FLICK by Katie Hart
Over the past years, E4 has produced some original, edgy shows. Misfits, Skins and even Glee, have all been hugely successful with the British public. Sadly, one of the newest shows, Beaver Falls, is a huge disappointment.
The show is set in California, where we find three British ‘lads’ determined to have the best summer ever. After graduating from university, Flynn, a typical ladies man, signs himself and his two friends, Barry- an awkward, weed-smoking virgin- and the recently broken-hearted A-Rab, to teach overly privileged brats in an American summer camp.
Within the first five minutes not only is the lack of real chemistry between the three main characters embarrassingly evident but is not offset by any contribution from the minor ones, who each resemble a Grease meets The Breakfast Club cliché. There’s the kind, sassy babe and her popular, jerk of a boyfriend, the mean principle, the MILF, the pretty I’ll-mend-your-broken-heart girl and of course the bunch of losers the three guys are stuck babysitting.
It’s all the usual jokes about over-sexed, desperate Brits disastrously trying to get it on with perfectly tanned Americans, compiled with the standard “we’re all in this together” plot line.
The show is a pitiful attempt at fresh comedy. With the simple characters and dull humour, I was wondering if the writers had been rushed to meet a deadline, panicked, and written the first thing that came into their heads.
STICK by Kirsty Jenkins
So it’s definitely not the new Glee, 90210 or The Inbetweeners, but Channel 4’s new summer camp drama series Beaver Falls does possess qualities from each of these shows which make it an interesting viewing experience.
The ‘Brits abroad’ aspect is something relatively new for this kind of programme, and it is strange to find the main characters, Flynn, A-Rab and Barry, three rather dorky and clueless British boys stealing center stage from the rest of the all-American cast we’re used to dominating our screens in this kind of light-hearted, rom-com teenage drama.Writers Iain Hollands, Oliver Landsley and Jack Lothian (who has previously written episodes for the uniquely British comedy drama Shameless) have attempted, in a somewhat risky yet commendably creative move, to fuse together the two completely different worlds of British humour and American drama, bringing elements of Inbetweeners-esque situation comedy and British banter into the most American backdrop they could find: A Summer camp.
So does it work? It may not be quite in the same league as other E4 comedies, but give it a chance and I think it’s going to become just as addictive. Anyway, the undeniably gorgeous Flynn, who struts around camp representing the Scots, is all the reason you need to stay tuned.
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