I just finished Season One of 2018’s Barry, Bill Hader & Alec Berg’s excellent dramatic comedy about an ex-Marine turned contract killer who becomes entangled with the Azerbaijanian mob in Los Angeles while stumbling into an acting class run by Henry Winkler. Thoughtful and well-written, with hilarious performances all around, Barry manages to balance the comedy by finding absurd truth in the situations. Hader & Winkler won Emmys for their performances (and Hader won a well-deserved DGA award) but Anthony Carrigan’s NoHo Hank is a revelation, and Stephen Root is brilliant as Barry’s handler. There are so many insights into humanity and personal identity, and the struggle for success in the Los Angeles dream factory, that I found myself emotionally engaged well beyond expectation. The series is something of a cousin to John Cusack’s terrific Grosse Pointe Blank, and if you like that film you’ll love Barry. The question is, does it maintain its excellence through its two year Covid-19 shutdown and subsequent culture collapse for seasons 2-4?

@AVARY Unfortunately, it does not. By Season 3, it devolves into unfunny, woke narratives that transform a hilarious show into a miserable experience. That was my experience, anyway. 😉 Still, Stephen Root is great in anything!

@AVARY It really runs of steam towards the end. I thought they came back for one season too many. Brilliant show though.

@AVARY Grosse Pointe Blank is an awful movie - Dan Aykroyd is a terrible “actor” - will never watch Barry, not with @hwinkler4real in it - am-I-Right @AkaWhacked ??? - Tell Mr. Avary about the Fonz’s awfulness

@AVARY They're Chechen not Azeri

@AVARY Since you like Barry, you really should check out Mr. In-Between. It's a darker "comedy" with the hitman premise, but the lead performance and dialog are incredible. Most underrated show of the last decade.

@AVARY Probably the downside of working in the industry! I can’t watch this show due to I worked on another show by the producer that was such a terrible experience due to their handling of it, I almost quit the industry and anytime I tried watching Barry - thought of the experience.

@AVARY Remind me to tell u about the time I pitched a dark comedic show about a contract killer to… u guessed it, HBO. And then they went back & forth w/ my agents negotiating it & sent email after email saying they loved it and then completely stopped communicating & announced Barry.

@AVARY I’m sure people have already told you but please watch Mr Inbetween. Without a doubt the greatest TV show in decades that not enough people are talking about. It’s amazing!

@AVARY I thought season 1 was great, season 2 was prettt good, but stopped watching halfway through season 3. So many shows now start strong but either devolve into TDS-fueled screeds (The Boys) or you can tell the creators are bored and the shows suffer for it. Barry is the latter.

@AVARY Always fun to see Hollywood's takes on contract killers. But they always feel more like stressed film makers than real assassins. There's some emotional projection.

@AVARY I was asked to write a more Berg script by an agency guy in the naughties. Then he stopped because George Clooney bought a book he did nothing with for 20 years and then made a disappointing mess ofm

@AVARY There’s no episode of Barry that feels like a waste of time.

@AVARY I loved this series. The last season was decent but was not as good as the first three. The acting class completely reminded me of the acting classes I took in LA in my twenties.

@AVARY After Season 2, it turned to shit and then became unwatchable. I was very disappointed. Your Friends and Neighbors just did the same with their Season 2

@AVARY I doubt it will disappoint you. No spoilers.

@AVARY The first season of Barry was fantastic, but it started to slide after that. I don't know what changed behind the scenes, but the characters drifted away from their core. It felt like the creatives wanted to tell the audience that they were liking it 'wrong'.

@AVARY I think it did. Now, maybe that's because I watched it way after it had already stopped but there wasn't anything that stood out that made me not like the show as it went on.

@AVARY Yes, Barry is one of the few consistently good series in existence.

@AVARY Keep watching. It changes focus but mostly maintained the quality. I thought the finale was a perfect commentary on human nature and today’s media.

@AVARY For me, NoHo Hank is reason enough to watch it through to the end.

@AVARY I think it did. Worth the watch the whole way thru.

@AVARY Dude it gets so much fucking better you’re in for a ride. Hader is legit a Top 10 tv director.

@AVARY There is an amazing bike chase scene, you got that to look forward to. It's definitely worth watching the next couple of seasons

@AVARY imo it definitey did. and i actually loved the ending quite a bit. but season 1 undeniably had the largest heaping serving of the sauce. such a killer show. hbo was on a killing spree with this and silicon valley

@AVARY You’re in for a treat for season 2. NoHo Hank is a gem.

@AVARY By comparison, yes. I found only one lull late in season 4, but even it was by design (simply a different creative choice than I would've written for pacing reasons). It's one of the best dramedies put to screen though and the standard I chase daily as a storyteller.