A friend of mine informs me that the BBC show Black Adder has been released on DVD and that I should get it because it’s The Greatest Thing Ever. I’ve never seen it though, but he assures me I’ll like it. The only British comedy that I’m really familiar with is Monty Python and Much Ado About Nothing, both of which I enjoy immensely (and the former I have on DVD and watch relentlessy.)
Anyway, I’m wondering if I should drop the buckage to buy these DVDs. To give you an idea of my tastes, here’s some examples of other comedies I like:
Seinfeld
Third Rock from the Sun
The SImpsons
Futurama
Trigger Happy TV (ooh, there’s another British thing.)
Frasier (before it began to suck)
Scrubs
Hidden Hills
Andy Richter Controlls The Universe
Yes, but pick the right series. IMHO, the funniest series’ were the second (Blackadder II, set in Elizabethan London) and the last (Blackadder Goes Forth, set in World War I).
I have the set on DVD. (Go for the whole set and watch them in order. Once you see how hilarious they are you’ll save money by not buying them individually.) The set includes *Blackadder’s Christmas Carol[/] and Back and Forth, as well as a couple of other neat things.
The 1st serious isn’t that great, but all the rest are classics (though a small amount of knowledge of English history may be required to get all the jokes!!)
I must post a disagreement with the idea that the first series isn’t up to snuff. The very first show of all, with Peter Cooke as Richard III, is my very favorite episode of any Black Adder series. I love Shakespeare histories and tragedies, and the commingling of Henry V/Richard III/MacBeth in this episode is brilliant. In addition, the first series is blessed with Brian Blessed, a wonderful, wonderful actor and funny to boot.
Well, of course you should buy it. Immediately. But it depends what comedy you like.
Blackadder is based on verbal wit. It’s not slapstick. In this regard it’s like Monty Python, very quotable. But as a historical comedy, very loosely based on fact, it doesn’t have the surreal aspects of Python.
Plot wise it’s a familiar tale of idiocy in command, constantly frustrated ambition, confidence beyond ability and picking on a small stupid sidekick. Blackadder is not a nice person. He’s scheming, unprincipled and without any real friends. Yet he manages to evoke your sympathy as, yet again, his plans fall apart.
The first series is…different. It’s not worse, necessarily, but it’s different. Blackadder gets smarter in the later series, Baldric gets dumber - it’s like the first series is them fine-tuning as much as performing. But still funny.
It was a stroke of utter brilliance for the great Miranda Richardson to play Queen Elizabeth I, one of the strongest, most noted and revered monarchs in British history as a shallow dimwit
Personally, I really prefer the second series and, (above all), the third, w/ Bonny Prince Thickie.
