The more it goes on, the more convinced I am that Echo Beach exists solely to support and pay off Moving Wallpaper. Take this week's beach buggy -- the "Buggle" -- for instance. It turns up first in Moving Wallpaper as a "prop for this week's episode", where it's used to comic effect in another scene of Jonathan Pope's hilarious ineptitude as a human being. When it turns up in Echo Beach, some of the characters drive around in it for a few minutes (in a bit of poorly sped-up footage) for no reason. At all. It's there for the sake of Moving Wallpaper, and because it needs an excuse to be in Moving Wallpaper it's also in Echo Beach.
The same can be said for various other things -- including several lines of dialogue, or Susie Amy's character (if you just watched Echo Beach her slow involvement might seem to be mysterious, but paired with Moving Wallpaper her begging is clear -- and unless Echo Beach pulls out a "why she's so mysterious" twist, the Moving Wallpaper gag will remain the only reason for it). And the acting and writing of Echo Beach is generally pretty dismal too. I can't be certain if that's deliberate, as it's clearly a spoof just tied in with the sitcom it follows, or just because everyone involved is a bit rubbish. Still, as the only reason to watch it is for those Moving Wallpaper pay-offs, does it really matter?
As for Moving Wallpaper itself... well, that's just great. While it may lack a great deal of originality (beyond the obvious ties to its sister show), it still manages amusing characters, situations and dialogue. It's certainly the funniest thing ITV have produced for a long time. Or the most intentionally funny thing, anyway. Even the impression that it's a vague collection of subplots with no primary storyline does little to dent the amusement value of it. Ben Miller is infinitely more at home as Pope than he is in Primeval, and the rest of the cast make a fair job of their largely formulaic characters (incidentally, the guy playing the young male writer (I have no idea of any of the other characters' names) seems to play the same role in everything I've seen him in. I wonder if he minds being so typecast?)
Providing it can keep it up, I hope Moving Wallpaper survives to further seasons. I could well stand to lose Echo Beach, however... but then, one wouldn't be quite the same without the other.
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