Black Books: Series 1 (2000)

TV. Black Books is Fawlty Towers meets Seinfeld. An Irish sop of a bookstore owner (Dylan Moran) wants nothing to do with customers or finances, preferring verbal abuse, alcoholism, and bad hygiene. (Think of a shabbier Ewan McGregor with a John Cleese tongue doing nothing at all like Jerry Seinfeld, but add in smoking and drinking.) His newly hired sidekick/foil/assistant (Bill Bailey) is like Tim Allen's Richard Karn in Home Improvement. (He's earthier and funnier, with David Crosby hair.) Their retail neighbor (Tamsin Grieg) is a lot like Elayne Boosler, smokes, and has phone sex in one episode. This show is funny enough for Brit humor -- sometimes a miss for Americans, sometimes as dated and predictable as Monty Python, but wacky, affectionate, and fun. (To the show's critics: Yes, Bernard Black is a contemptible person -- but what's funny is how he proves to us by his example and reverse psychology just how contemptible such boorishness is. So maybe you just prefer to never witness anything objectionable, but one way to draw a lesson -- or to land a knockout punch -- is to come at it from left field.) Black Books is creative, though not particularly deep -- and I found that it begins to grow on and stays with you. The trio has great rapport together, esp. when abusing perfectly polite customers. 3.5 stars.