We used Ranker Insights to figure out what it is about the Bill Hader comedy that fans love most — and what could be holding the show back from an even larger audience.
Photo: HBO
HBO’s Barry is a fantastic comedy about a depressed hitman who travels to Los Angeles to carry out a hit for the Chechen mob and accidentally discovers his true calling: acting. Created by and starring beloved SNL funnyman Bill Hader, Barry is a critical darling, boasting an overall rating of 99% on Rotten Tomatoes and earning high praise from Ranker voters for its great writing and acting.
But what else does the viewing public think about Barry? What’s driving people’s love for this show, and is there anything holding it back from reaching more fans? Ranker Insights uses more than 1 billion votes from pop culture fans all over the world to gauge how people feel about everything from TV shows to movies, actors, and sports stars. We used that data to take a closer look at exactly what people think about Barry, determine who makes up its audience, and take a guess at how HBO might expand it.
Barry’s Approval Rating: 57%
As of the writing of this blog post, Barry is featured on a total of 78 Ranker lists. Most of those lists are positive (e.g., The Best of Premium Cable TV Series), and a few are negative (e.g., TV Shows That Should Be Cancelled). Altogether, the votes for Barry on these lists total 5,240: 2,959 of them positive (upvotes on positive lists and downvotes on negative lists) and 2,281 negative (downvotes on negative lists and upvotes on negative lists). That all adds up to an approval rating of around 56.5%.
Total Lists: 78
Total Votes: 5,240
Positive Votes: 2,959 (56.5%)
Negative Votes: 2,281 (43.5%)
All this is pretty impressive for a new comedy show. Let’s take a look at why this show is viewed so positively by Ranker fans.
Barry Is Among Viewers’ Favorite New Shows
Barry‘s 57% approval rating actually undersells just how esteemed the show is by Ranker readers. Our voters ranked it the #1 Best New TV Comedy of the Last Few Years, the #12 The Best New Show That Premiered in the Last Few Years, and the #5 Best Current HBO Show, beating out fan favorites like Euphoria and Real Time with Bill Maher. Together, these three, highly competitive lists account for just under a third of Barry’s positive votes on Ranker — that tells us that when people are thinking about great, funny, and current shows, Barry is one of the first that comes to mind.
It’s an HBO Show, Through and Through
HBO has long had a reputation among viewers and critics as a source of high-quality television. In the span of just five years, the network produced The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, The Wire, and Deadwood, raising the standards for TV viewers everywhere and arguably creating the genre of programming that is sometimes referred to today as “prestige TV.” So the fact that Barry does so well on HBO-specific lists speaks to just how beloved it is by die-hard TV fans.
Barry is currently #6 on The Best HBO Comedies of All Time, just one spot behind the comedic behemoth that is Curb Your Enthusiasm. It’s also #26 on The Greatest HBO TV Shows of All Time: a whopping 70% of the votes cast for Barry on that list are upvotes. That indicates to us that Barry can compete with what critics agree are some of the best shows in history, and that the people who like Barry most have high standards when it comes to the TV they watch.
But It Still Doesn’t Have the Audience of a GOAT Comedy Show…Yet
One list where Barry doesn’t perform quite as well is The Funniest Shows on TV Right Now, one of the most competitive current TV lists on Ranker with nearly 50,000 votes. Barry currently holds the #19 spot on the list with a modest upvote-to-downvote ratio of 53%. Top 20 is nothing to sneeze at when you’re in a list as big as this one, but what separates this show from Top 5 comedies like Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Rick and Morty, and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia?
Part of it is certainly related to the show’s relative newness. Barry is the youngest show in the list’s Top 20: 11 of those 20 shows have been on the air for a decade or longer, while Barry has only been around since 2018. Given that the show’s third season was delayed by the pandemic, one can only imagine that Barry would be higher up on the list if viewers weren’t still waiting for new episodes. With competitors like Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Mom slated to go off the air this year, and assuming that shooting on Season 3 will continue, it’s very possible that Barry could move into the Top 10 and beyond in the near future.
Ranker’s data suggests Barry is not just a good, funny show beloved by critics — it’s also got some pretty massive fan support. Like so many TV fans, we’ll keep our eyes peeled for more news about the show’s upcoming third season. But while you wait, we suggest you check download our Watchworthy app to find TV recommendations tailored to your specific taste and discover shows that other Barry fans love!
These stories are crafted using Ranker Insights, which takes over one billion votes cast on Ranker.com and converts them into actionable psychographics about pop culture fans across the world. To learn more about how our Ranker Insights can be customized to serve your business needs, visit insights.ranker.com, or email us at insights@ranker.com.
