Nathan Barley comes to TV

Joined: 02 Feb 2004
Posts: 947
Location: Walthamstow, London
Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2005 6:04 pm Post subject:

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purlieu wrote:
23 Daves wrote:
To be honest, I'm tempted to buy this myself. Then again, I really liked the series...
Oh, thank fuck someone else did. I feel so alone EVERYWHERE.

Don't worry Chris, I'm sure the next series will be well-received... har har.

Seriously, there are some people out there that enjoyed it - several friends of mine for one, the indie pop star Momus for another (who got very sniffy about TJ using the Housemartins as a reference point in his Off the Telly review, which I thought I'd crowbar in here since I wasn't sure if TJ had noticed his ramblings or not) and Brian Eno (apparently). But yes, I think it's safe to say that the overwhelming majority of people disliked it or at the very least felt it was nothing better than average. Being a fan of the show is somewhat akin to being one of those mad idiots who thought that The Seahorses was a valid and perfectly good project for John Squire after The Stone Roses. I'm quite able to justify my love for NB in a way that I can't for The Seahorses crap, but it's bloody hard work at times.

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Beloved Aunt

Joined: 11 Feb 2004
Posts: 1468
Location: Parkinson's insane complacency ward
Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2005 6:16 pm Post subject:

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But Momus *is* Nathan Barley etc

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TJ

Joined: 02 Feb 2004
Posts: 3335
Location: Inside The Infinite Misery Jumper
Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2005 7:43 pm Post subject:

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23 Daves wrote:
Seriously, there are some people out there that enjoyed it - several friends of mine for one, the indie pop star Momus for another (who got very sniffy about TJ using the Housemartins as a reference point in his Off the Telly review, which I thought I'd crowbar in here since I wasn't sure if TJ had noticed his ramblings or not)

What? Where?

I'm actually quite proud to have been criticised by someone so useless. Especially when he's defending something so bad.

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23 Daves

Joined: 02 Feb 2004
Posts: 947
Location: Walthamstow, London
Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2005 8:38 pm Post subject:

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TJ wrote:
23 Daves wrote:
Seriously, there are some people out there that enjoyed it - several friends of mine for one, the indie pop star Momus for another (who got very sniffy about TJ using the Housemartins as a reference point in his Off the Telly review, which I thought I'd crowbar in here since I wasn't sure if TJ had noticed his ramblings or not)

What? Where?

I'm actually quite proud to have been criticised by someone so useless. Especially when he's defending something so bad.

Somewhere deep on this over-long Nathan Barley thread here:

Nathan Barley comes to TV

He rather tartly comments: "The sentence 'I think The Housemartins would back me up when I say...' is not the best way to start a cohesive argument". Which I think is just a fluffy bit of jokey criticism for the sake of it, at least to my brain.

So there you go - not a tearing critique, admittedly, though one of the other posters on there really likes you as a writer but is 'dis-satisfied' with your Nathan Barley piece. I only stumbled upon this the other day when looking up stuff about Nathan Barley on google - I wanted to see if it's been panned on other Internet forums as well, and sure enough, it has. I wasn't expecting to see your arguments referenced, though.

Some of Momus' points about "Nathan Barley" are interesting, though he does seem to get more and more desperate to defend it as the thread moves on, and consequently talks more and more nonsense. Not that I've any right to criticise on that score, I realise...

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TJ

Joined: 02 Feb 2004
Posts: 3335
Location: Inside The Infinite Misery Jumper
Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2005 8:42 pm Post subject:

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23 Daves wrote:
He rather tartly comments: "The sentence 'I think The Housemartins would back me up when I say...' is not the best way to start a cohesive argument". Which I think is just a fluffy bit of jokey criticism for the sake of it, at least to my brain.

Well, all I can say to Mr Currie is the old adage about people in glass houses.

Quote:
So there you go - not a tearing critique, admittedly, though one of the other posters on there really likes you as a writer but is 'dis-satisfied' with your Nathan Barley piece.

That's fair enough really. I wouldn't agree that it was 'badly written' though.

Blue Jam > Chris Morris Radio Show > Day Today > Brass Eye > Jam > On The Hour > Nathan Barley

I still don't think Barley is bad, but dear god, just TRY rewatching it again. Instead, watch Iannucci's THE THICK OF IT. Now there's good DTD Alumnieties.

Yes, that is him and yes, "Absolute Power" is the single vilest TV programme I have ever laid eyes on

http://www.lomography.com/0001/fotos/p300704/1a7de80c5901cb68/UL_844724_10925848702_l.jpg

i used to work with this dude.

This is wrong, I'm afraid. The receptionist and the IT department comfort themselves for their exclusion from, and failure to understand, the vital social skills and cultural capital-accumulation strategies that pay their salaries by affecting to deride them, or pouring creativity that might, in another context, put them in the same league as "the idiots" into schemes of futile, dead-eyed passive aggression so baroque that Salieri could have written an opera around them. Expect the spin-off series in which the receptionist stars at the centre of her circle of sensible, likeable, reasonable, fairly normal friends, and the IT department go for lunch at the pub... well, never.

Actually, who am I kidding? This was me 5 years ago! Well done.

The character development and plot, while at first looking a little thin on the ground is actually down to being very intricate and works on the relationships between each character and their motives.

Unlike the TVGH column, we're not supposed to side with anybody, or perhaps we're supposed to pick sides. In episode 6, Nathan plays Roadrunner to Dan's Wile E Coyote, falling into every trap Dan sets for him but somehow managing to escape via his own idiocy (or the fact Dan tries too hard).
In the same way, we are rooting for Wile E to catch Roadrunner, while at the same time we kinda like Roadrunner in his own annoying stupid way. At least Roadrunner gets about, while Coyote is a lazy, malevolent wally. Still, isn't it great when Coyote manages to catch Roadrunner. I particularly liked the music towards the end of episode 6: "Whose side are yooouu oooooonnn?"

('you're like palestine/you're fucked up big time')

what are the extras?

Trashbat website
Pilot
Gallery (incl close-ups of the individual magazines and stuff).
Outtakes
some other stuff I'm not so sure.

Matt, email me.

i did actually miss this after it stopped, mainly for the two boosh people in other roles.

When does this happen? Wile E. Coyote never catches the roadrunner, that's his whole schtick.

As this is due soon:
http://www.theitcrowd.co.uk/

I'm wondering if any other Americans have seen it?
Brits - are they doing a season 2? And is it hugely obnoxious to liberally quote Barley in conversation by this point?

God, fucking brilliant. And seemingly un-U.S.-remakeable, which is a huge relief.

I heard (maybe on this thread, can't be arsed to scroll up) that a second series had been drafted, with Dan Ashcroft sleeping in a van in Nathan's garden or something.

Mugged - GET HOLD OF BRASS EYE. Can't be stressed enough.