Family Tree sitcom starting on Tuesday 16th Jul BBC2

[kiterunner]

At 10 p.m. Stars Chris O'Dowd. We should probably try not to nitpick too much!

[Jill]

Loved him in the IT Crowd & Moone Boy, and it's got Nina Conti too. It's a Christopher Guest project so look upon it as Spinal Tap for family history :)

[Kit]

sounds good Kite. Let us know what it's like when you've watched it.

[Shona]

Family Tree follows the world and journey of 30-year-old Tom Chadwick. Having recently lost his job and girlfriend, Tom has a rather unsure sense of his own identity. But when he inherits a mysterious box of belongings from a great aunt that he never met, he starts investigating his family lineage and uncovers a whole world of unusual stories and characters and a growing sense of who he is and who his real family are.

Family Tree is a single-camera, improvisational, mockumentary comedy, a style that Christopher Guest's films have pioneered in the past.

[kiterunner]

I thought they had made a massive mistake with the age and date of the photo and who it was supposed to be, so I was glad it turned out not to be him! Liked the tv stuff and the monkey - I want more monkey next time and much less of Tom's best friend. Also I'm not sure that we need so many people doing bad fake accents.

[Jill]

Looking forward to see how it develops, (loved the spoof tv show Plantagenets that his dad was watching).

[JBee]

Watched it but not sure what to make of it.

[Nell]

The jury is still out on this one, I think.

[kiterunner]

I thought it was so obvious that the man in the photo was English and dressed up; why did they make such a meal out of it? And I don't think much of the date scenes - I know Christopher Guest loves improvisation, but I really think he could have done with a lot more work on those scenes. I get the feeling there is going to be one in every episode. I don't think I would bother watching the rest of the series if it weren't for the subject matter! But then the way he is going about researching his tree is much like the celebrities on WDYTYA - the difference being that on that programme, we know that there are paid researchers behind the scenes doing the work and TV people arranging for the visits to places, meetings with people who can help, etc, and there is no explanation for how he is able to organise all this stuff in this sitcom. And as with a lot of sitcoms nowadays, there are the "mockumentary" scenes every now and again where someone talks to camera, but there is no real sense of what programme they would be making?

[Shona]

Two episodes in and I'm not convinced. I may have had one chuckle during Episode 2, but I can't remember why. When parodies work well, writers and performers alike appear to have a genuine affection for whatever they are sending up. Peter Kay's 'Britain's Got the Pop Factor and Possibly a New Celebrity Jesus Christ Soapstar Superstar Strictly on Ice' worked as a parody of TV talent shows because Peter Kaye loved the shows in question. On Family Tree, I get no sense that they understand or like the subject they are attempting to parody.

[Shona]

I've been reading an interview with Chris O'Dowd about Family Tree.

As he was making the show, he delved into his own roots. Chris, who is from Co Roscommon, claims to have traced the O'Dowds back to the late 15th century. I'd like to know how, as the brick walls thrown up by my Irish lot are impossible to break down. He also found a castle which used to belong to the O'Dowds and has put in an offer to buy it.

Also, he has found out his great-grandfather was a bigamist who had a second family in Birmingham. From this he deduces that he could be a cousin of Boy George (born George Alan O'Dowd).

But I thought that Boy George was born in London to Irish parents - mum was from Dublin and dad from Thurles in Co Tipperary.

[Merry]

He sounds like my mum who says she is related to the Sainsbury's food chain because her great-grandmother was a Sainsbury and to Clark's shoes because Clark is her maiden name and her Clark ancestors were Quakers! As far as I know there is no connection in either case.

[kiterunner]

I know I said to try not to nitpick too much, but in tonight's episode, oh dear - "I found Victoria's will online" and Charles Chadwick's birth certificate showing he was born in the US.

[Shona]

*pins medal on Kate*

Above and beyond the call of duty.

[Merry]

I watched episode 1 when it was broadcast and episode 2 on iPlayer with headphones. My daughter asked me what I had been watching after episode 2 and when I said a FH sitcom she said "but you didn't laugh once"!!

I don't think I will be bothering with episode 3 following Kate's comment!

[JBee]

No it doesn't do anything for me at all.

[Nell]

I've decided its not for me either, likeable though Chris O'Dowd is.