The Inbetweeners
This would have been my favorite show of the year had the #1 show not blown me away during a viewing marathon.
Raw, offensive, hilarious. New kid in school, Will, finds himself “settling” on a group of friends who are not cool—but not complete burnouts/morons. They’re in the middle of the social groups.
Will is the smartest of the four—and, unfortunately, he still hasn’t learned to keep that to himself. He is constantly making comments that are overheard—or just, plain sticking his foot in his mouth by not thinking before speaking. Just as he starts to “climb to the top”, he trips and falls back down. His home life is such that his mom has left his dad and moved to this new city. And tougher than being a child of divorce, Will also has to deal with the fact that every male in his school considers his mom pretty hot—and they never fail to mention that to him. Knowing your mom is a masturbation fantasy of your peers does not help one’s self-esteem.
Simon is the good-hearted and love-sick member of the group. He pines for classmate Carly, who considers him nothing more than an old friend (they’ve been neighbors since they were very young). Simon probably has the best chance to land a girlfriend, but he inevitably sabotages his chances by going after Carly instead. Simon, fortunately, has not only a drivers license, but also a car (which the others are embarrassed to ride in), so the others have to deal with his skittishness around women in return for the mobility he and the car provide.
Jay is the classic teenage horndog. Everything he says revolves around sex; every thought that pops into his head is about sex. And, as with most teenage boys, he has a severe lack of respect for the act or his potential partners. He constantly refers to girls in vulgar terms—and, as such, he never comes close to “landing” a date. Of course, he has a wild imagination about his prospects and his conquests—but the others have caught on to the fact that he’s full of crap on both. And while his friends calling out his bullshit is bad enough, his father is far, far worse to him. Your dad telling you that you have small penis in front of your friends is also not good for a teenager’s self-esteem.
Neil, quite possibly, could be the most normal of the group, if only he were a bit smarter. His lack of understanding of how uncool he is gets him into situations were he stands out—and is noticed to be as uncool as he is. He is also good at coming up with ideas for the group that eventually unravel as very basic questions are asked of the plan; things he just hadn’t thought through. Neil also has the unfortunate circumstance that his friends think his dad is gay. Luckily, his lack of wit is such that he doesn’t try to stage a comeback; he just says, “No he isn’t,” as his only defense.
This show never fails to make me laugh out loud numerous times in every half-hour episode. The pains of being a teenager are hyper-realized in this show, and it is gut-bustingly hilarious from start to finish. It may take a couple of episodes to get the language down (the speed of The Queen’s English and its slang, combined with numerous bleeps, can make it difficult to hear at first listen), but you can catch up quick.
The show isn’t for everyone. It is about teenage boys—and it is incredibly ribald pretty much from start to finish. But if you can handle the tone, you’ll laugh yourself hoarse.
