Barry on HBO | The Boneyard

Barry on HBO

nelsonmuntz

nelsonmuntz

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watched the first episode. It is really well written and well acted, but I don't know if I can get past the premise.
 
nelsonmuntz said:
watched the first episode. It is really well written and well acted, but I don't know if I can get past the premise.
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My concern with the premise, from reading a summary, is that it is ripped off from Get Shorty.
 
I am really liking it, and Noho Hank is hilarious. Definitely enjoy anytime he is on screen.

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I like it but I don't love it, yet. It's better than this years' silicon valley, though. It just hasn't been as good for me.
 
Couldn't even finish the 4th episode. Kept trying but nope - not good.
 
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Binged 3 last night and will finish today. I think it’s good, wish it was a little funnier as actors (other than Winkler) aren’t really funny if you are not in that subculture. I’m sure if you live in LA the whole thing is tremendous. Need to keep phasing in more than just flat affect from Hader to truly be a show.
 
Finally caught up on the last few episodes. Love that it started to go darker. Really enjoyed the direction they’ve taken it in.
 
Hearing good things. On the list to watch...

Finally saw The Night Of from HBO. Episode 1 great, rest decent/good, with flaws, solid finale...worth it. Turturro was terrific as was the lead detective and Naz. Weird handling of Chandra character and court room scenes were just mediocre and not very realistic. Rikers scenes were all good. Liked it.
 
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G0UCONN said:
Hearing good things. On the list to watch...

Finally saw The Night Of from HBO. Episode 1 great, rest decent/good, with flaws, solid finale...worth it. Turturro was terrific as was the lead detective and Naz. Weird handling of Chandra character and court room scenes were just mediocre and not very realistic. Rikers scenes were all good. Liked it.
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The Night Of had some fatal plot problems that derailed something that should have been great.
 
nelsonmuntz said:
The Night Of had some fatal plot problems that derailed something that should have been great.
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I thought it built itself up pretty well, and then just petered out. Finale was a let down from what I can remember.

Now Barry was very entertaining in it's freshman season. Can't wait for another. Should be some interesting places they can go with it in S2. Finale was very solid. Winkler's gotta be my favorite character in the first season. Pretty much every line had me cracking up.
 
Mano said:
I thought it built itself up pretty well, and then just petered out. Finale was a let down from what I can remember.

Now Barry was very entertaining in it's freshman season. Can't wait for another. Should be some interesting places they can go with it in S2. Finale was very solid. Winkler's gotta be my favorite character in the first season. Pretty much every line had me cracking up.
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I'm psyched for the Winkler renaissance, but his lines more had me smiling than laughing. I agree with HuskyGooner that Noho Hank is hilarious, but rest of the cast still stuck between straight man and not as over the top absurd as Winkler. Hader definitely got better and breaking thru his flat affect was key inside the show and for the viewer. Not sure if I prefer to Bruce Banner Barry around the country in a 2nd season, but you gotta keep Winkler and Noho so I think they are relatively stuck where they are.
 
Barry is off to a very slow start. Its just not funny, and the show can't and shouldn't try to pull off a switch to serious. The premise was always going to be a problem for a comedy, and it is just hard to laugh at a show about a hit man pretending to act when you know all the terrible things he has done.

I am also not that interested in another show about the vapid, soulless world of Hollywood. It has been covered a million times, and much of it was well done. There is not much left to say about the topic.

This show was threading a needle from the start. It pulled it off in season one, but season two is a miss through two episodes.
 
nelsonmuntz said:
Barry is off to a very slow start. Its just not funny, and the show can't and shouldn't try to pull off a switch to serious. The premise was always going to be a problem for a comedy, and it is just hard to laugh at a show about a hit man pretending to act when you know all the terrible things he has done.

I am also not that interested in another show about the vapid, soulless world of Hollywood. It has been covered a million times, and much of it was well done. There is not much left to say about the topic.

This show was threading a needle from the start. It pulled it off in season one, but season two is a miss through two episodes.
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Yes it's an inside joke about acting and a showcase for actors but that might be it. A diverting half hour because somehow that doubly ironically works for me as light fare in spite of the violins on television.
 
I really enjoyed the first season, but felt no reason to watch a season two. Hard to capture that unique edge again.

I am finding it difficult to be interested in shows beyond one season. Stranger Things, GLOW, Billions, Making a Murderer.

I was good with a one and done.
 
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ShakyTheMohel said:
I really enjoyed the first season, but felt no reason to watch a season two. Hard to capture that unique edge again.

I am finding it difficult to be interested in shows beyond one season. Stranger Things, GLOW, Billions, Making a Murderer.

I was good with a one and done.
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With most shows, the second and third seasons are the best ones. They don't have to use the standard TV gimmicks to introduce the characters and grab attention, and they can just tell their story. Other than 1 or 2 episodes, I think Mad Men's first season was probably its worst. Breaking Bad stumbled badly at times in Season 1. Game of Thrones took about 3 episodes to find its stride.
 
nelsonmuntz said:
With most shows, the second and third seasons are the best ones. They don't have to use the standard TV gimmicks to introduce the characters and grab attention, and they can just tell their story. Other than 1 or 2 episodes, I think Mad Men's first season was probably its worst. Breaking Bad stumbled badly at times in Season 1. Game of Thrones took about 3 episodes to find its stride.
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I think it depends on the show. An extreme premise like Barry is hard to replicate in season two. The weird balance of hit man and actor was fun to watch for one season. And the season ended with a nice enough bow on it. But I don’t know if I need to see more of that.
 
Season two can be tough to land.

Some shows clearly don't think they'll ever see season two so they're out of juice before they get there.

I'm the only person in the world who liked John from Cincinnati. The worst part of that show getting axed was that we were robbed of what would have been the biggest season two grease fire in history. (It would have been eclipsed by season two of True Detective where Vince Vaughn showed that he couldn't even act like he was drinking coffee while he was actually drinking coffee.)

Barry has been slow. American Gods has been very good, but they're clearly treading water to get to new showrunners in season three. Westworld was a disaster.
 
As of episode 4 I think they are back on track. They were managing a high-wire story arc that seemed to me headed towards inevitable 'Barry needs to be on the run' = no more LA, no more Henry Winkler etc.. At the conclusion of episode 4 they masterfully spun that right back yet deeper into the world they've created and it is consistent with the character stories they've been telling. It still isn't necessarily funny (exception again is this week's outfit worn by NoHo Hank that was brilliant), yet the show is legit.
 
Bump back to highly recommended. I think season 2 is now officially better than season 1 and mayhem is now only sparingly employed - show is both funnier and deeper.
 
I'm a bit behind, just finished episode 5. And I think it's definitely better than season 1 now which I did not expect going in
 
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navery12 said:
Finished the season now and cannot recommend this show enough
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Yep, last few episodes were really strong, some crazy almost Breaking Bad-esque escapes and twists, a good bottle episode and fully developing all of the main characters with their fundamental natures and flaws coming home to roost. I think its even worth a re-watch as Noho Hank is funnier each time, as is Winkler and the over-the-top Sally.

If for nothing else, people should watch to see what the nefarious Milton from Office Space (remarkably barely aged) is up to these days!
 
Dogdeacon said:
As of episode 4 I think they are back on track. They were managing a high-wire story arc that seemed to me headed towards inevitable 'Barry needs to be on the run' = no more LA, no more Henry Winkler etc.. At the conclusion of episode 4 they masterfully spun that right back yet deeper into the world they've created and it is consistent with the character stories they've been telling. It still isn't necessarily funny (exception again is this week's outfit worn by NoHo Hank that was brilliant), yet the show is legit.
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ronny/lily was such a fantastic episode that it saved a very uneven season.
 
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