The Fast Show should have taken a leaf out of The Young Ones' book - stick with only two series. But no, they had to make a third - and ended up ruining the show in the process. I shall now run through all the new characters - and evaluate how they did...
Squeamish Zoo Keeper was absolutely awful - he was weak, boring, forgettable and on top of all, completely unfunny. A total sham of a character.
Taff Lad was not at all funny - why they wasted time writing him, I don't know. He takes the p*ss out of the Welsh for no good reason and he is just boring.
Dave Angel Eco Warrior was OK on the whole - but he hammered home one cr*p sketch, and never managed to reach the heights of Ted and Ralph or the Suit You tailors.
The "No Offense" lady was all right - but not too well written and slightly predictable.
Roger Nouveau Football Fan was pretty bad - his sketches which were intercut into the ending credits of one episode were really dull and unimaginative.
The "I've just come" man was just plain offensive, stupid and unfunny. Definite thumbs down.
Swiss Toni was the best of the new characters - but he even got boring after a while.
The "Even better than that!" man was just bad and repetitive.
The one-off characters weren't very good - the sketch with very low chairs in a restaurant should have been done way better.
The first episode of Series 3 was a disaster - it was boring, and gave us the worst Chanel 9 sketch and the worst Ted and Ralph sketch. The "..which was nice" man completely lost the plot, and just spouted a load of cr*p this time. Chanel 9 definitely got worse, Insecure Woman went bad, Ted and Ralph went bad, the Suit You tailors went bad, the Jazz Club went bad, Competitive Dad went bad... I could go on, but there's a limit of 1000 words on IMDb. Let me say this to HMV, who I paid £18 for this travesty - I want my money back! You've one dissatisfied customer! Poor writing with no heart or soul would be the main problem, but it isn't. The characters have fallen into predictable and boring territory now, the new characters never really capture much attention, and some of the sketches are very offensive and just bad. One character I've forgot, no, two actually - are Archie "hardest game in the world" and Artist Johnny. Archie was boring, repetitive and flat, and Artist Johnny was funny but about as clever as a lodge meeting of the Guild of Village Idiots. The Checkout Girl is another one I've forgot - she was bad. On the whole, I don't see why I didn't give this a 1 - there is no way in the world this lives up to the heights of Series 1 and 2. My opinion is - give this one a miss. There aren't even any special features on the DVD - a truly pants package. The Fast Show has lost its spark.
I give this a 3 out of 10 (down from my original 6) for trying its hardest to come up with some fresh moments, and actually delivering some cracking lines amongst otherwise bad sketches. On the whole - not good.
Squeamish Zoo Keeper was absolutely awful - he was weak, boring, forgettable and on top of all, completely unfunny. A total sham of a character.
Taff Lad was not at all funny - why they wasted time writing him, I don't know. He takes the p*ss out of the Welsh for no good reason and he is just boring.
Dave Angel Eco Warrior was OK on the whole - but he hammered home one cr*p sketch, and never managed to reach the heights of Ted and Ralph or the Suit You tailors.
The "No Offense" lady was all right - but not too well written and slightly predictable.
Roger Nouveau Football Fan was pretty bad - his sketches which were intercut into the ending credits of one episode were really dull and unimaginative.
The "I've just come" man was just plain offensive, stupid and unfunny. Definite thumbs down.
Swiss Toni was the best of the new characters - but he even got boring after a while.
The "Even better than that!" man was just bad and repetitive.
The one-off characters weren't very good - the sketch with very low chairs in a restaurant should have been done way better.
The first episode of Series 3 was a disaster - it was boring, and gave us the worst Chanel 9 sketch and the worst Ted and Ralph sketch. The "..which was nice" man completely lost the plot, and just spouted a load of cr*p this time. Chanel 9 definitely got worse, Insecure Woman went bad, Ted and Ralph went bad, the Suit You tailors went bad, the Jazz Club went bad, Competitive Dad went bad... I could go on, but there's a limit of 1000 words on IMDb. Let me say this to HMV, who I paid £18 for this travesty - I want my money back! You've one dissatisfied customer! Poor writing with no heart or soul would be the main problem, but it isn't. The characters have fallen into predictable and boring territory now, the new characters never really capture much attention, and some of the sketches are very offensive and just bad. One character I've forgot, no, two actually - are Archie "hardest game in the world" and Artist Johnny. Archie was boring, repetitive and flat, and Artist Johnny was funny but about as clever as a lodge meeting of the Guild of Village Idiots. The Checkout Girl is another one I've forgot - she was bad. On the whole, I don't see why I didn't give this a 1 - there is no way in the world this lives up to the heights of Series 1 and 2. My opinion is - give this one a miss. There aren't even any special features on the DVD - a truly pants package. The Fast Show has lost its spark.
I give this a 3 out of 10 (down from my original 6) for trying its hardest to come up with some fresh moments, and actually delivering some cracking lines amongst otherwise bad sketches. On the whole - not good.