STORY
The storyline found within Black Books is fairly straight forward, following the lives of three characters: Bernard Black, an alcoholic, short-tempered bookstore owner (the bookshop in question being the show's title, Black Books), Manny, his employee/slave and Fran, a friend of Bernard's that regularly hangs out with them. The show follows of life of Bernard's book-shop, with the series almost exclusively set within or around the bookshop. The various plots revolve around the idea that Bernard is, for all intents and purposes, a cranky alcoholic bastard that treats his only employee, Manny, terribly and expects him to wait on him hand and foot. The group go through life trying to be cool and trying to succeed and this leads to quite a few funny situations.
ACTING
The acting is just superb, in fact after watching this it would be difficult to see Dylan Moran (who plays Bernard) in any other role than a cranky, alcoholic bookshop owner. Bill Bailey's portrayal of Manny is equally amazing, with neither actor breaking character for even a second. The third key character (and, indeed, the only time another character is ever seen they are around for one episode and vanish, giving the whole show the entire focus on just the key characters), that of Fran, is equally played well, though the character herself is not quite as interesting, as such she often comes off as somewhat of a less significant character than the two men.
HUMOUR
The humour found within Black Books is, at times, very odd. In fact, unless you can laugh at the mistreatment of a character to the extent of Manny's suffering or find the constant and never-ending failure of their lives entertaining then you may not find much to laugh about in this show. The main focus on the humour is rather downtrodden, there is rarely any success of joy found in the show and even when there it is inevitably leads to even greater failure. However this is also compelling and actually makes for great comedy, despite how absolutely dull it may seem.
OVERALL
If you are somewhat on the fence about this show then I'd highly suggest watching an episode or two, regardless of in which order as nothing really progresses in an overall sense. The humour can be rather bizarre at times and the overall feeling is that life is depressing, but it somehow combines to make an almost charming comedy about a grumpy bookshop owner and a lively, eager assistant. There is never a moment that feels forced and even when the humour doesn't work it still adds something. I highly recommend this, there is almost no reason not to at least give it a try!
RATING: 9/10- An almost must watch for fans of British comedy.
The storyline found within Black Books is fairly straight forward, following the lives of three characters: Bernard Black, an alcoholic, short-tempered bookstore owner (the bookshop in question being the show's title, Black Books), Manny, his employee/slave and Fran, a friend of Bernard's that regularly hangs out with them. The show follows of life of Bernard's book-shop, with the series almost exclusively set within or around the bookshop. The various plots revolve around the idea that Bernard is, for all intents and purposes, a cranky alcoholic bastard that treats his only employee, Manny, terribly and expects him to wait on him hand and foot. The group go through life trying to be cool and trying to succeed and this leads to quite a few funny situations.
ACTING
The acting is just superb, in fact after watching this it would be difficult to see Dylan Moran (who plays Bernard) in any other role than a cranky, alcoholic bookshop owner. Bill Bailey's portrayal of Manny is equally amazing, with neither actor breaking character for even a second. The third key character (and, indeed, the only time another character is ever seen they are around for one episode and vanish, giving the whole show the entire focus on just the key characters), that of Fran, is equally played well, though the character herself is not quite as interesting, as such she often comes off as somewhat of a less significant character than the two men.
HUMOUR
The humour found within Black Books is, at times, very odd. In fact, unless you can laugh at the mistreatment of a character to the extent of Manny's suffering or find the constant and never-ending failure of their lives entertaining then you may not find much to laugh about in this show. The main focus on the humour is rather downtrodden, there is rarely any success of joy found in the show and even when there it is inevitably leads to even greater failure. However this is also compelling and actually makes for great comedy, despite how absolutely dull it may seem.
OVERALL
If you are somewhat on the fence about this show then I'd highly suggest watching an episode or two, regardless of in which order as nothing really progresses in an overall sense. The humour can be rather bizarre at times and the overall feeling is that life is depressing, but it somehow combines to make an almost charming comedy about a grumpy bookshop owner and a lively, eager assistant. There is never a moment that feels forced and even when the humour doesn't work it still adds something. I highly recommend this, there is almost no reason not to at least give it a try!
RATING: 9/10- An almost must watch for fans of British comedy.
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