What We Do in the Shadows (TV) main character POLL

It's tough to pick a favorite, since this is one of those ensembles that adds up to more than the sum of its parts. Nandor would seem like the weakest link, but he's arguably the straight man to the other, weirder vampires, and the dynamic needs him (Guillermo is something else--part audience surrogate, part Charlie Brown). That having been said, I'd go with Najda or Colin Robinson.

I love Nandor! The accent, the ridiculous name, the fact that an Ottoman warlord is the cosiest and most straight-laced character.

I'm torn between him and Colin Robinson.

No option for Nadja’s ghost doll? I’d have voted for her.

I thought about it but concluded she was an extension of Nadja.

This show is a highlight of my week. It's not about singling out one of them (but it's Nadja).

No Jackie Daytona, no credibility

the finest human bartender there is

in the absence of jackie daytona, i am forced to vote for laszlo cravensworth, for his bombastic stupidity

chap, why do you think this season has been a step down? I think they’ve done a great job of expanding the world and adding some actual stakes with guillermo’s arc

I thought the first episode of s2 was weak but everything else has been good to great, esp Superb Owl

the first episode with zombie joel osment? I though that was hilarious

I love this show so much. "Bat!"

"Human form!"

I felt dumb but I didn't realize that was Mark Hamill until the end.

Huge Mark Ptroksch fan here, so it's a shoe-in for Collin.

Nandor, with Colin a close second.

voted Colin Robinson but of the three main vampires it’s gotta be Nadja

Her victim Jenna is great too

In a year in which two entire elaborately-costumed single-camera sitcoms were (partially) designed to let Matt Berry do his Matt Berry thing, the one in which he was not the lead somehow managed to showcase him better. All of them are magnificent, and the ensemble allows everyone a chance to show different sides in group and solo dynamics, but I'm voting Laszlo.

Easy vote for Nandor for me - the idea of an Ottoman warlord vampire who is shy and awkward and needy is just so funny to me, and his performance is great. Guillermo on the other hand I dont think I've ever laughed at once, show could lose him entirely imo.

The Jackie Daytona ep might be the hardest Ive laughed at anything this year, I was crying. I think 'arcs' are overrated when it comes to comedy shows, I much prefer episodes like that, surreal self-contained stories with their own internal logic.

Agreed Guillermo is the only one I definitely wouldn't vote for. I've laughed plenty at the vampires being mean to him, but never at anything he's done. I guess his vampire hunter self hatred is kind of funny.

I love how impenetrable the main 3’s accents get sometimes

I love how impenetrable the main 3’s accents get sometimes

I love how impenetrable the main 3s accents get sometimes

Wow ok

Guillermo’s hapless aptitude for vampire slaying has been a very funny upgrade to his servility this year

A vote for Nadja counts as a vote for Nadja's doll

Speaking of accents I love the relish with which Matt Berry weirdly varies his intonation of "My darling".

Guillermo I think is needed as a foil, especially for a show where one of the vampires is himself already sort of a straight man (Colin Robinson). I agree Guillermo isn't funny, but for the format he's needed to provide the rhythmic beat of someone slowly glancing at the camera and shaking their head or grimacing or whatever a la every fake reality show/doc.

Also, Lazlo calling him Gizmo is pretty funny.

mildly spicy take but Colin Robinson is basically a one-joke character. it's a really good joke, don't get me wrong, but there's not a whole lot there.

i voted Laszlo but already regretting that, should've picked Nadja.

if Colin wasn't played by Mark Proksch I would probably enjoy it much less

He is worth it as a character for those glimmers of devilish glee when you realize his behavior is intentional. Like, he'll just be droning on stupidly until someone leaves or falls asleep or dies, and then his eyes will sparkle and he'll grin.

The episode where he starts to go super saiyan when he gets a promotion is amazing

That's my favourite one of the season so far.

I'm very happy this thread has proved quite busy, nice to know others love the show as much as me.

It fits that we're also talking about Key and Peele right now, cause they're linked in my min for how they throw in great effects and production design to help sell the jokes

nice to know others love the show as much as me.

this has to be the best film-to-tv translation ever, right?

(don't @l@n@ld@ me.)

Buffy?

Fargo?

The individual character-focused eps have been really good (Colin in the office, Jackie Daytona). Was the 'ghosts' one supposed to have been Nadja's? And I don't think Nandor has had one, maybe that's still coming?

Only three more left. :( On the other hand, three more left!

Good answers, but I was thinking in terms of a TV show that successfully transfers the concepts and/or spirit of a movie into the small/serial format.

(The Buffy movie has its charms, but the TV show is a massive improvement in every way, not just in repairing/restoring Whedon's supposed original tone. The Fargo TV shows are excellent, but don't actually bring anything from the movie beyond "crime story with character actors in" - the tone is complementary to the film, but the writing doesn't approach character or humour in the same way as the Coens.)

Make that sympathetic character - Hawley's villains and heavies are charming, sketched grotesqueries in a way that fits with Fargo and other Coen movies, but he appropriately uses the longer narrative and screen time to draw his chumps and protagonists with more depth.

what about MASH?

Has any other story delved into the ingenious notion that vampires, having technically died, could be haunted by their own ghosts?

Ooh, MASH. More or less same characters and, imo, better than the movie, iirc.

Friday Night Lights?

Either M*A*S*H or Jugglos

FNL fer sure.

Girlfriend Experience too

There was a scene in last week's episode when Lazlo materialised in the cursed hat and Nadja did the most amazing look to camera, it's been my highlight of the whole show.

But it's Colin Robertson for me. I loved a couple of weeks ago when somebody just called him Colin and he corrected them to Colin Robertson, because that's what his actual name is and not a combination of Colin and Robertson.

also - pretty deep Happy Mondays cut in the credits this week :)

Oh Jesus the Guillermo plot is fucked up this week

At first I thought why hadn't they learned into Doctor Moreau more then I remembered in the Pride episode Laszlo smothered himself in thick white cream made from Guillermo's sweat and swanned around looking like Brando in the Richard Stanley version.

last two eps were pretty good though you can really feel the tension between what a drama wants to do and what a sitcom wants to do. still it's nice they at least revealed the reason why Nandor hadn't turned Guillermo

Really enjoyed all the Guillermo/Nandor/Laszlo stuff with the turning and the experiments and whatnot throughout this season, but Kristen Schaal has been a total miss for me as a character. I was not happy to see her added to the main cast, and I don't think she's done the show any favours.

yeah I genuinely don't understand what the point of her character is

Probably good that they reset to the status quo at the end of the season (rather than doing a cliffhanger and resolving everything in the first few minutes of the next season, like they did that one time).

Last two eps weren't my favorites but had their moments, otherwise it was a classic season imo.

yeah I'm glad they didn't do that again. I'm curious what exactly happened there, felt clearly like they were planning to split the characters up for a bit but maybe they didn't have the budget. or maybe they thought Season 4 would be the last one at the time. idk I really doubt they wanted it to turn out the way it did

the shows pacing is overall pretty weird I think, the stuff that happens in the final episode here I think could've been like four separate episodes. this show has this tendency to just do things and then undo them. all the sudden changes of heart and solving things via making up random rules kinda makes the show feel like Power Rangers but it still is really funny and well made so I guess I don't care much

I think it's kind of funny everything goes back to relative normal. Presumably this has just been happening the entire time they've been on Staten Island. Vampire life is very mundane, then they do something dumb and there's a mild crisis, only for them to forget it within weeks. Rinse and repeat for a hundred years.

I did like the massacre in the Italian restaurant as a reminder that they do murder lots of people on the regular, when they're not sitting in their favorite chairs reading books in the parlor. Patton Oswalt cameo was a bit unnecessary but the payoff was funny, but not as funny as "PanERa bread".

the panera bit was good

The Guillermo hybrids need their own show. Always amazed at how good this half hour FX comedy looks compared to any Netflix 9 digit budget series.

a few cameras, the house set, and the clearance sale at spirit halloween every year and you're ready to go

I hated the creepy hybrids, but most everything else I've seen of this season so far has been aces.

Haven't watched the last two eps yet, but this newest season is so good.

UK people, s5 is going to be on Disney+ next week. The film is on BBC or something next week too

I binged the last season over a few days. The last episode was a real gut punch for me. Spending years aiming for something and then realizing that it's not for you, that hit home.

I don't know how they can do that in a show where all of the main characters are mass murderers, but they did it.

I don't think I've ever laughed harder than at the moment in the S5 local news episode where Colin Robinson is trying to be the weatherman and there is blood smeared all over the weather wall from Kristen Schaal munching on the real weatherman in the corner of the shot.

The local news episode is one of the funniest eps of the entire series

it’s an incredible episode lol

The opening scene where Nandor thinks he accidentally outed the vampire house is one of the funniest things this show has ever done

he does such a great job trying to claw that back

where Colin Robinson is trying to be the weatherman and there is blood smeared all over the weather wall

IIRC it's him calling it schmutz that broke me like a twig.

Incredible episode.

How did Guillermo only get one vote

He is the most adorable character in any show

Gizmo was the slow burn character, everyone else got to be very flashy right out the gate

Guillermo has gotten tiresome to me. Nandor has become my favorite character over the series.

Last season was unrewarding wrt Guillermo imo but overall he’s my favourite. Love all the vampires equally

me after season 1: how did nandor manage to get 7 votes
me after all 5 seasons: nandor is the best character and was robbed

well, he is known as the relentless

“we drank the blood of some people but the people were on drugs and now i’m a wizard”

Yes, last season of Guillermo was a real shrug.

I can’t post about it without feeling like I’m spoiling it but the moment that x waves hello to Guillermo right before y happens will live in my head rent-free forever

starts again on BBC2 tonight at 10

I thought last season at least did a good job of explaining why Guillermo wouldn't be able to hack it as a vampire but yeah the whole storyline was weird mostly because it was paced so strangely. the finale should've been like 3-4 separate episodes, they built up way too much tension only to have to dissolve things in a flash

It is time!

yaaaaay

building myself a garden shed for reasons

surprised that Colin didn't try the fall out boy version. maybe he already had enough energy.

lol

Ha I was really hoping that would make an appearance.

Is this the final season?

I usually wait until it hits Disney on these shores but might watch by other means if it is

it is indeed the final season

Loved Nadja's business outfit, also enjoyed Tim Heidecker's straight-as-possible man/finance bro.

has Tim Heidecker really somehow not been in this yet

and we get Jeremy and Rajat on screen, too!

I love that they clearly decided it’s time to get back to the core silliness of the characters and drop the stupid major-plot contrivances

yay Doug Jones showed up again, love his character

no uk release date yet

booooooooooooooooooo

the first few season 6 episodes feel a bit off, almost like the show is too self aware now. the joke premises are good but the execution feels a bit "wink wink see what we did there"

I like this season more than the last couple (with the exception of a few specific episodes… the local news ep from last season was one of the best of the whole series). It was said upthread already but I like that the overarching plot is not sucking up too much oxygen - each episode feels more contained and just focused on the jokes.