Aussies axe Ben Elton's new comedy series after 3 episodes

[Stumpy Tim]

I had a conversation just the other day about the first series, the base of the discussion was Edmund. The fella I was talking to claimed that Edmund was the same throughout all the Blackadders (witty and sharp), my argument leaned towards the first series portraying him as a bumbling idiot, bullied constantly by the loud bearded bloke (King?) and picked on heavily, very different to the sharp witted latter Edmund, am I mistaken...

You are not mistaken, and it was shit

 

[So.CalGull]

You are not mistaken, and it was shit

Thank you sire....more Mr Bean than anything else, right?

 

[alan partridge]

I've always wondered how much input he actually had to Blackadder, because I have never understood how someone that bad, could be associated with something so good.

me too. He's awful. Read a couple of his books when I had nothing else to read. Shite.

Always remember him jumping on the 'trainspotting makes heroin look cool' bandwagon too. Twat.

 

[seagull_special]

You are not mistaken, and it was shit

I don't think it was shit!!!!!! not in the same league as the following series but ground breaking and innovative. The Young Ones was superb and the Thin Blue Line was mildly amusing and not as offensive as the utter shit you get most of the time nowadays. Ben Elton is a pretty talented guy but not particularly likeable, I enjoyed his book about the 1st world war and it was quite poignant that both his Grandfathers fought in it. I did absolutely hate his stand up in the eighties but as someone already said he has been around for 30 yrs and never been short of work.

 

[Tricky Dicky]

I don't think it was shit!!!!!! not in the same league as the following series but ground breaking and innovative. The Young Ones was superb and the Thin Blue Line was mildly amusing and not as offensive as the utter shit you get most of the time nowadays. Ben Elton is a pretty talented guy but not particularly likeable, I enjoyed his book about the 1st world war and it was quite poignant that both his Grandfathers fought in it. I did absolutely hate his stand up in the eighties but as someone already said he has been around for 30 yrs and never been short of work.

Must admit, I'd forgotten about the young ones, and whilst it looks very dated now, was great at the time - but again he only co-wrote it, so I don't know how much input he had. Thin Blue Line is absolutely cringeworthy to watch - not a single thing funny about it, dire I would say. I would however, be quite interested to give this book about WWI a go - if I recall both his grandfathers fought (as you say) but on opposing sides.

 

[Jonno]

Young Ones wasn't a patch on Bottom, i.e. after Elton and the other unfunny ones left.

 

[Brovion]

I had a conversation just the other day about the first series, the base of the discussion was Edmund. The fella I was talking to claimed that Edmund was the same throughout all the Blackadders (witty and sharp), my argument leaned towards the first series portraying him as a bumbling idiot, bullied constantly by the loud bearded bloke (King?) and picked on heavily, very different to the sharp witted latter Edmund, am I mistaken...

No, you're spot on. The first series almost doesn't fit into the canon as Edmund is played as bumbling fool and Baldrick is the brains! (Even suggesting the name 'The Black Adder' when Edmund wanted to call himself 'The Black Vegetable').

Always had mixed feeling about Elton. Loved his stand-up material (but not the delivery), loved Saturday Night Live, loved The Young Ones, but like a lot of people he wasn't able to sustain it. Whilst he's not as unfunny as Cleese is now I think his best days are behind him, The Thin Blue Line was a load of PC nonsense (in both senses of the abbreviation 'PC') and the 'story' behind We Will Rock You is the biggest pile of turd ever to hit a West End stage. I've read all his books (family members keep buying them for me as fall-back Christmas presents when they can't be arsed to find out what I really want) and whilst Inconceivable has some genuinely funny moments the rest aren't that great.

 

[Tricky Dicky]

No, you're spot on. The first series almost doesn't fit into the canon as Edmund is played as bumbling fool and Baldrick is the brains! (Even suggesting the name 'The Black Adder' when Edmund wanted to call himself 'The Black Vegetable').

In the 2 hour special which charted all of Blackadder - often shown on gold, they made this exact point, in the first series Edmund was the bumbling fool and Baldrick was the brains, as you say.