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Nathan Barley - Episode One

Started by Neil, February 11, 2005, 02:33:07 PM

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What did you think of the first episode?

Shit
53 (19.3%)
Average
163 (59.3%)
Brilliant
59 (21.5%)
BIG BOUNCING BUTTOCKS!!!
0 (0%)

Total Members Voted: 275

Voting closed: February 12, 2005, 01:34:42 PM

InfiniteFury

Anyone else just see Stephen Marchant and Peter Baynham as Script Consultants in the credits?

I bet this has already been posted

The interview was the best scene, quite compelling to see him fall from hero status to the idiots to complete incompetence to his peers.

Nathan Barley hardly appeared in this!  It seems to revolve around Ashcroft, but I guess all their lives are tripping over each other and will probably end messily in some way due to one another.

Silencer

Yeah, the way he delayed was very Heap-ish.  Especially reminded me of Brian from Spaced.

That seemed to be more Dan Ashcroft than Nathan Barley.  Thankfully.   I don't think I could stand any more of that jumped up little twit.

Not Seymour

Hmm. Nothing seemed to actually happen, and I smiled twice.

Anyone else notice a person called Leonard Hatard in the credits? Is this anything to do with 'Leonard Hatred' from Look Around You Series 2 Episode 1? Probably not, but it's worth noting.

keir

I didn't think it was bad - just not great.

burpmitosis

Heapish, yes.
The facial hair of Rory Mcgrath, he made me think I knew him from somewhere.  A cross between jesus and aphex twin.

That wasn't awful, but it wasn't brilliant. It was middling.

Quote from: "alan strang"
Quote from: "Neil"Uh 126 users online, prepare for the board to explode, we can't handle that many for long.  You should write your posts into notepad and then cut and paste to be on the safe side.

I suspect this is probably the very last time a Morris product will attract that many site-lurkers.

This really does represent the passing of something.

It certainly feels like it.  I wonder where he can go after this?

Dr David V

Um... oh, it was OK. I smirked in places. Trouble is, I didn't want it to be OK. I wanted this to be brilliant. So in that sense, very disappointing indeed. Still, 5 episodes to go, it might pick up. Wishful thinking, I know...

Bert Thung

Quote from: "Banana Woofwoof"The interview was the best scene, quite compelling to see him fall from hero status to the idiots to complete incompetence to his peers.

Chasing the coat tails of The Office is another way  of looking at it.

Hypnotoad.


Anon

Hmmm....some funny stuff in there (the Freddie Starr/Bill Hicks line, the office scene with the tricycles), but the direction was just awful.  It's okay so far, and it could well pick up.......but this is a dissapointment indeed.

ColinBradshaw

I thought it was pretty good.

Cringeworthy in places. The Barley character and the other idiots were too over the top, they could have made them slightly more subtle. I liked the Dan scenes better.

pandadeath

I thought it was pretty good. Definately very entertaining to watch, not as many laughs as i'd expected, but I'm sure it will pick up now they've got all the introduction scenario's out of the way.

Neil

Quote from: "alan strang"This really does represent the passing of something.

It's very flat and jokeless, isn't it?  And them using cock, muff, bumhole to show character development at the end makes me fucking shudder.

no_offenc

At least it doesn't have Kelly Fucking Osbourne and Jimmy Fucking Carr in.  As I say I fucking hope it gets better, it made me laugh a few times (and I did feel a bit sorry for Ashcroft in that interview) but it could've been SO much better.

InfiniteFury

I did laugh once at the "What's up my n**ger" but three times seemed a bit unnecessary.

I watched it with my girlfriend who "sort of" likes Chris Morris but had been exposed to no hype (especially here) and neither of us had seen a trailer on the telly.

She thought it had more in common with a boring Friday night drama than a comedy.

I just found it rather dull although I tried really really hard to ignore my earlier misgivings and my knowledge of the Barley thread. I will always back down in the face of a complete about-face and put my hands up but that just wasn't funny.

Although I didn't find the camera work that annoying and the poster zooms weren't as literal as I thought they were going to be from Neil's post.

Purple Tentacle

I actually quite enjoyed that, I'll wait for next week.

Erm.... articulate:

LIKED: The editing at the end with the cockmuffbumhole... does that make me Nathan Barley, oooooh, the satire etc....

Nazi Experiments in Colour

The Idiots laughing at the electrocution email... probably the thing that struck me as the most true as everybody knows a twat who enjoys watching that shit and having people gathered around the computer

The Sugar Ape office... an internet design agency I used to work for (I know, I know fuck off) was exactly like that, music so fucking loud you can't use the phone and cunts playing gameboys instead of working, so maybe it's one of those hilarious ha-ha-London chuckles.  But then anybody who's not a Cunt won't have the same resonance...


HOWEVER...

Nathan Barley and the sister is completely unbelievable..... the man has no charisma... we know he's supposed to be an idiot, but he's TOO idiotic to be believable.

That fucking interview... NOBODY would go for a job interview without thinking of the questions that would be asked...

"What ideas for articles do you have"... gee, would they ask that do you think?



Overall it was a lot better than I expected, hehe thanks Neil for lowering my expectations! I'd probably have been a bit meh otherwise.


I hope the next episodes are as Ashcroft-centric, because it lost momentum when it went to Barley..... which is unfortunate...

Better than My Wrongs.

gazzyk1ns

He reminded me of Heap too.

Yeah it wasn't very good, was it, at first I thought the characters were all going to be extremes, i.e. Barley at one end and Ashcroft at the other. But we're meant to identify with, or at least feel sorry for, Ashcroft, aren't we? I really liked The Office but an aspect of it pissed me off, and that aspect was present here too - you stop feeling sorry for the Ashcroft character, or laughing at whoever he's interacting with, after a couple of times because it just wouldn't happen. A person would do the Tim from the Office/Ashcroft "puzzled expression" once or twice but beyond that they'd either accept and ignore it, or get out of there. I know a sitcom doesn't have to be true to life but like I said, surely we're meant to identify or empathise to some degree with Ashcroft, i.e. Barley and his sort are ridiculous cunts and he's amazed nobody else can see it? It doesn't make sense for me and I felt frustrated through the whole thing, it was awkward and unfunny.

Clinton Morgan

Quote from: "alan strang"Class. Sheer Class.

Utter Utter Shit.

InfiniteFury

Quote from: "Homer J"What the cunt was that crap

Homer J speaks a thousand words with but six.

kakamuffin

Very, very funny.  nothing else to be said.

This is exactly the reaction Morris probably expected to get from the pompous internet crowd.

How anyone can be this critical of a brand new series after only one episode and in some cases, the first 10 minutes, is beyond me.

9

All the Nathan Barley stuff was tedious and unfunny. I suppose he's a necessary foil for Ashcroft, but I hope we see him less in future episodes. Like Neil said, it was like Brent crossed with Ali G.

Barrett was pretty good. The whole second half picked up a lot and there's a lot of potential there. The directing was solid, but not spectacular. I particularly liked the first-person view of Ashcroft playing CMB in the end credits. The 'Ha, Die!' bit  was a nice release after the build up of anger in the episode.

So, not particularly funny then.... But I want to see more nonetheless.

Robot Devil

Reminded me more of a plot driven, drama-y show with a few funny bits, and I think it was very successful as that - Barrett is a really talented actor, and I can certainly relate to going from a (totally justified :-)) feeling of superiority when around twats to becoming a bumbling fool under any kind of pressure. Not exactly a sitcom, though, but that's not the show's fault.

benthalo

BES on 45. I even tried calling alan strang during the ad break to proclaim how bad it was, but he was engaged on this occasion. Truly the passing of an age - a show which ought to be angry, but isn't in the slightest.

There is literally nothing else to say. The Goodies on Simon Mayo's show this afternoon - that's the best comedy you'll catch all day, so don't piss your night away watching Rob Rouse in his fucking shirt.

True fact about The Mighty Boosh: BBC2 dropped it mid-series.

Mister Six

Nothing. I feel nothing. I wasn't engaged enough to think that Nathan was a cunt, or even a twat, so the entire point of the series is lost on me.

The interview scene managed to wring some embarrassed empathy from me, but that seems to me to be the easiest kind of comedy to write. Barrett held himself up well. He's a good actor.

Aside from that, I just feel numb. It exists. It's not funny. I do not really care.

Lumiere

I really liked it.  I think it's a nice change for Morris. Not trying to be a trolling-non conformist cunt, I just honestly liked it. A few lines/moments that were a tad cringeworthy, but no more than any other comedy sitcom. I think that, if Morris or Brooker had nothing to do with this project, people would probably be praising it.

La Tristesse Durera

Well we thought it was brilliant. Not so sure about the pacing in the second half (it slowed down a hell of a lot), but we still laughed more than at Look Around You.

Dr David V

From the credits site:

QuoteMUSIC

JONATHAN WHITEHEAD
CHRISTOPHER JOHN MORRIS
Chris J Morris. The J's short for "jenius".

I really liked it, I laughed out loud at least eight or nine times, and didn't grimace once, which I expected too a fair amount.

Okay, it's not Morris' best work, but it's bloody good when compared to the majority of sitcoms out there, which fail to make me laugh or even smile. It succeeds in being an individual and intelligent piece of work, and I'm sure many of you wouldn't be this negative about it if it hadn't been for Morris' input on it .

Julian Barratt's performance was fantastic, he proved how strong an actor he was in it, infact I could go on and on about the things I liked about it, but what's the point? I know you comedy nazi's rip in to anyone who dares have an opinion which differs to your own, and I just can't be arsed to get in to an argument about it all.

I just thought I'd voice my approval, that's all.

benthalo

QuoteUtter Utter Shit.

And Bent on 45 there, c. 2001.