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Coupling - The Complete First Season

Coupling - The Complete First Season

List Price: $24.98
Your Price: $19.98
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Just Brilliant
Review: This show is funny, yet risque look of relationships that intermingle with friendship and sex. Definitely worth the subscriber fee.

I cringe about the Americanized version.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A very clever show about sex & relationships
Review: In the United States, a basic description of Coupling - six stylish twentysomethings, three male & three female, hanging out together in a trendy urban setting - clearly invites comparisons to Friends. However, this show is not just about 6 happy-go-lucky buds and their wacky adventures learning about life. This is about 6 varyingly neurotic singles trying to balance their libidos with their inhibitions and insecurities, with a definite focus on sex and dating.

When compared to Friends, Coupling has a sharper, biting wit, and less linear, more intricate storytelling. If a comparison to American television must be made, Seinfeld is probably a more appropriate choice. The "Masturbation" episode of Seinfeld could have been written for Coupling. Like Seinfeld, Coupling makes use of a number of tricky storytelling devices. For example, the story may cut back and forth between a scene where a member of the gang is recounting an event to his friends at the bar, and the event itself, where the joke is the difference between what's said and what really happened. And like Seinfeld, this is usually good, but occassionally gimicky.

However, you probably won't buy this for yourself or your friends based on comparisons to US shows. This has a British sense of humor, so its best to compare it to similar British shows. This show will be most appreciated by folks who enjoy British comedies such as BlackAdder, Father Ted, and Red Dwarf. While the subject matter can be decidedly lowbrow (its about sex, after all), the wit of the dialoque and the sharpness of its satirical edge can be as fine as older comedies such as Fawlty Towers, Yes Minister, and The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin.

If you're looking for charming, elegant English comedies a la Keeping Up Appearances or As Time Goes By, you might want to ease into the darker comedy with Blackadder or Father Ted before buying Coupling.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A truly great show.
Review: I'm so used to so many shows today giving you a couple of so-so jokes and then pad the other 20 minutes with dribble.

Not so with Coupling. This show has me laughing out loud throughout. And when I'm not laughing, I'm busy trying to guess where in the world they are taking this episode (I'm always wrong).

It's refreshing story-telling technique is also worth mentioning. Episodes could be completely linear or they might jump from one point to another and then back in time to the start of the episode to it's climax etc., or it may just stop the show completely half way through and then retell the first half again (albeit from a different perspective).

If you haven't yet seen this show on BBC America (or better yet on PBS without the commercials) I could not recommend it more highly.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: simply the best
Review: I've been watching (and taping) this show religiously on BBC America, and I'm excited it's finally being made available to us Yanks on Region 1 DVDs.

simply put, Coupling has some of the best comedic writing you will ever see. it's quick-witted and brilliantly set up and staged. it's got some of the funniest and most unforgettable characters, especially Jeff, played by Robert Coyle. Jeff's rants and weird theories about sex and relationships alone are worth the price of the DVD.

I'm very nervous about the idea of an American version of Coupling. it seems set up to fail if they're going to use it to replace friends. make no mistake, this show has some superficial similarities to Friends, as others have pointed out, but comparing Coupling to friends is like comparing filet mignon to a Whopper.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This show is hilarious!!
Review: It's like friends meets sex and the city but with a whole lot more laughs! From the writer of the tv show Press Gang: Coupling is the most addictive and crazy show to hit tv in years. Sometimes the Brittish sense of humour misses the target however this one is right on... Check it out if you appreciate great acting and writing!!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: You can't handle the Giggle Loop!
Review: My brother talked me into watching Coupling, and now I feel like I can't miss an episode! This is one of the funniest shows I have ever watched.

The characters are all wonderfully cast, and the actors' comedic timing is excellent. Richard Coyle as Jeff is especially brilliant in my favorite espisode "The Girl with Two Breasts."

Once you watch Coupling, you will be glad to be caught in the Giggle Loop!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Giggle Loop
Review: Coupling is the best show besides Red Dwarf to come out of England! I loved watching the show and laughed every second of it. If you've never watcxhed the show before think of it as Friends, except they have English accents and talk about sex all the time. My favorite character is Jeff(poor thing can never talk to a girl without blurting out some part of the female anatomy!). I guaranty that if you buy this first season you will laugh through the whole thing.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Brilliant!
Review: Coupling is simply brilliant. It's funny, extremely original and takes the humorous side of relationships to a new and very clever level. It shows the best and worst of the quirks of men and women who are dating in a very funny light without being judgmental or negative. It is the sort of show that is a little hard to explain and that really needs to be watched but I promise you that you won't be disappointed!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Top-drawer Britcom
Review: When they get around to posting an editorial review here, inevitably the comparisons between Coupling and Friends will fly. Don't pay attention. Yes there are superficial similarities -- 6 attractive singles evenly divided between men and women, etc. -- but this is comedy in the great British tradition of farce and has much more in common with Fawlty Towers or Blackadder than with any American sitcom. I'll admit that the incessant need to label the unlabelable (word?) owes a debt to Seinfeld, though.

Episodes included on this first season set are:

"Flushed" -- Steve (the beset Jack Davenport) tries, mostly unsuccessfully, to break up with Jane (the mad Gina Bellman), while beginning a relationship with Susan (the radiant Sarah Alexander).

"Size Matters" -- Steve and Susan's relationship reaches a new level. Sally (the moisturized Kate Isitt) is horrified by Patrick's (the swaggering Ben Miles) political beliefs.

"Sex, Death and Nudity" -- Everyone ends up at Jane's aunt's funeral. Jeff (the crazed Richard Coyle) has his job interview strategy boomerang on him.

"Inferno" -- Susan discovers Steve's video collection. A dinner party goes awry.

"The Girl with Two Breasts" -- Jeff tries to connect with a girl who doesn't speak English.

"The Cupboard of Patrick's Love" -- Susan discovers that her ex (Patrick) has videotape of her in a compromised position.

There is a second season of nine episodes currently in rotation on BBCAmerica for you digital cable subscribers. And a third season has just begun airing in England.

Also, word is that an Americanized version of this show is being groomed as a replacement for ... aw, you guessed it. The soon-to-end Friends. See where it all began here.

And see where it (probably) was a whole lot funnier. Unfair pre-judgment. But probably true.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Brilliant British Comedy
Review: "Coupling" is sort of like "Friends," only more adult. It joyously revolves around the romantic escapades and fiascos of:
Steve and his girlfriend Susan, Steve's best friend Jeff, Susan's best friend Sally, Steve's ex-girlfriend Jane, and Susan's ex-boyfriend Patrick.

The first season consists of 6 episodes. Assuming the episodes bear the same names in the US as in the UK, they are titled:
Flushed
Size Matters
Sex, Death and Nudity
Inferno
The Girl with Two Breasts
The Cupboard of Patrick's Love

While many of the plotlines deal with the subject of sex (such as when Susan discovers one of Steve's erotic videos while cleaning in "Inferno"), other plotlines involve more innocent scenarios - such as getting the giggles at the most inappropriate times (in "Sex, Death and Nudity").

This series is laugh-out-loud funny. Most of the situations cannot be described in a general forum such as this, but trust me, if you like British Comedy (Monty Python, Red Dwarf, Vicar of Dibley, etc.) you cannot help laughing hysterically during this show.

Especially watch out for Jeff. He has a lovely Welsh accent. And one of the most original outlooks on life you'll ever come across.

There is no gratuitous nudity, but - probably due to the subject matter - this series was rated "Suitable only for persons of 15 years and over" when it was released on video in the UK.


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