Television Barry

Snow

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Thought this show deserved more than a couple of mentions in the TV thread. Funny, surprisingly dark and brutal at times.

In short it's about a hitman doing a job in LA where he discovers that he wants to act and stop killing.

Bill Hader kills it in this role that he wrote for himself along with Seinfeld writer Alec Berg. HBO gave them basically free reign to do a show and I think this 8x30 minute series was excellent. Binged it in one sitting and one bottle of wine (Torri 420 Trebbiano D'Abruzzo, very nice and dry blend) but could have watched more if there was any (it's been renewed for a 2nd season).

Do yourselves a favor and give this show a watch.
 

oneniltothearsenal

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My son got me watching this. It really is a great show. Very much looking forward to the next season.
 

Welsh Wonder

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I don't think it's ever taken me 4 hours to drink a bottle of wine
 

JPRouve

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I couldn't finish the season, the first 3 episodes were good though.
 

crappycraperson

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It is a very well written and acted shows. But now I am not sure what to make of the overall arc though. May be it is just me who is jaded of countless drama and dramedies with an unlikable or an anti-hero protagonist. I like that they don't establish too much sympathy for Barry and present his actions but I don't really care for any of the characters on the show at all which makes watching it tough.
 

GBBQ

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oneniltothearsenal said:
My son got me watching this. It really is a great show. Very much looking forward to the next season.
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Would have been perfect as a one season thing. Hard to know how they’ll keep getting mileage out of the story without a drop in quality.
 

Lennon7

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Just looked it up and I really don’t like that actor (Bill Hader). He’s in that annoying as feck category of American comedy with Amy Schumer and Owen Wilson, amongst others.
 

Snow

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LennonNL said:
Just looked it up and I really don’t like that actor (Bill Hader). He’s in that annoying as feck category of American comedy with Amy Schumer and Owen Wilson, amongst others.
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Comparing South Park and SNL writer to Schumer and Owen Wilson? Very strange. Dislike him all you want but he's nothing like them. In fact the three of them have little in common besides having starred in comedies.
 

Lennon7

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Snow said:
Comparing South Park and SNL writer to Schumer and Owen Wilson? Very strange. Dislike him all you want but he's nothing like them. In fact the three of them have little in common besides having starred in comedies.
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What the three of them have in common to me is they have the same boring American whiney humour. It’s obviously subjective. I’ll admit he’s much better than the other two but it’s not strange I’d feel the same way about em
 

Snow

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LennonNL said:
What the three of them have in common to me is they have the same boring American whiney humour. It’s obviously subjective. I’ll admit he’s much better than the other two but it’s not strange I’d feel the same way about em
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Can't say that I agree at all. Wilson is just an actor with a non-specific humor. He's a limited comedic actor.

Schumer is a monotonic stand-up, a poor performer in general and her humor has limited appeal.

Hader is much more versatile in his comedy. There's nothing in common with Barry South Park or SNL. Hader is also one of the best impersonator in the business he's got a great voice. Hader is also different in that you'll find him in a bunch of small roles, rarely a leading one like now. He's had to work to get a show like Barry but he managed to get there because of his versatility as an actor and writer unlike someone like Schumer who'll always be a one-note performer with a limited lifespan.
 

adexkola

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I'm tired of writers and critics hating on the antihero. It's like the in-thing to do now.

"Oh you're not supposed to like Bill's character, or Bojack Horseman"... feck off.
 

Solius

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Latest episode was great :lol:

Best one yet imo. Any episode without Sally in it is good with me. She's somehow way more of a cnut than any of the characters who actually kill people.
 

sullydnl

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Good show this.

A key point is that they have the confidence to let their anti-hero kill sympathetic characters and actually be a bad person, trusting that they'll still be able to keep the audience's empathy even as he does so. Compare that to the structurally very similar Dexter, which even at its best twisted itself into knots to avoid having their anti-hero cross that line.
 

JPRouve

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sullydnl said:
Good show this.

A key point is that they have the confidence to let their anti-hero kill sympathetic characters and actually be a bad person, trusting that they'll still be able to keep the audience's empathy even as he does so. Compare that to the structurally very similar Dexter, which even at its best twisted itself into knots to avoid having their anti-hero cross that line.
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That's a good point, I think that it's due to the fact that from the beginning he seems deranged and there isn't really a moment where that impression disappear.
 

Member 39557

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Solius said:
Latest episode was great :lol:

Best one yet imo. Any episode without Sally in it is good with me. She's somehow way more of a cnut than any of the characters who actually kill people.
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She is an absolute piece of shit.

It's good. It has a habit of drawing me back in, just as I'm about to lose interest.
Henry Winkler and Jonjo Shelvey are probably the best things about it.
 

Massive Spanner

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Best comedy on TV in my eyes.

The episode with the karate dad and ninja psycho daughter in season two is one the best I've seen for a very long time.
 

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Massive Spanner said:
Best comedy on TV in my eyes.

The episode with the karate dad and ninja psycho daughter in season two is one the best I've seen for a very long time.
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It was a complete departure in tone from the rest of the series, but it was amusing, I'll give you that.
 

Raw

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Absolutely fantastic show, one of my all time favourites. Big fan of Bill Hader who's brilliant in this.
 

Massive Spanner

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Bill.s.preston said:
It was a complete departure in tone from the rest of the series, but it was amusing, I'll give you that.
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Hader and the creator basically said they made that episode because they'd met that young girl in real life and were impressed with the mad shit she could do, so they wrote an entire episode around it :lol:
 

SirAnderson

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I just finished season 1 of this yesterday and started with season 2. Barry is so freaking irritating for me, I don't want him to succeed at all. Actually the all pretty much dislikable characters except for the Cop Janice, which (is a pretty fecked up ending for the good "guy" to die)
At least with Dexter I could get behind him a times. Not so much here.
 

Massive Spanner

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Anyone watching season three?

newest episode is awesome and has one of the best action sequences I’ve seen on tv.
 
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