Rating: 
Summary: The Vicar of Dibley!!! The Fecking Vicar of Fecking Dibley!!
Review: A few points in rebuttal and by way of clarification before I proceed to the review proper.
One. The Vicar of Dibley is not an 'off-beat' British comedy. It is a straight down the line, populist, bog-standard, mainstream effort. (Think Will & Grace but even less funny). It is also crap.
Two. Ditto the Darling Buds of May, which as an ITV production is even more populist.
Three. There is only one comedy (other than 'Father Ben', of course) about 'three priests on an island.' That is the point of saying that Father Ted is the best example of the genre. It is a facetious claim, ironic in nature. No one who ripostes `Good heavens, how many can there be?' should be reviewing comedy.
Others have noted that Father Ted is an Irish, not a British, comedy. It is still closer to British efforts than, say, Seinfeld but does have a distinct edge that, not being Irish myself, I can only assume is Irish. I wouldn't say that Father Ted makes the British look as if they have no sense of irony by any stretch of the imagination. It is more surreal and the humour is more gentle than a similar British comedy would be - most English satire is combative and aggressive in nature (e.g. Blackadder), while Father Ted has a keen eye for absurdity and examines it without rancour.
As stated above, the crux of Father Ted is absurdist comedy. It uses this very well, although the second series does it better - perhaps because the show had got into its stride by that stage. Father Dougal is the idiot priest, Father Jack the inapprpriately behaived priest and Ted is the priest with whom we identify - albeit that he has his own foibles. Amongst these are thrown some pretty everyday events that our protagonists' inadequacies magnify into solid & intelligent farce. It is a strong setup that goes some way to explaining why there are three very successful series of the show extant.
Father Ted is also not a BBC comedy, although BBC worldwide distributes it. It is in fact a Channel 4 show. Channel 4 was originally an off-mainstream channel with a predominantly arts, social interest and documentary remit. This is hardly the case anymore but they do have a different (& rather smaller) audience than BBC1. This is relected in the difference between comedies such as Blackadder and Ted. The former is a bit of a behemoth in British comedic terms, while Father Ted is a little more experimental.
Rating:
Summary: as a pastor, you gotta love this
Review: absolutely hilarious. A sharp, funny look at religion and some of the eccentricities surrounding those who practice it vocationally.
It's difficult to come up with funnier TV than this. If you like british (oh, okay... Irish) comedy, heck, if you have any sense of humor at all, you'll love Father Ted.
Rating:
Summary: Buy this. Oh, go on. Go on, go on, go on, go on.......GO ON!
Review: Anyone who has seen this will recognise the words of Mrs Doyle! This is really very funny. If you like your comedy a bit strange, you'll love this. The series is set on Craggt Island, somewhere of the coast of Ireland. In a house on the island live 3 priests the catholic church wishes to forget. Father Ted would like to think he is hip and trendy, but fails miserably to impress anyone. With Father Dougal, it is a mystery how he ever became a priest because he is so gormless. Finally, Father Jack is a foul-mouthed drunk, who spends most of his life in a drunken stupor in his armchair. This unlikely three some get into all sorts of scrapes, and are aided whenever they need a cup of tea by their insane housekeeper, Mrs Doyle. The laughs are non stop, and the off the wall humour makes you want to watch it again and again.
Rating: 
Summary: Passable comedy, but overrated
Review: As someone who, perhaps because of a genetic defect, appreciates a number of comedies that have come out of the UK over the years, I have to say that Fater Ted is just not that great. Not awful, but kind of boring and one-dimensional. A few mentally retarded priests get together, hilarity ensues, I get it. Only not so much, because it just ain't that funny. It has a few laughs, don't get me wrong, but just kind of fell flat for me.
Rating:
Summary: Good Craic
Review: Definitely a must for those interested in Irish Comedy.So funny your sides will hurt. Good stuff!! I highly recommend it!
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant
Review: Father Ted is not a show for devout Catholics - unless they have a really good SOH. Everyone who has shared this DVD with me has laughed their socks off.
Rating: 
Summary: All time great
Review: Father Ted is one of the all time great european comedies, possibly only bettered by Fawlty Towers. If you have a multi-region DVD player I would recommend the region 2 (europe) version of this disc as it has a commentary on all six episodes by one of the writers.
Rating:
Summary: Great series, too bad about the DVD
Review: Father Ted is one of the funniest series ever seen on British TV. What an original and hillarious concept! The characters and casting are perfect. Episode 1 sets the scene perfectly - you will laugh your head off in every single of the 6 episodes on this DVD.And now for the negative side - The DVD contains nothing more than the 6 episodes that make up series 1. There is no commentary, no "behind the scenes", no interviews... As if that wasn't enough, there are no subtitles! I live in Greece, and most of my friends have limited knowledge of English and usually have to rely on subtitles to understand everything; as a result, I have a hard time sharing this excellent comedy with them. In addition, the menus are crude and I can only wonder why they did such a poor job on the authoring aspect of this DVD. Despite the poor authoring, anybody who loves Father Ted (i.e. everyone who has seen it) will definitely want a copy for their DVD collection. A must-have!
Rating:
Summary: Passable comedy, but overrated
Review: Father Ted is perhaps the funniest thing to appear on British T.V. in the last decade. The plot revolves around the titular Ted, an Irish priest sent to a remote island parish for "financial irregularities" (he took a holiday to Las Vegas, using money from a charity appeal to send a dying child to the Lourdes shrine, that happened to be "resting in his account"). His companions are the clueless Father Dougal and the alcoholic Father Jack, neither of whom are deemed sane enough to unleash on a real parish.
The humour is sharp and surreal, derived from a mixture of Seinfeld-esque vacuity and Red Dwarf-esque situationalism. The characters are particularly well created and the incongruity of their behavior with their priestly calling adds to the fun factor.
The plots in these early episodes are perhaps not as well developed as the later series, but still very very funny, irreverent, and much more subtle than someone chasing a cow, or a vicar being overweight and female in the manner of more traditional British comedies.
Discerning viewers who care to sit through more than one episode of this Series will be themselves richly rewarded. Anyone who doesn't grasp the irony of the statement on the box that this is "possibly the best comedy about three priests on an island...ever!", should perhaps go write a 351 word letter to their conressman about the declining morals of today's society and then go for a nice lie down and then rent something a little more safe and quiet, like "Last of the Summer Wine".
Anyone who likes alternative British comedy like "The Office", "Monty Python" or "Blackadder" should snap this up right away. Go on go on go on !!!! P.S. Father Ted was actually made for the U.K's more "hip", Channel 4, but is licensed to BBC America for sale in the States.
Rating:
Summary: "The Ants are back Ted..."
Review: Father Ted is perhaps the funniest thing to appear on British T.V. in the last decade. The plot revolves around the titular Ted, an Irish priest sent to a remote island parish for "financial irregularities" (he took a holiday to Las Vegas, using money from a charity appeal to send a dying child to the Lourdes shrine, that happened to be "resting in his account"). His companions are the clueless Father Dougal and the alcoholic Father Jack, neither of whom are deemed sane enough to unleash on a real parish.
The humour is sharp and surreal, derived from a mixture of Seinfeld-esque vacuity and Red Dwarf-esque situationalism. The characters are particularly well created and the incongruity of their behavior with their priestly calling adds to the fun factor.
The plots in these early episodes are perhaps not as well developed as the later series, but still very very funny, irreverent, and much more subtle than someone chasing a cow, or a vicar being overweight and female in the manner of more traditional British comedies.
Discerning viewers who care to sit through more than one episode of this Series will be themselves richly rewarded. Anyone who doesn't grasp the irony of the statement on the box that this is "possibly the best comedy about three priests on an island...ever!", should perhaps go write a 351 word letter to their conressman about the declining morals of today's society and then go for a nice lie down and then rent something a little more safe and quiet, like "Last of the Summer Wine".
Anyone who likes alternative British comedy like "The Office", "Monty Python" or "Blackadder" should snap this up right away. Go on go on go on !!!! P.S. Father Ted was actually made for the U.K's more "hip", Channel 4, but is licensed to BBC America for sale in the States.
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