The Continuing Adventures of a Total Wank Stain

January 29, 2005 1:14 PM

Trashbat.co.ck. From the twin serpents of Charlie Brooker and Chris Morris - both men linked and discussed here before - comes their latest experiment. It's a series on one Mr. Nathan Barley, and while it's hard to tell precisely what it shall be, the pedigree screams quality.
posted by Sticherbeast (16 comments total)

Ooh.
posted by Pretty_Generic at 1:59 PM on January 29, 2005

Sidenote: I kinda assumed that the Cook Islands wouldn't let foreigners use their comedy domain names. So since they do after all, how come no-one's bought big.co.ck?
posted by Pretty_Generic at 2:03 PM on January 29, 2005

"With extra jive."
WOOO
posted by dougunderscorenelso at 2:04 PM on January 29, 2005

Marvellous. It's been a long time coming.

Although, I'll put a fiver on a vast swathe not quite getting the joke and considering Nathan Barley a role model. Especially if the vitriol is toned down a bit for TV.
posted by DangerIsMyMiddleName at 2:10 PM on January 29, 2005

Is it just me? The pedigree's screaming at me, certainly, but I can't make out a word of it...
posted by iJames at 2:31 PM on January 29, 2005

He must have missed the mathowie memo.
posted by arse_hat at 2:39 PM on January 29, 2005

Nathan Barley is old, old, old. I don't understand what Chris Morris is bringing to the mix.
posted by runkelfinker at 3:27 PM on January 29, 2005

Is it just me? The pedigree's screaming at me, certainly, but I can't make out a word of it...

That's sort of where I am with this. The trailers are so incoherent, for what's supposedly an actual sitcom-like show. I just don't quite know what to make of it.

He must have missed the mathowie memo.

Mwwr?
posted by Sticherbeast at 4:44 PM on January 29, 2005

"Mwwr?"
posted by arse_hat at 5:31 PM on January 29, 2005

If this post is viral marketing, I must have already had an innoculation shot.
posted by squirrel at 6:25 PM on January 29, 2005

...or it's just a very weak virus.
posted by arse_hat at 6:49 PM on January 29, 2005

Well, those of us who used to read TvGoHome dependably every week are probably at least mildly interested in this, even if the show never makes it to U.S. markets.

I note that the Wasp's "sympiot keyboard" features "every known integer".
posted by gimonca at 8:39 PM on January 29, 2005

I was quite worried about this programme but those trailers look promising. Nathan Barley wearing two bluetooth headsets is pretty funny, but you know you'll see someone doing it for real soon enough. I also gather from the baffled expressions on the character's face that this Dan Ashcroft bloke is meant to be a sympathetic non-wanker character which should break up the constant procession of tossers.

"I'm a self facilitating media node." Ouch.
posted by dodgygeezer at 8:16 AM on January 30, 2005

My problem with Nathan Barley was always that I didn't know anyone like him - and I live in London and used to work in publishing, so fuck knows what most people will make of it. It strikes me as one of those characters that you need to be in the know to get, rather than a universal wanker like David Brent.
posted by Summer at 4:10 AM on January 31, 2005

I've met so many Nathan Barley's it's not true - isn't the joke now that if you know the phrase 'Nathan Barley' you probably are him? Where did you work in publishing? It isn't just The Face and Dazed and Confused types that are like that - they lurk everywhere from blokes mags to all the countless women's self help weeklies.
Nathan Barley was a kind of Hoxton caricature but now all that crap has rolled out all over the country I think a lot of people will get it.
posted by sam and rufus at 8:24 AM on January 31, 2005

The first episode was excellent. I wasn't sure what they would be able to do with a whole series about Nathan, and the answer is that the series is (so far) more about Dan Ashcroft and his reaction to living in a world of Nathans and dealing with his own descent. Powerful and well done stuff. Much more dramatic than I was expecting.
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 9:22 AM on February 13, 2005