all the gags/cameos about who would play them in the "American" version.

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Just finished season 2. At first, I was a little thrown by the expanding layers of meta beyond what season 1 had already established, but by the end, I enjoyed it just as much as season 1 and thought it was just as successful in capturing the feelings behind the particular phase of the pandemic in which it's set. While in season 1, Michael is edgy and stir-crazy as he watches the birds plot outside the window and David is antsy to do something productive but in too much of a quarantine funk to actually do anything when he gets the opportunity to do so, I love how both of them are just beaten down by the time season 2 gets going but trying to act like they aren't. David's filming dates/location continually changing with the ever-changing restrictions is so on point, those diminishing returns of getting excited that you're finally getting back to "normal" only to have it constantly pulled out from under you. And then, to reach the end of the season, with David on the brink of FINALLY getting back to filming and feeling nervous that he won't know how to function face-to-face anymore? Loved that, along with Michael jokingly-but-not-really resisting the idea of no longer spending hours talking about nothing with David on Zoom everyday.

Michael Sheen and David Tennant are just such a pleasure to watch together. I like the way they're both frequently at odds/competing with each other (OMG, both of them trying to "stage" their backgrounds before their big Zoom call with Mary)/wearing each other's last nerve, and yet there's also such a sense of it being the two of them against the world together. I adore how insecure and needy both of them are, and that they get that about each other - I believe it's a season 1 bit, but I love the scene of them reminiscing about how pampered they used to be on movie sets, and the crossword-puzzle bit with the "star of Staged" clue is one of my favorite jokes in the whole series, just because it's such a great culmination of their ongoing rivalry. Another thing I love is the whole conceit of them being forced to work separately with the "Davids" and "Michaels," having proven they can't be trusted together, but they both wind up just using the rehearsal sessions to work out their issues with one another via each other's various proxies.

Speaking of the "Davids" and "Michaels," I don't know how the show manages it, but every prospective pairing is so out of pocket and yet so simultaneously fitting. Every single Zoom reveal of a new pair of guest stars made me go, "Whoa! ...But actually, that would totally work." And each guest star needed to deliver on multiple levels: their acting as Michael or David, their opinions on the characters, the tics of their acting process, how they sparked comedically and/or dramatically off of the actual Michael and David, etc. So much goodness.

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