TV Talk: ‘Dick Turpin,’ ‘Regime’ employ different styles of humor
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British-accented humor comes in two distinct forms this weekend with the debuts of Apple TV+’s “The Completely Made-up Adventures of Dick Turpin” (streaming March 1) and HBO’s “The Regime” (9 p.m. Sunday, HBO; streams on Max).
‘Dick Turpin’
Fans of “Monty Python” or “Blackadder” are the ideal audience for “The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin,” a family-friendly, often silly 1735-set adventure-comedy series that also brings to mind “Galavant” (without the songs).
With its first two (of six) episodes premiering Friday, the series stars comedian/actor Noel Fielding, best known for “The Mighty Boosh” and as co-presenter on “The Great British Bake Off.” Yes, there are many sophomoric jokes made at the expense of the title character’s first name.
Dick didn’t want to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a butcher (Dick is vegan) but he was aimless until a legendary “highwayman” robber died in his presence and Dick inherited his Essex Gang, who are less interested in committing crimes than they are in other pursuits.
“I want to rob people as a protest against hereditary land ownership!” declares the gang’s sole female member.
The humor is broad, often slapstick and relies on visual gags to a greater degree than any current live-action comedy I can think of. It’s the kind of show both a parent and 10-year-old child can find common humor in, particularly a scene where one of Dick’s adversaries brings his son to work only for the father to have his attempts to menace Dick flummoxed when his son interrupts to say he found “a large moth.”
The Essex Gang is up against Jonathan Wild (Hugh Bonneville, “Downton Abbey,” “Paddington”), the thief-taker general, a vigilante who claims to bring lawbreakers to justice while doing deals on the side with criminals to enrich himself.
Both Turpin and Wild are based on actual historical figures but they’ve been fictionalized for comedic purposes in this series.
“In England, [Dick is] as famous as Robin Hood,” Fielding said during Apple TV+’s portion of the recent Television Critics Association winter 2024 press tour. “[Dick] was real, but he was quite a nasty, murdering criminal. We’ve reimagined him as an inclusive pacifist. He’s more about creativity than violence.”
Dick, who in this series has shades of Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow from the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies, was previously reimagined as a dandy by other writers and in the ‘80s Adam and the Ants song “Stand and Deliver.”
“It’s a fish out of water thing where Dick is nice and inclusive and kind and sees the best in everyone, but he’s dealing with a bunch of hardened criminals,” Fielding said of the series. “That’s where the comedy comes from.”
“Dick Turpin” executive producer Kenton Allen said the goal was to reclaim comedy from the unfunny abyss of dark dramedies (See: “The Regime” below).
“We’ve been through a period of comedies that, frankly, aren’t funny or are quite dystopic and sort of funny comedy-dramas,” Allen said. “We wanted to make something that was hard funny and silly and just optimistic and escapist … give an audience somewhere to escape to where you’d sit there with your kids and have a great big adventure every episode and laugh really hard and see some mad things that you don’t often see in half-hour comedies these days and just have proper escapist fun.”
‘The Regime’
Created by Will Tracy (“Succession,” “The Menu”), “The Regime” attempts to mine humor from the absurdity of an authoritarian regime in a fictional “middle Europe” country where everyone has British accents, but the show stubbornly refuses to create laugh out loud funny moments. At best, “The Regime” is semi-droll, but not much more.
For a comedy about authoritarian rule to be truly funny, especially in an era with many crazier real-world examples, it needs to be “Borat”-style over the top. The six-episode “Regime” never gets there. Instead, this limited series plays everything subtle and low-key, refusing to indulge in the satire of the situations presented.
Kate Winslet stars as Chancellor Elena Vernham, a self-deluded ruler of a country who obsesses over (real or imagined) mold in the walls of her palace. Winslet is the best thing about “The Regime,” commanding viewer attention and bringing as much humor as Tracy’s script allows.
“I bless you all and I bless our love always,” Elena says in all her TV appearances.
When her underlings bring in a new assistant who’s a former soldier nicknamed “The Butcher” (Matthias Schoenaerts), Elena begins a new infatuation. Soon she’s taking orders from The Butcher, who comes from a rural area and re-directs Elena’s fear of mold to a diet of potatoes and dirt.
Winslet is completely game to look ridiculous but to what end? The circus-inspired opening credits music suggests a wild and wacky series. This is not that.
In an HBO Zoom press conference Tuesday, Tracy said the series was inspired by his reading about oppressive regimes, particularly “The Emperor: Downfall of an Autocrat,” about the rise and fall of an Ethiopian emperor. He envisioned “The Regime” as an “Upstairs Downstairs”-style story.
“To me, the comedy or absurdity of the piece is built into the world because she’s so extreme,” Tracy said. She has unlimited material access and unlimited power so she creates her own reality. When someone creates their own reality who is that powerful and that dangerous, everyone around her has to pretend that her reality is reality — the sky is green; two plus two equals elephant — and that is inherently funny … But we have to be careful not to be too playful with it because of the underlying seriousness of the subject matter.”
Channel surfing
The character Che Diaz (Sara Ramirez) won’t be back for the third season of Max’s “And Just Like That…” … Interior designer Jeremiah Brent will join the ninth season of Netflix’s “Queer Eye’ replacing Bobby Berk, who left the show. … CBS renewed daytime soap “The Young & the Restless” through the 2027-28 TV season. … Paramount+ ordered a new, untitled “NCIS” spin-off series focused on original “NCIS” characters Ziva David and Tony DiNozzo, now raising their daughter as they go on the run across Europe following an attack on Tony’s security company, with actors Cote de Pablo and Michael Weatherly reprising their roles. …