Rating: 
Summary: Long awaited!
Review: I saw these on TV waaay back in the 80's and have been waiting for someone to release them on DVD or video ever since then. They are delightfully daffy--and who better than Pauline Collins and John Alden to bring them to life. Love the British? Love a good chuckle? Buy it!
Rating:
Summary: An Absolute Pipterina!
Review: I say old thing, I didn't even know about this series until I happened upon it here on Amazon. Once I read all the other great reviews I had to have it. Now that I've seen it, I have to review it because it's a jolly good classic. I must say, 6/7 of the episodes are "the tree upon which the fruit of my love hangs." (however, the Minna Nordstrom episode fails to qualify) Before receiving this series, I had already collected all the Jeeves and Wooster DVD sets. I hadn't expected this one to be quite as good, but I actually find that I watch it even more often. As a matter of fact, I probably watch this one the most of all the DVD's I own! John Alderton and Pauline Collins are excellent actors and play the different characters swimmingly. I highly recommend it to anyone who loves British comedy. There are also 2 other seasons out on DVD that I'm looking forward to getting. (hint, hint) If they're anywhere near as good as this season, I know I will love them. Toodle-pip!
Rating:
Summary: An Absolute Pipterina!
Review: I say old thing, I didn't even know about this series until I happened upon it here on Amazon. Once I read all the other great reviews I had to have it. Now that I've seen it, I have to review it because it's a jolly good classic. I must say, 6/7 of the episodes are "the tree upon which the fruit of my love hangs." (however, the Minna Nordstrom episode fails to qualify) Before receiving this series, I had already collected all the Jeeves and Wooster DVD sets. I hadn't expected this one to be quite as good, but I actually find that I watch it even more often. As a matter of fact, I probably watch this one the most of all the DVD's I own! John Alderton and Pauline Collins are excellent actors and play the different characters swimmingly. I highly recommend it to anyone who loves British comedy. There are also 2 other seasons out on DVD that I'm looking forward to getting. (hint, hint) If they're anywhere near as good as this season, I know I will love them. Toodle-pip!
Rating:
Summary: British highbrow humor at its finest
Review: It's unfortunate that the first episode involved stuttering. This must be a painful memory for some people, and they can hardly be expected to react favorably. But in fact, it is NOT treated cruelly here, and John Alderton's extremely likeable character can only bring sympathy for suffers of the affliction. For any viewer who has not this particular slant on the work, this is a gem. And the other 12 episodes, on this and the second series DVDs, are priceless as well. John and Pauline Collins are a comedy team made in heaven. Their timing is exquisite and their ability to play so many different characters and make them all quite distinguishable from each other is nothing short of amazing. Don't let anything deprive you of the pleasure of watching these comedies. They can be enjoyed over and over again. And yes, do buy the Mulliners stories too. They've been collected in book form and are a treasure.
Rating:
Summary: British highbrow humor at its finest
Review: It's unfortunate that the first episode involved stuttering. This must be a painful memory for some people, and they can hardly be expected to react favorably. But in fact, it is NOT treated cruelly here, and John Alderton's extremely likeable character can only bring sympathy for suffers of the affliction. For any viewer who has not this particular slant on the work, this is a gem. And the other 12 episodes, on this and the second series DVDs, are priceless as well. John and Pauline Collins are a comedy team made in heaven. Their timing is exquisite and their ability to play so many different characters and make them all quite distinguishable from each other is nothing short of amazing. Don't let anything deprive you of the pleasure of watching these comedies. They can be enjoyed over and over again. And yes, do buy the Mulliners stories too. They've been collected in book form and are a treasure.
Rating: 
Summary: Funny?
Review: Really unusual people must have written the other reviews. Funny? Did they say funny? This isn't funny . . . in any tradition, and those introductions by poor old Wodehouse are unbearable and barely decipherable. The absence of coarseness and vulgarity is appreciated, but for humour these productions are a vast wasteland with only an occasional oasis.
Rating:
Summary: Just buy it!
Review: These episodes are superbly produced, directed, costumed, and especially acted. The stars are a married pair of fine British comic thespians, who were also outstanding in their seriocomic roles in "Upstairs, Downstairs." Supporting casts are uniformly superb. I found Wodehouse's intros priceless. Even as a nonagenarian, he was worth almost the price of the whole set -- so droll, so amused with appreciation of human folly, so skilled at a twinkly-eyed but not unduly harsh presentation of foibles. Every word he said was both easy (for me) to understand and well worth hearing. How marvelous to have this personal record of a great humorist! I only wish we had seen more of him. What I wouldn't give to see Oscar Wilde or Jane Austen or several others similarly introduce performances of their works! This set is also a great bargain. Perhaps the sound and picture are not up to today's standards, but they did not distract from my enjoyment in the least. The "Jeeves and Wooster" set is indeed better Wodehouse than this set, only because J&W is perfect while this one is merely close to perfect, but both are worth at least five stars to this picky reviewer. Anyone who does not like Wodehouse and his marvelously framed understated absurdities deserves to spend eternity watching Hollywood potboilers and US sitcoms.
Rating:
Summary: Just buy it!
Review: These episodes are superbly produced, directed, costumed, and especially acted. The stars are a married pair of fine British comic thespians, who were also outstanding in their seriocomic roles in "Upstairs, Downstairs." Supporting casts are uniformly superb. I found Wodehouse's intros priceless. Even as a nonagenarian, he was worth almost the price of the whole set -- so droll, so amused with appreciation of human folly, so skilled at a twinkly-eyed but not unduly harsh presentation of foibles. Every word he said was both easy (for me) to understand and well worth hearing. How marvelous to have this personal record of a great humorist! I only wish we had seen more of him. What I wouldn't give to see Oscar Wilde or Jane Austen or several others similarly introduce performances of their works! This set is also a great bargain. Perhaps the sound and picture are not up to today's standards, but they did not distract from my enjoyment in the least. The "Jeeves and Wooster" set is indeed better Wodehouse than this set, only because J&W is perfect while this one is merely close to perfect, but both are worth at least five stars to this picky reviewer. Anyone who does not like Wodehouse and his marvelously framed understated absurdities deserves to spend eternity watching Hollywood potboilers and US sitcoms.
Rating:
Summary: The Mulliners are as funny as the Woosters
Review: You all know how hysterically funny the Bertie Wooster/Jeeves stores are, both on the page and on the screen. Well, P.G. Wodehouse wrote about many other characters, notably the Mulliner Family, from which series several of the episodes on "Wodehouse Playhouse" have been drawn. If you remember the feisty Sarah the maid and the amorous ambitious chauffeur Thomas in the "Upstairs, Downstairs" series, you will recall with what chemistry Pauline Collins and John Alderton played those roles. In this series, they play a different role in each half-hour episode, sometimes with Alderton as the Mulliner, sometimes Collins, now and then neither.
Series One is now available, holding on its two DVDs (AMP 5939) seven very funny tales, six of which are about goofy Englishmen and women living up to what Americans expect of them. For example, in "Portrait of a Disciplinarian," Reggie Mulliner and his ex-fiancee meet at their former Nanny's and are treated as before, as children to be punished. But what else would we expect of a British Nanny? The Hollywood spoof "The Rise of Minna Nordstrom" does not quite fulfill its potential, but the "The Truth About George" certainly does. But even in its weakest moments (and there are not many of those), this series is still funnier than anything else visible on American prime time. So grab up this one and look for the other series as soon as they are available.
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