Black Adder.

Cafe Society
1

Let me start by saying I love Python. I think Green Wing is one of the best written shows ever. A Bit of Frye and Laurie was well worth it. And The Office, although painful at times, was stunning. But…

Black Adder sucked. I watched the first DVD from Netflix. There are moments, maybe one per show (the translator translating sex talk), where I actually laugh, but, by and large, it’s a tedious, stupid show. I must admit, I’ve never like Rowan Atkinson and I find even the commericals for Mr. Bean to make me want to pluck my eyes out. But I had hoped, based on recommendations, that Black Adder would work.

It doesn’t. It’s funny only on rare occasions and just… sad.

2

The first season has Atkinson playing an idiot. The next three seasons he’s smarter, wittier, and has better dialog than anyone else. They are two totally different worlds.

The first season is an acquired taste. It is not the Black Adder that everybody raves about.

3

Ye gods no, the first season is something you only watch after you come to adore the other three seasons.

I’m not quite at that point, myself. But seasons 2 and 3 are fantastic, and 4 is nearly as good as those two.

4

I hated the first one. I saw an episode of season three and then decided to start at the beginning. Bad move. Start with Blackadder the Third. It features Hugh Laurie as the stupid but lovable Prince Regent. Blackadder II is also wonderful. The fourth is a bit weaker, but still good. And THEN if you must, you can watch the first one, but don’t judge the whole thing by the first one. You’ve barely scratched the surface.

5

Does Atkinson get any less hammy? His mugging should be considered a crime against humanity.

But it is nice to know it gets better. I’ll stick it out and trust you fellow dopers.

6

I didn’t watch a lot of the first one, but he didn’t seem very happy to me in the other ones. He’s, in some ways, more of a straight man in those ones, reacting to the idiocy of the other characters (Hugh Laurie, Tony Robinson, Stephen Fry, Tim McInerney).

7

What everybody else said. Watch Season 3, then 2, then 4, then go back and pick up 1.

Don’t bother with the Christmas special.

His mugging doesn’t get any better–he just gets better at it. :smiley:

8

I agree that the First was weakest link, but I really liked the episode in which he was tried for witchcraft and the one in which he became Abp. of Canterbury. “But I’ve committed adultery… hundreds of times… with my mother!”

9

I guess the next 15 posters are all going to say the same thing, and I won’t stand in the way. Season one has its moments, but it’s a very different show and much less memorable. The best character is probably Richard and even though he’s the lead, you just don’t want to pay much attention to Edmund, the Black Vegetable. It gets better in the other series.

10

I agree with everyone else; the first season is nothing like the others. The second, third, and fourth, on the other hand, are comedically sublime, albeit in different ways and for different reasons.

11

The Christmas Carol (set in Victorian London and the only one featuring that particular Blackadder) is also worth a watch. It has segments featuring characters from the first three (filmed just for the episode) and from a distant future (29th century or so) Black Adder. Robbie Coltrane as the drunken Ghost of Christmas (past, present, and future) is my favorite guest star, but Baldrick discussing the poorhouse Nativity pageant is one of the best moments in the Black Adder verse.

12

I love Series 1 just as much as the others. It’s true that it isn’t as laugh-out-loud cynical, but it has a more obtuse style to it that I really like.

13

I’ll second this. The woman who played Lady Whiteadder, Edmund’s puritannical aunt from the second series (“WICKED CHILD!”), also plays Queen Victoria in that one. Damned fine special.

14

It has its moments. Blackadder Back and Forth is missable.

15

Season 2 is my favorite, with some great episodes featuring some great “guest” stars, such as Tom Baker (the famous jelly baby Dr. Who) as Captain Rum. Severely overacting and hamming it more than you can imagine, and damn it’s funny.

Season 3 is also very good, season 4 is passable.

Season 1 is too much like Mr. Bean-adder.

Heck, I like 2&3 enough to own Blackadder: The whole damn dynasty, a book of the show scripts.

16

You’re legless!

I haven’t had a drop!

17

“You have a woman’s legs, my lord!”

I also loved Hugh Laurie as that German guy who kidnaps Melchy and Blackadder. And the Whiteadders. “At home, Nathaniel sits on a spike!” “And what do you sit on?” “I sit on Nathaniel. Two spikes would be an indulgence.”

Stephen Fry as the Duke of Wellington in series 3 was brilliant, as he always is. “No, it’s all down to shouting. Shout, shout and shout again!”

18

Of course the final episode has an incredibly unexpected (and moving) ending.

19

I recently signed up with Netflix and have been busily filling my queue with movies and shows I’ve missed or have had recommended as I remember them. (I just finished the first season of Rome and added the second season. On the other hand, I couldn’t even finish the first disc of Reno:911.) Blackadder was another one I hadn’t gotten around to adding, and now I’m glad I hadn’t so I can follow this advice.

I have mixed feelings on Rowan Atkinson. I remember watching his comedy show on PBS and liked everything but the Mr. Bean sketches. I can’t wait to see Hugh Laurie in this. Which reminds me, I need to see if Netflix has Jeeves and Wooster and A Bit of Fry and Laurie.

20

What they said. Except I rank them 2, 3, 4, 1. Watch the specials after the series.

Blackadder: Baldrick, does it have to be this way? Our valued friendship ending with me cutting you up into strips and telling the prince that you walked over a very sharp cattle grid in an extremely heavy hat?