I usually only write a review when the opinions of others here are utterly irritating. "Director's Commentary" was a simple idea and nicely done. Sure, it's no "Fawlty Towers" but there were some real gems of jokes there, good satire on the pretentiousness of film making and Brydon always develops rich detail in his characters. Sometimes it's his rambling anecdotes about things that have nothing to do with the programme he's commentating on that are the funniest. Sometimes it's the little intonations he has that make me smile. I haven't seen the show since the original run, but here are my favourite bits: "Dan Blocker...trained as a dancer" "And the production assistant was about to pick it up for Peter Bowles when I stopped him; 'no, don't interrupt him...he's acting' I said. And do you know who that young production assistant was? No, neither do I...I had him fired." "I had great times with Roger Daltrey on his farm, restoring old Ford Capris...sometimes we'd invite Pete Townshend to join us but his phone line was always engaged...this was in the days before broadband"
8 Reviews
Underrated gem
safenoe17 December 2020
I really liked this series!
Paul-Trethewey10 March 2004
I have to disagree with the previous review of this series as I found Rob Brydon's 'Director's Commentary' hilarious. Most of the jokes are quite subtle but his use of innuendos & double-meanings really is brilliant. I find the whole idea of Director's Commentary on DVD's somewhat bemusing & despite owning almost 100 DVD's myself, don't think I have ever bothered to listen to any of the commentaries! Brydon must share this view in order to make fun of them so well. The writing of his ramblings (and he really does ramble off on a tangent quite frequently during these shows) is inspired & deserves your full attention. Unconventional but very entertaining viewing.
Defective Commentaries
ShadeGrenade3 February 2006
Warning: Spoilers
In theory, 'Director's Commentary' should have worked. The talented Rob Bryden plays Peter DeLane, a former television director recounting his experiences behind the camera. Amongst the programmes he is alleged to have worked on are 'Bonanza', 'Flambards', 'The Duchess Of Duke Street', and 'The Bounder'. His commentaries are not the least bit informative, due to his habit of wandering off the point.
But in practice, it failed dismally. It is a one-joke show, and the joke is not particularly funny. The scripts are completely lacking in wit, and Bryden fails to convince as an old man. Whenever stuck for anything amusing to say, which is like every five seconds, he issues a hissing laugh. Rather than being amused by DeLane, you want to shoot him. If senile old men strike you as hilarious, then this is for you.
It didn't help that the shows mocked were, with the exceptions of 'Mr & Mrs' and 'Crossroads', rather good. For the joke to work, they needed to be really dreadful such as 'Charlie's Angels', 'O.T.T.', 'Telly Addicts', 'Neighbours', and 'New Faces'.
The show tanked big time, so thankfully we are spared the horror of future editions. Wouldn't it be deliciously ironic if 'Director's Commentary' were someday itself the subject of a spoof?
But in practice, it failed dismally. It is a one-joke show, and the joke is not particularly funny. The scripts are completely lacking in wit, and Bryden fails to convince as an old man. Whenever stuck for anything amusing to say, which is like every five seconds, he issues a hissing laugh. Rather than being amused by DeLane, you want to shoot him. If senile old men strike you as hilarious, then this is for you.
It didn't help that the shows mocked were, with the exceptions of 'Mr & Mrs' and 'Crossroads', rather good. For the joke to work, they needed to be really dreadful such as 'Charlie's Angels', 'O.T.T.', 'Telly Addicts', 'Neighbours', and 'New Faces'.
The show tanked big time, so thankfully we are spared the horror of future editions. Wouldn't it be deliciously ironic if 'Director's Commentary' were someday itself the subject of a spoof?
Pure genius!
b-sinclair263 April 2004
I kept missing this when it was on TV because it was on at the same time as Frasier. Just bought the DVD though, and it is absolutely hilarious. Rob Brydon is a comic genius. Simple idea, brilliantly executed.
Peter De Lane is the spoof director of some episodes of 'classic' TV shows such as Bonanza, and The Bounder. He shares anecdotes about the cast and crew, and talks about himself alot. I'd give examples, but don't want to spoil some of the brilliant jokes if you're thinking of watching it.
If you don't have a sense of humour, you won't enjoy it....for everyone else, you're in for a treat!
Peter De Lane is the spoof director of some episodes of 'classic' TV shows such as Bonanza, and The Bounder. He shares anecdotes about the cast and crew, and talks about himself alot. I'd give examples, but don't want to spoil some of the brilliant jokes if you're thinking of watching it.
If you don't have a sense of humour, you won't enjoy it....for everyone else, you're in for a treat!
Sounds great - isn't.
bob the moo7 February 2004
In a spoof of the common DVD commentaries, `acclaimed' director of television shows during the seventies talks us through some of his work. With a look at the camera work of his director of photography and stories aplenty, De Lane reminisces about the wonderful days past.
When I heard the idea behind this I immediately wanted to see it; I'm sure the pitch to the production company went the same way. While the idea sounds good, it doesn't manage to be good enough to justify it's existence. It would probably have worked better as a series of sketches of 3 or 4 minutes each (a character in the Fast Show for example) rather than a 30 minute programme in it's own right. It would have worked if the writing had been really good, but it isn't.
The dialogue brings out the inanity of the commentary really well, but the downside of this is that the programme itself comes out more inane than it does funny. It has the odd good line that reveals more about the bitterness of De Lane but most of the good gags are just repeated until they lose their effect. Certainly fans of Brydon's `Marion & Geoff' will be disappointed to discover that the writing here is about as far removed from that wonderful work as is possible. Brydon himself tries hard and does a good job of showing how pompous he is but again the writing really is what lets him down.
Overall this is a good idea but this series simply doesn't manage to deliver it. Hopefully someone else will try this same idea in a sketch format and make it sharper and fuller of character. As it is, this series is rather too slow, with too few laughs and almost totally lacking in the sort of character that Brydon was blessed with in his recent work.
When I heard the idea behind this I immediately wanted to see it; I'm sure the pitch to the production company went the same way. While the idea sounds good, it doesn't manage to be good enough to justify it's existence. It would probably have worked better as a series of sketches of 3 or 4 minutes each (a character in the Fast Show for example) rather than a 30 minute programme in it's own right. It would have worked if the writing had been really good, but it isn't.
The dialogue brings out the inanity of the commentary really well, but the downside of this is that the programme itself comes out more inane than it does funny. It has the odd good line that reveals more about the bitterness of De Lane but most of the good gags are just repeated until they lose their effect. Certainly fans of Brydon's `Marion & Geoff' will be disappointed to discover that the writing here is about as far removed from that wonderful work as is possible. Brydon himself tries hard and does a good job of showing how pompous he is but again the writing really is what lets him down.
Overall this is a good idea but this series simply doesn't manage to deliver it. Hopefully someone else will try this same idea in a sketch format and make it sharper and fuller of character. As it is, this series is rather too slow, with too few laughs and almost totally lacking in the sort of character that Brydon was blessed with in his recent work.
Just plain unfunny
ocarina61911 February 2004
I did enjoy Rob Brydon's Marion and Geoff as it was a weird new style of humour where we knew we shouldn't find this man's obviously tragic life as funny, but we did. Director's Commentary on the other hand is completely over-hyped, overrated and just plain not funny.
In its 30 Minute slot, Director's Commentary features Rob Brydon as an acclaimed director, commentating on "his work". Although the concept is unique, the thirty minutes given for the show is too long and the content of his "comedy" is run dry almost immediately. He rambles on for basically half an hour about every random diverse topic under the sun and this happens on every episode.
My advice would be, there is much better comedy out there worth watching over this, however if you really wish to bore yourself, then be my guest.
In its 30 Minute slot, Director's Commentary features Rob Brydon as an acclaimed director, commentating on "his work". Although the concept is unique, the thirty minutes given for the show is too long and the content of his "comedy" is run dry almost immediately. He rambles on for basically half an hour about every random diverse topic under the sun and this happens on every episode.
My advice would be, there is much better comedy out there worth watching over this, however if you really wish to bore yourself, then be my guest.
Even The Idea Wasn`t Impressive
Theo Robertson11 February 2004
It`s not often I disagree with Bob The Moo and the only disagreement I have with his opinions of DIRECTOR`S COMMENTARY is that having a spoof commentary track show is that it might have been a good idea in the first place . As Nigel Kneale said of DOCTOR WHO " It`s an idea you come up with in the bath then quickly forget about " The premise of this show is as inane as the surreal impressionist show DOUBLE TAKE , it fails to work as satire because the audience know the director involved isn`t a real director . How do the audience know this ? because the heavily plugged trailers point this out . We know the man from THE DUCHESS OF DUKE STREET isn`t Tony Slattery and we know that Ridley Scott wasn`t the original director of MR & MRS and we know if this was such a funny show ITV wouldn`t be broadcasting it at 11 o` clock at night
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