"I've Got a Cunning Plan"
I caught a bit of Blackadder's Christmas Carol on BBC America over the holidays and realized that for all my recent adventures in Britcom watching, I'd somehow managed not to see one of the classics that everyone has been recommending to me since the late 1980s. With no more new episodes of Gavin & Stacey or The IT Crowd to tide me over and Phoenix Nights not yet available in the States, I decided to rectify this situation at once and rent the entire run of Blackadder on DVD.
My favorite season was Blackadder II, with Miranda Richardson as a completely batty Queen Elizabeth I. Here, I think, the writing and comedic timing were at their height. The weakest season, in my opinion, was Blackadder Goes Forth, which takes place during WWI. It just felt too modern too me, and I think Blackadder works best as a costume play involving smarming one's way past the nobility, rather than a somewhat MASH-like antiwar, frontlines comedy. Still, there's great stuff to be found in all four seasons. I especially liked it whenever Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson from The Young Ones showed up, and of course the sight of a young, spry, slapsticking Hugh Laurie is a pleasant reminder of his comedy roots in this age of House M.D. I was also happily surprised to see a fresh-from-Doctor Who Tom Baker show up in one episode as a crazy boat captain!
I'm waiting on the 1999 special Blackadder Back and Forth to show up from Netflix, and then I will have seen the whole run.
However, as much as I like Rowan Atkinson in this, I still have no interest in watching Mr. Bean. That just looks like crap to me.
My favorite season was Blackadder II, with Miranda Richardson as a completely batty Queen Elizabeth I. Here, I think, the writing and comedic timing were at their height. The weakest season, in my opinion, was Blackadder Goes Forth, which takes place during WWI. It just felt too modern too me, and I think Blackadder works best as a costume play involving smarming one's way past the nobility, rather than a somewhat MASH-like antiwar, frontlines comedy. Still, there's great stuff to be found in all four seasons. I especially liked it whenever Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson from The Young Ones showed up, and of course the sight of a young, spry, slapsticking Hugh Laurie is a pleasant reminder of his comedy roots in this age of House M.D. I was also happily surprised to see a fresh-from-Doctor Who Tom Baker show up in one episode as a crazy boat captain!
I'm waiting on the 1999 special Blackadder Back and Forth to show up from Netflix, and then I will have seen the whole run.
However, as much as I like Rowan Atkinson in this, I still have no interest in watching Mr. Bean. That just looks like crap to me.