The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret

2010

Seasons & Episodes

  • 3
  • 2
  • 1
  • 0
7.5| 0h30m| en| More Info
Released: 01 October 2010 Ended
Producted By: RDF Television
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website: http://www.ifc.com/shows/todd-margaret
Synopsis

Comedy about an inept American placed in charge of sales at his company's London branch. He has no experience with British culture, knows nothing about sales, and has only one employee, Dave. Each episode begins with a scene of Margaret appearing in dire circumstances.

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Reviews

Clevercell Very disappointing...
MusicChat It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.
TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.
Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
Charles Herold (cherold) It's hard to give an overall rating to Todd Margaret because the third season is so vastly inferior to the first two. The first two would get a 9 rating, the third a 4, so I'll just give it a seven.Those first two seasons were amazing and insane. The premise is simple; Todd Margaret is an idiot who does everything exactly wrong, and through a series of flukes is in the position to do the maximum amount of harm. There is something insanely delightful about the pure idiocy of Todd Margaret, who is both a terrible person and ultimately a well-meaning one. It was outrageous, imaginative television.Then came the third season. Since the second season ended in a way that would make a third season seem impossible, that third season does a clever jumble of the first two, with a different, more competent and rather unpleasant Todd meeting the same characters in different roles.Conceptually that's interesting, but the show fails to be funny. My girlfriend and I had eagerly watched the first two seasons, but she gave up on the third after one episode while I made it through two. Those two episodes are especially outrageous or funny, and the new Todd is not nearly as interesting as the old one.From what I've read, the jumbling of the story gets increasingly interesting, but if it's not funny, it really doesn't matter. It's clear the show is building to something, but that doesn't matter if the episodes used to build towards that something are tedious and unlikable.Weirdly, critics liked the third season as well as the first two. But they're 100% wrong. Todd Margaret is a two-season series, and the third season should be ignored entirely.
policy134 David Cross finally starts to grow on me. He's created a desperate character that appears to be what we all aspire not to be at first, but then suddenly, we realise - gee, we are him, most of the time anyway. We all like to think that we are morally superior to everybody else sometimes. For example, when we hear about somebody who did something terrible, we are pretty quick to condemn that person and without getting all the facts.By the way, this is not a civics lesson on morals that I am writing here, but it's to put David's Cross character in perspective. Here is a man with no real life experience. He comes off as the most ignorant person you have ever met and still, there is a part of us all that are just like him. Haven't we all tried to impress somebody about something we really know next to little about?Anyway, this is a comment about a comedy show and it is hilarious at times. Especially Will Arnett, who is by now pretty famous for his politically incorrect characters. He's done them on both 30 Rock and Parks & Recreation. The British characters are also extremely well written and I have met several people from England, who were a lot like them.The plots, however, are pretty unbelievable and you just have to take them for what they are. Situations that drive the comedy. What makes this serial superior is the character stuff and to a lesser degree, the archetypes. You won't laugh for a full 20 minutes, but you will get a few and at the same time you will experience some dynamite acting. This has been a positive review for once.
gary89436 If ever it was possible to have an American show with a strong dose of British humor (or should this be humour?), 'The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret' is it. I admit I was put off by the name of the show (shortened to just 'Todd Margaret' by my DVRecorder), petty I know, committing the error of judging a book by it's cover, which I suppose is actually an inside joke in itself. This is definitely one of those 'love it or hate it', shows, so be warned. Caveat: I have sometimes found myself not liking something at first, but come to appreciate it over time. Likewise, some things I like immediately prove to lack staying power. 'Todd Margaret' brings a mix of these moments, and I'm curious what I will think of this show in a couple of years, even if I were to never see another season. (I am just hoping, to the producers, PLEASE Please please don't try to drag five seasons out of a two or three season story arc, which has become a fatal flaw in all too many shows in the past.) I like to think of myself as being reasonably sophisticated and eclectic, yet found at some points the show becomes so edgy that I can't bear it, and have to pause the show and go watch something else for a while before returning. While some possibly more prudish viewers might read 'bad' here and not 'edgy', fine. Go watch something else like I did, and come back to it or not. The show isn't trying to be either G-rated or aimed at social conservatives, so if you find it offensive, go count your blessings, warn your fellow church goers not to watch, and leave this behind you. No harm, no foul.Many parts of the show are intentionally melodramatically exaggerated, which if they weren't being obviously absurd might otherwise not care for, but after adjusting my brain from 'Normal' to 'Todd Margaret', I don't find off putting. After all, no one expects 30 open cans of tuna to precipitate a biologic hazard that condemns an entire apartment block and sets off an international manhunt, but in Todd's world, it's just one more way that world conspires against him.If any loyal Season One viewers are having trouble tying some of these diverse pieces together, I recommend 'The Increasingly Necessary Recap of Todd Margaret'. (Sorry if I got the exact title wrong, I'm working from my ever-decreasing memory.) While the description informs us in advance that this is "an animated special, in the Korean visual style" (again, from memory) which I found agonizing since I don't like anime or anything like it, try not to be put off by this description as I was for so long. It really lends insight to some of the most subtle humor (much of which admittedly will miss many American viewers like me), which Cross freely admits aren't really expected to be discovered by viewers anyway.In the final analysis, there are far to many derivative productions that I just don't or no longer find entertaining (recent example 'Persons of Interest'), or which drag on long after their 'Use By...' date (Law and Order season 100). Other than its classification as comedy/other, 'Todd Margaret' can't be pigeonholed into any category—it is different from almost all other shows out there, which to me is in itself is meritorious in this age of derivative entertainment. Love it or hate it, I'm pretty sure that after you've seen it, you can't forget it.
pattierney2010 I have always found David Cross to be pretty entertaining and humorous, but this show made me a huge fan. He was great on Mr. Show & Arrested Development, but he shines here in a show that was his own creation. Much of the show is about a man trying to find himself in a foreign country, but by doing so, he tries to hard and fails miserably at points, actually a lot. He is completely ignorant to the new culture and since he doesn't understand it, he doesn't grasp that he is insulting every one in sight. The supporting cast is great, including one of the main kids in "The Inbetweeners", another great show. Will Arnet is hilarious as usual and gets funnier as the show progresses through-out it's 6 episodes. The humor is intelligent, although it's hidden in the stupidity, I can almost compare it to South Park in that way, but live action and a little less subtle. Well worth a watch!

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