Season 1 – The Franchise

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Kev S Biggest Disappointment: The Franchise (Sky/Now)* This show was the biggest victim of over-promise and under-delivery of 2024, largely as a result of the involvement of Marina Hyde. If she wasn’t the co-presenter of my favourite podcast of the year (see TV Of The Year Part 2), as well as being one of the funniest and most respected writers there is, I would have had no expectations for The Franchise, in fact I might have not even watched it. But not only did Marina big it up by telling us all so much about the experience of The Writers Room (she is one of that number, and an Exec Producer), and use it as a constant reference point when giving us her insider knowledge on how TV production works, and her insights into the making of superhero franchise movies (the subject matter of the show), but also it is the work of top names, including Armando Iannucci who can usually do no wrong. The Franchise mis-fired from the start by having stories that hinged on plot points that didn’t come across as convincing or realistic. They’re making a superhero movie but, for reasons of focus, they’re making it with just two actors and a stuntman, on one set. The characters making the movie have unclear jobs and even less clear characters, and then they are obliged to sort out situations that have you going “but that would never happen”. Every time. The actors get temporarily blinded by lights that are turned up high because a producer think the set looks too dark. What? A cameo actor from another film is brought in at no notice. What? Script changes are made all the time, but there doesn’t appear to be a writer anywhere to be seen. What? To to be fair to the actors, Himesh Patel, Lolly Adefope and Richard E Grant put in sterling work in underwritten roles, but poor old Jessica Hynes and Justin Edwards are hopelessly misused in a “will they won’t they” scenario which is much more “why would they/ who’d care if they did?”. There are other actors there, but you constantly wonder why. The script is full of contrivances that must have seemed hilarious in this mythical Writers Room, but fall flat when put into a script. And the cast of characters have the least chemistry between them that I think I have ever seen in a British comedy in the last decade. The casting seems to have involved a lot of people being fitted into a role with a “they’ll do” approach, rather than the part being grown around them. The contrast between this and organically grown sitcoms Ghosts, Colin From Accounts and Fisk couldn’t be more stark. It has a big budget, which hasn’t helped it. It’s meant that this much-lauded writers room could be brought about, though this has resulted in a show that feels Written By Committee rather than whatever genius effect the Americans make it render. But then it has led to the whole thing feeling overblown, yet under done, with big sets in which any laughter would be lost and evaporate, so it’s probably a good job they never generate any. It is a surprise that this team were involved in the excellent Thick Of It and Veep, but less of a surprise to learn they were involved in the woeful Avenue 5, from which little seems to have been learned. *From TV Of The Year 2024 on KevFComicArtist blog Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 12/13/24 Full Review J V The characters are all insufferable and boring. They don’t give them time to evolve, there is no real character development so I never cared about them. And when there was character development , it did not feel deserved. The only character traits they have is complaining about the system, which gets old really quick because of the lack of good writing. All characters speak in quips, something they should have made fun of instead of keeping to this same boring formula. There never really is any payoff in any episode. I get what they were trying to do, but in my eyes they failed miserably. Rated 1.5/5 Stars •  Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 12/11/24 Full Review adrian f It takes a minute to catch on to the vibe of the series, but once you’re onboard you can begin to appreciate the monologues of the assistant director Daniel, the quirky cast, the characters and all their silly depth. I finished it and started it again. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 12/03/24 Full Review Andrei D Has a few moments but never establishes a rhythm Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 11/25/24 Full Review Rachel S Galaxy Quest but instead of Star Trek, Marvel movies. Fantastically funny. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 11/21/24 Full Review Audience Member A comedy that misses the mark more than it gets laughs. I think they want us to care about the characters and movie production, but I can't come up with a reason why anyone would. Just a beffudled mess of a show with too few laughs. Rated 1.5/5 Stars •  Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 11/19/24 Full Review Read all reviews

The Franchise — Season 1

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