I just started watching this series with the brand new episode of tonight. Even though the lead character is interesting enough to carry a show, the pace bugged me too much. It was so slow that not only the story but also the jokes were falling apart.
That very same pace might have worked fine in 2006 when the series started, but just doesn't sit right with today's requirements. At Fremulon, they create shows of similar spirit (Parks and Recreation, Brooklyn 99) at 5 or even 7 times the speed. Condensed, rapid stuff that provide you with a functioning story full of jokes and popular culture references.
All right, I get it... This is a series aimed primarily at Italian audiences that consume conventional TV. Still, it is too slow... Slower even than the family comedies aired on the same and other RAI channels.
Something else that bugged me was the absence of ambience sound in several scenes. That's a sign of low production quality when there is no particular reason to not record or to feel the need to omit such circumstantial sounds.
I wonder what age group the show is nowadays targeted at. With all those pop culture references (to Inspector Callaghan and else) even people in their 60s can connect, and the low pace might not bother them.
However, we are in 2021 and shows like Brooklyn 99 become hits using almost the same kind of basic premise. What 20 year old would bother to watch this for two hours, I wonder.
I wish Rai 2 at least provided the option to watch stuff at twice the speed, like Netflix does.
