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Since the British Villains Thread was hijacked by the Irish Wannabe Villains, I decided to take a peek into the lives of Irish forum members Richard C and Alexis.
And like a gift from the gods, there was Derry Girls, a 90s period comedy.
At first I thought the soundtrack would be relevant i.e. giving me a sense of time, but it jumps from 1992 (Snow's "Informer") to 1996 (Gina G's "Ooh ah") and then back to 1990 (Vanilla Ice's "Ice Ice Baby").
Add to that Linda Clifford's "If My Friends Could See Me Now" and Madonna's "Holiday" (I guess they couldn't find another holiday song) and it just puts a damper on the show's retro aspect.
The characters are inherently funny but are often ruined by absurd and overkill characterization.
The show's biggest flaw is the contemporary sitcom humour, well I understand that it is a comedy series but it disconnects itself too much from the period drama angle.
If it wasn't for the political and religious references - mostly literal, in dialogue - this could have been Sidney Girls or Boston Girls. Or Girls Underried.
In the final scene they suddenly remembered what it was all about, but it felt a bit out of place and insincere rather than enhancing the tone of the show.
But it also made me realise what a fantastic show it could have been if they had bothered to show the real Derry Girls.
That said, I got a few laughs out of it - especially the boring Uncle Colm (of all characters!) - and the nasty Jenny Joyce is the girl you'll love to hate. She's very much like Nellie Oleson, actually.
