This is, without question, the best situation comedy I have seen in a good many years. As a devout follower of the medium, an expert in its ways and a firm believer that it is NOT dead, but rather misunderstood, I can state unequivocally that "Coupling" is as good as it gets.
I will not belittle this show by comparing it (as everyone else seems so fond of doing) to "Friends" "Seinfeld" and "Sex and the City" three American comedy series to which it bears fleeting resemblances. There is nothing that p***es me off than taking an original and innovative show and trying to explain it by cramming together a handful of old shows. It is a show about single friends who discuss love, dating and sex but there the similarities end...
Except to "Friends" I guess, seeing as there are three girls and three boys...anyway...
The strength of the show comes from the same place that it does in all great shows, and that is in the characters. Compare "Star Trek" to the obviously superior "Next Generation." The difference? The former is concept-driven while the latter is character-driven. So "Coupling" may be a show about nothing, but unlike "Seinfeld" it is saved by seven wonderful characters.
Primarily "Coupling" is about Steve and Susan, who are quite clearly ideal for one another but keep splitting up because Steve is stupid and indecisive and Susan is strict and unrelenting. But they gravitate back together with alarming regularity. Joining these two are Patrick (Susan's Ex), a ridiculously well-endowed pursuer of S-E-X and little else, Jane (Steve's Ex), a self-obsessed, delusional, bisexual horror who, in her capacity as a traffic reporter, has caused several accidents, Jeff (Steve's best friend and a coworker of Susan's), who is like a twelve-year-old boy who just discovered sex and hasn't grown out of his obsession with boobies, and Sally (Susan's best friend) torn between her own obsessions, one with sleeping with Patrick and another with looking forever young. In the fourth series, a new character was introduced, a nervous, comic shop owner with what can only be described as "verbal diarrhea," Oliver is a charming addition to this group of confused singles.
Here's the number one reason why British shows are better than American shows: After the opening titles of "Coupling" after all six of the cast members' names have been listed the ONLY credit that we see (apart from the actors) is "By Steven Moffat." Writing is the first and most important ingredient to a good show. "Fawlty Towers," "Absolutely Fabulous," "The Office," "Blackadder," and "Father Ted" were not created by a staff under pressure from network execs. Each was the vision of but one writer.
Okay, I guess that's everything. And since I can't think of a clever ending I shall simply stop right here.
I will not belittle this show by comparing it (as everyone else seems so fond of doing) to "Friends" "Seinfeld" and "Sex and the City" three American comedy series to which it bears fleeting resemblances. There is nothing that p***es me off than taking an original and innovative show and trying to explain it by cramming together a handful of old shows. It is a show about single friends who discuss love, dating and sex but there the similarities end...
Except to "Friends" I guess, seeing as there are three girls and three boys...anyway...
The strength of the show comes from the same place that it does in all great shows, and that is in the characters. Compare "Star Trek" to the obviously superior "Next Generation." The difference? The former is concept-driven while the latter is character-driven. So "Coupling" may be a show about nothing, but unlike "Seinfeld" it is saved by seven wonderful characters.
Primarily "Coupling" is about Steve and Susan, who are quite clearly ideal for one another but keep splitting up because Steve is stupid and indecisive and Susan is strict and unrelenting. But they gravitate back together with alarming regularity. Joining these two are Patrick (Susan's Ex), a ridiculously well-endowed pursuer of S-E-X and little else, Jane (Steve's Ex), a self-obsessed, delusional, bisexual horror who, in her capacity as a traffic reporter, has caused several accidents, Jeff (Steve's best friend and a coworker of Susan's), who is like a twelve-year-old boy who just discovered sex and hasn't grown out of his obsession with boobies, and Sally (Susan's best friend) torn between her own obsessions, one with sleeping with Patrick and another with looking forever young. In the fourth series, a new character was introduced, a nervous, comic shop owner with what can only be described as "verbal diarrhea," Oliver is a charming addition to this group of confused singles.
Here's the number one reason why British shows are better than American shows: After the opening titles of "Coupling" after all six of the cast members' names have been listed the ONLY credit that we see (apart from the actors) is "By Steven Moffat." Writing is the first and most important ingredient to a good show. "Fawlty Towers," "Absolutely Fabulous," "The Office," "Blackadder," and "Father Ted" were not created by a staff under pressure from network execs. Each was the vision of but one writer.
Okay, I guess that's everything. And since I can't think of a clever ending I shall simply stop right here.