AMERICANS REACT TO "BLACKADDER" (UK TV Series) | The Postmodern Family EP 

The Postmodern Family you don't need to watch all seasons of black adder. They are all totally different and don't follow on. Just set in important time periods of British history. Don't bother with season 1 it was not the best...but DEFINITELY 100% watch the last watch black adder goes fourth. ESPECIALLY The ending......trust me watch the whole black adder goes fourth and comment or do a video on the final episode....it' has a very special finally. And was the last one ever made.

Fawlty Towers is brilliant and they deliberately only made 2 series with 6 episodes in each so that the quality of stories and the comedy wasn't diluted by lower quality episodes, if you give the series a chance and your not put off by its age then you'll love the quality of the writing and the acting, it really is a brilliant series. Blackadder on the other hand is a set of 4 series set in 4 different historical time periods, which are the Middle Ages, the Elizabethan, the Georgian and WW1 era. Ironically the first series is seen as the weakest and least popular by not just the viewers but by those behind the series itself and it is nowhere near as good as the 2nd, 3rd and 4th series. The comedy series Fools and Horses ran for 10 years with around 16 Xmas Specials spaced over 22 years with the last one being aired in 2003. it also very much a British comedy and out of the 3 you mention is probably the one least suited for other nationalities. Hope this helps a little..

And all those comments re: watching full episodes are correct. Your point regarding choosing books in a library.... I see what you're trying to say to defend this video but it's a flawed metaphor. You choose a book based on the description on the back cover, or maybe the first couple of pages, not random pages midway through the book which may spoil things and probably won't make sense. Likewise, most of the jokes in this montage only work in context once you know the plot (overall series and individual episode), characters and background, and so your experiment of "Will I like this?" is flawed because you're starting on an automatic back-foot. Lastly, back to your defence of "wasting precious time". this video was 15 minutes long. An episode is 30 minutes long. A better experiment without all the flaws I pointed out above would have been to simply watch one full episode and get a proper idea of whether you'd like it or not. Because you definitely wasted 15 minutes of your precious time with this idea. You have a beautiful family and I hope you enjoy living in the UK and are being made to feel welcome by all. I agree with other commenters, miss out Series (season) 1 of Blackadder. All fans, even the writers and actors themselves have went on record to say that it's not good and not representative of the show overall. Season 2 is where to watch from. You don't need to know previous series (seasons if you're American) because it's an anthology. Each series (season) is unconnected. Also, this isn't a criticism of your video or anything like that, but just a friendly recommendation. Blackadder isn't really a children's or family comedy. the humour and references only really appeal to adults. that's not to say you shouldn't watch it with your daughter at all! Just expect her not to get most of it and to ask a lot of question or probably get bored :)

I would thoroughly recommend watching Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister, especially if you enjoy clever, witty comedy. Although made in the 1980s the political topics are still frighteningly relevant to today. There are plenty of clips on RU-vid from which you can get a flavour of the humour (or flavor of the humor being American!). As fans of Mr Rees-Mogg and his gentle wit I think you'd enjoy it.

Yeah, nobody likes the first series including the people who made it. I tried to watch it once, I couldn't even get through one episode.

I agree...one of the best lines in the whole series...

Peter Brown Or when Blackadder reminds George to take his swagger stick and George says “thanks cap, I wouldn’t want to face a German machine gun without this”

Blackadder : wahhhhh Baldrick : Barbed wire sir? Blackadder : No, I've put my elbow in a blob of ice-cream. Edmund Blackadder, king of sarcasm.

The prelude to that even funnier. George looking at the map and thinking they were in a field of mushrooms. Blackadder tells him to read the legend on the map, and George says, "It says 'mine', so the mushrooms belong to the person who made the map".

Haha my favourite is when Melchett is preparing for his date with Georgina...and he's researching what he's going to say to her in the mirror...but Darling interrupts...and he says something like "will you shut up darling? You really are such a complete arse"...and Darling says "well, I wouldn't say that sir" 😂

some not all they missed about minimum 1/3rd of jokes....

@@madzec Yea I did say some.

@@madzec A lot of the humour is not even spoken, e.g. mannerisms or things like Baldrick being booted onto the floor so Black Adder could lay on the bed.

omg, i have a small piece of the wall, wish it said that, lololol

Careful, Walls have ears... and sausages!

I have a plan so cunning you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel .

and "better crazy than a kraut" among other things

That's why we didn't take the risk and go over the top anyway we always lost at penalties.

watchtheskies you have to know a bit about British history to get the best out of it.

little jo Yeah.

Its a series, not a bloody season doh

Robert Urquhart+ this is one of the Americanisms that I really like, it makes sense to have a different word for the whole thing 'Series' and each year's batch of episodes 'Season' to use 'Series' to mean both things is not as good IMHO doh

It doesn't work so well with Black Adder though as each series is almost like a different show. Few TV shows jump through time periods like this one does.

its a shame pitt the younger wasnt in the collection lol. classic

Do not forget the millennium special 'Back and Forth'

Well worth watching but not really suitable for younger children.

Personally I would skip the first series. Even they admit that the first series was very confused and they didnt really understand what they wanted the characters to be and not be until they had done.

Couldn't agree with this more. First series not too great the rest amazing and the end of the fourth was pretty beautiful for a comedy.

Sarah Baker I loved the first series. It made it realistic some of the settings and being out doors for some of the episodes. Also had Brian blessed and the jumping Jews of Jerusalem ..

Many people consider it the perfect sitcom.

I'd agree. 100% English in terms of comedic snobbery & insanely real life scenarios. Every cast member perfect in the role.

I agree, I never get tired of watching Fawlty towers and I think it's one of the best sitcoms ever. However even John Cleese himself has said that there are scenes and gags which didn't go as planned. Nothing is perfect, thank goodness, because perfect things (tv shows included) are boring.

Fawlty Towers is shit

Shoxx Wrong. Wroooong. Wroong.

Lady Godiva's ride though Coventry was featured in a radio show decades ago, it was called ' Ray's a Laugh ' with Ted Ray. The assembled crowd were instructed to close their shutters - a voice shouted " brace and bit ! brace and bit ! " " She certainly is ! " came the response.

Yes but they were also confused by the 'up diddly up up'[sic] which Felipe thought it was about breasts (probably because he was thinking of a woman with literally nothing to wear) rather than a reference to the film 'Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines'.

I thought it may have been Blackadder calling the Airmen "Gits" which Felipe misheard as "Tits"

SadPeterPan1977, I agree you do need to know a little British history to get the jokes, but I think your example was a little to basic. I don't think there is a person in the English speaking world that doesn't know the story of Lady Godiva and if anyone has seen My Fair Lady they are certainly familiar with Ascot. Most of the jokes or in this case insults were understandable and easily crossed culture.

She never rode naked tho

CallitHowISeeIt 6:30 "stop talking" these parents clearly abuse her.

King George V what on earth gave them the idea that a compilation is a good thing for a child to watch, they will be asking so many questions and then to just tell her to be quiet because your making a video exploiting your "progressive" family is just a little deranged, but maybe not abuse, just very worrying.

Alceste De Ambris Exactly, like let the kid go play with dolls, poor child must be so bored watching videos that not even their parents understand.

Alceste De Ambris Look what the dad does at 3:27

King George V I saw that...was he putting her hand down or something?

Internet Entity I still use ‘ bugger me with a fish fork’...........after hearing it 30 odd years ago.......I think it’s the best line in the whole 4 series.

Yes, do go on and watch the whole series properly. You may not regret it too much.

Horrible Histories. Fun for all the family.

very good idea, Blackadder is more for her secondary school years I think, Maid Marian was awesome when I was a kid :D great show

I loved that when I was younger!

Yeah, it's a really amusing thing about British comedy. I'm America (from Texas no less) and I love British comedies so much.

Google lilly savage

Remeber Dame Edna?

Chris McWilliams oh yeah!! Sadly I've never seen much of his work but what few bits i did see had me in fits!XD

First time I saw him he was hosting a special in American TV and, at the time, I had never heard of him and it was pre-internet so I had no way to know who he was or what was going on. It was hilarious and I remember various family members debating on f he was a man or a mannish woman. :)

The first season isn't the best, but it certainly has its moments and is well worth watching too.

ProcolHarum1967 I loathed Mr Bean - unfunny rubbish.

The reason i watched the others is because the first was so good. Sure the Blackadder in the first one is not the same type of person. But they very cleverly portrayed characters to the period and history of the time. Half the time these things are true people.

I enjoyed the first series but I know it puts a lot of people off.

I disagree. Leaving the first series until last spoils the timeline of the Blackadder saga. Besides which it WAS a good series!

Just a baffling choice

Mind you, Captain in the army is a higher ranking position than lowly butler.

@@DMNDR butler to the king would presumably be like "lady in waiting" to the queen ... it's a position taken by the aristocracy, not an actual servant but a secretary/companion/etc

@@DMNDR was thinking the same thing

You say this but one day lord black adder rules the universe

why would you skip over series 1?

DeathMetalRegulator Even the people who made it feel it isnt very good.

well i disagree

i cant watch season 1, but the rest are class

Boom Shanka 1 is dodgy. 2-4 are fantastic.

Was the army Colonel mentally ill? I thought he represented one of the "donkeys that led the lions"

Mentally Ill is the easiest way to describe Melchett, although maybe not the most technically accurate.

Cath Robilliard "cheerfully and disastrously incompetent " would be the kindest description ....

“He's a cheery old card,” grunted Harry to Jack. As they slogged up to Arras with rifle and pack. But he did for them both by his plan of attack. - Siegfried Sassoon

He was General Melchett.

.....................along with ....jeez, where do you start?

Father Ted = Irish

As flicksey has pointed out Father Ted is Irish not British. the creator Graham Linehan did give us 'The I.T Crowd' though.

flicksey Father Ted was created by the British independent production company 'Hatrick Production's' for Channel 4 making it a British Comedy even though the series is based on 3 father's in Ireland. The writer's themselves are Irish but how do we base if it's an Irish Comedy or British Comedy, the writer's, the characters and location the comedy is based on or the production company who created it. Just Google Father Ted and you'll see it's a British Comedy.

Rex The Younger Please Google Father Ted and you will see that it's actually a British Comedy as it was produced by a British independent production company 'Hatrick Production's' just because the writer's are Irish and the characters are Irish and based in Ireland doesn't make it an Irish comedy. Just think if the writer's were Japanese would it make it a Japanese comedy or better still if it was based on Spanish characters in Spain would it make a Spanish comedy. No it wouldn't.

It is set in Ireland with an Irish writer and Irish cast dealing with mainly Irish cultural issues. but yeah it is British.. get over yourself slightly will ya. Ridley and Tony Scott are Brits (geordies) but they make Hollywood movies not "British" ones. you see how this works?

A brilliant series with a brilliant ending, cleverly and sensitively done

It's even more amazing in that that whole ending wasn't originally how they were going to film it. They filmed them charging out of the trench at normal speed and dying almost comically. It's awful and they knew it so they tried slowing down the playback and realised that the slow motion explosion made it look much more impressive. They then tried slowing down the audio to match and they ended up with that spine-chilling final scene. Add a poignant piano version of the theme tune over to the top and you get a surprisingly good tribute to those who fought and died in WW1. I remember being shown the last 15 minutes of this episode in school a few days before Armistice Day. We'd all seen it before obviously but it made you think about it in ways that we hadn't at the time.

SadPeterPan1977 Ever heard of a Spoiler?

Can’t watch the last episode anymore

Agreed - and the context about WW! was so right - "A war which would be a damn sight simpler if we just stayed in England and shot fifty thousand of our men a week."

That is a very kind comment. At this point I'm not surprised by the attitude demonstrated here--it's sprinkled here and there in many comment sections of our videos. But I'm always pleased by the very kind and genuine comments from Brits with a great deal of patience for a family trying to actually spend time learning about you!

Yeah I don't get it why anyone who truly loves something would take such an elitist view over other who take an interest. I'm usually really not into these kinds of channels but I have to say I find your family so charming that I genuinely enjoy watching your content. It's beautifully put together and has a certain innocence to it that's so refreshing to see in this day and age. One thing I'm sure you havn't missed is how jaded we are in the UK, everything is just another excuse to be miserable and what I love about Americans (in general) is that undying gritty optimism that made the USA the greatest nation on earth. I'm glad that you can see the good in this little island nation the same way that I can.

Another very flattering comment, thank you so much. You hit it right on the head--there is an onslaught of jaded, cynical reactions toward what we do in genuine innocence. We love the patrimony of this country, particularly as America is very much a child of this Island. It pains us to see what self-loathing there is, what betrayal of that patrimony, here in this green and beautiful land. I'm glad we are getting through some of you Brits, and hope there are more. I hope we can drag Brits kicking and screaming into loving their nation with that pure innocence it deserves!

Alexander Howarth You must understand the references to fully understand many of the jokes, however you can still find humour in the delivery and the obvious meaning behind them. Those that do require knowledge of the subject are infinitely funnier when you have it.

They don't most of the time, however in this case I agree with "The Postmodern Family" that it isn't as funny as people think it is. People are constantly recommending comedy shows mainly by the BBC in the 1980's or earlier, which I think are massively overrated or quite simply shit. If the people recommending those shows repeatedly bothered to widen their search, they'd realise that most of the best comedies of all time have come out in the last 30 years, a lot of which aren't by the BBC.

tydfil 1st series is terrible

There was also a special one-off version of the Christmas Carol set in the Victorian era.

true, it was the 80's mind and it did get better

Series 1 is definitely my least favorite, but I do believe it improves on repeat viewings. It just wasn't as instant as the follow up series were.

I've seen the pilot episode for the first series, it was much closer to the other 3 series! I wonder what made them go the direction they did with it.

There's an American version??

@@DMNDR We don't talk about that

In fairness nether did the parents

Hahahahahaha

She is a gem

They did - a bit of 'bob' and Percys Ruff

Percy's ruff was from the first season.

The problem is also that most American's tend not to really get sarcasm. There goes most British comedy for this family!

Except it was written by Ben Elton and that bloke who wrote those crappy Hugh Grant romcoms

I did not realise that the Blackadder series was actually written by Rowan Atkinson.

@@brianrodney5202 He didn't. He co-wrote series 1, then Ben Elton took over..

@@robgrant1312 Thanks for the correction.

Steven Cassidy series one is gold with a brilliant Brian Blessed

kevin paul halliday i misspelt a word!! You got me!!! How will I ever get over the shame?

And you have quite probably admitted to being an imbecile.

HAHAHAHA you hit the nail on the head. this is weird and has a very un-natural feel. if you want a good reaction channel watch "nikki and steven react" 1000x better then these robots haha

Ben Elton ...? Is ... is that .... YOU?!

This calls for ten minutes on the Naughty Step.

don't

Archie Woosung One Foot is good, but doesn't really fit into short clips.

I haven't seen that for years, it always seemed to be on when I went round my granny's house in the early 90's. And I saw the first episode where he gets "retired" from his job on UK Gold only about 10 years ago. "That black box is my replacement?" "Oh yes, it does everything you do... except complain about the air conditioning"

They need to see the entire episode for context otherwise it won't have the full effect! That scene should NOT be the first scene anyone sees of Blackadder!

Fran Ohmsford yeah you’re probably right. By all accounts series 1 should probably be bypassed.

I don't think I've ever been reduced to tears before by watching a comedy, as I was while watching the last 15 mins of the last Blackadder Goes Forth episode. Harrowing and very, very moving indeed.

One of the greatest ever scenes in British tv

Yes, the boxers and groinal attachment scene comes to mind!

Stuart of Blyth And to the sound of a police siren, "He won't sell many ice creams traveling at that speed."

Not now, Arthur.

Two men in the same double bed Morecambe and Wise without any gay connotations, just like Laurel and Hardy, and the awful jokes of Eric Morecambe always made me smile

Thanks!!!

I reckon they based ace Rimmer off flashart

That was dark and wonderful. The transvestite taxi-driver with the hairy forearms gave me sleepless nights.

I doubt they'll understand Papa Lazarou !!

They have .

Yes. But also learn it's back story. Arnold Ridley and his character are both more fascinating to watch when you have.

It's a bit darker, but still great.

@@mrmonstermunch3925 Exactly . Plus Brian Blessed being an absolute fool makes it worthwhile

Kites and women. I know the analogy is in the margin and wrong, but I love it.

The grand entrance of Flashart in the Tudor episode was something else.

wof WOF

Did he claim to be "packing the kind of tackle that you expect to find between the hind legs of a grand national winner" in one of his cameos?

brian rodney Apparently entirely ad-libbed too

Stephen McDowall excellent sitcom!

I doubt they'd understand the Glesga slang and accents.

yes but only S1-S6

T khan also Friday Night Dinner the dad and Jim are incredibly funny characters

THAT'S JUST A TYPICAL VILE BRASH EXAMPLE OF SO -CALLED MODERN''HUMOUR'' ?? TAKE AWAY THE COARSE CRUDE LANGUAGE, AND YOU HAVE NOTHING

+Philip Croft Much akin to your comment and the caps lock.

+T khan Eh, it's certainly a good wee laugh, relatable to most folk who went to school in the Isles in recent decades, but I can't at all condone calling it the funniest series in the UK. :P

The Americans always try to remake our shows and always seem to fail. they tried to make Fawlty Towers with the lanky woman from the golden girls as Basil :o they went for a man instead and produced the forgettable series 'Payne'. they took Steptoe and son and turned them black. they took shameless and the office and made them unfunny.

Alison Wünderland That was a while ago, nowadays the kids would eat it up.

IshtarNike they don’t make good reactors however.

Alison Wünderland Keep your Opinion to yourself as nobody is intrested in it and it counts for Diddly Squat.

Seems like more people are interested than in your comment. Besides, this is the place where I can voice my opinion.

Laughing my pants off!