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nuxvomica

(12,877 posts)
Tue Mar 22, 2022, 09:45 AM Mar 2022

"W1A" on Netflix

I just finished watching the three seasons of this series and I found it hilarious. It's about a newly appointed "Head of Values" at the BBC and his navigation of the corporate culture there ("W1A" is the postal code for the BBC's London office building). Kudos to the BBC for producing such a scathing sendup of their own culture. To give you a taste, in one subplot there's a problem with the new-and-improved live-news captioning software: it's good at speech-to-texting everything but proper names, permanently using what the AI figured out on the first try, like "Vladimir Puking" and "Dame Baggy Smith." It's also so bullet-proof they can't figure out how to turn it off and the Head of News briefly considers just taking an axe to the control room.

This is an older series from the twenty-teens but it's disturbingly familiar if you've ever sat through a meeting at a large corporation where most of the people are just saying meaningless things to make it look like they are active participants. David Tennant provides the narration, which gets drier and more absurd as the series progress. I enjoyed it so much I sometimes re-watch episodes just to take a laugh break.

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"W1A" on Netflix (Original Post) nuxvomica Mar 2022 OP
Thanks... IrishAfricanAmerican Mar 2022 #1
One of the most hilarious things I've stumbled upon! targetpractice Mar 2022 #2
Oh gosh, just seeing the word "Syncopatico" gave me a laugh nuxvomica Mar 2022 #3
My wife enjoyed it. bif Mar 2022 #4
Horrible title, but fantastic show intrepidity Mar 2022 #5

targetpractice

(4,919 posts)
2. One of the most hilarious things I've stumbled upon!
Tue Mar 22, 2022, 10:21 AM
Mar 2022

I rewatch episodes, too.

I use subtitles just to make sure I get everything. The dialog is a constant stream of important sounding nonsense. I particularly enjoyed the entire multi-episode theme about the implementation of the company-wide Syncopatico software system. All the actors are great, especially Hugh Bonneville. Great music, great narration, great behind the scenes send up of the BBC.

nuxvomica

(12,877 posts)
3. Oh gosh, just seeing the word "Syncopatico" gave me a laugh
Tue Mar 22, 2022, 11:02 AM
Mar 2022

I use subtitles too, with British series generally.

bif

(23,980 posts)
4. My wife enjoyed it.
Tue Mar 22, 2022, 05:46 PM
Mar 2022

She noted that since I was in advertising and had to endure countess, endless meetings like the ones in the show, I might not find it as amusing. I'll have to check it out and see for myself.

intrepidity

(7,891 posts)
5. Horrible title, but fantastic show
Wed Mar 23, 2022, 03:57 PM
Mar 2022

I can never remember what it's called when trying to tell someone about it. It just won't stick in my brain.

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