Dylan Moran plays one of the greatest sitcom characters Bernard Black - an unkempt irritable chain-smoking-and-drinking bibliophile who owns Black Books, a bookstore. He takes the same approach to the value of books and despise for superficial customer desires as Jasper Fforde does in his novels about literary detectives. Bernard's constant companionship is, on the one hand, flat mate and coworker Manny (Bill Bailey). Lovable and slightly oafish, he is Bernard's polar opposite. And among them both, is neutral Fran (Tasmin Greig). It's a rather ordinary setting with not so glamorous characters who all seem to share some kind of amusing social awkwardness.
Consumers of American television should break from the confines of poorly written sitcoms to indulge the refreshingly situational Brit-coms. Among the best of them are 'The Mighty Boosh,' 'Garth Merenghi's Darkplace' and this -- 'Black Books.' Running only three seasons, it had the unique quality of hitting it's prime at the start of the first episode before somewhat running out of situational humor by the final six episodes. The dialog is its shining quality, and perhaps the best of it were those episodes co-written by Dylan Moran and Graham Lineham.
Consumers of American television should break from the confines of poorly written sitcoms to indulge the refreshingly situational Brit-coms. Among the best of them are 'The Mighty Boosh,' 'Garth Merenghi's Darkplace' and this -- 'Black Books.' Running only three seasons, it had the unique quality of hitting it's prime at the start of the first episode before somewhat running out of situational humor by the final six episodes. The dialog is its shining quality, and perhaps the best of it were those episodes co-written by Dylan Moran and Graham Lineham.