Nathan Barley comes to TV

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... and unpersuasive

― My Son Calls Another Man Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 13:27 (twenty-one years ago)

but you like the sugarape boss.

― RJG (RJG), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 13:27 (twenty-one years ago)

as for gervais's refusal:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/images/bbc/150ricky_yctv_portrait.gif

― RJG (RJG), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 13:28 (twenty-one years ago)

Hmm, this Extras thing doesn't really sound a million miles from HBO's Unscripted, at least in concept. Although I doubt it'll have the same "aw, these poor dumb actors have a rough time" tone.

― JimD (JimD), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 13:43 (twenty-one years ago)

The tiny audience figures signal that there's fat chance of a second series coming along, which is a shame. But ripping the piss out of Vice magazine isn't exactly broadcasting, so what do they expect?
That last episode was easily the bet yet - I really liked Mandy! I thought it was Donna Matthews at first. And Jonattan Yeah? was on form "Oh I hope we haven't offended ab-solute-ly ev-eryone"

Nathan's now the central figure at last. In the early episodes they had to try and find something for him to do inbetween the Dan scenes, now it was Dan who had the sub-plot - the wank in the bogs scene was this weeks scissors-in-cat's-head: the gratuitous gross-out big-laugh shot. (and Brooker/Morris stuck to a convential comedic power-of-three with Dan "leaking" sugaRAPE flyers to telegraph a pay-off: dropping them once in the office, next in the caff and then finally in the bogs which then meant the builder could find him at the end of the episode (as if Dan would carry SA flyers with him anyway!?))

Best comedy on TV at the moment.

― David Merryweather (DavidM), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 14:21 (twenty-one years ago)

ho ho, RJG.

― Cathy (Cathy), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 14:26 (twenty-one years ago)

i've moved from wanting it to be like the website to wanting it to be about jonattan.

― NR_Q, Tuesday, 15 March 2005 14:27 (twenty-one years ago)

I know you're not being sarcastic, cathy.

― RJG (RJG), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 14:29 (twenty-one years ago)

as if Dan would carry SA flyers with him anyway!

It was a nice surreal motif, I think, that now he's being pwned by Jonattan, these things appear in his pockets/bag of their own accord.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 16:56 (twenty-one years ago)

I had lunch with a colleague today who has to drop ZILLIONS of flyers for our employer's 'live' night which happens in about a week.

― suzy (suzy), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 17:00 (twenty-one years ago)

Will it be any good, though, yeah?

― BARMS, Tuesday, 15 March 2005 17:10 (twenty-one years ago)

It'll be totally fucking Mexico

― My Son Calls Another Man Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 17:14 (twenty-one years ago)

Barms, it's next Thursday at Cargo and the lineup is: Lady Sovereign, JME, Crazy Titch, Klashnekoff, Durrty Goodz, Stush, Kano, Demon & Ghetto, Katie Pearl, some folks from Roll Deep, DJ Logan Sama and DJ Ross Allen and MC Riko. All for £5 advance, too.

― suzy (suzy), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 17:21 (twenty-one years ago)

Lady Sovereign, JME, Crazy Titch, Klashnekoff, Durrty Goodz, Stush, Kano, Demon & Ghetto, Katie Pearl

I don't know what's real life and what's chris morris any more.

― JimD (JimD), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 17:29 (twenty-one years ago)

Suzzzzzy, that looks pretty damn cool. I will holla at thee.

― Deerninja B4rim4, Plus-Tech Whizz Kid (Barima), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 18:17 (twenty-one years ago)

GAAAAAA

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 18:26 (twenty-one years ago)

RE: The influence of 'The Office'. Stephen Merchant is a script consultant on 'Nathan Barley'.

― auto_appendix, Tuesday, 15 March 2005 21:24 (twenty-one years ago)

in series 2 grime will have caught on down the nailgun arms.
-- NR_Q (bl0cke...), March 14th, 2005.

― N_RQ, Wednesday, 16 March 2005 09:05 (twenty-one years ago)

fuckin' posers

― David Merryweather (DavidM), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 10:34 (twenty-one years ago)

Nice troll pose, dollnuts!

― Momus (Momus), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 11:29 (twenty-one years ago)

i don't get this whole thing about clare only "cracking" in this ep. surely the junkie choir from ep 1 showed she was as shallow and fucked as the rest of them?

― CarsmileSteve (CarsmileSteve), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 13:04 (twenty-one years ago)

How'd you mean? It seemed a bit rubbish but not particularly exploitative. Along the lines of the Langley Schools Hippie Nonsense, like.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 13:08 (twenty-one years ago)

yeh it didn't seem as 'obviously' exploitative. isn't the point with claire that she's on the moral high ground with reasonable intentions but the naivety and volatility is there wrt to stumbling into hypocrisy and double standards (at times i can identify with Claire as much as Barley (haha) in that respect) - she's not actually cynical nor are The Idiots (inc. Nathan) because there is genuine naivety (or rather ignorance) among them too. only Dan and Jonotton seem to be cynical, which is interesting as they're almost polar opposites.

― Sven Bastard (blueski), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 13:15 (twenty-one years ago)

but it's still shallow "i must make my MEANINGFUL film about TEH POOR" is no more useful than "it's funny because it's not funny because it's funny" etc.

the junkie was singing about his slavery to an audience of black people for gods sake...

― CarsmileSteve (CarsmileSteve), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 13:33 (twenty-one years ago)

i failed to make that connection - the looks on the kids (various ethnicities not just black) faces was 'funny' tho

― Sven Bastard (blueski), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 13:45 (twenty-one years ago)

volatility = "measure once, cut twice"?

Sven, how can you say that Nathan isn't cynical after Episode 5? He didn't stumble into the idea that he'd get sex for his money.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 13:55 (twenty-one years ago)

ok cynical re girls/sex of course, and you could argue the 'Russian tramp tooth-pulling' type stuff as cynical, tho considering his vacuousness, aside from the actually quite inventive games and presentation of trashbat.co.ck (supposedly Nathan's ideas tho the credit really goes to Pingu i suppose, which supports me here, i think), this is another contradiction.

― Sven Bastard (blueski), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 14:02 (twenty-one years ago)

getting better & better, with each episode.

― cozen (Cozen), Friday, 18 March 2005 22:17 (twenty-one years ago)

is something brilliant happening?

― cozen (Cozen), Friday, 18 March 2005 22:22 (twenty-one years ago)

my god

― Jarlr'mai (jarlrmai), Friday, 18 March 2005 22:29 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah, holy fuck, bleak...

― cozen (Cozen), Friday, 18 March 2005 22:30 (twenty-one years ago)

Hahaha. I don't even know what to think of that yet, I need you all to talk about it a lot.

I laughed a lot, but I'm not sure I should've been.

― Suedey (John Cei Douglas), Friday, 18 March 2005 22:31 (twenty-one years ago)

the end

― RJG (RJG), Friday, 18 March 2005 22:31 (twenty-one years ago)

Labour Party conference was the best laugh all series.

― Ed (dali), Friday, 18 March 2005 22:31 (twenty-one years ago)

It was really good until the cliffhanger / WTF? / 'we want a second series' ending

― James Mitchell (James Mitchell), Friday, 18 March 2005 22:32 (twenty-one years ago)

I hope that is the end.

though, what is an ending anyway?

― cozen (Cozen), Friday, 18 March 2005 22:34 (twenty-one years ago)

What happened?

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Friday, 18 March 2005 22:35 (twenty-one years ago)

NB weasled his way into claire's channel 7 pitch and the channel 7 guy was a fanny, too, and had seen NB's .cock pranks, so he gave NB a pilot or something and, then, NB sat down, trying to get ideas, and pingu was playing a labour party conference doom-like game, with headphones on, and NB put on a balaclava and took his lighter-that-looks-like-a-gun and went out and burst in, on pingu, and pingu panicked and jumped out of the window and NB went out to see if he was OK and met dan who had seen NB coming out, of the building, and dan went up and took the cassette, out of the camera that had been filming the prank, and, then, used it to blackmail NB into humiliating himself and grabbing the channel 7 guy's balls x2 and pouring a pint of lager over his head, etc., and, then, made him film himself saying he was an idiot and got him to strip off and say other stuff and pingu was Ok and claire brought him back, from the hospital, and they walked in on NB, in his pants, and, then, dan burst in, wearing the balaclava and with the lighter, and pingu panicked, again, and jumped out of the window, again, and dan kinda went weird and pretended it wasn't him and, then, walked to the window and fell out and claire looked out of the window and pingu was on top of a van, that was parked outside, and pingu said "he bounced" and claire looked down and saw dan, on the ground, and, then, NB was looking at the camera and smiling, because of its cassette, and, then, dan was in a hospital bed and woozy and seeing people and hearing things and he signed something NB wanted him to and NB said he was going to be in his pilot and it ended with claire saying "dan?" and NB saying "do you want to be a producer (or something), on my pilot? he's going to be in it" over and over.

― RJG (RJG), Friday, 18 March 2005 22:45 (twenty-one years ago)

Fantastic. "Swift as Jackass." "Or...even faster than that."

The end was very My Wrongs. I don't there's any cliffhanger element to it - the idiots win, Ashcroft is beaten (the degree of his incapacitation kinda irrelevant), the end.

― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Friday, 18 March 2005 22:45 (twenty-one years ago)

Good job Pashmina wasn't holding out for the Saturday repeat, eh?

― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Friday, 18 March 2005 22:47 (twenty-one years ago)

yes, I am glad of that.

― RJG (RJG), Friday, 18 March 2005 22:47 (twenty-one years ago)

"The idiots are winning"

― David Merryweather (DavidM), Friday, 18 March 2005 22:51 (twenty-one years ago)

I left that bit out.

I didn't want to ruin it.

― RJG (RJG), Friday, 18 March 2005 22:52 (twenty-one years ago)

SPOLERS :(

― cutty (mcutt), Friday, 18 March 2005 22:52 (twenty-one years ago)

I thought the ending was quite 'Brazil'.

Or do I mean 'Mexico'?

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Friday, 18 March 2005 22:53 (twenty-one years ago)

I still haven't got TV, so I'm not worried abt spoilers.

I'll buy this on DVD if it comes out, though.

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Friday, 18 March 2005 22:54 (twenty-one years ago)

I didn't really like this one so much. Beginnings and endings are the weakest quality of Nathan Barley, I think. Episodes 3-5 are very strong because they're a "locked groove" that is independent from history (what is established in episode 1) and only vaguely moving towards episode 6. Postmodern, etcetera.

― fields of salmon (fieldsofsalmon), Saturday, 19 March 2005 04:10 (twenty-one years ago)

Hmm, yeah, strange one. Big laughs in the pub scene, yep. But then that was just a direct lift from the old Chris Morris radio one shows, with dan = morris, and nathan = peter baynham. Interesting thing was Nathan's voice during the pingu-out-the-window scene, when in a state of panic he seemed to switch back to what was presumably his original, posher accent. That's the first time we've seen actual evidence of his affluent background in the show, isn't it?

― JimD (JimD), Saturday, 19 March 2005 15:06 (twenty-one years ago)

yes, that is true, about the accent.

― RJG (RJG), Saturday, 19 March 2005 15:11 (twenty-one years ago)

Watching it back - I don't think the final window jumping scene was rehearsed at all. It looks as if Morris gave them some vague directions and shouted go, you can see the actors glancing behind the camera for what to do next. Like the rest of it the series doesn't get dramatic enough to be engaging, the actors seem petrified of messing up the delivery of their Morrisisms and it isn't clear enough in intent to be making a satirical point.

The hospital bed bit was a bad move too - if it'd've ended on the rewinding tape and Nathan's grinning then we'd've got the point and we'd've had the idiots winning on their terms, making the incident part of Nathan's TV series and getting Dan to sign for it just wasn't needed. It seemed to be there for 2 purposes - one to bring back the rest of the cast and secondly for those "you can be a producer on my show" pronouncements. Fuck knows what conclusion you draw after that. That Morris and Brooker are saying that THEY are Nathan Barley? God knows. Seeing how we knew that Nathan was an idiot, the culture farm is being taken over by the idiots and that Dan was a bit rubbish during the first five minutes of episode one it's no sort of ending.

I can count a hideous amount of elements throughout that are like that - the right elements misplaced, wrong tone at the wrong time. I think when it comes down to it Chris Morris isn't a director. I wonder how script reads? I've already heard someone who worked on the show say they're mystified how such a fantastic script misfired so badly. Brass Eye and The Day Today seem tightly scripted almost to the frame, I'd be interested to see how detailed this one was. I suspect there was some Mike Leigh style "improvise the scene together" stuff involved.

There was a really good TV show in there somewhere, but its just didn't go hard enough in any direction to be anything. Not comedy enough, not comedy-drama enough, not sitcom enough. Too much mish mash. And certainly not hard enough on its targets.

― A / F#m / Bm / D (Lynskey), Saturday, 19 March 2005 15:41 (twenty-one years ago)

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