Customer Reviews

Coupling - The Complete First Season

5 star:		(116)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

When they get around to posting an editorial review here, inevitably the comparisons between Coupling and Friends will fly. Don't pay attention. Yes there are superficial similarities -- 6 attractive singles evenly divided between men and women, etc. -- but this is comedy in the great British tradition of farce and has much more in common with Fawlty Towers or Blackadder than with any American sitcom. I'll admit that the incessant need to label the unlabelable (word?) owes a debt to Seinfeld, though.

Episodes included on this first season set are:

"Flushed" -- Steve (the beset Jack Davenport) tries, mostly unsuccessfully, to break up with Jane (the mad Gina Bellman), while beginning a relationship with Susan (the radiant Sarah Alexander).

"Size Matters" -- Steve and Susan's relationship reaches a new level. Sally (the moisturized Kate Isitt) is horrified by Patrick's (the swaggering Ben Miles) political beliefs.

"Sex, Death and Nudity" -- Everyone ends up at Jane's aunt's funeral. Jeff (the crazed Richard Coyle) has his job interview strategy boomerang on him.

"Inferno" -- Susan discovers Steve's video collection. A dinner party goes awry.

"The Girl with Two Breasts" -- Jeff tries to connect with a girl who doesn't speak English.

"The Cupboard of Patrick's Love" -- Susan discovers that her ex (Patrick) has videotape of her in a compromised position.

There is a second season of nine episodes currently in rotation on BBCAmerica for you digital cable subscribers. And a third season has just begun airing in England.

Also, word is that an Americanized version of this show is being groomed as a replacement for ... aw, you guessed it. The soon-to-end Friends. See where it all began here.

And see where it (probably) was a whole lot funnier. Unfair pre-judgment. But probably true.

Don't buy this DVD unless you are prepared to buy the entire series. You will fall in love with the characters and will need to know how their story lines continue to develop.

And don't even think about lending your DVDs to a friend. It will be impossible to get you friend to give them back.

This stuff is laugh out loud funny...and mini-marathons watching the DVDs make for great girls nights in.

Enjoy!!!!!!!

Coupling is without a doubt one of the funniest series from the last few years. Rivaling and actually exceeding the cleverness of other hits in comedy such as Friends.

Coupling, too, is about a group of 6 close friends, and deals with their every day problems and relationships.

In the first series, we are introduced to Steve, who is determined to break up with his girlfriend Jane and discusses this with his best friend Jeff. In their regular pub Steve runs into Susan (a colleague of Jeff), and sets a date with her. All this happens while he is having sex with Jane in the ladies' room.

Susan breaks up with her boyfriend Patrick, and her best friend Sally decides Patrick is fair game. More so after hearing Patrick is well endowed in the nether region section.

After the introduction episode, we get to see how Susan and Steve hook up together, and the crazy adventures the friends roll into. There's Jane's aunt dying, a discussion about Lesbian porn (the spanking kind), Jeff running into a stunner of a woman who doesn't immediately mace him, and Patrick's personal porn pile (starring Patrick).

While each of the actors is equally brilliant, the genius and probably the reason Coupling is such a success is Jeff (Richard Coyle). His absurd experiences in life have caused him to come up with names for situations. You'll laugh your ass off while he explains the "The Zone", "Unflushables", "The Sock Gap" and most brilliantly, "The Giggle Loop".

But you're not ready for that ;)

A definite recommendation. And for those who cannot get enough of Coupling, season 2 and 3 have also been brought out on DVD.

Coupling is wonderful. Its sexy,upfront, and completely inapropriate. The show is about six friends who all have had,are having or want to be having a relationship with each other. The six characters are much more loveable than any other comedy shows characters are. The acting is some of the best I have ever seen in a comedy series and I think that the script is funnier than all of ABC, CBS and NBCs scripts combined. The "new" Coupling on NBC is absolutely horrible!The acting is wooden, the script is edited, and the show completely loses its feel and sexuality when you compare the two shows.
My personal favorite episode is "Inferno" but they are all good. A favorite character is impossible to choose since they are all so wonderful. This is truly the BEST COMEDY SHOW EVER and I recommend buying it highly.

The characters in Coupling are wonderfully quirky and interesting. The dialog is quick and witty. Despite the characters' somewhat implausible friendships as a group - the clever writers pull it off and the resulting repartee is terrifically funny.

The DVD includes the Episodes: Flushed; Size Matters; Sex Death and Nudity; Inferno; The Girl with Two Breasts; and The Cupboard of Patrick's Love

Wait till you hear about "Wobble Wars"! :-D

The characters are six thirty-something friends who are involved, formerly involved, or potentially will be involved with one another.

Susan is beautiful, bright, secure and sexy tart.

Jane is a nitwit completely oblivious to social tact and often oblivious in general.

Sally is pretty, but shallow, insecure, and vain. She is obsessed with appearance and aging (primarily her own but she also delights in critiquing other women).

Steve is a bit neurotic but the closest to "normal" in this bunch.

Jeff is a lunatic who has never had a normal healthy relationship with a women. Typically when he is around attractive women his brain disengages and he stammers himself into impossible-to-explain situations. Jeff has his own unique views on life and has named some of life's most arcane occurrences ("the sock gap" etc.). Naturally he has to explain this stuff to his friends.

Patrick is a lothario who is the antithesis of political correctness.

This is the funniest show on television - period. I regularly laugh out loud especially at Steve and Patrick's reactions to Jeff's absurdity. How many laugh-out-loud funny shows are there on television really? The humor is at times British but that only contributes to Coupling's charm.

Coupling is probably not appropriate for young children and the character's topic of discussions are frequently sexual in nature.

Hysterically funny show! Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Hilarious, intelligent comedy that you can watch over and over. Six great characters make this a comedy classic with these six episodes of Season 1.

I was a bit skeptical before watching the show for the first time on our local PBS station, but rushed to send in my annual pledge renewal afterwards. NBC has enlisted the aid of the show's creators to create a version for American TV; if it can be half as good as the original, it'll be a huge success. Hopefully the DVD for Season 2 will be coming out soon.

The action centers around six characters, 3 guys and 3 girls: Richard Coyle's Jeff character, who manages to steal much of the show with unforgettable dialogue; Jeff's "porn buddy" nice-guy Steve; the man's man Patrick; Sarah Alexander's Susan, who is an uninhibited hottie; her best-friend Sally; and the nearly insane Jane.

A must-have addition to anyone's DVD comedy collection.

"Coupling--The Complete First Season" is a collection of six episodes of this very funny British comedy. The show follows the experiences of 6 young adults (3 male, 3 female) as they navigate the waters of romance and friendship. "Coupling" struck me as a sort of British blend of "Friends," "Seinfeld," and "Sex in the City." But in the end the show has its own very delightful identity.

In "Coupling" a very likeable cast does an outstanding job with some very witty scripts. The subject matter is often quite spicy--pornography, penis size, bisexuality, etc. are all mined for humor. The six episode arc culminates in "the Cupboard of Patrick's Love," an outrageous story about home-made erotic videotapes that brings the whole ensemble together in a very satisfying and typically hysterical fashion. The DVD contains some good bonus features, most notably a series of behind-the-scenes interviews with all six cast members, writer Steven Moffat, and producer Sue Vertue.

The strong sexual content of "Coupling" never seems gratuitous or tasteless--the topics seem to flow naturally from the characters and their life situations. The cast members have a wonderful onscreen chemistry, and the scripts are cleverly constructed. In the end, this show is often screamingly funny and always highly enjoyable.

In the United States, a basic description of Coupling - six stylish twentysomethings, three male & three female, hanging out together in a trendy urban setting - clearly invites comparisons to Friends. However, this show is not just about 6 happy-go-lucky buds and their wacky adventures learning about life. This is about 6 varyingly neurotic singles trying to balance their libidos with their inhibitions and insecurities, with a definite focus on sex and dating.

When compared to Friends, Coupling has a sharper, biting wit, and less linear, more intricate storytelling. If a comparison to American television must be made, Seinfeld is probably a more appropriate choice. The "Masturbation" episode of Seinfeld could have been written for Coupling. Like Seinfeld, Coupling makes use of a number of tricky storytelling devices. For example, the story may cut back and forth between a scene where a member of the gang is recounting an event to his friends at the bar, and the event itself, where the joke is the difference between what's said and what really happened. And like Seinfeld, this is usually good, but occassionally gimicky.

However, you probably won't buy this for yourself or your friends based on comparisons to US shows. This has a British sense of humor, so its best to compare it to similar British shows. This show will be most appreciated by folks who enjoy British comedies such as BlackAdder, Father Ted, and Red Dwarf. While the subject matter can be decidedly lowbrow (its about sex, after all), the wit of the dialoque and the sharpness of its satirical edge can be as fine as older comedies such as Fawlty Towers, Yes Minister, and The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin.

If you're looking for charming, elegant English comedies a la Keeping Up Appearances or As Time Goes By, you might want to ease into the darker comedy with Blackadder or Father Ted before buying Coupling.

Just some of the incredibly outrageous topics covered by arguably the funniest comedy in TV history (UK or US). Late one night back around 2002, I found this on a PBS station and couldn't recall laughing out loud like that in years. The side splitting antics of these 6 friends should be seen by anyone with a taste for humor, and an acceptance of risque subjects. Sex is definitely a major topic, as it is certainly a major part of the lives of twentysomethings living in London.

We start the series with Steve breaking it off with Jane, only to hook up with Susan, which becomes a mainstay through the series. Patrick, Sally, and Jeff make up the rest of the sextet, with Richard Coyle as Jeff, being one of the all time great scene stealers in a comedic television show. His replacement in Series 4, while not a bad character or actor, simply cannot replace the talent that Coyle brought to the show. Enjoy him while you can, as he's only in it 'til season 3.

Many of the plots involve misunderstandings, revelations, futile attempts at dating (mostly by Jeff), and hilarious conversations that take place when it's just the guys, or just the 3 girls together. It's an ingenious show, expertly created and written by the talented Steven Moffat, who is also responsible for some of the new Dr. Who stories on the BBC, and was a writer for the popular 80's British series Press Gang.

You can compare it all you want to Friends, Seinfeld, and the like, but as it's own show, the storylines, dialogue, and interactions, among these 6 friends are truly unique, and incomparable to anything else on television.

British humor (or any humor) at it's finest. I've guaranteed all my friends and anyone else who will listen, that if they buy it and don't find it to be one of the funniest shows they've ever seen, that I would buy it back from them. No one has sold me their copy yet! If you want to get someone a comedy DVD set for Xmas, I can't think of a better gift!

Right down to the theme song, the U.S. version is a carbon copy of the UK version of this show. The only real difference being that the original is far superior.

It would be easy to call NBC's version a rip-off, but the scripts are the same and the producers are the same. It's just that NBC doesn't think you'll "get it" if it has a British accent. Oh, and you'd have to substitute the occasional "President" for "Prime Minister."

Unfortunately, they've been a bit short-sighted here. Our seasons are longer (22-24 episodes). The British first season is all of six episodes. NBC is going to run out of scripts to recycle very soon.

Save yourself the trouble on Thursday nights. Turn the TV off after "Scrubs" and pop-in this DVD for some fun comedy.