When The LAB premiered I always thought it was going to disappoint but they proved me wrong and become the best hour to spend on the small screen for the entire Season 1. I was addicted; I could not believe that there was a team of writers and producers capable of giving us such great local television. But that was the good old season 1.
I am so much in shock that I could not blog for weeks. This screwed me up big time, all because I never thought this show could ever become what SEASON 2 has delivered so far. Now I know why people divorce.
I actually wrote a couple of articles but never thought they were good enough to publish since I have been under severe blogpression which my physician, Dr ISP informed that it was brought on by the obvious lack of much needed chemistry in The LAB.
I AM VERY DISAPPOINTED…VERY DISAPPOINTED
I cannot believe that this show has become so BAD, which in any language it spells out hogwash. Why oh why did the creators of this show allow this to happen. I started to think that it could be that they took years before they returned to air, and the worm called SABC had gorged itself on their Season 2 pitch only to leave it with so many obvious gaping holes where only number 2 (number one being urine) can pass through and we are left watching the whole process in what seems like a slow motion broadcast with awkward silences and sheer disgust.
#! Long silences
What is with the long silences, don’t they have writers. We loved The LAB or sorry let me say I loved The LAB because it was fast paced and had witty dialogue. It was like watching Boston Legal of the financial industry. Season 1 did not treat us to long useless silences which bored the hell out of viewers. You end up being stuck at other channels and forget that you were watching The Lab. At some point I really thought they changed the show deliberately to appeal to “SLOW” people, because it just does not make any sense. You know like the kind that goes to special schools.
The hijacking scene was the worst, and please don’t misunderstand me. There is nothing as horrible as to be hijacked, I know from personal experience. But the whole scene was way too long and it ended up with so much screen time that I though it must be the producer’s vain attempt at making it the episodes draw card or something. Mingus scene at the police station is exactly what most of us go though when we try to report a crime but, honestly what was more boring was Mingus, because we all know that he needs some serious anti-anxiety pills. It felt like I was watching a public service announcement on HIJACKING. It was down right horrible, the only interesting part was the actual hijackers who sort of rescued the scene. Don’t you think it’s sad that the BAD guy becomes more interesting to watch than the victim?
This was a program which did not play towards what we knew as our reality but showed us another life which was real and very captivating. The shorter and slim hijacker was quite funny with his Afrikaans and English dialogue.
#2 The Exterior Building
The charm of Season 1 was that, the story was so fast that we knew The LAB was in a cool building but the great thing about how it was filmed was that it was left to the viewers imagination to picture what the building looked like, especially if you don’t know the old Trust Bank Building. Even though the press write ups informed us of which building the program was shot in, filming allowed us to imagine what the build could be or look like. We never saw so many shots of the exterior of the build as we have with the current (Season 2). I then realized that just maybe there is real estate deal with the producers – you know “we give you the building to film but you must give us a couple of exterior shots”. The fantasy of the building on Season 1 allowed us to merge the quality of the building’s exterior, again even though we knew which building it was, with the other residential buildings featured on the series, such as Jaws’ apartment etc.
#3 The Wardrobe
Jaws and Mingus are by far the worst dressed characters of the second season. I thought season 1 was appropriate but questionable that he could not improve his dress sense. There is no way that an investment banker could dress in those horrendous suites, unless you are in Zimbabwe or job hunting. Here is Mingus negotiating employment and making demands but his blazer is about to fall off his shoulders, whilst Jaws looks very weird with those R99 Edgars’ Shirts, not to mention his suits. I expected the cast to have top of the range wardrobe at the very least, I am talking Gucci, Armani etc. If the writers don’t have an idea of how investment bankers dress they should have spent a week observing JP Morgan, Rand Merchant Bank, Investec, Brait, Bridge Capital, Sasfin, African Merchant Bank, and many other investment bankers and financial advisory firms located in the Sandton City, Rosebank, Melrose, and Hyde Park area. This program should have had a star quality wardrobe to live true to what the industry they are trying to portray is like in real life. Because Mingus and Jawz would have never got any deals with that dress sense, this is a world were perception is the currency, if your perceived well you make a lot of money; whilst your dress sense contributes 70% towards your perception thus success rate and the other 30% are perks – The House; Contacts (Rugby- Soccer-Cricket-games, Clubs, Restaurants, Cars, Vacations, etc but Quintessentially can help in this department if you are fledging, and there is also the little Girls, Boys or Freaks factor “whatever your client wants”. Its another world!
#4 Monty
Now, in the spirit of advancing television in South Africa, every fan of the show was shocked and intrigued by Monty’s homosexuality but producers were commended on how they revealed his gayness. We thought the signs were there, but the show was so good that it contributed towards our craze, but it seems the producers’ oblongata’s on season 2 just become useless. I was just bored by Monty and Mr. Party Planner, first they gave them way too much screen time and no juice, and I am not talking about the typical flavour. I was looking forward to what really happens to such relationships in the industry the show is based on. To my knowledge Monty would have never come-out, why? He would have too much to loose most importantly his perception, reputation and MONEY or ability to make some. Yes, his inheritance – think about it, Monty would know very well that he would be better off investing his millions in his own industry but if he came-out it would be very difficult to find someone to help him turn those millions into multi-millions. The deal makers would avoid him like pestilence. It would have been more exciting for Monty to stop the relationship with Party Planner only to base his decision of a break up on the fact that he has too much to loose whilst Party Planner continues to throw fabulous parties for the rich and powerful. But the juice would have been, Monty getting married to a blond bimbo for the sake of his career. The juice gets even juicier when Monty begins to have side orders with male blonde bimbos to please his man hunger to dance the tango only for Mr. Party Planner to find out and blackmail Monty.
#5 Jaws
Although I like the ganster element of Jaws’ character I believe strongly that the writers could have made it more exciting, because Jaws always looks like he is having a colonoscopy whenever he is shown. Jaws was an exciting character and he had a sting to his persona, now he looks very ill at ease. Like I said, I think the money laundering, bribery, tender and SARS elements are all good storylines for the Jaws character. The problem is that its too SNAIL and takes too long to sting, which makes for very boring TV. I spend more time imagining how the old Jaws would have moved between all these situations with great strides, and I think he would have even turned township on most of these guys. I had always thought Jaws was a good guy but always trapped in very bad decisions. I also think Jaws’ friend who is so patiently mapping his downfall is a good actor who portrays his role very well.
#6 Little Miss News
I AM REALY DISAPPOINTED….yet another sign that the show jumped the shark. They should have never cancelled this character. She was a necessary evil; who always created an interesting quintessence of entertainment because through her, the writers kept giving us another side of the characters we may begin to like. She is the one who brought our attention to the inequities of Pearl and highlighted the wrong doings of The LAB. She was definitely the one I loved and hated at the same time, because she was too driven but her drive was very necessary but always spilled over on areas which needed her to be human and not an at work. I think she would have brought an interesting spin on Jaws activities, Monty’s life, The Lab’s crises etc. She was very necessary and her departure was an ERROR on the part of the show and its producers. I was disappointed at how she was turned into this boring girlfriend whose entire life revolved about when Mingus came home and left for work, It was very foreign to her original persona.
#9 Mingus
The reason why this drama was a new breed was that, the writers and producers kept every cast member equal to each episodic plot. It allowed for equal interest to each scene and made it difficult for the viewer to leave the room when it went to ad-brakes. But yet another reason why the show jumped the shark is the obvious need to find a star and re-distribute screen time to other characters identified as lead or sort-after to be leads. Pearl, Monty, and Mingus seem to be given more screen time than other characters, especially Mingus. I mean nothing about Mingus’ story is very interesting; he actually was made interesting mainly because of his background and relationship to Little Miss News. Mingus always had this “I don’t want to be here persona” which made him entirely less interesting. They should have made him the really bad apple of The LAB because he had a self righteous attitude which makes for good villain. He is too ambition and this should have been used to keep him more interesting by extending his need to be CEO and his over zealous attitude is more interesting than him taking coke and having a three some. That should have been used as his down fall after he discovers that it is very lonely at the top if you alienated everyone, ultimately giving Little Miss News the scoop of a life time ”the perfect rise and fall headline” which is riddled with conflict “do I publish or not?”
sappointment can be attributed to SABC3 because they obviously interfered so much that the show became more about SABC3 than the actual story. Blame should also be put to the producers, these are the people who spend years claiming to have investigated their story but yet the second season, is crap. Whose fault is it, because if I want to watch bad television and storylines I can always treat myself to 30 minutes to sheer small screen torture by watching Muvhango. I am sure there are parts of this season that some people like, but they are just that – parts. When this show first aired we loved every part of it. It was like a perfectly baked cake, not only was it delicious, it was well presented and every piece was a dream to the pallets. I tried so hard to find something about the second season that I liked but there was none. When I found myself watching other programs and or movies during the broadcast of The LAB and forgot to switch back, I knew there was a problem.
#10 The New Secretary
I still don’t know why this lady was brought into the show, her character was not at all interesting but very annoying. Instead the old PR lady was a blast, she new how to shake things up, remember she is the one who brought Mr. Party Planner and she had a zinger to her persona which was awesome and very interesting.
#11 Pearl
We loved Pearl because of family life or lack thereof and her BEE passion but all of a sudden she has become the BOSS and out of control, which is just SAD. Whenever Pearl got too much to handle Little Miss News would bring us back to delight or her daughter would do something crazy that made us think, “oh she is human after all”. Now, the producers are grasping..... SAD
#12 Jaws girlfriend and new cast members
I cannot even tell what this lady is doing at The LAB. Useless is a compliment, she does not bring anything to the show which is shocking and exciting at the same time because the series was best because every character had issues that made the show great. I am still hoping but I don’t have the energy.
In conclusion
Normally when a show comes back for Season 2 things get better, the cast looks great and the show is more exciting... but The LAB is not. There might be people who love this show, after all it came back after a very long time and those people may feel that I am not being too kind, but its a pity they did not follow the first Season. The show jumped the shark big time and it’s DISAPPOINTING.
The Observers Reviews
An hour lost in translations!
NO CHEMISTRY IN THE LAB
A GREAT SHOW DIED IN SEASON 1 and A NIGHTMARE RETURNED FOR SEASON 2