[.ca] Absolutely Fabulous: Complete Series 5

From Amazon.com:
Few things are as addictive as the addictive personalities of Edina Monsoon (Jennifer Saunders) and Patsy Stone (Joanna Lumley), two middle-aged hipsters wallowing in clothes, booze, pills, glamour, celebrity, and anything else their excessive appetites demand. The fifth series of Absolutely Fabulous finds Edina coping with the unexpected pregnancy of her long-suffering daughter Saffron (Julia Sawalha) and the departure of all of her PR clients except for Emma "Baby Spice" Bunton (playing herself with good humor). Every episode chronicles some ridiculous new obsession--Edina gets a panic room (and promptly traps herself inside of it); Patsy rediscovers a bunch of tawdry stag films she starred in and proclaims them works of high camp; the two kidnap Saffron's baby for a fashion shoot with Jean-Paul Gaultier. Saunders and Lumley fuse the ruthless social satire of Molière with the lowbrow physical high jinks of the Three Stooges, ably supported by Sawalha, Jane Horrocks (as Edina's dimwitted assistant Bubble and scheming narcissist Katy Grin), and a host of guest stars like Minnie Driver (in a razor-sharp self-parody), Kristin Scott-Thomas, Elton John, and more. Truly one of the gems of British sitcoms; sheer brilliance. --Bret Fetzer

Oh dear, oh dear...:
I'll never forget the first time I saw 'Absolutely Fabulous'. I was 15 years old and Series 2 was re-running on BBC One. It was the episode 'Death' and from the second Eddie's recurring oddball Jamaican Nurse bandaged her for her mud wrap to the close with Patsy falling into an open grave, I laughed deepr and harder than I had in a very, very long time. Sticking with the buzz, I treated myself to Series One on VHS - excellent - and was duly rewarded by Series 4 after a very lacklustre Series 3. Inbetween, the almighty 'Last Shout' tided me over, and thanks to those interminable re-runs, even Series 3 grew on me after a while. Which brings me full-circle to this, the complete series 5. Now, oddly enough, this isn't available here in Region 2 on DVD just yet, so I am prepared to put up with minor (yet completely unforgivable in terms of necessity) flaws like the absence of Debbie Harry's vocal on the opening credits, and the lack of the 'Chicago' scene from the 'Birthin' episode (I did catch that one on TV, and believe me, American buddies, you're missing nothing. In vulgar parlance - it SUCKED), but what I was not prepared for in the slightest is the total lack of laughter, smiles and general Humour that made the first four series such a wonderful thing to watch. For every decent, solid joke (Bubble's New Duchess persona, Patsy's recurring collagen disasters, Eddie singing Christmas Carols) there are three or four totally humour-free incidents (Eddy and Patsy worrying Saffy about post-pregnancy womanhood, preditable and tired Liza & David jokes, Bo and Marshall's infomercial, all appearances by TitiCaca, the entire 'Huntin', Shootin', Fishin' episode, etc etc etc). Laugh-For-Laugh, it's not great, and a feeble second even to the rushed, gimmicky 'Gay' TV Special. One reviewer here levels a criticism at the studio lighting, and he/she is completely, 100% correct on this score - the harsh, high-contrast key-lighting ratio makes for a cheap and tawdry-looking Monsoon household, and, rather than looking like their fabulous selves, Eddy and Patsy now look like scary old has-beens. Even at DVD quality it's difficult to see detail sometimes, and the whole visual quality is very amateurish - NOT the Thing, sweetie. Worryingly, Sauders seems to be taking parts of her writing into a 'Surreal' and decidedly less funny area - what works for Britcoms like 'The League of Gentlemen' and 'The Fast Show' most certainly does not work with Eddy and Patsy - case in point, the opening 1940's sequence of 'Huntin', Shootin', Fishin', the Patsy voodoo doll and the 'Boobarella' skits, while solid surreal comedy ideas, are not well-suited to a show where the whole raison d'etre is to keep one's finger on the pulse. For all the bad points, however, there are some classic moments - Katy Grin and the Tank, 'Big Mother', "Is he from a-Gabon?", and Patsy & the pheasant - but these moments of true Ab Fab glory are few and far between, and I, for one, can't force a smile for that length of time while waiting for them to appear. DVD-wise all is good, the outakes are plentiful (if bog-standard, most outtakes from everything seem to be people getting the same line wrong ad nauseam) and the presentation and audio are top-notch. Sadly I cannot recommend this DVD to anyone but the most avid of Ab Fab completists. It's rare that I consider an Amazon purchase a waste of $40, but there it is. Not Good.

Series Five:
Hi, I love Ab Fab but I am mixed about this season. I think many of the skits were mean with no real humor. There were some fun parts in the Christmas skit like when we meet Bo and Marshall again-their new line of work is so fun-and when we see Jackie for the last time! Buy if you love Ab Fab, but I fear in the end you will be left with one thought: mean.

Oh, sweetie!:
Season five is *happenin'* babe! With that 2-3 year break, Jennifer Saunders gets these characters back to where she intended-- a comedy with unsympathetic characters. As usual, a tremedous cast of regulars, with some really *fun* guest appearances!! Jane Horrocks really cuts loose with both her Bubbles and Katy Grin. Julia Sahwala is very good at the martyered daughter and new mom. Jennifer and Joanna are excellent-- both in the physical humour and etc. Yes, it isn't 'nice' comedy (perhaps Jennifer & Ade have moved Richie and Eddie (Bottom) up several social rungs and made them women?), but it is wickedly funny, and good escapism. This is definitely not for a younger crowd.

Saunders & Lumley still Fabulous? ABSOLUTELY!:
The team of Brit-Broads out for lavish living on other people's dime are going stronger than ever. With nothing to stop them, their daily trivial ticks keep viewers in stitches. Whether dealing with Sapphie's secret pregnancy or other socially rlevant issues (like passing for 37 when you're way into your 50s), the dynamic duo meets all challenges of life with a toast, a snort, and a late breakfast (around 2 pm). The incredibly talented cast of "characters" include Edina's long-suffering 20-ish daughter, the gave-up-on-Edina-long-ago elderly mother, Edina's dipsy secretary with ESP (she knows someone is about to ring the door bell -- because they sent a telegram announcing their visit), Edina's estranged ex-husbands and their new spouces (one female, one male), and a line of celebrities playing themselves. Absolutely Fabulous is the "hippest" show on television, ridiculing society's conventions and focusing on "living" at all cost. The "who cares?" attitude, which seems to always drop the lead characters down on the ground in the end, nonetheless gives the Ab-Fab Duo a false sense of victory. One "last line" says it best: "In the end it was all good, though, wasn't it?" Good? It was FABULOUS!*****

meaner than all the other seasons:
This season has a meaner tone to it that all of the others, the episode book clubbin' especially, before when they insulted each other it was funny, but in this episode it went from funny to mean VERY quickly, the best episode from this season was panickin' but even that ain't saying much, the first episode was pretty good, but the others weren't up to par of the other seasons