The River Green

An Idiot Abroad began on the Science Channel about seven weeks ago. The premise is a fish out of water. In the case of this show, Karl Pilkington is the fish, the water is a cozy home in a safe, urban environment. The brainchild of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, colleagues of Pilkington, it thrusts an ‘idiot’ into the uncomfortable world of travel abroad without the benefit of desire for the traveler to go forth on the journeys. Pilkington is sent to the seven wonders of the ancient world: The Great Wall, Taj Mahal, Petra, Chichen Itza, Great Pyramids, Christ the Redeemer and Machu Picchu. Gervais and Merchant then immerse Pilkington into the local culture by sending him to local celebrations, religious ceremonies, carnival celebrations, wilderness outings, etc.

I’ve never been a fan of Gervais, so when he laughs at Pilkington’s first impressions, I am immediately annoyed and instinctually find the opposing view, which is, stop laughing at him. It makes Gervais appear petty.

Perhaps that’s too harsh an interpretation. Perhaps it’s that I feel a kind of comradery with Pilkington since he says the things that I sometimes feel in similarly unfamiliar, uncomfortable situations.

Pilkington grows on you as a loveable deadpan artist, whose observations are honest naïveté about almost everything he experiences. His desire to find a common communication and common threads in humanity is admirable. He has a single talent for finding the slightest familiar aspect in the people whose cultures he is experiencing and building a relationship based on that.

I’m not convinced that Gervais should have even been on camera. Certainly his ideas for comedic antics could have come from off screen. His laugh is irritating. In fact, I almost didn’t watch the show in the beginning because of Gervais’ involvement.

The best part of this show is Pilkington’s reaction to the seven wonders. He is almost unimpressed. And it’s funny.

Labels: tv