Nathan Barley comes to TV

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Not all messages are displayed: show all messages (1030 of them)

He tells jokes, doesn't he?

― Masked Gazza, Monday, 21 February 2005 12:03 (twenty-one years ago)

i think it is interesting that ashcroft is clearly at least as much of a cnt as barley. the trashbat party was slightly cringey mainly because i've played most of those songs at clubft (einstein a-go-go was the main spot), though admittedly not as [ahem] mashups...

...i'm also not sure about the "political" NB, the enron and george bush mentions in the rap were a little perplexing

― CarsmileSteve (CarsmileSteve), Monday, 21 February 2005 12:36 (twenty-one years ago)

NB's "political" rants were all about the hipster pose of politics as accessory. Do you think NB actually knows the faintest thing about either Bush or Enron? But apathy is no longer hip. It's hip to express vague political beliefs without actually understanding them.

― Kate Kept Me Alive! (kate), Monday, 21 February 2005 12:40 (twenty-one years ago)

"trashbat is two people jumping out of the twin towers simultaneously and fucking on the way down"

of course NB's 'political' rants were empty, but you can bet your ass apathy would have been just as mercilessly pilloried if that were fashionable (ie as it was in the tvgohome versh -- the tv show has been faithful to the times).

― NRQ, Monday, 21 February 2005 12:42 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah, that's kind of what i was thinking kate, "oh look, he's picked up the big buzz words". not as good as the "parking the bentley" line though ;)

― CarsmileSteve (CarsmileSteve), Monday, 21 February 2005 12:44 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, I was actually going to point that out - the interweb NB was apathetic, but has changed with the fashion. As he would, so that puts the "hip" in hipster. Heh.

x-post

― Kate Kept Me Alive! (kate), Monday, 21 February 2005 12:44 (twenty-one years ago)

The TVGH NB always seemed bored by his own antics and never really carried things through, the plots always implied that nothing was ever achieved where as this NB actually seems to do things and be keen about them, cunt though he is.

― Jarlr'mai (jarlrmai), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 09:41 (twenty-one years ago)

> (wasn't the prisoner theme part of the mashup in the club? had all sorts of things in there that i remember from my youth. blancmange?)

caitlin right, me wrong about prisoner ringtone.

other things i recognised mixed into that piece at the party:
'einstein a go go'
'i won't let the sun go down on me'
'it's in the trees, it's coming' from that kate bush song (hounds of love?) (although sample is from 'night of the demon' i think)
something by tears for fears
'centrefold' (j geils band?)
totp theme tune (thin lizzy? the one after?)

the 9/11 stuff used for shock seemed horribly dated already.

― koogs (koogs), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 10:03 (twenty-one years ago)

new episode 3 answers?

― koogs (koogs), Monday, 28 February 2005 18:40 (twenty-one years ago)

despite watching it twice i'm having trouble remembering anything about it. 15peter20 and his photos. restaurant. attempted seduction. er...

― koogs (koogs), Monday, 28 February 2005 18:45 (twenty-one years ago)

My girlfriend got cross the other day because I wanted to watch this and it's not very good. I ended up watching about 10 minutes of it and thinking WTF and then flicking it off. She was right - it's not very good.

― dog latin (dog latin), Monday, 28 February 2005 19:36 (twenty-one years ago)

okay yeah it was a bit shitty this time.

― Ste (Fuzzy), Monday, 28 February 2005 19:53 (twenty-one years ago)

i tht it was better than ep 2, not as good as ep 1.

― 15NRQ20, Tuesday, 1 March 2005 09:22 (twenty-one years ago)

I thought it was funnier than all the others, which I suppose, for a sitcom, is what you're after. "Would you stop rapping please?" is comedy gold.

― Johnney B (Johnney B), Tuesday, 1 March 2005 09:42 (twenty-one years ago)

It's the first one I've seen, and I laughed! The way Nathan mangles his facial expressions to try and seduce Claire in the restaurant were simultaneously HILARIOUS and UTTERLY REPULSIVE, if he can keep this up they'll be as essential to his type of character as Lyn's facial expressions in Alan Partridge.

Would you stop rapping!! Argh!

― Lucretia My Reflection (Lucretia My Reflection), Tuesday, 1 March 2005 09:56 (twenty-one years ago)

claire is taking on some of nathan's language.

― cozen (Cozen), Tuesday, 1 March 2005 11:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Music geek alert - "I Want More" by Can was playing in the background when Dan was trying to write his piece on 15Peter20. But.. but.. he's a bibble...

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 1 March 2005 11:52 (twenty-one years ago)

god, the s/t is too right. i have practically everything they use.

― NRQ, Tuesday, 1 March 2005 11:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Look Around You was a bit disappointing this week too, but then again I wasn't stoned this time.

― dog latin (dog latin), Tuesday, 1 March 2005 12:27 (twenty-one years ago)

Man, I thought ep 3 was the best by far. It's hitting its stride as we get to know the characters. I laughed lots.

― Crackity (Crackity Jones), Tuesday, 1 March 2005 14:30 (twenty-one years ago)

1 was a bit bad.

2 was disgusting.

3 was not as bad as 2.

― RJG (RJG), Tuesday, 1 March 2005 14:31 (twenty-one years ago)

I got told off the other night because I confessed that I actually found Nathan's attempted seduction of Claire quite sweet, and that I would have probably fallen for it myself in younger days. "Would you mind not... rapping!" included. He grows more sympathetic by the episode while Dan grows more repulsive. Sigh.

― Masonic Cathedral (kate), Tuesday, 1 March 2005 14:45 (twenty-one years ago)

I saw this the other night. It was very bad. It seemed a soap, not a comedy.

― the bellefox, Tuesday, 1 March 2005 14:46 (twenty-one years ago)

cathy figured this show out (=if you want to enjoy it, you're not supposed to watch it).

― RJG (RJG), Tuesday, 1 March 2005 15:04 (twenty-one years ago)

Current viewing figures = 700,000. Crumbs.

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 1 March 2005 15:06 (twenty-one years ago)

I saw this last week for the first time, it was OK I guess. "Would you mind not rapping?" was very good. It made me cringe a few times a la Peep Show. I don't think I'll make a point of watching it in the future though.

― The Lex (The Lex), Tuesday, 1 March 2005 15:06 (twenty-one years ago)

it must be faced that its appeal is quite selective. nevertheless, far from being very bad, it is not bad at all.

― NRQ (Enrique), Tuesday, 1 March 2005 15:07 (twenty-one years ago)

you people. i can think of hundreds of other shows i'd rather NOT watch than nathan barley.

15peter20 was ridiculous and i loved that. i love any scene with jonathan yeah (dan's boss).

and nathan would have almost banged claire if he didn't start dancehall mc'ing!

― cutty (mcutt), Tuesday, 1 March 2005 15:14 (twenty-one years ago)

15peter20 just reminded me of too many ex boyfriends and ex boyfriends' friends. Hilarity.

― Masonic Cathedral (kate), Tuesday, 1 March 2005 15:16 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't get the hate,
I think it's great!

I'm downloading them with bittorrent
do you find my repeated viewings abhorrent?

― Chewshabadoo (Chewshabadoo), Tuesday, 1 March 2005 15:17 (twenty-one years ago)

the boss is rubbish.

― RJG (RJG), Tuesday, 1 March 2005 15:17 (twenty-one years ago)

We'll agree to differ, I think Jonathan Yeah? is funny and it seems as tho he's the only character in the show with any genuine talent

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 1 March 2005 15:19 (twenty-one years ago)

oh, and ep 3 saw the first eldon/heap/schneider cameo, right?

― NTQ (Enrique), Tuesday, 1 March 2005 15:20 (twenty-one years ago)

Doug Rocket = Dave Stewart... obviously

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 1 March 2005 15:22 (twenty-one years ago)

No-one save for me seems to have noticed the death motif thing with Johnatton. Toy gun in Ep 1, crow on a tray in Ep 2, gun in mouth gesture in Ep 3. Only happens when he's talking to Dan. Oh what might happen there then.

― why must we cut onions? (Lynskey), Tuesday, 1 March 2005 15:29 (twenty-one years ago)

I thought Dave Stewart was a bit of a strange target.

The Dan character...maybe it's charlie brooker putting himself in there, so that he can cover his own back a bit. Writing a sitcom about nathans is a totally nathan thing to do, and he probably knows that, so by putting a nathan who hates the other nathans (but writes about them) into the show itself, he's trying to distance himself from them without actually denying he's just as bad as they are.

People I know who live outside london and think londoners are cunts seem to find this funnier than I do.

― JimD (JimD), Tuesday, 1 March 2005 15:38 (twenty-one years ago)

oh, and ep 3 saw the first eldon/heap/schneider cameo, right?

And Morris voice over, obv.

― JimD (JimD), Tuesday, 1 March 2005 15:40 (twenty-one years ago)

People I know who live outside london and think londoners are cunts seem to find this funnier than I do.

Oh, we don't just "think" Londoners are cunts. ;-)

― Chewshabadoo (Chewshabadoo), Tuesday, 1 March 2005 16:40 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm watching this series mostly for the Orwellian linguistic games, which I think are well futile (ie great), and for the fashion tips. Episode 3 wasn't a great one for me, everything got a bit too normal. But, judging by the trailer, episode 4 looks very promising, revolving as it does around hairdressing, and specifically the relationship between error and innovation (Dan sleeps with his head on paint, wakes up with asymmetrical hairdo, Nathan goes to expensive hairdresser to get the same result.)

― Momus (Momus), Tuesday, 1 March 2005 17:15 (twenty-one years ago)

i still haven't seen the third episode so don't know what the 15peter20 stuff is about. anyway i seem okay with this series, i don't really think of it as primarily 'comedy' or indeed sature, so the pinefox was on the right track with the 'soap' thing perhaps.

i don't really want to see Nathan humiliated, i just want him to stop being a 'cunt'. but of course that would go against the premise of the show. neither route is REALLY satisfying though (satisfying != funny necessarily), so what i end up appreciating about this show is really just that there's nothing else quite like it on TV and it's doing something akin to what The Office and a few other programmes have done, troubling and saddening as much as amusing, and playing around with your reactions and attitudes to the characters in interesting and relatively novel ways.

this week Dan scored a 'victory' over Nathan - but Nathan somehow scored a 'victory' of his own away from everyone else, which perhaps settles the score in his own mind. so next week will he still idolise Dan or has the relationship changed forever? soapy indeed...

― Sven Bastard (blueski), Saturday, 5 March 2005 00:14 (twenty-one years ago)

scissors in the cats head. fucking, gold!

― Ste (Fuzzy), Saturday, 5 March 2005 00:19 (twenty-one years ago)

in the third episode nathan is still prevailing over dan. did anyone see the fourth episode yet?

― cutty (mcutt), Saturday, 5 March 2005 00:19 (twenty-one years ago)

no Jonotton this week :(

― Sven Bastard (blueski), Saturday, 5 March 2005 00:20 (twenty-one years ago)

scissors in the cats head. fucking, gold!

ha, it was just...silly. the scissors could surely never penetrate a cat's head after falling from that brief a height! this has ruined the entire series for me far more than anything else...

― Sven Bastard (blueski), Saturday, 5 March 2005 00:21 (twenty-one years ago)

I felt sorry for nathan at the end.

and for some reason, dan drinking a pint on the street, in clement weather, with short hair, it seemed really london.

a soap opera that's only 6 shows long.

it's good when things are funny but it's not the be all and end all.

― cozen (Cozen), Saturday, 5 March 2005 00:22 (twenty-one years ago)

continuity Vs. authenticity Vs. meh

― cozen (Cozen), Saturday, 5 March 2005 00:23 (twenty-one years ago)

best thing abt series so far: "this FRI-DAY night!"

― cozen (Cozen), Saturday, 5 March 2005 00:25 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah every promo has an awesome sample!

― cutty (mcutt), Saturday, 5 March 2005 00:29 (twenty-one years ago)

at this point i just look at the actor who plays nathan and laugh. something works here.

― cutty (mcutt), Saturday, 5 March 2005 00:31 (twenty-one years ago)

the trailers are better because i love the Super 8 look

― Sven Bastard (blueski), Saturday, 5 March 2005 00:49 (twenty-one years ago)

Skipping 930 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.