Mr Inbetween

[Satchmo Distel]

Very dark but also funny:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr_Inbetween

But I'm not sure it can work beyond one series. Repetition will be hard to avoid.

[Cortez the Surfer]

It's just been renewed for a second season, which is very surprising considering it's genesis.
(It was commissioned by FX Australia for the domestic market but then FX Oz was shut down before it could be aired so the parent company in the US decided to burn them off 2 eps. a week in a graveyard slot after Kurt Sutter's new show Mayans MC).

If you enjoy a decently written, interesting drama with good pacing and dark comedic overtones then this is worth trying to get a hold of (see also HBO's Barry).

[Mister Six]

It's had a fair bit of advertising in New York - I kept seeing it on taxi cabs - so someone thought it was worth a bit of a push.

[Enrico Palazzo]

Was a big fan of The Magician. Had looked him up intermittently over the years to see if he'd done anything else. Seems he's been driving a taxi the last ten years so it's pretty nice that he's been given a break. Not that there's anything wrong with driving a taxi.

[zomgmouse]

This is interesting, completely gets rid of the mockumentary aspect of the original film and turns it into more of a character study of the hitman. It's quite funny and dark and has some interesting tense moments. Not the best thing ever but worth a watch!

[Satchmo Distel]

Series 2 is similar but I would say grimmer in its subject matter and each episode becoming somewhat formulaic in that it starts with comedic banter before building to a violent ending. I can see an arc where the character gets more isolated (despite having a humane, loving side, his violence will eventually destroy those relationships) but it also feels as though the cops are dumb as fuck not to have connected the trail of bodies or to have an informer who's grassed him up.

The therapy group is a weak device (essentially comedic not dramatic) and notably not missed when it's absent from an episode.

[SteveDave]

I keep meaning to find this as I loved "The Magician" I saw it with a Q & A from Scott Ryan and he had so many plans for his next few films but they (obviously) came to nothing. One of them was a zombie film in the Outback. Which would've been sparsely populated. 

[arpster]

Terrific show, violent and funny and Scott Ryan‎ really is superb.....second season has been darker in tone but none less enjoyable.....episode 9 "Socks Are Important" is one of the best 30 mins of TV i've seen this year.....deserves a wider audience, would go down a treat on Netflix or Amazon

[Mobbd]

Just started watching this and I like it a lot.

For anyone who hasn't seen it yet, it (so far) feels closer to Louie than Breaking Bad. A stylish sitcom.

I don't know if it even constitutes "Black humour" because while the situation is dark (he's a hitman) the jokes are pretty grounded and relatable.

Scott Ryan is brilliant. Never heard of the lad before but I could watch him all day.

It helps that each episode is 28 minutes. Most crushable.

Spoiler alert

In the first episode, I really thought he was going to get $4 out of those hoods for swearing in the presence of his daughter. Maybe that will come later in the series?

[close]

Anyway, I recommend this. In the UK, it's on Disney+.

[Mobbd]

In episode 2, he coolly supervises a guy who is digging his own grave. "The dirt's supposed to go outside the hole, mate."

Digging your own grave seems to be something I find inherently amusing, so my claim above that the humour isn't "Black" may well be questionable.

I love the scene in Better Call Saul where he negotiates his way out of certain death while digging his grave in the desert. And of course there's the Troy McClure line about "Dig Your Own Grave and Save!"

I am not amused by people dying. I suppose it's the idea that all of your choices up to this culminative point have been... just terrible. It's the having time reflect on these choices while digging is what makes me laugh I think.

I'd think like to see Laurel and Hardy digging their own graves with Oli blaming Stan for everything.

[Hat FM]

just finished this the other week really enjoyed it. there is a theme throughout but a few bottle episodes which are good stories in their own right. Scott ryan manages to get some observational comedy out through dialogue between the characters which i quite enjoyed. Thought there would be more exposition through the counselling sessions but they were good enough. need to have a look for the magician. apparently season 3 was only commissioned because Ryan persuaded them they could make it in the outback during lockdown without many issues.

[Mobbd]

need to have a look for the magician

I'll probably get to that as well. Does anyone know if it's a separate story though? As with Fargo? Wikipedia describes the series as a "serialization" of the movie, which suggests it's the same thing expanded. Wiki could be wrong of course.

[jobotic]

just finished this the other week really enjoyed it. there is a theme throughout but a few bottle episodes which are good stories in their own right. Scott ryan manages to get some observational comedy out through dialogue between the characters which i quite enjoyed. Thought there would be more exposition through the counselling sessions but they were good enough. need to have a look for the magician. apparently season 3 was only commissioned because Ryan persuaded them they could make it in the outback during lockdown without many issues.

There's a season 3??

[Hat FM]

There's a season 3??

yup :) its on disney plus.

[jobotic]

Fuck me!

Thought there was only two and that was it so didn't bother looking. I loved this show.

[jobotic]

Oh wait, I've got confused. I have seen it. For some reason I'd squashed it all down to two seasons in my head.

Definitely worth a rewatch though!

[Butchers Blind]

This is a fantastic show and surprised it's not as well known as stuff like Breaking Bad and BCS as I'd rank it up there with those. Every episode is written by and starring Scott Ryan who's excellent as Ray. Binged the entire thing over a bank holiday last year. If you've not seen it, get it watched!

[Mobbd]

Every episode is written by and starring Scott Ryan

I didn't know he also wrote it! This makes it triply awesome.

[13 schoolyards]

I'll probably get to that as well. Does anyone know if it's a separate story though? As with Fargo? Wikipedia describes the series as a "serialization" of the movie, which suggests it's the same thing expanded. Wiki could be wrong of course.

The Magician is a mockumentary that's mostly about the relationship between Ray (who for all intents and purposes is exactly the same character, though this version doesn't have any family) and the documentary maker. It's close at times to Man Bites Dog, if you remember that.

It's fairly episodic, including one stretch that involves a trip into the country to collect some cash (which isn't exactly the same as the one in the series) and I think a fair bit was improvised - I don't know about the UK DVD but the Australian release had a bunch of deleted scenes and a trial version they did on video to get funding. But basically, if you like the character of Ray, you'll like The Magician. They do a little shoutout to the film in the second last episode of the series too, which was nice.

It's also filmed in Melbourne (Mr Inbetween was made in Sydney), so if you want to know what the laneways around the top end of Bourke St near Parliament house looked like in 2004 that's an added benefit.

[Mobbd]

Nice! Thank you.

[studpuppet]

Missus and I watched this, and yup it's fantastic from beginning to end. One of those shows where my partner was genuinely crestfallen when I said that was end after three series.

[Mobius]

I just finished the first series and yeah it's good. Like a lot of shows, good balance between humour and some darkness and violence.

[13 schoolyards]

Ryan just posted on his IG that there'll be no more Mr Inbetween in the near term but that he's been working on a number of other writing projects (the image was of a script he'd written titled "It's Coming This Way") and he planned to "put a few of those projects into official development shortly". So good news there.

[Mobbd]

I just finished Season 1 (not watching as fast as some of you legends on here) and fuck me this show is good.

I love the comedy stuff. It never becomes a skit: I can imagine a version written by Gervais and Merchant falling regularly into "material" but that never happens here. It's effortlessly naturalistic as well as situation-driven and very funny for it. I liked the farting/shitting on your chest/number of pees conversation with the girlfriend (which is vaguely reminiscent of Andy and Maggie's "would you rather" bants in Extras, which is probably why I briefly imagined a Gervais/Merchant version of this against my will). The trapped in the trunk story was thrilling and funny and the resolution was great.

The "big lunk" gangster character maybe tipped slightly too far into a comedy archetype, maybe slightly too broad a performance? He was fine though.

Earlier in the thread I said this was more Louie than Breaking Bad and I stand by that. I still see it as a stylish sitcom, no matter how brutal it can be. The dynamic of a self-possessed single man getting along with his female friend and his daughter is very Louie-ish. (I'm glad of this because I can't watch Louie any more for obvious reasons and Mr Inbetween slides in the right creative/evolutionary direction away from trad sitcom where, say, Maron slides slightly in the wrong direction imo).

Predictions! (let's see how wrong I will be):

Spoiler alert

The therapist will receive some sort of justice for being a moderately sneering cunt.

We will see a real unicorn before the series is out.

[close]

Ryan just posted on his IG that there'll be no more Mr Inbetween in the near term but that he's been working on a number of other writing projects (the image was of a
script he'd written titled "It's Coming This Way") and he planned to "put a few of those projects into official development shortly". So good news there.

Scott Ryan is going to become quite a big deal, isn't he? Hopefully not as a wank beast though.

[Mobbd]

Spoiler alert

Second season callback to "raw sandwiches".

[close]

[13 schoolyards]

Just be warned that it does strip away some of the more sitcom-like elements as it goes along - it's still pretty funny at times but it does focus a bit more on "maybe this lifestyle isn't exactly healthy".

Also

Spoiler alert

is there ever any resolution at all with the therapist? From what I remember Ray just stops going. There's also that journalist he talks to briefly, but that was more of a one-off

[close]

[The Culture Bunker]

I watched it all a few months back during a couple of weeks off work when I had nothing better to do. As I recall, yer man Ryan hadn't done much (if any) acting before this, which makes his performance even more impressive.

[jobotic]

Scott Ryan is going to become quite a big deal, isn't he? Hopefully not as a wank beast though.

I really hope so. I only watched this because a friend recommended it (which I then did to others) but I wouldn't have heard of it otherwise. Seems to have gone mainly unnoticed.

I do hope it's big in Australia and that means a lot more stuff to come from him. Not in a wank beast way.

[Butchers Blind]

I've been recommending this to close friends and they've all come away with the same high opinion. Should be more widely known.

[Ron Superior]

I've just started watching this. Love that episode 3 basically culminated in a 1970s style sitcom farce, but instead of hiding a mistress or whatever it's disposing of a corpse.