# Is Black Books worth watching? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 19, 2012, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-black-books-worth-watching/638260 "2012-10-19T19:02:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Zjestika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/8edcca/32.png) [@Zjestika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zjestika)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-black-books-worth-watching/638260/21 "2012-10-20T02:25:53Z")
> [@LVBoPeep](#): > > I have to chime in (although haven’t seen the show in the OP) but \*Episodes \* is one of the best comedies I’ve seen in a long time and Matt Leblanc is actually funny (who knew?) I am not a _Friends_ fan, so I feel I have a true objective opinion :). Thanks! Sorry to hijack but I’m always on the prowl for something new to watch. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-black-books-worth-watching/638260/22 "2012-10-20T02:29:47Z")
I have never found _Black Books_ to be funny, nor do I like _The IT Crowd_. I do like absurd surreal comedy of the Ben Elton kind, but not so much of the Graham Linehan kind. ---
**Author:** ![dwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwyr/32/363_2.png) [@dwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwyr)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-black-books-worth-watching/638260/23 "2012-10-20T05:51:29Z")
I loved Black Books, own all three series on DVD. Of course, I love Dylan Moran’s curmudgeonly stand up routines as well. Black Books is where I first saw Bill Bailey I think and I find him hilarious as well as musically talented. Simon Pegg pops up in the third series as a very funny manager of a competing bookstore. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-black-books-worth-watching/638260/24 "2012-10-20T14:24:22Z")
I’ll have to go back and check it out. I caught a few episodes several years ago and liked it. ---
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-black-books-worth-watching/638260/25 "2012-10-20T21:20:54Z")
I loved it. I started watching it for something to keep me entertained while the boyfriend wasn’t home because I didn’t think he’d enjoy it. I got 2 episodes in before stopping it and waiting for him to come home. He ended up loving it too. ---
**Author:** ![Toucanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3bc359/32.png) [@Toucanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toucanna)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-black-books-worth-watching/638260/26 "2012-10-20T22:07:46Z")
Pointless, off-topic trivia: Tamsin Greig and Simon Pegg were in the _Doctor Who_ epsiode “The Long Game” (Re-boot S01.E07). (They didn’t have any scenes together.) Bill Bailey was in the _DW_ episode, “The Doctor, The Widow and The Wardrobe” (Christmas 2011 special). ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-black-books-worth-watching/638260/27 "2012-10-22T06:12:19Z")
Started watching on the strength of this thread. I knew from the first strains of the Tom Waits-like theme that I would like it, but I can admit that the first episode left me wanting a little more. I watched the next two episodes the next day and laughed my arse off. (Admit I might have a bottle of wine to thank for that.) Put me in the mind of Father Ted, Steptoe & Son, Mrs. Brown’s Boys’s, et all. Cracking good stuff. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-black-books-worth-watching/638260/28 "2012-10-22T12:44:48Z")
Uneven. The best episodes are extremely good, but there are too many duds. **Green Wing** , which I watched because I recognized Tamsyn Gregg in a Hulu ad, is far better overall, though it would have worked better in a half-hour format. ---
**Author:** ![Luk3112](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a9adbd/32.png) [@Luk3112](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Luk3112)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-black-books-worth-watching/638260/29 "2012-10-22T14:01:09Z")
> [@a35362](#): > > This is a Britcom about an Irish guy who owns a London bookshop. He drinks, he smokes, and he sits around reading all day. In fact, he seems to regard the bookshop as his own private collection and resents the customers who come in expecting to be able to trade money for books. > > It stars an Irish comedian-actor-writer guy whom I understand is very popular over there but who is unknown to me (yes, I know he was in _Shaun of the Dead_). I’m kind of fascinated with the drinking-and-smoking-to-scientifically-impossible-degrees thing a la _Ab Fab_, but is there any more to it? Is it funny? Does it hold your interest? Is it worth checking out? (Netflix seems to think I’ll enjoy it.) It definitely is, I’ve watched it briefly over the past few years and very funny humour ---
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-black-books-worth-watching/638260/30 "2012-10-22T15:39:07Z")
We watched the first two, and while it had its moments, mostly I found it meh. It relies far too much on Dylan Moran making funny faces for excruciatingly long periods while the laugh track is cranked to 11. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-black-books-worth-watching/638260/31 "2012-10-22T15:52:08Z")
I’ve never much warmed to Black Books. It’s all right but seems kinda belaboured in its absurdity. I think though it was worse than the sum of its parts. Moran is a funny stand up, Bailey is a very funny stand up, and Tamsin Greig, is a great comic actress and she’s in stuff like Episodes which is pretty good. However all together and with the input of Graham Linehan, a brilliant comedy writer and creator, it just fails to dazzle me. (Irony being I’m a quasi-alco who runs a bookshop. This should be MY show.) ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-black-books-worth-watching/638260/32 "2012-10-23T15:13:23Z")
I added it to my Netflix queue and watched two episodes last night. Very funny. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-black-books-worth-watching/638260/33 "2012-10-23T16:27:26Z")
The wife and I both liked _Black Books_ a lot. I agree the first episode is indicative of the rest of the series. If that first one doesn’t grab you, then you might want to pass. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2013, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-black-books-worth-watching/638260/34 "2013-11-30T20:59:47Z")
**:BUMP:** I’m bumping it because I have watched the first two series with my wife and thought I’d share my thoughts. We like it, but are glad there are only 18 episodes. The nice thing about a lot of British shows is that there are not 150+ episodes. If Black Books went on for 40 or more episodes, I might have called it quits. > [@RealityChuck](#): > > Uneven. The best episodes are extremely good, but there are too many duds. This is pretty much it. I’d put the ratio at 50/50 in terms of good vs. dull episodes. If that stays true, then 9 solid episodes out of 18 is actually a good achievement. Having said that, Dylan Moran cracks me up and I already loved Bill Bailey from QI and other panel shows. We’ll be watching The IT Crowd after Black Books is over. I hope it is decent, too. ---
**Author:** ![BurnMeUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@BurnMeUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BurnMeUp)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2013, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-black-books-worth-watching/638260/35 "2013-12-03T22:31:25Z")
I loved Black’s Books. My wife and I also really liked Green Wing. The IT Crowd though fell super flat to us, and I even worked in IT support for a while. Just seemed like it was trying to hard for the nerd comedy nod… Then again I also hate Big Bang Theory. ---
**Author:** ![Hrududu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Hrududu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hrududu)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2013, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-black-books-worth-watching/638260/36 "2013-12-03T23:43:51Z")
Might I suggest Moone Boy [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-black-books-worth-watching/638260.md?page=1)