Rating: 
Summary: Britain 10, America 0
Review: NBC has pulled off a real miracle -- lifting almost verbatim the funniest script ever to air on television, putting it in the hands of an American cast, and producing the biggest turkey in recent sitcom history. Thank goodness for BBC America, without whom the current sitcom wasteland on American TV would expand beyond the horizon.
When it comes to almost any aspect of sex, the line between sublimity and absurdity is scarily thin and easily crossed. Sometimes the line can be crossed simply by voicing what occasionally crosses all of our minds. Every episode of this BBC series is a smorgasbord of dashes, stumbles, and retreats back and forth across this line. (Perhaps it's the voicing of these silly, sometimes taboo, thoughts that makes the British version work so brilliantly and the American version fail so miserably. The British actors simply bring better voices to the game -- not in terms of accents, but in terms of more earnest delivery, more abandon as actors, more sincere perplexity at the foibles of human sexuality, and less self-consciousness about airing it all.)
Take, for instance, the dinner party from hell. Jane (the meat-eating vegetarian) shows up for dinner with her psychiatrist in tow, whom Steve mistakes to be Jane's lover. Through a series of gaffes that cannot be explained with mere words, he winds up trying to backtrack from suggesting she grows two extra breasts when she gets excited. And all this while the hors-d'ouvres are still going around. By the time the main course is served, Steve is deep into a forced exposition of the artistic merit of "Lesbian Spank Inferno", his favorite porn flick which he inadvertently left in the video player for his girlfriend to find.
Now come on. Which of us hasn't wondered how we'd explain ourselves if caught red-handed with one of those movies everyone has, everyone knows everyone has, and to which no one will freely admit? It's just so wonderfully liberating to find that porn, properly defended, can be explained after all to one's dinner guests.
Assuming your guests have the tolerance for ribaldry at the Sex and the City level, this is a series to be played at your next party. It's just to good to do it alone.
Rating:
Summary: Too bad we do not have a sitcom as funny as "Coupling"
Review: The American version of "Coupling," the British comedy that is their version of "Friends," was a big disaster, which only goes to prove Shavian adage that the Americans and British are a people separated by a common language. Yes, when you start watch the first episodes you will quickly figure out which character on "Coupling" matches up with who on "Friends," but that takes about five minutes.
Steve Taylor (Jack Davenport) is Ross, without the Ph.D. in paleontology, who has just started dating Susan Walker (Sarah Alexander), who certainly is more confident about living in the real world than Rachel. Jane Christie (Gina Bellman) is decidedly quirky like Phoebe, but without the loveable cuteness or the innate sense of compassion, and Sally Harper (Kate Isitt) is psychotic about her appearance the way Monica is about cleanliness. Jeff Murdock (Richard Coyle) thinks about sex as much as Joey but without any of the success because of an extraordinary ability to always say the wrong thing, which makes it odd that Patrick Maitland (Ben Miles) ends up being the Chandler figure since he is apparently a sex god (or sex "donkey"). But by the second or third episode of the first series (what we in the Colonies call a season) you should be able to deal with "Coupling" on its own terms.
The biggest difference between "Coupling" and "Friends" is the preoccupation with sex. "Coupling" only had six episodes in its first series and if you took the first season of "Friends" and selectively cut it down to only six episodes it would not be as much about sex as these episodes on "Coupling." A plotline about a job interview turns into being about sex. Everybody goes to a funeral and that turns into being about sex as well. By the end of the first series you will not be thinking about "Friends" any more, but about "Sex in the City" as the more fitting comparison.
The six episodes from the first series are as follows: "Flushed" has Steve trying to break up with Jane, and one of the most unusual circumstances for arranging for a date you have ever seen as Steve and Susan first hook up. "Size Matters" has Sally seeing Patrick in a new way, or, to be more accurate, hoping to see Patrick in a new way. "Sex, Death and Nudity" has the gang showing up en masse at the funeral of Jane's aunt, although exactly who is with whom and what their relationship is for public consumption is not clear. "Inferno" is about the elephant in the living room at Steve and Susan's dinner party, namely the porn tape that Susan discovered in Steve's magazine. "The Girl with Two Breasts" has Jeff successfully having a conversation with a beautiful woman who still likes him, but that is because she is from Israel and only speaks Hebrew. The first series comes to an end with "The Cupboard of Patrick's Love," where it seems one of his collection of videotapes of his bedroom activities has the name "Susan" on it. The first series almost ended on a rather sweet note, but then they went for the gag, which is the whole object of "Coupling."
The second series offers up nine episodes: "The Man With Two Legs" highlights Jeff's inability to avoid saying the wrong thing to a pretty woman. "My Dinner in Hell" has Steve convinced Susan's parents are making fun of his, uh, recreation practices. Steve has a different problem in "Her Best Friend's Bottom," in which he accidentally sees Sally naked. "The Melty Man Cometh" has Steve and Jeff explaining the causes of impotence to Patrick. "Jane and the Truth Snake" has Jane taking pills after being fired, which only results in her creating a snake puppet that insists on telling the truth. "Gotcha" has Steve and Susan at a fancy dinner for their first anniversary and the question is whether Steve will pop the question. "Dressed" has Jane at a dinner party where she is wearing nothing under her raincoat and Steve upset that Susan is pretending to be Patrick's trophy wife. In "Naked," Jeff has finally found a woman who also blurts out the wrong thing all the time, but unfortunately she is a senior manager at his firm. "The End of the Line" has Steve and Susan's relationship in trouble because of a woman named Giselle and a bar in Australia that Susan thinks is named in honor of her trip Down Under (it is complicated, which is the whole point of the comic confusion).
The bottom line is that I find "Coupling" funny, as in laugh out funny, which is not something I usually do (unless watching the nightly news). The fact that two series still amount to less episodes than you get with a season of an American sitcom works to the show's advantage. Basically creator Steven Moffat, who based the Steve and Sue relationship on dating his own wife, only writes scripts if he comes up with good ideas, so it is not just that the best episodes are hysterical but that the worst episodes are still at least a bit above average. Yes, this is a decidedly British situation comedy, but there is something compelling about this approach to combining sex and humor when compared to the drivel of most American comedies.
Rating:
Summary: I am in love with Coupling
Review: This is beyond fabulous. Perfect enough that I find myself making excuses to stay home and watch it in its 10pm Friday night time slot. Beyond raunchy enough that I was terribly embarrassed at making my dad stop channel-flipping to watch an episode when I was visiting my parents last weekend. So universally funny that he laughed more than, and loved it at least as much as, I did. I love poor, awkward Jeff, and all of the delightfully horrific things that come out of his mouth. He's probably the only character on television that I can watch make a total idiot of themselves without cringing, becoming terribly self-conscious, and having to change the channel.
Rating:
Summary: Funniest series I have ever watched on tv
Review: This is by far the funniest tv series I have ever seen. The first episode had me laughing so hard that I missed most of what happened. If you are looking for a good comedy about what real relationships are about, then this is definitely a must see. No matter what gender you are, I am sure you can relate to something in these episodes. I do not normally purchase DVDs because there are so few movies I wish to see over again. This is the exception to the rule. I am sure I will watch these episodes over and over again. Just pure hilarious fun.
Rating:
Summary: Giggle loop, sock gap, nudity buffer, bucket of women ears
Review: Those are a few of the many baffling and hilarious "Jeffisms" featured in seasons one and two. Coupling is one of my all-time favorite shows, with brilliant writing and a solid cast. The actors have come to really own their characters, increasing in emotional depth with each episode (be sure to check out season three, coming out soon). Over and over, I have enjoyed...-Steve's rants ("You do not need padding to tackle upholstery!")
-Susan's dry wit ("Lucky you didn't bump into any goats")
-Sally's insecurities ("Don't touch me, I'm full of moisturizer! You might drain it all off; like rain in the desert, it all gets sucked away. You'd probably reflate!")
-Jane's insanity ("There's no such thing as homosexuals, just peoplesexuals!"),
-and Patrick's relationship phobia ("Sally, there are certain words you just don't say to a man, they're too technical, like 'commitment' or 'cervix'"). But best of all is Jeff, a charmingly neurotic Whelshman who is capable of attracting women, yet becomes terrified when he does. Many of the phrases that come out of his mouth make me cringe and slap my forehead, while rolling on the floor laughing. Some of his romantic disasters include smiling at a co-worker and destroying a water cooler in the process ("She thinks I'm a mute with a balance problem"), telling an Israeli woman that he collects women's ears in a bucket, telling a woman on a train that one of his legs was amputated ("I've met the woman of my dreams, and I can't take my trousers off!"), getting tricked into joining a three-way with Patrick and his girlfriend Linda, complimenting his boss/future girlfriend Julia in an elevator ("You have the eyes of ten women...not in a jar or anything, I'm not accusing you!"), and of course, the famous striptease in a room that was, unbeknownst to him, full of his coworkers, friends, and his parents. Overall a classic character, and one of the funniest I've seen in a long time. And yet, Jeff is just part of a whole, where all the acting, the writing, and the direction come together to form a TV show that is a masterpiece. It's a shame there are only 22 episodes broadcast so far, but I could happily watch them over and over for years to come. As far as the DVDs themselves go, there are pros and cons. I like the menu design and interviews with the cast and staff. The bad news is that there are no subtitles, and commentaries are only on episodes three through nine in the second season. And the "Play All" option is only on the second season DVD. Nevertheless, this whole series is well worth owning on DVD. I think the fourth season will be broadcast on BBC America next month, and I can't wait!
Rating:
Summary: Giggle loop, sock gap, nudity buffer, bucket of women ears
Review: Those are a few of the many baffling and hilarious "Jeffisms" featured in seasons one and two. Coupling is one of my all-time favorite shows, with brilliant writing and a solid cast. The actors have come to really own their characters, increasing in emotional depth with each episode (be sure to check out season three, coming out soon). Over and over, I have enjoyed... -Steve's rants ("You do not need padding to tackle upholstery!")
-Susan's dry wit ("Lucky you didn't bump into any goats")
-Sally's insecurities ("Don't touch me, I'm full of moisturizer! You might drain it all off; like rain in the desert, it all gets sucked away. You'd probably reflate!")
-Jane's insanity ("There's no such thing as homosexuals, just peoplesexuals!"),
-and Patrick's relationship phobia ("Sally, there are certain words you just don't say to a man, they're too technical, like 'commitment' or 'cervix'"). But best of all is Jeff, a charmingly neurotic Whelshman who is capable of attracting women, yet becomes terrified when he does. Many of the phrases that come out of his mouth make me cringe and slap my forehead, while rolling on the floor laughing. Some of his romantic disasters include smiling at a co-worker and destroying a water cooler in the process ("She thinks I'm a mute with a balance problem"), telling an Israeli woman that he collects women's ears in a bucket, telling a woman on a train that one of his legs was amputated ("I've met the woman of my dreams, and I can't take my trousers off!"), getting tricked into joining a three-way with Patrick and his girlfriend Linda, complimenting his boss/future girlfriend Julia in an elevator ("You have the eyes of ten women...not in a jar or anything, I'm not accusing you!"), and of course, the famous striptease in a room that was, unbeknownst to him, full of his coworkers, friends, and his parents. Overall a classic character, and one of the funniest I've seen in a long time. And yet, Jeff is just part of a whole, where all the acting, the writing, and the direction come together to form a TV show that is a masterpiece. It's a shame there are only 22 episodes broadcast so far, but I could happily watch them over and over for years to come. As far as the DVDs themselves go, there are pros and cons. I like the menu design and interviews with the cast and staff. The bad news is that there are no subtitles, and commentaries are only on episodes three through nine in the second season. And the "Play All" option is only on the second season DVD. Nevertheless, this whole series is well worth owning on DVD. I think the fourth season will be broadcast on BBC America next month, and I can't wait!
Rating:
Summary: Get This Now!
Review: Truly the most consistently funny half-hour of television today, miles and away better than any American situation comedy on air. I've yet to see an episode of either of the first two series that didn't make me laugh aloud several times. A man, his new girlfriend, his best friend, her best friend, his ex, and her ex--all the elements are ripe for endless complications and plots, and the writers take full advantage of the characters' intricate relationships, placing them in ever increasingly absurd situations that nonetheless are perfectly believable. The humor is veddy, veddy British, which, as the atrocious NBC version illustrated, does not translate well into American, but that's okay. The actors' comedic talents shine through in every scene. Of particular merit is Richard Coyle's portrayal of the hapless Jeff, cursed with inappropriate speech in the presence of the opposite sex. Watch the opening episode to Series Two, and you'll laugh yourself silly at his antics, culminating with his pathetic realization that he's "got too many legs."
Rating:
Summary: Get This Now!
Review: Truly the most consistently funny half-hour of television today, miles and away better than any American situation comedy on air. I've yet to see an episode of either of the first two series that didn't make me laugh aloud several times. A man, his new girlfriend, his best friend, her best friend, his ex, and her ex--all the elements are ripe for endless complications and plots, and the writers take full advantage of the characters' intricate relationships, placing them in ever increasingly absurd situations that nonetheless are perfectly believable. The humor is veddy, veddy British, which, as the atrocious NBC version illustrated, does not translate well into American, but that's okay. The actors' comedic talents shine through in every scene. Of particular merit is Richard Coyle's portrayal of the hapless Jeff, cursed with inappropriate speech in the presence of the opposite sex. Watch the opening episode to Series Two, and you'll laugh yourself silly at his antics, culminating with his pathetic realization that he's "got too many legs."
Rating:
Summary: Coupling: best British comedy since Fawlty Towers
Review: When someone asked me about Coupling, I told them, "It's like Friends plus Sex in the City, only funny." A snide remark, I know, but what can you say? American sit-coms give us gags; British sit-coms give us wit, humor, and outrageous laughter.
I fear, though, that Coupling is over. The original six actors were, taken together, perfection - like the various strains of point and counter-point in Bach or Mozart. But then, tragically for the fans, Richard Coyle (Jeff) left the series. The remaining five, plus the new character, "Oliver," kept it up bravely and well, but, in the end, Coyle's departure, depriving us as it does of Jeff, removed an absolutely essential 1/6th of the recipe. Oliver is good, don't get me wrong, but Jeff somehow was essential. To Richard Coyle, all I can say is "OH, Jeffrey!!"
To potential collectors, you won't regret buying any of these seasons, though.
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