UKTV's new series This is Jinsy is a little bit Monty Python, a little bit The Goodies, a little bit Little Britain and a little bit League of Gentlemen.
It has elements of all those shows and, as such, should be completely excellent. But it isn't.
The British comedy series has its second episode on UKTV this Friday at 10.20pm.
It is written by Chris Bran and Justin Chubb, who also play the leading roles of Arbiter Maven (Chubb) and Operative Sporall (Bran), overseeing the 791 residents of Jinsy from the Great Tower in the parish of Veen.
Each episode follows the adventures of the pair as they try to keep the island residents in line and enforce the wishes of The Great He, the feared but unseen island overlord.
The writers and lead actors are new, but the show has no shortage of top-shelf help.
This is Jinsy is directed by Matt Lipsey, who also directed Psychoville and Little Britain.
Episode one had a guest spot from former Doctor Who David Tennant as Mr Slightlyman, a corrupt, camp wedding planner with bad plastic surgery.
Jennifer Saunders, of Absolutely Fabulous, is the voice of Miss Reason, who each episode delivers island announcements.
There is more than one shameless homage to Monty Python, including animation which is a direct copy of Terry Gilliam's work.
How could you go wrong? Episode two opens with Maven being shaved with what appears to be a tiny vintage vacuum cleaner, the sort of visual motif or recurring design theme the show peddles.
The island, for instance, is monitored by a surveillance system of "tessellators", a sort of mini television screen on a time-worn steel plate with a coin slot and a little red light, which appear in every home.
In the tower from which Maven and Sporall oversee the island is the other end of the system, made up of television screens, antique gauges and the sort of switches and buttons you might see in a telecoms museum.
The shave results in a slightly disgusting thatch of nasal hair, in which a message is found, with both a tip on a horse race and a message about an event at Dokers Quarry.
Doubts about the authenticity of the message bring the response: "Are you questioning my nasal hair?"
You get the idea.
The episode lurches along with a song and dance routine about cupboards, and the eventual outing of cupboard salesman Eric Dunt, who pretended to be, but is not, the Great He.
It all sounds good, but This is Jinsy lacks whatever it is that makes weird funny as well.
