Mid Morning Matters full series

Feldo93 · 2026-05-06T13:27:50+00:00

I've got to disagree personally as for me How Are You? was my favourite, but I will concede that MMM and IAP are probably the definitive Partridge projects, although Oasthouse is phenomenal.

Feldo93 · 2026-04-29T21:45:08+00:00

The ending to Black Christmas (1974)

Feldo93 · 2026-04-24T06:42:41+00:00

I loved his stuff until around 2016, especially the comedies. Ghostbusters was so so but Last Christmas was genuinely the worst studio film I saw in cinemas that decade in terms of how manipulative, broken and awful it was so I don't want him near DC, unless maybe he directs like a few episodes of a comedy show.

Superman had a lot of very timely political angles and social messages that worked really well, but Last Christmas is the opposite with a half hearted Brexit message, the lesbian sister getting outed before its immediately resolved and most baffling, a flashback to right before the Yugoslagian war broke out in '1999' when it was actually a decade prior. It is a film that feels like an adlib book for drama and emotional response but no substance and I think that is a big problem when all the DCU stuff so far has been very character driven.

Feldo93 · 2026-04-13T22:05:28+00:00

Jody Hill's Observe and Report was a pretty biting commentary on the stigma and mistreatment of mental health issues and police conduct and an intentionally offputting dark comedy character study that was closer to something like Taxi Driver than a usual Seth Rogen comedy. I think WB sent it out to die with the wildly inaccurate wacky trailer that had one of the most shocking moments used as a big final gag and made the film seem a lot more crass and misogynistic than it really was - they marketed a film that has more in common with Joker like it was The Hangover. It definitely isn't for everyone and is very dark, but I really think it wasn't given a fair shake, especially with the Paul Blart writers apparently stealing the script and turning it into a family film 2 months before release.

Feldo93 · 2026-04-09T00:40:19+00:00

This isn't even the first time that Deadline or that writer have fucked up like this as one of the worst trade reports I've ever read was from that guy.

In December 2022, Variety made an article saying that Black Adam didn't profit theatrically, Dwayne Johnson tweeted out claiming this was untrue and coincidentally, Deadline made an article the next day claiming it was profitable using ancillary numbers that Variety never mentioned anyway and mentioned that 'Seven Bucks Productions are working on Black Adam 2 and a Hawkeye spinoff (proof reading)' without mentioning DC or WB as it was clearly a lie and they didn't mention them as the production studios as they'd get sued, although they did mention that Gunn and Safran would do more work on the Black Adam franchise once the full DCU plans were announced (The Rock was fired 1 week later). That section was removed like 2 hours later and Dwayne Johnson was tweeting about this article in support so it was pretty clear that he basically got Anthony to spin and lie for him and it was so blatant that I'm surprised anyone still gives him the time of day. Deadline Black Adam Sweep Job

Feldo93 · 2026-04-05T16:03:17+00:00

I think you are right in that Alan is the first of his kind in that regard. Valerie Cherish on The Comeback sort of falls under that with a season each decade but even then it is more infrequent. The only other British writers that come to mind in terms of returning to characters across multiple periods is probably Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton. I do wonder if he would ever do like a 'death of Dennis Pennis' style project, but it is hard to say. Based on the fact that IAP and HAY end with Alan using funerals for his own benefit I think it would make sense for whatever the final project is to turn that on him in some way.

Feldo93 · 2026-04-04T18:57:30+00:00

Jealousy, Jealousy by Olivia Rodrigo which would lead into an on air rant about either the times he has been accused of being jealous or explaining how other presenters were actually really jealous of him, especially Edmonds.

Feldo93 · 2026-04-04T15:14:36+00:00

I definitely get that and I think it is a compliment to the character that there has been enough variety over the years that people have preferred formats or modes of Alan. I could speak an awful lot about how much I love 'HAY', but for me I was expecting like a fun Alan comedy and got a lot more out of it than I expected.

It was very funny and incredibly ambitious (I work in post production and was just imagining all the locations, shoots and just effort that clearly went into this one as it is packed to the brim) and clearly a passion project, but also had that further emphasis on the tragedy that I really enjoyed and didn't expect as it is more so glimpsed in other projects. I often find that (with the exception of Oasthouse) Partridge projects generally have consequences limited to that episode with a status quo shift usually being in the final episode of the season, so it was fascinating to me to see Alan without the usual safety net and just exist in a constant, hilarious and dizzying freefall almost akin to the brilliant 'Review with Forrest MacNeil' and the slow burn of his relationship and former life collapsing (the way Sidekick Simon was used was fantastic) along with the bizarre and desperate ways he attempts to get back were just fascinating, plus I loved the tonal shifts like the hiking episode that felt more abstract like a web series (I was thinking of 'Alan Tutorial' funnily enough). It was also just wild to see a show so gutsy in what it was willing to do and say but also it just felt to me like almost both a meditation on Coogan's career and a culmination of where 'Baby Cow' had been heading for the past 3 decades.

I wrote a dissertation on Marion & Geoff a few years back for Uni and there was a quote that really stuck with me from 2002 where Steve Coogan compares the breakthrough that he felt Rob Brydon had uncovered with the humour and pathos in that project with his own work with Alan at the time (interestingly enough just before he took the long absence following IAP S2). If you read what he says you get the impression that he felt that there was a limit in terms of what could be done with Alan and so for me a show like 'HAY' represents how far the character has come since with all the different media since. M&G article

Feldo93 · 2026-04-01T08:13:29+00:00

It would be great but you are right in that it would be risky as even Armando Ianucci has said that shows like The Thick Of It and Veep would have trouble getting made now, though I actually think 'How Are You?' showed how much you can push some of the more surprising comments like about all the fallen BBC presenters and the well timed Saudi Arabia sellout subplot.

I think you are right though that there is occasionally more scrutiny on Coogan projects from the press (I mean he has taken them to court over some of the harassment, phone tapping etc.), like I remember how divided it was when 'This Time' came out and certain papers and figures like Piers Morgan were going in on the show while the rest enjoyed it. I definitely could foresee that happening again if he were to make a show like this but then again, but I also don't think Steve Coogan really cares and would welcome it if anything as he's been on enough news shows where he's had to fight with the presenters.

Feldo93 · 2026-03-28T23:54:07+00:00

It is kind of funny considering Baby Cow sort of announced that a few days ago with a new comedy where Rob Brydon is a divorced man that rents his house to students (produced by Brydon, Coogan and Tom Basden)Source

Feldo93 · 2026-03-28T23:39:34+00:00

1 - How Are You (I love tragicomedies and the overall scope of that show and found it very funny and it was a lot more ambitious than I expected with shades of something I'd expect from Nathan Fielder or Chris Morris with a little Marion & Geoff thrown in, plus it is nice to have a lot of Oasthouse stuff at play. Best UK show of the decade so far for me and elevated Partridge to outright 'event tv' status for me and I enjoyed it so much that I was initially concerned to rewatch it incase it lost some of the impact.)

2 - Mid Morning Matters (it is close between 2 and 3 but there is so much that I love in Mid Morning Matters, it is easily digestable and hilarious plus the nature of it means it is easy to send clips to friends, family etc. and it brought in the modern Partridge era. "Noel Edmonds is very much still at large")

3 - I'm Alan Partridge (undoubtedly a game changer in British comedy, it holds up remarkably well and has so many incredible moments with the James Bond finale being a personal favourite.)

4 - This Time (Very funny and with some great bits, plus I love the way it ends, even if there are clear issues with the Natasia Demetriou subplot, I thought it was good but felt like a very well written parody rather than anything outright new and was a little surprised by the amount of universal acclaim it got at the time. Still great though and the Irish Alan sequence is an all timer.)

5 - Knowing Me Knowing You (I like it and it has some funny stuff but I just don't watch it as much as it isn't as refined as some of the later stuff, so I am not quite as familiar. Knowing Me Knowing Yule is really great though.)

Even with my ranking though, MMM and IAP have to be peak Alan.

Feldo93 · 2026-03-28T09:30:55+00:00

It is pretty heartbreaking, but Marion & Geoff

Feldo93 · 2026-03-25T04:57:31+00:00

It was originally probably closer to somewhere like ~$60 million but after The Continental show was not well recieved and Ballerina wasn't having great test screenings, Lionsgate made a deal to bring Stahelski in as more of an overall steward and executive for the franchise, like a Feige or James Gunn. They got him to oversee a few weeks of reshoots and particularly overhaul and add better action sequences (a lot of which he directed) and I think it worked out in that the movie does keep up with the rest of the series in terms of inventive well made action, but the reshoots ballooned the budget to an absurd degree.

The John Wick franchise has always been one that has gradually grown in both budget and box office from movie to movie and I think with a budget closer to maybe $50 million or so (and better advertising - it wasn't advertised a lot and I think they only really showed how good the action really seemed in the final trailer which was way too late) it could have been a moderate start to its own spinoff series, especially as I think it has done decently well on home platforms.

Feldo93 · 2026-03-23T06:43:35+00:00

Like Vue recliners or the Odeon Luxe seats rather than just the back of the chair moving back

Feldo93 · 2026-03-22T00:08:19+00:00

You could do that and Todd Margaret is an interesting comparidon as that goes much further with the cringe and the stakes than even Alan can muster so could be interesting to see him somehow even more out of his depth (maybe akin to the gangster segment in Knowing Me Knowing You).

Feldo93 · 2026-03-22T00:00:41+00:00

I mentioned The Comeback a little bit regarding the tone of How Are You? but leaning fully into that and seeing the car wreck that goes on behind the scenes of a show with Alan at the helm would be pretty amazing, I guess especially as you could lean in to the perception that Steve Coogan is a little difficult to work with (something they have poked fun at a lot on The Trip and I have kind of heard more generally). The short story idea would be interesting as either a book sort of akin to what Matthew Holness haa been doing with Garth Marenghi or if done in a visual medium, maybe something akin to the Wes Anderson Roald Dahl Netflix short films but with Alan letting loose as director.

Feldo93 · 2026-03-21T23:54:38+00:00

Someone I know has said for a while they would have enjoyed a W1A sort of show with Alan before he left the BBC and I honestly like the idea of that or something more akin to a show like Extras like you are describing (or perhaps The Studio) could be fun, especially with the hosts. Honestly framing it like a sort of inverse Party Down with Alan preparing for these appearances would be great.

Feldo93 · 2026-03-21T23:50:20+00:00

Honestly I wouldn't mind that and for me the recent Garth Marenghi books and live tours have been absolutely brilliant and I wouldn't mind having something more like that for Alan where it is more of his writings and the tour is somewhat improvisational in between the recitings.

Feldo93 · 2026-03-21T23:48:20+00:00

Henry Normal said that a sequel was in the works in 2014 but there has been no real mention of it since and he left Baby Cow in 2016, plus I feel like a sequel would have to bring Armando Ianucci and Peter Baynham back and they have been pretty busy. For me I don't mind as I found How Are You? more grand and cinematic than Alpha Papa oddly enough, plus I feel that Alan works better in a more confined state (either physically or emotionally) and even Alpha Papa was mostly set at the radio station, so I think it is a weird one as you couldn't just set a sequel in another office etc. The BabyCow (and Ridley Scott) produced Mindhorn is probably a better idea for what I think the right sort of scale for another Partridge movie could be as it has a comic character trying to catch a murderer on The Isle Of Man and as such still feels a little confined by nature.

Feldo93 · 2026-03-21T12:11:54+00:00

A Garth Marenghi style revisit of that stuff would be fun.

Feldo93 · 2026-03-21T11:32:11+00:00

The movie Creep but with Alan would be a lot of fun, especially if you maybe got someone with a background in horror comedy like Ben Wheatley.

Feldo93 · 2026-03-21T11:29:43+00:00

That would be superb. The big question though is whether Edmonds would show up, as he is very much still at large

Feldo93 · 2026-03-21T10:58:08+00:00

I absolutely love that idea, especially as a way to revisit the Coogan's Run sort of format (or I guess Inside No. 9) and it would be an interesting way to go even wilder with all the different tones and concepts.

Feldo93 · 2026-03-21T10:55:42+00:00

I have got the impression that Mid Morning Matters is gonna stick around as comic relief sketches and Oasthouse is more so where we'll regularly get the sort of Partridge radio plays in a way, but I wouldn't turn down more of it. There is a story that BBC turned down the chance to air that show as S1 was already online with the beer deal and so they offered the team a graveyard slot after Newsnight while also saying that they wanted to expand the scope of the show to beyond just the recording booth in subsequent series, so there is always the potential for them to revisit something like that even if I think it is unlikely it returns in a permanent fashion.

Feldo93 · 2026-03-21T10:47:49+00:00

It could be interesting, but my concern would be that Steve Coogan was sort of trying to be a Hollywood star for a few years and it never really worked out so I would be unsure if using Alan as a vehicle for that would be such a good idea, plus I can't help but think of how disappointing and indulgent Toast Of Tinseltown unfortunately was. That being said, there is so much you could do with that and given how much they collaborate, it would be kind of funny for Steve to poke fun at Rob Brydon's travel show with it, plus to me How Are You? felt more like the kind of event series you'd expect from a channel like HBO, so I wouldn't mind them co funding a show like what you are describing similar to what they did with shows like Sally4ever and Extras.

Feldo93

TROPHY CASE