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Transatlantic TV

 
  

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Foxxy Feminist Fury
14:42 / 27.11.01
I'm really surprised this show hasn't been discussed here, what with the new episodes and all. But maybe I'm the only one who really likes it.

Obviously the fantasy element of being ridiculously rich (I mean, my god, it will forever be my dream to take the Concorde from London to New York in order to take a picture of a door handle) and being able to drink, smoke and do drugs to your heart's content with relatively few to no side effects is an appeal of "Ab Fab," but I actually think the show is very important. Certainly in terms of the fact that it's written and performed by virtually all women.

While it fuels the fantasy of being rich and beautiful, it also mocks the shallowness of these things as essential goals in life. We see to what ridiculous lengths people will go to in an attempt to achieve airbrushed and unreal beauty.

It's a very female show, I think.

Though I am a bit disappointed in the new episodes. I feel all of the characters have become cariactures of themselves. Especially Saffy. My god, how prissy and dull do they need to make her?

So... am I the only person who enjoys this show? Is it worth talking about? Tell me why, please.

[ 29-11-2001: Message edited by: Foxxy Feminist Fury ]
 
 
pointless and uncalled for
15:22 / 27.11.01
I'm also a fan of this show, I've been watching it since before it got famous. Sadly Canadian TV is not known for it's wealth of good British comedy, It seems to insist on continuous reruns of Russ Abbott.

Bunch of cocks.
 
 
Foxxy Feminist Fury
15:27 / 27.11.01
Do you get Comedy Central on cable? You can watch both the new and the old ones there. You can see all the old ones on BBC America.

I don't like the obnoxious comedy central guy though who announces "Tonight... Sin is in." Blech.
 
 
pointless and uncalled for
15:34 / 27.11.01
Not on basic cable.

We get The Comedy Network.

BBC Canada got introduced recently but since the preview days it has gone to pay station status.
 
 
Ierne
15:38 / 27.11.01
I feel all of the characters have become cariactures of themselves. Especially Saffy. – Foxxy Feminist Fury

I was really hoping Saffy would show some guts this time around, being older & all. Move out already!

My co-worker is taping the episodes for me (since I have no cable), I've only seen the first ep so far. It really doesn't help that Comedy Central shows old episodes right after the new ones. How can one not compare & contrast?
 
 
100% new
15:41 / 27.11.01
Absolutely Fabulous

STINKS!! What the fuck is up with you guys?
 
 
tracypanzer
15:55 / 27.11.01
Er, I wouldn't say it stinks. I do think that it may take them a few shows to get back into the swing of things. On last night's episode, Jennifer Saunders made a joke about the Taliban destroying a Buddha statue that was really funny, or was delivered in a funny way at least. When did they film these? At least 6 months ago, right?
 
 
pointless and uncalled for
16:02 / 27.11.01
100%new - by what criteria do you determine that this program stinks?
 
 
that
16:02 / 27.11.01
I too was disappointed in the new episodes...but, even more depressingly, found I did not care enough even to start a thread about it. It was once extremely funny... but it has become, in my opinion, very, very depressing and bitter...and, well, boring. The characters have not developed, they have disintegrated, and the tone of the show has become overwhelmingly negative. I gave up on it in the end. Apparently there was one good episode, where Saffy and Eddie went to Paris...but I missed that one.
 
 
100% new
16:04 / 27.11.01
ah, well now, i've got yer.
I haven't mentioned where i'M from as im too paranoid.
BUT

I'll tell you lot.

I'm a teenager from London. You can find me at 2000adonline as Death Monkey 23.

You lot are mostly from crap parts of america canada etc, and so it can only be assumed that you watch TV that is crap.
 
 
pointless and uncalled for
16:07 / 27.11.01
Crap parts of America & Canada huh?

I'll take that as a comment from someone who's never actually been here.
 
 
Foxxy Feminist Fury
16:14 / 27.11.01
See, I thought only the very very end of last night's episode was remotely funny - but you're right, showing the old shows after the new ones doesn't help their cause (it IS something to look forward to, though!).

I don't have cable either but we all go over to a friend's with satellite for it. The last show we're going to watch at a gay bar that plays the shows on Mondays AND has a $3 Stoli Bolle special! Yes!

The characters haven't really grown at all - correct. One can't rely on old gags to keep things fresh. Actually, I thought the very first episode was enjoyable but I've been disappointed in the other two I've seen. I keep hoping for it to get better - and then of course I stick around for the old ones.

100% New, why do you think the show sucks? Explain, please.
 
 
pointless and uncalled for
16:22 / 27.11.01
As he said, he thinks it stinks because people in America/Canada watch it.

The wonderful logic of a 14 year old.
 
 
100% new
21:13 / 27.11.01
quote:Originally posted by potus:
Crap parts of America & Canada huh?

I'll take that as a comment from someone who's never actually been here.
i'll take someone with a poor name such as potus as someone who comes from Canada
 
 
ONLY NICE THINGS
21:17 / 27.11.01
Please God let him be The Knowledge +1. Don't let us have two of them.

Ontopic - did Roseanne Barr ever make do her planned remake of "Absolutely Fabulous"? It sounded....fascinating.
 
 
Bear
10:00 / 28.11.01
Yeah you Amercans get all the good stuff, like Bill Cosby doing One foot in the Grave...
 
 
ONLY NICE THINGS
10:16 / 28.11.01
Although we may not want to mock too hard lest somebody bring up the English "That 70s Show"...."Days like these".

[ 28-11-2001: Message edited by: The Haus under the Ocean ]
 
 
tracypanzer
10:55 / 28.11.01
I heard that Roseanne and Carrie Fisher were going to do something similar, but it fell through. There was an 'AbFab'-esque show starring Cybill Sheppard and Christine Baranski several years ago that wasn't very good at all.
 
 
Fra Dolcino
10:55 / 28.11.01
But then we'd merely riposte with the US's version of Cracker: 'Fitz'. Touche.
 
 
DaveBCooper
11:31 / 28.11.01
I thought the first series was good, nearly every line was a gag, and Jennifer S was a very generous writer, giving the majority of the funny stuff to other people.

But as it stuck around, I fear the law of diminishing returns took effect, so when the fourth series was announced recently, I didn't really bother; was a bit sceptical about the return of it, as it was supposed to have been finished, and coming back to it looked a bit like desperation, really.

But maybe the above is a bit expansive, and I should just say "it sux ! Dredd phuqqin rulz!" and slag off people who live elsewhere... that seems the best way to conduct rational debate, apparently.

I don't think the UK or the US has any right to pretend to take the moral high ground when it comes to TV shows. The not-good USA show 'Who's the Boss' featuring Tony Danza was re-made in the UK as the just-as-bad 'The Upper Hand', which went on to run for a greater number of series than the show which spawned it, a sequence of events which I think damns both viewing audiences, really... so I think we should just call it quits and be done, eh?

DBC
 
 
Ierne
11:54 / 28.11.01
Please God let him be The Knowledge +1. Don't let us have two of them. – Haus of Zookeepers

If you would just stop feeding them, they'd go home, eh? So let's not. s/he doesn't like the show, fine.

The Edwina/Saffy relationship sings rather true in that children raised with alcoholic or otherwise addicted parents always come second to the addiction, which wreaks havoc on the child's self-esteem. So as much as I would love Saffy to stand up to her mom and say "Hey, FUCK YOU! I'm moving out and getting on with my life," It could seem a bit out of character.

Nevertheless, I think it would make Saffy more interesting and enhance the show.
 
 
Foxxy Feminist Fury
12:55 / 28.11.01
Is there really a British version of "That 70s Show?" Woah. How does THAT go over?

I really like "That 70s Show" when I get a chance to watch it. But it has been my (limited) experience that 70s nostalgia vehicles like "Dazed & Confused" are well-liked by Americans and considered pointless by British.

Hmm.
 
 
sleazenation
13:24 / 28.11.01
the uk version of that 70's show (with almost identical scripts) tanked. and was amusingly satiriised by comedians lee & herring on TMWRNJ...
 
 
bitchiekittie
13:27 / 28.11.01
I used to watch the old abfab whenever I could manage. I very rarely watch television anymore, but recently I did see a roseanne episode featuring the abfab chickies. it was funny, I thought, and Im not much of a fan of her show

I think the ridiculous measures they go to, that they can AFFORD to go to, and the messy sloppy shit theyve made of there lives is a quite fun to watch - utter hedonism and the backroll to execute it. very fun
 
 
ONLY NICE THINGS
13:39 / 28.11.01
quote:Originally posted by sleazenation:
the uk version of that 70's show (with almost identical scripts) tanked. and was amusingly satiriised by comedians lee & herring on TMWRNJ...



I love them...

"Remember the 70s, Stew? Remember spangles? They're funny. Remember the Jonestown Massacre? That's funny. Yes it is. Because it took place in the 70s."
 
 
Foxxy Feminist Fury
13:49 / 28.11.01
The "Cybil" show with Cybil Sheppard and Christine Baranski was nowhere near as good as the original "AbFab." It was so watered down the jokes simply could not have the bite as they did in the British version.

I do, however, adore Christine Baranski. She nearly made that show worth watching.
 
 
tracypanzer
15:11 / 28.11.01
As far as that 'Cybill' show went, the networks couldn't get away w/ having the main characters all boozy and druggy all the time. I think that's why the Roseanne/Carrie Fisher show fell through.
 
 
The Return Of Rothkoid
15:29 / 28.11.01
Hmmm - is it worth changing this thread to "transatlantic TV", perhaps? Seeing how it's got fuck-all to do with Ab Fab...
 
 
penitentvandal
21:27 / 28.11.01
Yes please - because then we could discuss the greatest transatlantic TV fuck-up of all time, the Americans taking the fairly amusing (for the first 4 series) sci-fi comedy show Red Dwarf, and turning it into the po-faced cavalcade of Ultimate Mediocrity that is Voyager...
 
 
DaveBCooper
10:28 / 29.11.01
Although that may not be as lamentable as the tragedy of Red Dwarf being debased into the insults to the intelligence were Red Dwarf VII and VIII…

DBC
 
 
penitentvandal
10:32 / 29.11.01
Or the horror that is Craig Charles presenting bloody Robot Wars...
 
 
Foxxy Feminist Fury
11:25 / 29.11.01
You got it kids. Though I can't believe nobody has commented on the fact that the same actress who played Cybill Sheppard's daughter in "Cybil" also plays Donna on "That 70s Show." Nice tie-in!

The "That 70s Show" theme is good, too.

"HANGING OUT!

Yeah!
 
 
Ierne
11:37 / 29.11.01
Not sure if this counts as transatlantic TV...but is Blackadder Back and Forth any good? I'm considering getting it on VHS and would like some feedback before I buy. Don't think it's ever been shown here in the States, and (like AbFab) it's a reunion of most of the old Blackadder crew.
 
 
Kit-Cat Club
11:40 / 29.11.01
Is that 'Blackadder goes Forth' or something entirely different that I have missed?
 
 
pointless and uncalled for
11:58 / 29.11.01
Blackadder Back and Forth is a special and is pretty damn good. It certainly made me laugh when I rented it.
 
  

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