Does anyone actually like Barney when he's sober?

Do you prefer Barney sober or drunk?

  • Drunk

    Votes: 40 93.0%

  • Sober

    Votes: 3 7.0%
  • Total voters
    43
  • Poll closed .
matt228

matt228

Wanderer and ponderer
Joined
Oct 11, 2004
Messages
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Location
County Durham, UK
Everyone seems to adore Barney but only when drunk. I want to know - does ANYONE like him sober? I think he's much better drunk!
 
Non.

And furthermore:

Nein, 不, Nr, 아니다, Нет.

OK, I'm done messing about with online translators.
 
The one thing that really pisses me off is that they almost completely wrote off the character, he rarely shows up at Moe's, if Homer goes drinking it's with Lenny and Carl, but even worse is now Lenny and Carl seem to be his drinking buddies in flashbacks as well, I always assumed before they sobered Barney that Homer and Barney were old friends and Lenny and Carl were Homers coworkers who became his friends later on in the series, after all, they don't show up at Moe's until about season 6
 
When he's sober he's there's nothing about him that makes him interesting in any way, he's no different from any of the other barflys. Sure, there's the occasional joke about him going back to alcohol, but they never played it out enough to make it an interesting character trait.
 
If Dan Castanella should be near by, I'd say "Sober Barney" to stay on his good side.

(i voted for Drunk Barney) ;)
 
Nameless said:
OK, I'm done messing about with online translators
Click to expand...
Why stop at only 6 additional languages?!

I totally agree with you all that Drunk Barney is much funnier - I also think Lennie & Carl shouldn't be bigger characters than Barney in scenes at Moe's.

Someone voted for sober Barney - do they want to own up to that publically? I won't make fun - I think respecting the opinions of others is important.
 
Professor Frink said:
Why stop at only 6 additional languages?!
Click to expand...

All the others came out as a good ol' English 'no'.

Professor Frink said:
Someone voted for sober Barney - do they want to own up to that publically? I won't make fun - I think respecting the opinions of others is important.
Click to expand...

isn't this a public poll?

EDIT: wait, no it isn't.
 
For me, both are fine. When he's drink (99% of the time), he's pretty funny, yet when he's sober, he's unpredictable. (Helicoptor pilot, etc.,)
 
Sure, he's funnier when he's drunk, but when he stopped drinking I felt like I would if a friend did it - I supported him. I was glad they didn't make that a single episode angle and kept him sober for a while. And when he fell off the wagon, I was disappointed. I was hoping I could learn to enjoy (and the wrters would learn to write for) Coffee Boy. Well, so much for that.
 
Drunk Barney had a character on the show, not a heroic one of course, but atleast a character that was likable on some level. Sober Barney has no character, he's in the background.

He's still at Moe's (drinking cofee instead of beer) however the character isn't involved in any interesting plots. Which is a shame because Barney sober could lend itself to fantastic writing and character growth. But the writers never did anything with him.
 
I agree with many sentiments here. I was never a huge Barney fan, but I guess his better moments were when he was drunk. It's a shame, because I think he has the potential to be a better character than when he was drunk. If they showed him struggling with his soberness, then it would make for great TV.
 
I don't think that sober Barney, even if written well, will ever measure up to the brilliance of drunk Barney. I am not a fan of any dramatic change in the show (Maude Flanders' death, for example), be they handled well. The show is best when it returns to square one, always. I'm fine with minor changes, but if it's something that will confuse a new viewer upon watching the show (Say someone saw an episode with Barney sober, and then an episode with him passed out on the ground from drinking), then it makes things too chronological. Besides, I think Barney has enough character development potential even as a drunk.
 
I always thought that one of the most intersting yet relatively underexplored angles of Barney's character is that when he doesn't drink, he's a really intelligent and capable person. We noticed this when he stopped drinking to learn to fly, but also when he and Homer were in the space program as well as when he was concerned with studying for his SATs, only to have Homer coerce him into drinking and thus ruining his life.

Its kind of a depressing storyline of what could have been of Barney without Homer/drinking.
 
Sober Barney does make for a nice change from the 'drunk Barney' stereotype, but I still prefer drunk Barney anyway.
 
I liked that they took a chance with making Barney combat his alchoholism, it could of made the character a lot more interesting. It sorta did make him a bit bland though...which I think it didn't have to be.

Personally...I like the idea of a bit of both. Barney eternally teeter tottering between sober and drunk, but being the same guy he always is.
 
Sober Barney hasn't really done much of anything of note since the episode in which he sobered up. Barney used to crack me up. I moreless forget all about him now. Although I fully agree that drunk Barney was the best, I do like that Lenny and Carl have been used more in recent years.
 
Barney overcoming his alcoholism is like Maddie and David gettin' it on on "Moonlighting." Sure, you're cheering for them to do it, but where do they go from there? If either saga were a big-screen (romantic) comedy, that'd be time to draw the curtains.

They should've handled it the same way as Homer kicking the bottle in "Duffless": give him the heartwarming ending, and promptly forget all about it.
 
Drunk Barney, although you hardly ever see sober Barney. He was sober in Deep Space Homer, I remember. In A Star Is Burns, was he sober when he wrote that poem? (By the way,I wasn't too fond of Barney's poem.)
 
Dr.Nick.Riviera. said:
Drunk Barney, although you hardly ever see sober Barney. He was sober in Deep Space Homer, I remember. In A Star Is Burns, was he sober when he wrote that poem? (By the way,I wasn't too fond of Barney's poem.)
Click to expand...


Yeah, I agree, that whole scene sucked.
 
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