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Critic Reviews
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There is a brilliant mix of poignancy and hilarity in Getting On, which is why it all works so well.
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Its tender moments register without feeling forced while the comedy comes in the form of a constant IV drip.
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It's a dark and astonishing gem of a show, with a bravely skillful cast juggling the petty obsessions of the workplace with Much Bigger Issues.
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There is some pathos in Getting On with regard to the elderly patients, but that's seamlessly interwoven in the darkly funny personal stories of the hospital staff.
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Getting On captures the drudgery of work and life in this ward, but it also catches glimpses of the beauty, and it’s in those moments that it feels like a series that deserves better than it’s going to get.
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Getting On is much funnier than its premise suggests. [22 Nov 2013, p.62]
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In a sea of formulaic comedies, this stands out as a lifeboat worth clinging to.
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Every so often a staff member, usually DiDi, is shown in a quiet moment with a patient, providing actual care. These small scenes end up being surprisingly moving because this fictional hospital unit, in all its ridiculousness, feels somehow true to life.
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That these actors can make us care about their characters, or at least feel their pain so acutely, is what elevates Getting On above the miasma of its material.
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It’s almost as impossible to believe, without seeing it, that such a show could be both very funny and occasionally uplifting without ever resorting to cheap sentimentality. But it is.
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Weirdly enough, Getting On (adapted from the original BBC series) is a witheringly efficient work of satire, easily confident about the humanity and absurdity it’s trying to portray.
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[The characters] are sympathetic even when unlovable. The dialogue and physical gross-out moments are equally frank. And hilarious.
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Flawlessly done, but a tough sell. [2 Dec 2013, p.50]
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This bleak depiction of hospital work locates the show about two degrees south of “St. Elsewhere.” And yet, after I finished the first three episodes, I realized I was hooked; I wanted more.
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Get ready to laugh and cry with this touching new comedy about a dysfunctional team of nurses and doctors caring for aging patients in a hospital’s extended-care wing.
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Getting On is for mature audiences only, with uncensored language and outrageous behavior all around. If you like comedy with more cringes than chuckles, Getting On could be for you.
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Adapted from the British series of the same name, Getting On is billed as a comedy, but the show's setting, a neglected geriatric rehabilitation ward, is such an overwhelmingly depressing environment that much of the offbeat humor ends up flatlining.
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To be fair, this otherwise languid show does momentarily come to life in its second episode, when Nebraska's June Squibb tears through the unit as a particularly nasty patient. But she leaves and the show recedes into its self-satisfied torpor.
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While one might charitably chalk it up to a slightly British sensibility, like too many of pay cable’s current batch of half-hours, whatever humor graces these hallways is so dry it’s questionable whether “comedy” is the proper classification.
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Getting On is mostly a depressing and unfunny (which is more depressing) look at an eldercare facility, the people winding down their days ignominiously in said facility and a handful of people who work there.
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The pilot episode involves an endless debate over a mysterious "fecal deposit" left on a chair. Let that be a metaphor.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 34 out of 43
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Mixed: 4 out of 43
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Negative: 5 out of 43
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Nov 26, 2013
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Dec 1, 2013
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Nov 29, 2013