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• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stephen Fry visits all 50 states, April 24, 2009

By 

Nagronsky "Nagronsky" (Skagit Valley, Wa USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Stephen Fry in America (DVD)

I ran across the listing for this on Amazon UK, & immediately snapped it up(along with "Robbie Coltrane's B-Road Britain" aka Robbie Coltrane - Incredible Britain). This would be perfect to be shown on PBS, but BBCAmerica will probably show it, wedged amongst the tabloid & "reality" TV that channel7 seems to have become infested with, and have more terrible commercials than program, and PBS will show more Deepak Chopra, Wayne Dyer, & Susan Powter infommercials instead of the type of programming that made its name.
But this program was exactly what I expected, with Fry's wry & dry commentary, letting us come along as he crosses the US, in a left-hand drive London-style taxi. What I didn't expect was that he would actually bad-mouth certain places, the most glaring of which must remain nameless....but there was a TV show about it in the 80's with a couple of dicks named Tubbs & Crockett. Usually travel programs are all sweetness & light, but we see quite a few American warts. When visiting St. Louis, we see the Arch: it's never mentioned, but instead Fry spends the segment with a group of homeless...actually they're not homeless- home is an abandoned factory.
Far too much time was spent in Las Vegas, but I guess Mr Fry can be excused: his time was spent with Chippendale dancers & at a Mormon men beefcake calendar shoot, and if I was going to send someone I like to Colorado, I certainly wouldn't send them to Aspen. Could have been worse, though, he could have gone to Vail. And unfortunately, it wasn't raining in Seattle, which is one cause he never mentioned when discussing the Jet City's high suicide rate.
Like Bill Bryson and Michael Palin, Stephen Fry doesn't take himself too seriously, although he does show off his erudition while at the Mormon men shoot, and the man he's talking to basically says "I have no idea what you just said."
The fact this is soon to be available in the US is a good omen. Hopefully Fry's QI TV show may become available. That's a great show, but not stupid enough to be cloned by the powers who run American TV. QI is Quite Interesting, but for right now is just available out of the UK in Region 2 format, or a few clips on YouTube, but if you enjoy Stephen Fry, I highly recommend this, as well as his podcast.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stephen Fry in America, May 20, 2009

By 

Paul Garland (El Paso, Texas USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stephen Fry in America (DVD)

Anyone who is a fan of Stephen Fry will absolutely love his DVDs entitled Stephen Fry in America. In this TV series, which was first broadcast on the BBC in the UK, Stephen travels through all fifty states in America. He goes from New England, down South, to Florida, and then all the way up the Mississippi to the frozen North. On and on through all 50 states.

In England he drives a London taxi cab to maintain some anonymity, so that is what he uses in this BBC series to drive all over America. This particular London cab was hired in America, but it is still neat.

In May 2009 the two-DVD set is already being sold in England, but unfortunately it is not playable on an American format DVD player. The American format DVDs are now available for pre-order on Amazon.com and will be shipped on September 1, 2009. Since I lived in Europe for so many years I have a lot of European format DVDs, and I also own a couple of European type DVD players that I can watch this on. I bought my copy from Amazon.co.UK which they promptly shipped to me here in America.

I have been a fan of Stephen Fry's since the Jeeves and Wooster days, then Fry & Laurie. Kingdom was absolutely superb. I still miss seeing more of Kingdom.

This may be his best so far. Really. "Best" or most enjoyable is a value judgement, but for any fan of Stephen Fry I can assure you, you will treasure this series called Stephen Fry in America.

5.0 out of 5 stars The kindest man in the world, June 14, 2009

By 

Anna (London) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stephen Fry in America (DVD)

Stephen Fry is fantastically clever, and witty... he is also impossibly kind, so how much you like this DVD is entirely dependant on your opinion of Fry himself. I feel unabashed adoration, so perhaps my impending glowing review is slightly biased, but if you're not a fan of his, there are a myriad other "travel" shows you'll prefer.

It's impossible to say how long Fry actually spent in the States, but there are 6 episodes in which he visits all 50 states (travelling east to west) so it's very much made to appear he makes only whistlestop visits. He doesn't dissect each state historically/politically/religiously/etymologically; rather, he introduces us to one defining feature of each. For example, in Maine he takes us lobster fishing with a 3rd generation lobster baiter (heh. "Lobster baiter". Sounds a bit rude); in Florida he takes a drive through Miami and almost weeps at its anodyne ugliness and soullessness; in Louisiana we visit New Orleans' Mardi Gras and a peculiar voodoo woman with freaky eyes and sunken cheeks...

This isn't meant to be an indepth exposition - it's just a wonderful, loving skate across the surface of all things American, as seen by the most English man in the world. Well, no, he and James May run about even on that one, but his absolute Englishness contrasts perfectly with what he's introduced to. If that implies there's a degree of scorn, that's entirely my error: he is clearly enormously fond of, and intrigued by, the USA.

When I said Fry is impossibly nice, he really is. He meets a couple of people who, you can tell, slightly offend him and he says nothing; he meets people who would presume to educate him on matters he already knows (I'm not sure there's anything this wonderful man *doesn't* know) and instead of interrupting or telling them he knows, he responds with delight and interest, allowing them to feel they're somehow imparted wisdom to someone who was in the dark. Further, he can talk to anyone. Anyone. He has a genuine warmth which people can't help but respond to; he is kind to all, even those who are prickly and unlikeable, and he is genuinely interested in what everyone has to say, be they billionaires, homeless or regular joes.

The extras are a little thin on the ground... there are 6 more meetings with people that flesh out that state a little more, but that's all. It would have been nice to have more Fryness in the extras, but am just being greedy, really. Each episode is an hour, so there is over 6 hours as it is.

What's the American equivalent of an Anglophile? A Yankophile? Well, I watched this as a huge fan of Fry's and as a Yankophile. My views on the States haven't changed. In his own perfect words, it is "simultaneously preposterous, incredibly laughable, impressive, charming, ridiculous, expensive, over-populated... wonderful America."

Fry, though, shows himself to be an unadulterated gem in all ways, and the best *possible* companion for visiting the USA. If you go into this liking him very much, expect to come away from it having fallen completely in love with who he is as a person.

Immensely enjoyable, and anything less than 5 stars would be a travesty.