Nathan Barley comes to TV

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which bit?

"They don't realise it's not good cos it's rude, yeah?"
"Yeah, it's good because it looks like it's good because it's rude." (the lazy-gobbed questioning-intonation is a bonus)

I had to install QT* to watch that again, which meant I had to install iTunes. I'm LIVING IN THE FUTURE.

(Funny cos I had to deliver a project in QT last week and I couldn't even watch the finished article at my desk.)

Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Monday, 31 January 2005 10:48 (nineteen years ago) link

I write about design for trendy magazines, pop across to Tokyo like it was Tesco's, rave about hazard tape, wear "ironic" houndtooth hats, and have been approached to write a weekly column in a Sunday supplement... will Dan Ashcroft include me in his withering style mag feature 'The Idiots'? Please?

"Once the idiots were just fools gawping in through the windows. Now they've entered the building..."

Momus (Momus), Monday, 31 January 2005 13:28 (nineteen years ago) link

Actually, I think this is going to be terrific. In the trailers, it's already very funny to watch the way 'Dan Ashcroft' reacts to the madness that surrounds him. There are so many little gags hidden in each trailer, like the Weekend on Sunday mag with Nicky Campbell on the cover. Even the fact that this incredibly stodgy, conservative-looking paper wants to recruit 'edgy style barometers' for its Sunday supplement and has an editor calling people 'dude'. Just totally... weapon!

Momus (Momus), Monday, 31 January 2005 13:36 (nineteen years ago) link

this looks good. i like michaels point about auto-satirisation.

debden, Monday, 31 January 2005 13:47 (nineteen years ago) link

The obvious criticism of this TV version is already taking shape, though. Just as 'Cunt' has become 'Nathan Barley', so the sheer Nazi vitriol directed against Barley in the TV Go Home episodes ('if there was any justice in this life he'd be chained to the railings of a North Sea oilrig and used as a screaming human jizzjar by two hundred great big hairy-backed bastards in the middle of the most violent thunderstorm the world has ever seen') has been watered down to Dan Ashcroft rolling his eyes.

I think a lot of the comedy in the print version came from the unhinged, psychopathic overstatement of the narrator's hatred of Barley for relatively trivial crimes against taste and morality. Who was this fellow, if not Barley's repressed, self-hating alter ego? I'll be interested if they show Ashcroft as a 'centre of goodness' – a reasonable and likeable man – or a jittering neurotic Goebbels, full of repressed, passionate, hissing, spitting, volatile-projected self-hatred.

Momus (Momus), Monday, 31 January 2005 13:56 (nineteen years ago) link

I always figured NB must've been at some level self-satire (cf 'Shoreditch Twat') -- it only makes sense if you know a bit about that world, and to know it is to participate, to some extent. ie to 'get' the 'All Your Base' refs or whatever.

Miles Finch, Monday, 31 January 2005 14:00 (nineteen years ago) link

i was actually disappointed the screen nathan doesn't have a more sloaney accent, you know saying stuff like 'taste' to mean 'toast'.

debden, Monday, 31 January 2005 14:03 (nineteen years ago) link

Baffling hate-piece by the publisher of Shoreditch Twat:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,1405547,00.html

key words relate to bleeding-edge 'creatives' being perfectly able to satirize themselves. i always thought the savagery of tvgohome was maxed so that you wdn't confuse it with halfway-house shite like shoreditdch twat -- it isn't comfortable satire, it's flamewar.

Miles Finch, Friday, 4 February 2005 12:42 (nineteen years ago) link

i'm really looking forward to it now, the trailers look good.

Alienus Quam Reproba (blueski), Friday, 4 February 2005 12:54 (nineteen years ago) link

i think this looks amazing. why did you all have to HATE at first.

cutty (mcutt), Friday, 4 February 2005 13:03 (nineteen years ago) link

i've seen it.

hmmmm.

Pete W (peterw), Friday, 4 February 2005 13:05 (nineteen years ago) link

i haven't really enjoyed morris since blue jam. i tht jam was rub. brooker as a guardian writer is a bit one-note. and for hipsters like me (cough) barley is very five years ago.

BUT the trailers look good and thinking on it, there's no really new paradigm that's emerged to displace the barleys in "new media" circles, so it can't be that dated.

sleaze nation is still going, right? i love the dnb soundtrack on the trailer, it's exactly right.

also i have a lot invested in barley. my first ever paid piece of writing was on tvgohome, three years back. i got to use 'cunt', 'fuck', and 'pissant' in my maiden piece! woo!

xpost -- watts, say nothing!

Miles Finch, Friday, 4 February 2005 13:07 (nineteen years ago) link

re the guardina piece: considering as how boorman himself is exactly the sort of person brooker's original "c*nt" on tvgohome was satirising (he's one of the most spectacular shitheads i have ever had the misfortune to meet), then i guess he's not going to be massively pro. i think the show might be funny but it's not quite contemporary, so it may lose something compared to how much the section on tvgh made me laugh. also, i have come across many neilthan boorleys (i wonder if them both being nb is pure coincidence - i do so hope not) in my time, but i do wonder at how many others outside of london media-wanker circles have.

stelfox, Friday, 4 February 2005 13:10 (nineteen years ago) link

that was an unintentional typo of "guardian"!

stelfox, Friday, 4 February 2005 13:11 (nineteen years ago) link

maybe it will come across as "nostalgia" instead of "dated"?

cutty (mcutt), Friday, 4 February 2005 13:13 (nineteen years ago) link

yeah i like that idea

Alienus Quam Reproba (blueski), Friday, 4 February 2005 13:14 (nineteen years ago) link

my original piece was shit but i tried to tackle that question -- who other than people on the inside track will 'get it'.

i can't remember how i came across tvgohome but i was 18 years old and not living in london -- but anyway, my line was nathan barley helps 'explain' things that normals do know about, in advertising, magazine design, fashion, ect. after all comabat trousers, scooters, trucker caps all ended up quite high street.

i've never been a part of the media-wanker circus but have had first-hand experience of barleys -- it isn't that small a world, perhaps.

Miles Finch, Friday, 4 February 2005 13:16 (nineteen years ago) link

Has anyone seen the bilboard Wasp adverts? There is one on the Caledonian Road.

Pete (Pete), Friday, 4 February 2005 13:17 (nineteen years ago) link

i mean, i can't be alone in being simultaneously delighted by the phrase 'self-facilitating media node' and recognising the derogatory connotation yet aware that that's exactly how i'd like to describe myself half the time

Alienus Quam Reproba (blueski), Friday, 4 February 2005 13:17 (nineteen years ago) link

only i'm not solvent like dear Nathan

Alienus Quam Reproba (blueski), Friday, 4 February 2005 13:17 (nineteen years ago) link

there's one on junction road too. i have started to say 'weapon' quite a bit.

Miles Finch, Friday, 4 February 2005 13:18 (nineteen years ago) link

ihttp://www.tvgohome.com/tvgohome140599.jpg

Miles Finch, Friday, 4 February 2005 13:19 (nineteen years ago) link

wow, that was too big, but anyway i don't look *unlike* that.

Miles Finch, Friday, 4 February 2005 13:19 (nineteen years ago) link

Yes, saw a couple of 'Speechtool' ads in West Norwood last week - from the bus so not close enough to read whether they reveal what they're actually advertising. A couple of locals were looking very intently at the ads...

Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Friday, 4 February 2005 13:45 (nineteen years ago) link

the bottom crashed out of the internet, fashion and magazine publishing. A downturn that the area has since struggled to claw itself out of.

I hate to be a hata, but HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Markelby (Mark C), Friday, 4 February 2005 14:02 (nineteen years ago) link

morris's next series should be about this guy:

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=15150907&method=full&siteid=89488&headline=the-man-who-drinks-petrol-name_page.html

cutty (mcutt), Friday, 4 February 2005 14:39 (nineteen years ago) link

sleaze nation is still going, right? i love the dnb soundtrack on the trailer, it's exactly right.

sleaze closed last year after a relaunch. i remember reading tvgohome with relish back during my shockingly short stint editing the music section there. there were some great people at the mag, but plenty of nathan barleys too. it didn't seem like satire, more reportage. so i will enjoy the series, i reckon.

also i have a lot invested in barley. my first ever paid piece of writing was on tvgohome, three years back. i got to use 'cunt', 'fuck', and 'pissant' in my maiden piece! woo!

i snuck the word 'pisspoor' into the times, early on in my career. my dad thought it was poor journalism to use the word!

stevie (stevie), Friday, 4 February 2005 15:44 (nineteen years ago) link

in reply to momus' question re. the 'dan ashcroft' character from the trailers and website i am deducing that this will kind of be 'the jacques perretti story'.

Miles Finch, Friday, 4 February 2005 15:46 (nineteen years ago) link

TVGoHome paid?

James Mitchell (James Mitchell), Friday, 4 February 2005 15:48 (nineteen years ago) link

sorrry -- i mean the piece was 'about' tvgohome in a separate publication.

Miles Finch, Friday, 4 February 2005 15:50 (nineteen years ago) link

rereading the column via momus's link, they are rather feverishly moral, in a gratifying way - esp. the constant references to exploitation, prostitution, cocaine, etc... especially peculiar in context to the Fair Trade Drugs thread.

stevie (stevie), Friday, 4 February 2005 16:07 (nineteen years ago) link

Ultimately, the real-life rituals and aesthetics to be found at the cooler end of youth culture do a perfectly good job of satirising themselves. Morris would have done better to set up a camera in Hoxton Square and let the real life Nathan Barleys hang themselves.

he has a point here but i'll reserve judgement 'til i've seen tonight's episode which i'm really looking forward to!

jed_ (jed), Friday, 4 February 2005 19:39 (nineteen years ago) link

i thought it premieres on the 11th?

can't wait for torrents.

cutty (mcutt), Friday, 4 February 2005 19:45 (nineteen years ago) link

Nathan Barley sweepstakes:

1) Who'll turn up in the series first: Kevin Eldon or Mark Heap?
2) Which episode and how long into it will this be?

Winner gets something or other.

Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Friday, 4 February 2005 20:01 (nineteen years ago) link

your right cutty - i thought it was tonight.

jed_ (jed), Friday, 4 February 2005 20:04 (nineteen years ago) link

i just look at mark heap and he makes me laugh.

cutty (mcutt), Friday, 4 February 2005 20:05 (nineteen years ago) link

mark heap is so good.

he has been involved in just about everything the past 6 years.

Hari A$hur$t (Toaster), Friday, 4 February 2005 23:51 (nineteen years ago) link

sorry but this looks awful! morris and brooker need to give it a rest. those billboard ads are all over leeds and are totally shit. theres no way this could be funny, to me it just seems like a coupel fo people who used to b edgy and shit, but now therye an embarrassment. its like my dad havign a laugh by saying things like "this is *cool"" or something , shit phrases like "well weapon". i fell sort of mebarrassed for chris morris whenever i see those ads.

tvgohome was intensely vitriolic, but i al ways felt it was the bitter anger of just some old guys who werent really in touch anymore, but just took it out on a bunch of idiots. the "cunt" bits of tvgh were the least funny anyway.

ambrose (ambrose), Saturday, 5 February 2005 01:05 (nineteen years ago) link

i dont wnat people to get the impression that i am siding with boorman though, he is an utter imbecile for exmaple:

"it became difficult to distinguish between genuine creatives and opportunistic charlatans."

oh yeah real creatives theres a ton of them about, many of them with the surname Boorman, eh neil?

"Why the real players in youth culture are never drafted in to help is a mystery"

hahahaha WTF you mean, like, kids? oh no, you mean NB and a bunch of failures from sleaze. theyre the real players in youth culture.

that article is pathetic

ambrose (ambrose), Saturday, 5 February 2005 01:08 (nineteen years ago) link

1) Who'll turn up in the series first: Kevin Eldon or Mark Heap?


from the stills gallery: is this kevin eldon?

http://www.trashbat.co.ck/images/barley/gallery/programme_stills/still_5.jpg


if it is, then my bet's on him.

Slump Man (Slump Man), Saturday, 5 February 2005 01:28 (nineteen years ago) link

The bottom crashed out of the internet, fashion and magazine publishing. A downturn that the area has since struggled to claw itself out of.

I hate to be a hata, but HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

-- Markelby

Hata.

Anna (Anna), Saturday, 5 February 2005 13:02 (nineteen years ago) link

i used to be round Chris' office when this was in early development but i didn't want to have much to do with it. didn't see the point of poking fun at shoreditch

nick.K (nick.K), Saturday, 5 February 2005 23:54 (nineteen years ago) link

Hi Nick!

Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Sunday, 6 February 2005 06:48 (nineteen years ago) link

I was in the pub yesterday reading the papers (note build-up of excuse for next statement) and the Daily Mail TV guide said that this would be much better if it were Rik Mayall and Dylan Moran in it instead.

I haven't seen even a trailer for the show, but I imagine this idea of casting to be the truth.

ailsa (ailsa), Sunday, 6 February 2005 20:08 (nineteen years ago) link

More clips and a critical discussion of the show on the current edition of Newsnight Review (the arts review show desperate enough to ask me to screentest as a critic at the end of last year)!

Momus (Momus), Monday, 7 February 2005 07:54 (nineteen years ago) link

Rik Mayall and Dylan Moran? Yes, everyone knows that Nathan Barley is either pushing 50 and/or Irish?!?!?

Miles Finch, Monday, 7 February 2005 09:41 (nineteen years ago) link

I got asked to screentest for Newsnight Review as well. I told them that I didn't fancy going on TV but if they could get Ian McShane to portray me I would write the script and he could act it out. They didn't seem too keen on that idea.

Marcello Carlin, Monday, 7 February 2005 11:18 (nineteen years ago) link

Did they say "can't we ask Ken Stott instead?"

caitlin (caitlin), Monday, 7 February 2005 12:07 (nineteen years ago) link

They didn't know what I looked like and I wanted to escape the Stottesque straitjacket.

Marcello Carlin, Monday, 7 February 2005 12:10 (nineteen years ago) link

I must say I feel a bit left out, not having been asked, but there we are. They really do need to find some better women panellists -- it's basically just Greer and the unspeakable Julie Myerson.

Miles Finch, Monday, 7 February 2005 12:11 (nineteen years ago) link

Or a useful phrase for an ILX Lurker?

Ich Ber ein Binliner (Tom D.), Tuesday, 28 October 2008 14:50 (fifteen years ago) link

splendid idea!

Background Zombie (CharlieNo4), Tuesday, 28 October 2008 14:52 (fifteen years ago) link

ach, it was only on for half hour tonight totally wasn't expecting that.

still enjoying it.

Ant Attack |=| (Ste), Tuesday, 28 October 2008 22:33 (fifteen years ago) link

watched last night's, and about 10 minutes of tonight. that'll be it for me. it's so fucking dull. beyond the basic premise -- big brother! zombies! -- there's absolutely nothing there, is there? the characters are ciphers, the action is predictable, the outcome interests me not a jot.

remorseful prober (grimly fiendish), Tuesday, 28 October 2008 23:38 (fifteen years ago) link

(and i appreciate what chewshabadoo says upthread about the characterisation improving, but i can't be arsed waiting around for that to happen!)

remorseful prober (grimly fiendish), Tuesday, 28 October 2008 23:42 (fifteen years ago) link

the installments are too short. would have been cool 90 minutes than two 60 minutes.

looks quite good for the budget. Obviously going off that whole current-horror movie thing with the fast cutting, the handheld, the shutter speeds etc..., but it's fine. Hardly groundbreaking or terribly inventive so far, but still a really enjoyable zombie horror by my standards. Glad the satire hasn't really got in the way of anything.

Gukbe, Wednesday, 29 October 2008 02:46 (fifteen years ago) link

lol at Pippa telling that producer guy he was using up the oxygen

"it's not a fucking submarine"

Ant Attack |=| (Ste), Wednesday, 29 October 2008 09:23 (fifteen years ago) link

Dead Set thread here:
Dead Set - E4 Big Brother Zombie thing!

koogs, Wednesday, 29 October 2008 13:50 (fifteen years ago) link

four months pass...

is this out of print on DVD? anyone know where i can order it, preferably cheaply, and have it shipped to the US? (it's ridiculously expensive on amazon.co.uk.)

i'd rather cut cane for castro (GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ), Sunday, 1 March 2009 16:41 (fifteen years ago) link

if you know how to use torrents then you can get it on http://thebox.bz/ - i think they have open sign up just now but if you need or want an invite then give me a shout.

jed_, Sunday, 1 March 2009 16:45 (fifteen years ago) link

It *is* out of print, aggravatingly (my copy was scratched when I lent it to someone). It went from being stacked in every HMV for 5 pounds to being tough to find in a matter of weeks, seemingly. The first 2 Charlie Brooker books are similarly tough to track down!

Shannon Whirry & the Bad Brains, Sunday, 1 March 2009 21:30 (fifteen years ago) link

Sold my copy of Brookers' TV Go Home book for £40 on eBay, to none other than... actor Michael Fenton Stevens

Blap for Lashes (The stickman from the hilarious xkcd comics), Sunday, 1 March 2009 21:32 (fifteen years ago) link

£40?! That makes it the most valuable book I own!

nate woolls, Sunday, 1 March 2009 21:43 (fifteen years ago) link

the DVD is awesome. comes with that booklet and so many extras on the DVD itself. torrents don't really compare to the whole package.

cutty, Sunday, 1 March 2009 22:20 (fifteen years ago) link

true true, my friend ran off te manchester wit mine. bitch.

a raggamuffin is a type of cat (a-bomb), Sunday, 1 March 2009 22:21 (fifteen years ago) link

keep it foolish yea

a raggamuffin is a type of cat (a-bomb), Sunday, 1 March 2009 22:23 (fifteen years ago) link

oh great, downloaded this as a torrent and none of the files work AWESOME thanks internet go die.

i'd rather cut cane for castro (GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ), Monday, 2 March 2009 17:34 (fifteen years ago) link

Pssst-
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=Kfairy&view=videos

Not amazing quality, but perfectly watchable.

chap, Monday, 2 March 2009 17:38 (fifteen years ago) link

thanks, yeah, i know (that's where i saw them the first time). problem is my wife wants to watch it, and for reasons i can't go into here (or fathom) she hates watching video on the computer.

i'd rather cut cane for castro (GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ), Monday, 2 March 2009 18:08 (fifteen years ago) link

nine months pass...

saw this just before christmas in hmv and bought it thinking it was out of print. amazon has cheaper copies so i guess they've repressed it, or whatever you do with dvds. bum.

koogs, Tuesday, 29 December 2009 20:48 (fourteen years ago) link

still a great dvd to own.

bum-sniff deviant (cutty), Tuesday, 29 December 2009 20:53 (fourteen years ago) link

hell, I don't think I have a region-free player hooked up now, I might have to copy this over to my pc

mh, Tuesday, 29 December 2009 21:49 (fourteen years ago) link

nine years pass...

i'm not a preacher man

mh, Tuesday, 11 June 2019 03:41 (four years ago) link

keep it chopped out, yeah?

meaulnes, Tuesday, 11 June 2019 22:44 (four years ago) link

Toby, you rim-licker. How's it fucking collapsing?

findom haddie (jim in vancouver), Tuesday, 11 June 2019 22:47 (four years ago) link

well fucking weapon

mh, Tuesday, 11 June 2019 23:06 (four years ago) link


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