MovieChat Forums > Black Books (2001) Discussion > does it really get better?

does it really get better?

posted 12 years ago by J_odelay
28 replies | jump to latest

i heard great things about this show and after watching episode 1, i'm... meh. i do enjoy british comedy. black adder, faulty towers, red dwarf, monty python and mr.bean if i'm in the right mood. this first episode however didn't do much for me other than the "jesus" scare at the end. there was way to much canned laughter at times where it wasn't funny. i love Dylan Moran as a stand up, but i wasn't that impressed with what i saw from episode 1. should i really keep going or is this a cult show like red dwarf? i love the dwarf, but after the pilot, i'm no where hooked on this show yet.

ps, also recomend other british shows that i need to watch. i remember an "odd couple" type show from the 90's that was great, but i forget what it was called. any suggestions? one guy always seemed to be "dirty or gross". that's all i remember, other than being funny.

[–] Zimmy-Z 12 years ago

I would say give it another episode or two and see.

No idea what the odd couple type show you are thinking of could be.

Maybe you are misremembering 'Men Behaving Badly' or something?

Shows I would recommend:
Peep Show
Father Ted
Bottom
Spaced
The IT Crowd
The Inbetweeners

Those are in no real order except for Peep Show which is number 1 by a million miles. Possibly the best comedy series ever made.

And if you are into odd shows then
The Mighty Boosh

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] carpet_seller 12 years ago

I'm on episode 8 now and ...

No, it has not got better. I'm amazed at how wrong the IMDB vote is on this one...I give it 1/10...I would expect this to be a 3.5 - 4.5 on IMDb

And I have to say episode 1 was the best episode so far but episode 8 is quite good too (by blackbooks standards)

EDIT Now finished series 2, mostly awful, just awful. The one where they go on holiday is one of the worst episodes yet.

[–] TopGunSGA 12 years ago

No, it has not got better. I'm amazed at how wrong the IMDB vote is on this one...I give it 1/10

I think you fail to realise that humour is subjective. I and many many others love the show and therefore vote high

---We will rule over all this land and we will call it... This Land.---

[–] MsWildhack 12 years ago

Yep. I think it's freakin' hilarious.

[–] dhenderson-2 12 years ago

I missed it the first time the series were shown and only caught up by downloading them a couple of years ago. I couldn't believe this had been out there since 2000 and I didn't know about it.
Goddamn. I'm going to download some episodes again, as I made the mistake of deleting them after watching - some of them are classics and I feel sorry for those who don't get the humour. Maybe there's not enough car chases or shootouts or something else wrong.

[–] figgis1972 12 years ago

The odd couple show the OP was querying may be Bottom. A slightly hit and miss show, but i like it.

Ripley: Micro changes in air density, my ass.

[–] beril_kin 11 years ago

You are so right ı just watched the first episode and its freaking amazing, godd this is clever humour!

[–] Kockunge 11 years ago

No, it has not got better. I'm amazed at how wrong the IMDB vote is on this one...I give it 1/10

so dont watch it then. simple. fixed. stop whining.

[–] telescone 11 years ago

lol you are such a troll. i looked at your history and you give every high rated movie ridiculous ratings. citizen kane a 4? laughable

[–] Ace_Spade 9 years ago

Why would you dislike something so much and still go through two series' worth of episodes? At a half-hour (roughly) each, that's six hours of television - 2/3 of the show - for what?

Now, frankly, I think the show is brilliant and I nearly choked laughing a couple times, but if you hate the show, why bother hanging on for two whole series?

[–] gd-parry 8 years ago

I felt season 1 and 2 were best, though Simon Pegg's role in S3 E1 was brilliant and made that one a favourite - coz I've worked with such people. It did go down a bit after that and Fran's subplots were always a bit out of sync with the rest throughout but compared to other sitcoms it hung around just long enuf without peddling the same joke for 30 odd years like LOTSW.

[–] Ace_Spade 8 years ago

No kidding with Fran. There were several episode where they basically all start talking to each other in the book store and then Fran just goes off wherever for the rest of the episode, completely divorced from the others. That always disappointed me, like the writers couldn't figure out something for Fran to do so they just removed her entirely. She is such a great character and Tamsin Grieg is so wonderful, it was a shame to see her so mercilessly "B-Plotted".

[–] Lones555 11 years ago

Not for me, I was hugely disappointed by this. I love Dylan Moran's stand up comedy and I usually love series written by Graham Linehan. I watched all 3 series of it waiting for it to be funny.

I love Peep Show, I love I'm Alan Partidge,Blackadder, Arrested Development, Green Wing etc etc. Father Ted and IT Crowd are above average. I just found this to be terrible, it was like watching a BBC 7pm Saturday sitcom.

I think I smiled twice in season 1 (not laughed) and that was it for the full 3 series. Not a single laugh.

[–] divingraven 11 years ago

Well different people, different kinds of humour.

I watched the first ep and maybe laughed once of twice, mainly at Bern suddenly deciding to make a coat out of his receipts. But I loved the second episode much much more than the first one so that's what changed my mind and I quite like it. Dylan Moran's persona here is virtually indistinguishable from the one he keeps for most of his stand-ups, but that's great because I can never get enough of him.

I REALLY need to watch Blackadder. I'm pretty sure it's high quality comedy, it's just I'm not a native English speaker and British English can be hard to understand without subtitles. At least English subtitles.

You seem to have good taste, though. Besides not liking Black Books of course, but hey, nobody's perfect (/jk). I'd like to hear what British shows would you recommend.

[–] ralph_2ndedition 11 years ago

IF you decide to watch Blackadder, and you find - after the first season - that you don't like it all that much, please be adviced that Blackadder changed form and the titel character also changes in season 2 (and onwards).

I never liked the first one, but kept going into season 2, and I'm glad I did - it's freakin brilliant!!

[–] oundjianm 11 years ago

Other great British comedy tv series.

1) Monty Python's Flying Circus
2) I'm Alan Partridge
3) Mr. Bean
4) Fawlty Towers
5) Black Adder
6) Brass Eye
7) The Young Ones
8) The League Of Gentlemen
9) Red Dwarf
10) Ali G In Da USAiii
11) Fonejacker

that's enough to laugh your ass off. Enjoy!
:)

[–] ang-son 11 years ago

I love most of the shows you mentioned and I absolutely adore Black Books. So... What did you not like about BB?

[–] PretoriaDZ 11 years ago

If you want to see an odd couple Britcom, you can't get any odder than Gimme Gimme Gimme, a show about a gross woman (who strangely thinks she's gorgeous) and a gay flatmate who is a mincing ninny. They hate each other and periodically get into slapping hand fights and catfights over men they're interested in. The reason they stay together appears to be that no one else can stand either one of them. I usually do not like raunchy shows and this one is definitely that, but it does make me laugh (can't quite figure out why).

Unfortunately, I can't find it anywhere for Region 1 except a random episode on YouTube.

[–] nnenok 11 years ago

Maybe I know what's bothering you with this show. It's probably the same reason as for why this is the only British show that I DO find funny. I'm generally not a fan of British humor at all - I'm bothered by direct mocking and insulting of certain people/subgroups (e.g. Little Britain), by unnatural grimacing (e.g. Mr. Bean) and the political incorrectness. However, Black books doesn't have any of that - just regular, but in my opinion very funny, humor; I've just been to Dylan Moran's stand-up and I was pleased to discover his program is also like that. So maybe those three very significant characteristics of British humor are what you miss in this show.

[–] petra-59 11 years ago

Stick with the first series. That's more than enough. If you think that seeing a man punched in the jaw then stay with if. Otherwise you'll find the series gets more annoying.
I really cannot see why a drunken slob is supposedly amusing.

[–] Ponies_in_Jumpers 11 years ago

I think it was probably filmed in front of a live audience or at least shown to one to get the reaction rather than just 'canned laughter'.

[–] suzytrack 9 years ago

I have to agree with the OP. I watched the first couple of episodes on Hulu and was unimpressed...and I ADORE British comedies. This was rather disappointing.