Ja'mie Private School Girl - Bad Reviews?

Image from Gurdian review blog newspaper 

About 5 years ago, I broke my leg and was bed bound for few months (it was a bad break). During these few months, family and friends gave me films and TV series that they thought I might like.

Among the mountains of DVDs I got given, one of them, was the first Series of ‘Summer Heights High’. It killed me. I thought it was one of the funniest mockumentaries I have ever seen. 

Unlike comedy series in England that I enjoyed watching like 'Little Britain" (or whatever I was allowed to stay up late and watch), 'Summer Heights High' I remember thinking was more down to earth and easier to relate to real life situations.

Set in a state school in Australia, written and starring Chris Lilley who wields more than a couple of characters: Jonah the misunderstood bully, Mr Gee the flamboyant drama teacher, and Ja'mie a private school girl visiting the state school.

Ja'mie: Private School Girl, is a spin off series that was made late last year, I've been watching it since the first episode was aired on BBC3 over the last 6 weeks. This week is the last episode. 

I read some of the reviews for ‘Ja’mie’ and was generally frustrated when I read one of the critics from The Guardian. 

"Falling ratings suggest Chris Lilley’s one-dimensional Ja'mie has failed to hold viewers' attentions. That's not surprising" Sub heading - The Guardian Review Blog

Yeah, ratings did fall massively by the fourth episode which had only over half a million viewers tuning in compared to the first episode, which had just under a million. But the review later goes on to mention that according to ABC the program had a record breaking amount of people streaming the episodes. 216,000 in one day beating Doctor Who, which got 140,000. So why in your sub heading would you try and give the impression that the program is worse off than it is?

"Lilley’s strength has never been momentum. Where Angry Boys’ story stretched agonisingly across 12 episodes, Private School Girl promised to wrap everything up in six. Yet the series has proved to be as slow as Ja’mie herself. Only in this week’s episode did conflict finally arise and bring with it genuine hilarity, with best friend Madison swooping in on Ja’mie’s boyfriend/prisoner, Mitchell." 

This person writing the review clearly is taking everything from an already prejudice point of view. The way they have written the review indicates that they have never liked any of Lilleys work, or are they even trying to point out anything positive. 

The program I can understand. Might not be aimed at the older generation so much. The music is obviously bad and modern, and the script is appalling (not the story but the language the characters using slang and swearing might not be for everyone). 

The critic giving their suggestions of what they think could have made the series more interesting.
"She could have flunked her dance assessment and been spurned by Mitchell in episode two. Her parents could have gone bankrupt.”

The question on my lips is. Why haven’t you written award winning comedy before with nearly 10 years of TV series to your name if you’re so funny? I don’t think comedy has to be about amazing acting, plots, or cinematography. Funny is funny to different people.

Review - The Guardian, Writer Unknown, Published 2013 November. 

http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2013/nov/15/not-so-jamiezing-chris-lilleys-private-school-girl-has-proved-disappointing