Before we begin, I will point out one thing; I love this thing, an oddity consdering the fact that the first time I've even heard of this show was in 2020 thanks to my phase in Red Dwarf. I watched it with intrigue and whilst I found Barrie to have an annoying voice and personality (especially since Rimmer had no such voice), I soon became accustomed to it (no doubt helped by it softening between Series 1 and 2).
What helped with the show's appeal was that he reminded me of myself. He was smart when he could be but he couldn't understand social skills at all (as in, even subtext was alien to him) and that reverbrated with me, being a young Autistic myself. It helped that although he could be annoying, the show went out of it's way to show that he could be a good person and his sometimes horrified reactions to the chaos (as well as his relationship with Laura) helped humanised him. The rest of the cast were great as them. You had one of the earliest instances of a gay couple protrayed positively and you also had the permanently trampled on Carole, who you felt sorry for.
This all coincided with a Christmas special (apparently intended as the finale) which showed that the staff went on to greater things. All of which were squandered by Series 6 and 7, which removed all of the humansing aspects of the series. As such, it just became pure chaos, with the characters reduced to flat stereotypes and Brittas becoming a jerk dumbass. All which ended with a special which claims that all of the preceeding events were just a dream. If they ever do get around to reviving the series, they'd better retcon it away Roseanne style of something because that ending just leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.
What helped with the show's appeal was that he reminded me of myself. He was smart when he could be but he couldn't understand social skills at all (as in, even subtext was alien to him) and that reverbrated with me, being a young Autistic myself. It helped that although he could be annoying, the show went out of it's way to show that he could be a good person and his sometimes horrified reactions to the chaos (as well as his relationship with Laura) helped humanised him. The rest of the cast were great as them. You had one of the earliest instances of a gay couple protrayed positively and you also had the permanently trampled on Carole, who you felt sorry for.
This all coincided with a Christmas special (apparently intended as the finale) which showed that the staff went on to greater things. All of which were squandered by Series 6 and 7, which removed all of the humansing aspects of the series. As such, it just became pure chaos, with the characters reduced to flat stereotypes and Brittas becoming a jerk dumbass. All which ended with a special which claims that all of the preceeding events were just a dream. If they ever do get around to reviving the series, they'd better retcon it away Roseanne style of something because that ending just leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.