Staged: Season 3

Well that was more different than I expected.

So we're back to 6 episodes again but the strangest part is there's only 2 episodes of the actual show, and the rest of the season is actually all about behind the scenes stuff and gearing up for actually filming the third season. Never have I ever seen a television show that potrays the actual show, the aftermath of the show, and the preproduction of the show. It does feel like a true peek behind the curtain with Georgia playing executive producer/sociopath, Michael and David doing a tiny bit of press and having rehearsals before filming, Simon actually isn't a spineless worm and actually directs will wonders never cease? So it's undoubtedly the black sheep of the entire run and as far as I know they had no intention to go beyond a third season so this is it for all intents and purposes, but it's still interesting to watch! It certainly posed many questions in my mind of how do you produce a television series with a skeleton crew of camera operators, audio engineers, and the director himself? It sounds almost an impossible task but they pull it off and pull it off well! I guess I was just thoroughly thrown off course because the first two episodes are business as usual for the most part and then it's all backstage stuff for the vast majority of the season, so I don't hate it by any stretch but I also certainly don't love it as much as the other two seasons. David and Michael still have moments to shine and show their humor scripted or otherwise, Georgia practically gets the same if not even slightly more screen time than our boys and she really is a ball busting producer...maybe goes a bit off the fucking deep end and crafts a Jigsaw level situation for David and Michael to get over some writing hurdles to be perfectly honest but I guess you gotta do what you gotta do. Handful of cameos present including one of my all time favorite british actors, and while they aren't as prevalent because of the shorter episode count it was still nice to see them. It certainly has appeal seeing the crafting of a show even if it's not super in depth and indeed I can see many normal people who just enjoyed the first two seasons kinda get a introductory look at behind the scenes production material that people like me AKA insane cinephiles are aware of. Admittedly I would just stick to the first two seasons but there's still interesting stuff here, and I can at least recommend it halfway. 3 stars from me, 8/10, and I guess more behind the scenes stuff will come up next week with an animation company and animator legend known globally.

Staged: Season 2

Or Staged squared if you're mathematically inclined.

Okay definitely a shift from last season, picking up roughly a year later when we were oh so slowly crawling out of the pit itself this season more or less deals with the impact of the first season. If you thought it was meta before you ain't seen nothing yet! We bump up to 8 episodes now still at 22 minutes each as we follow David and Michael who are made aware of the show making a leap to the States but...without them starring. So it's this mad scramble for them to learn all the details of a production they have nothing to do with combined with actually a pretty normal thing in actor's lives: atrophy and waiting for the next part. I say this with love and enjoyment in my heart, there is somehow even less going on plot wise this time around. No really, it's mostly Michael and David getting into a bit of a rut while also trying to integrate themselves back into the show, and don't think about that too hard or you will quickly learn that time is a flat circle and that this rabbit hole is a reflection of a reflection. I mean you always hear stories about actors just kinda waiting for the phone to ring and I truthfully feel they did a brilliant job potraying that, David almost turns into a recluse and falls out a bit with Michael because of it. And you cannot tell me otherwise at this point they're basically married, I had every expectation to see a kiss or an embrace before the end! I wouldn't quite say the performances got better they more expanded for lack of a better term, filling out more of the depictions of themselves and giving new angles for us the viewer to see them, which is still great stuff! They have such a school friend energy about them at times and whether this season is improv to hell and back or not you can feel the joy they have being around each other. I also appreciate seeing more of Georgia, Anna, and Lucy kinda have their own brief little storyline as well, that was nice. Good few celebrity cameos as the first go around, don't want to spoil any of them because some were a genuine shock. The humor is still as strong also, David had me losing it a good few times mainly because I've never seen him angry or upset before so those were gold for me but the absolute biggest laugh I got wasn't even a line, but a look from Georgia in the last episode of the series literally made it to where I couldn't breathe. I don't know why, it just killed me. This was way more like what I imagined the show to be like in my head, very few instances of any kind of camera shot beyond webcam stuff and the five layer cake depths of art imitating life imitating art was almost mind boggling. It's such an interesting little show and I think that's why I love it, don't get me wrong it's great to see David and Michael kinda bounce off each other and have fun mucking about, not to get off topic but the scene where they're just doing the newspaper crossword puzzle...if that's scripted I will literally castrate myself, cook it, and eat it because that was just them being them! Not a shred of acting found in that brief moment. But anyway, it's just this oddball show that clearly is not meant for everyone but holy hot damn is it entertaining to me and clearly many more people if it got not one but a two-hoo extra seasons, and whether or not tomorrow's review will be the last for Staged it was great fun while it lasted. I give it 4 stars, 9/10!

Staged: Season 1

I knew I had to get around to this eventually one day.

How to describe the plot of Staged? Well you see, back a few years in the dark ages when the most boneheaded fucking move in health and safety where no one was supposed to be outside occured, tumulting the entertainment sector into a septic tank both in cinemas and theatrically, we follow one such particular case of Six Characters In Search Of An Author being crafted and rehearsed almost entirely through webcams. Starring Michael/David Tennant/Sheen! For as dirt simple as a premise like watching two great actors just lolligag about and converse on a Zoom call, barely even rehearsing for a play, it's fantastic entertainment! I was almost hacking up my lungs from laughing so damn hard throughout the shockingly short first series, only six episodes at 22 minutes a piece! It's about as experimental a show as I've ever seen in certainly the most unprecedented time I've encountered in my life, to the point where I desperately need to know exactly how much of this was scripted because aside from a few normal camera shots it's beyond candid and effortlessly real. Obviously the comedy is played up with David and Michael acting like the most bickering married couple you've ever seen in all your days, but it all just seems too real. Nary a drop of escapism found here and yet still is fun to watch. I can't say that about...any other show honestly. Though I'll be up front and say when I heard the premise and caught brief glimpses of clips, I thought the whole programme was going to be viewed through a computer screen just seeing the director and the actors on their video conference doing whatever and I'm almost disappointed it wasn't. They have very simple camera set ups where you see everybody, except for now that I think about it Michael, in their kitchen or dining room chitchatting. I don't at all hate it but I thought wow, what a fascinating television production and would almost be fourth wall breaking if you were streaming this on your laptop or home computer. So obviously most production details I cover are almost obsolete for lack of a better term, it's hard to get a Goodfellas type shot with a webcam, so all I can work with are the actors. I wholeheartedly adore Michael and David so I was pretty much sold on this series and it was just as grand as I thought it was going to be, and I love seeing Georgia and Anna in the fray as well, they really have a sweet relationship and I'll admit even I'm slightly jealous of them, even the less than effectual director Simon isn't a total wet blanket on the proceedings though I personally was almost entirely locked in on Lucy Eaton who plays his sister she was absolutely class! There's even some surprise guest stars which I shall not give away, cause where's the fun in that? Go watch it! It's no masterclass of TV but for me it was firmly in my wheelhouse and I loved every second of it. If regular televised productions are getting old for you this is different enough, if you want a good laugh sign up immediately, even if you just wanted almost this time capsule of a severely shit situation that humanity got shoved into without knowledge or consent (no idea why anyone would want that but hey history is history) then yeah sure go for it. 4 stars from me, 9/10, take from that what you will and I'm gonna have to see the further misadventures of this cast of characters.