DVD Review: Blandings

This article was first published at http://blogcritics.org/dvd-review-blandings/

If your idea of British country gentry comes from Downton Abbey, P. G. Wodehouse’s Blandings will orrect that very quickly. Lord Emsworth and his Blandings family are a far cry from Lord Grantham and the Downton crew.

A two disc DVD set of the six episode first series of the British TV adaptation of the Wodehouse stories is scheduled for release in the U. S. on September 3 from Acorn. The series stars Timothy Spall as Clarence Emsworth, the Lord of the manor, a bumbling, but lovable eccentric whose only real interest in life is his beloved pig, Empress. Jennifer Saunders plays his disapproving sister whose main object in life seems to be to civilize her brother. Mark Williams is the dependable butler who is as much a friend of the family as he is a servant, and Jack Farthing is the heir to the estate, a silly fool of a ne’er do well.

Classic stereotypes, these and the supporting characters are all played with broad strokes just short of the kind of thing you’d be likely to see in a Benny Hill sketch. Lord Emsworth can’t remember anyone’s name, indeed he can’t remember much of anything. Saunders’ Connie is a controlling martinet, and Williams’ butler is the essence of practical wisdom. Minor characters are similarly stereotypical: a Scottish gardener with an accent so thick no one can understand a word he says, a fortune hunting widow with a bratty young son, a chorus girl masquerading as a foreign princess. There isn’t an actor in this cast who is unwilling to go over the top. It’s almost as though they were told the broader the better. And not only do they get away with it, they embrace the silliness and it works.

The plots of each of the episodes are farcical enough to justify the acting style. The first episode deals with a contest for the fattest pig, the last with the fortune hunter’s machinations. There are episodes concerning his sister Connie’s attempt to straighten Lord Emsworth out by hiring a controlling secretary, her ploys to keep various nieces away from suitors that she finds unsuitable, and one where the foolish Freddy thinks he’s married a showgirl.

Much of the humor deals with things like pigs with gas, manure, clumsy suitors knocking over furniture, manure, mistaken identities, manure, visiting city ragamuffins, and manure. Did I mention muck? Talk about an excremental vision. If you’re looking for gentile drawing room comedy, Blandings is not for you

By any reasonable meausure, I should hate this show. By any reasonable measure but one; it can be laugh out loud funny. The characters may be unrealistic stereotypes, the acting may be way over the top, the directors may indulge themselves in silly sight gags, but none of that really matters if you find yourself laughing. And there wasn’t an episode that didn’t manage to get me laughing. Frothy perhaps, but how often is it that show aims at froth and falls flat. Certainly not all the gags work, but enough do to make this show a lot of fun. Effective froth is no mean achievement.

Lord Emsworth and his family may not remind many viewers of the Downton crew, they are certainly pale shadows of Wodehouse’s own Jeeves and Bertie Wooster, but how many are there that measure up to bars that high. Blandings is a lot of fun.

DVD Review: Dr. Willoughby

This article was first published at Blogcritics

The British sitcom Dr. Willoughby which only ran for six episodes in 1999 on ITV deserved a better fate.  A backstage comedy with much of its humor played off stereotyped characters it is nonetheless a funny half hour with a lot more laughs than a lot of the comic fare you're likely to find on TV today.

The series stars Joanna Lumley, perhaps best known for Absolutely Fabulous, as actress Donna Sinclair who plays the eponymous heroine in Dr. Willoughby, a cheesy afternoon TV soap opera.  Sinclair is a bitchy aging diva with very few if any redeeming qualities.  She is demanding, rude and jealous of those around her.  She throws herself at younger men.  She is the kind of prima donna who is quite capable of sabotaging a young actress whom she feels is getting too much attention while stooping to stealing rolls of toilet paper from the supply room.  The contrast between the vain, conniving, and insincere Sinclair and the calmly competent surgeon she plays on the show is a big part of the fun. Sinclair may be every bit the cliché, still Lumley manages to make her come alive. 

Sinclair is surrounded by an ensemble of familiar back stage types.   There is the dim witted insecure co-star worried about his role on the show, the naïve ingénue, a womanizing executive producer, a trouble making cleaning lady and a producer whose greatest desire is to be somewhere else.  They are the kinds of back stage types that have long been the fodder for show business comedies. Dr. Willoughby is not a show that looks to mine new fields.  It may make a politically incorrect joke here and there, but by and large it sticks to the tried and true.  It is just as happy to get its laughs out of a raunchy joke as some shows would be from insight into character.  These are broadly drawn characters played broadly by a competent cast of talented actors.

Story lines in individual episodes revolve around things like Sinclair's jealousy over the amount of fan mail others are getting, her reaction to a scandal rag story about her, and her co-star's problems with his ex-wife's alimony.  In one episode Sinclair sneaks off for some cosmetic surgery leaving the rest of the cast thrilled at her absence and speculating about what might be wrong with her.  In another, she forces her producer to hire an inept young actor she fancies only to discover he's gay.  Sub-plots deal with things like late contract renewals and product placement.  If Dr. Willoughby doesn't quite rise to the level of shows like Ricky Gervais' Extras or The Larry Sanders Show, both of which deal with similar material, it does a nice job on its own terms.

The DVD from Acorn has all six episodes on a single disc which runs approximately 144 minutes.  Subtitles are available, but there is no bonus material.