THIS show is absolutely the funniest show ever. The first three seasons, anyway.
Some years ago I arrived at the conclusion that humor is at its core, simply absurdity - the absurdity of the unexpected punch line. You have a set-up - called a straight man in the past - and then you deliver a line out of left field, and then everyone blurts out (laughs) their reaction to the absurdity. And the more absurd, the funnier. If the unexpected isn't part of it - if any of it can be seen a mile away - then it won't have the impact.
Well, this show has the most absurdity you will find anywhere, any when. The impact of the humor is just amazing. At any moment, a line out of nowhere. And topping the charts even within this Top O' The Charts ensemble, is Jeff. Bumbling Jeff. Absurd Jeff. Ohmygod Jeff. I am not sure they ever wrote a line for Jeff that wasn't off the wall, over- the-top absurd. If they did, I must have missed it while tending to my aching abdomen muscles and wiping the tears. You name it, and Jeff put his foot in his mouth over it - and the greatest thing about it is that he (the character) never even knows he's stepped in it. Well, actually, not quite true - but his efforts to extricated himself are even more absurd than his initial blurts. Jeff the Burter. Jeff the abysmally horrible self-extricator.
Situational comedy is, then, setting up absurd situations and letting fly with all the silly absurdities that will arise. Well, welcome to the capitol of all absurd situation comedies. They don't miss a punch line - and often slip in 3 or 4 even before the one you might expect.
So MANY times you the audience just want to let your head sag, as Jeff digs himself deeper and deeper.
And yet, Jeff is not the star, though he steals the show so often. Steve bumbles his way out of the arms of one and into the arms of another, and does such a cuddly Jeff-imitation in the process that even the one left behind can't hate him. Susan, even while being the "straight man" for so many situations, manages her full share of "yowch" lines and physical humor. (Episode #1 has a doozy.) Jane is the dizziest woman since Gracie Allen, 50 years earlier - but 10,000 times hotter. And yet, as hot as Jane is, Susan is more so. Wow, one of the all-time beautiful blonds. Even if she is a bit "perky"...LOL Über oblivious, womanizer Patrick and his manhood are the object of many a scene (mostly unseen scenes, except in the imagination), and the audience is the beneficiary of the great writing that exposes them to his prowess. Cosmetologist Sally is the most normal of the ensemble, and yet her aging "vanity" (and its situations) still outdoes anything on "Sex and the City."
A gem of gems, Coupling is to die for, to laugh out loud at, and to watch again every year or two, just to wallow in the absurdity of it all.
If I could give it as many as 20 stars, I would. Alas! 10 is all they allow, so 10 it is...
p.s. In Season 4, when Jeff no longer is on the show, the replacement character is simply 7 notches down from Richard Coyle and his characterizations. For that season, the show drops to about 6. What a loss Coyle was to the ensemble. . .
Some years ago I arrived at the conclusion that humor is at its core, simply absurdity - the absurdity of the unexpected punch line. You have a set-up - called a straight man in the past - and then you deliver a line out of left field, and then everyone blurts out (laughs) their reaction to the absurdity. And the more absurd, the funnier. If the unexpected isn't part of it - if any of it can be seen a mile away - then it won't have the impact.
Well, this show has the most absurdity you will find anywhere, any when. The impact of the humor is just amazing. At any moment, a line out of nowhere. And topping the charts even within this Top O' The Charts ensemble, is Jeff. Bumbling Jeff. Absurd Jeff. Ohmygod Jeff. I am not sure they ever wrote a line for Jeff that wasn't off the wall, over- the-top absurd. If they did, I must have missed it while tending to my aching abdomen muscles and wiping the tears. You name it, and Jeff put his foot in his mouth over it - and the greatest thing about it is that he (the character) never even knows he's stepped in it. Well, actually, not quite true - but his efforts to extricated himself are even more absurd than his initial blurts. Jeff the Burter. Jeff the abysmally horrible self-extricator.
Situational comedy is, then, setting up absurd situations and letting fly with all the silly absurdities that will arise. Well, welcome to the capitol of all absurd situation comedies. They don't miss a punch line - and often slip in 3 or 4 even before the one you might expect.
So MANY times you the audience just want to let your head sag, as Jeff digs himself deeper and deeper.
And yet, Jeff is not the star, though he steals the show so often. Steve bumbles his way out of the arms of one and into the arms of another, and does such a cuddly Jeff-imitation in the process that even the one left behind can't hate him. Susan, even while being the "straight man" for so many situations, manages her full share of "yowch" lines and physical humor. (Episode #1 has a doozy.) Jane is the dizziest woman since Gracie Allen, 50 years earlier - but 10,000 times hotter. And yet, as hot as Jane is, Susan is more so. Wow, one of the all-time beautiful blonds. Even if she is a bit "perky"...LOL Über oblivious, womanizer Patrick and his manhood are the object of many a scene (mostly unseen scenes, except in the imagination), and the audience is the beneficiary of the great writing that exposes them to his prowess. Cosmetologist Sally is the most normal of the ensemble, and yet her aging "vanity" (and its situations) still outdoes anything on "Sex and the City."
A gem of gems, Coupling is to die for, to laugh out loud at, and to watch again every year or two, just to wallow in the absurdity of it all.
If I could give it as many as 20 stars, I would. Alas! 10 is all they allow, so 10 it is...
p.s. In Season 4, when Jeff no longer is on the show, the replacement character is simply 7 notches down from Richard Coyle and his characterizations. For that season, the show drops to about 6. What a loss Coyle was to the ensemble. . .