My Hero (My Hero)

Member Name: polydeuces

Product:	My Hero
Date:	11/08/08 (5 review reads)
Rating:

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So after his huge success as Father Dougal the question had to be how does Ardal O'Hanlon follow that. Alternatively how far will he fall and how fast. The answer first came when O'Hanlon presented the Stand Up Sho In this he seemed lost and unsure of himself. His introductions were nervy and rushed and he almost seemed self consciously bad. Then, worse, indeed far worse, came My Hero. For as much as the character of Father Dougal was hilariously, blindingly funny then his character of George aka Thermoman was direly unfunny.
The comic possibilities of being an alien or superhero has been done before. We have had My Favourite Martian, 3rd Rock From The Sun and Mork and Mindy. The last of which bears some similarities to My Hero. The juxtaposition of someone unfamiliar to the ways of a new world offers huge comic possibilities but sadly none ever got explored in My Hero. O'Hanlon previous incarnation as Dougal is the first problem you come across. George is immediately both too close and too far from Dougal at the same time. O'Hanlon struggles to be the focal point of the comedy but at the same time he too often looks like Dougal dressing up.

The position is not helped by the performance of Emily Joyce as his nurse girlfriend Janet. Her telegraphy of every hopefully funny line and lack of comedic timing only worsen things. Hugh Dennis as the over bearing narcissistic Doctor is also hopeless. With much of the action based in the least busy doctors surgery in the Western world the comedy even began to take on a predictable medical thread as the second series got more desperate for laughs.
Better performances came from Geraldine McNulty as an archetypal stern and uncompromising receptionist but at least she had some funny lines to say. As did Philip Whitchurch as the neighbour Tyler who knows George is Thermoman. He will never be able to give him away though as he is already considered beyond eccentric and probably mad. That Tyler sees aliens is not seen as surprising. Janet too becomes aware that George is Thermoman but again this concept that one or more people know the true identity exists in all the other sitcoms I mentioned.

Thermoman does go off to perform miracles against the various crises in the world but again as the second series droned on this started to drift behind the love interest and surgery antics. Some humour is attempted by having George unfamiliar with the nuances of the language but it is truly feeble. The quality of writing is simply not up to it and again when comparing the characters and the situations in Father Ted and My Hero is shows how far Ardal O'Hanlon has fallen and how quickly.
To recover from this will truly need a superhuman effort.

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