Do you know the Moffat man? pt. 1

There's only a handful of people in film/television I'd consider geniuses; they're the kind of creative person I'd like to be, because they bring a singular artistic vision to their work; every project they take on seems to turn out better than their last one.

One of those people is Joss Whedon, creator of such brilliant works as Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, Serenity, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along-Blog, Dollh-- er, did I mention he did Buffy?

Another would be Wes Anderson: Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic, The Darjeeling Limited -- I love those films!  (though truthfully I'm still a bit on the fence with The Fantastic Mr. Fox).  I always look forward to seeing what he's going to do next.

"Now wait a minute," you're probably thinking, "isn't this a blog about British TV? What do Whedon and Anderson have to do with British TV?" Good question. Because the next name on my list is Steven Moffat.

Do you know Steven Moffat? I should hope you do by now.

"You've got something to say about my  hair, have you?"

Steven Moffat came in to my consciousness with a British comedy which aired on my local PBS stations years ago.  It was called Joking Apart, about a sitcom writer named Mark Taylor and his failed marriage to Becky.  The story jumps back and forth between when they meet and when they break up, which we know from the first episode is going to happen (Moffat similarly played with linear structure in some of his later works).

The series used the unusual device of Mark -- in fantasy sequences at the beginning, end, and frequently during the episode -- on stage doing a comedy routine about his failed marriage, usually with the opening line, "My wife left me."  (It was unclear to some people, myself included, that these bits were just fantasy; like others, I'd always thought that Mark was actually a stand-up comedian).  What Mark says onstage is juxtaposed with what really happened.




We also meet their best friends, Robert and Tracy, a married couple who are trying to be loyal to both Mark and Becky as the break up occurs.  Due to this situation, much awkwardness occurs.  It doesn't help that Robert and Tracy are both rather dim. However, this does lead to some hilarious situations where one or more of the four lead characters end up in an embarrassing situation.  In other words, classic Moffat!

The next Moffat show I watched was Chalk,  which took place at Galfast High School.  Having at one time worked as a teacher (as had his father, who was a headteacher), Moffat was in familiar territory.  Unfortunately, Chalk wasn't very well-liked.  Though I enjoyed it at the time, re-watching the first couple of episodes, I can see the humor is rather frantic and forced.

A few years later, I saw promos on BBCAmerica for this show called Coupling.  I had no interest in it whatsoever.  It was only when I was in England in 2001 when I learned Steven Moffat wrote it!  So I had to watch it, and of course I loved it.

But more about that next time...