Old Reggie Perrin vs. new Reggie Perrin

[raisindot]

"The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin" was one of my favorite BBC comedies from the 1970's and one of the best satires of business, suburban comfority, and 70s hedonism ever done. I don't think Leonard Rossiter ever did anything better in his career (and that includes the not-nearly-as-innovating Rising Damp).

Now I see there's a new Reggie Perrin series out there. I know nothing about it, or whether it's even available in the states. Has anyone seen it, and how does it compare with the original?

"I didn't get where I am today by watching retreads of classic BBC comedies."

 

[Bouncy Castle]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJwuDT9JPAE

 

[Jan Van Quirm]

Not as good as the original I thought.

They 'updated' but didn't really innovate too far away from the storyline (except in one important respect*) possibly because the writing for the first one was so clever. Can't quite put my finger on why it wasn't as good the second time out as the actors were as good, or even better (in the case of the Reggie's wife #2 Fay Ripley does a much more subtle job as a career woman and no kids in the mix) but for me the black comedy being less focused on laughs (through relatively standard comedic devices that probably were fresher on the first outing) didn't quite cut it, although it ought to have made the satirical element stronger if anything. Bits of it came across as pretty feeble in fact as the sense of Reggie's desperation seemed to be mis-hitting somehow.

Spoiler

*no faked suicide - probably the one thing they really should have kept in, even if it was predictable. :|

 

[raisindot]

I watched about fifteen minutes of the first episode via the link Bouncy provided. And then I stopped because I couldn't take it any more. Perhaps if I had never seen the original I would have liked this. But the remake was, for me, totally devoid of the wit and great acting of the original series.

 

[Bouncy Castle]

Pretty much the reaction from a lot of people on the BBC boards, Raisin.