Ehm, what the hell happened to this series? It used to be
one of the funniest things on tv. Every single one of the
old episodes has at least 4 or 5 scenes where you almost
shit yourself laughing.

After the initial 3 seasons, the "Last Shout" special was
still hilarious [deserves to be released on dvd!].

But then, the 4th season was a bit of a let-down suddenly.
The characters had changed a lot. Especially Patsy seemed
to have become larger than life and very unreal.

She really looks like some rohypnolled, botoxed zombie in
the new series. Bo & Marshall weren't funny anymore, they
were simply annoying.

And what's up with Saffron having turned into some limping
monkey in season 4??

Anyway, there was still enough to go on and there were a
few hilarious scenes to boast still. "Donkey" and surely
"Small Opening" were very funny.

Then the special "Gay" came out and I thought things may
be looking up again. It wasn't as funny as the old ab fab
but the characters looked a bit more like themselves again
and it was cool to finally get to see Serge.

But now, since a few weeks, we're on to series 5. And it
suddenly plummeted to new depts. Geez.

It's apparent in everything. Patsy is even more wack now,
Edina seems less and less like her old self, Grandma has
little to no cool biting lines anymore.

And we haven't seen Bo, Marshall, Oliver, Justin, or even
Lulu anymore for that matter.

Now it's just Emma Bunton. What's up with that?

I thought Bubble had become pretty cool tho, with her
sniding remarks. Gives her a chance to show she's got
more talent than just running around in silly costumes.
In fact, she might be the only improvement so far.

Glad to see Saffi's back to normal again as well.

And the character of "Plumb" was very cool as well, I
hope they will make more use of her.

But what about TitiKaka?? My god, ever since she had that
freak out session in "Small Opening" she's become some
sort of nutter. Makes me cringe to look at.

Furthermore, the set now looks cheap and silly. It's as
if it has all just been herded together from old bits &
pieces.

I still enjoy watching it, but it just isn't very funny
anymore. The whole "PanicRoom" episode gave me probably
one or two laughs. The rest was just silly.

Last friday's episode "Huntin Shootin & Fishin" was semi
nice. But their trip to the country reminded me of the
vacation in "The Last Shout" and compared to that one,
this was so lame and tame.

They chased a grouse, for god's sake and to make
things even worse, that was the best part of the show.

From what I've understood on some messageboards, they
have changed the set-up and it's now more than 6 episodes
to one season.

So it's more of a continued story or something. But I
don't know exactly how or what. Perhaps someone on here
has some more info on that???

as the old saying goes "you can't go home again"





i think after the Last Shout, when they've revisited the show in special seasons and special episodes, they're too self-conscious and trying to live up to some expectation of what the show was instead of actually just sitting down to do what they always did.


i've found the newer stuff to be perfectly enjoyable, but i agree, it's not as knee-slapping hilarious as the original run.

I've only just started watching it fromn this season and I think it's great. I better check out the old ones!

btw, Bubble is the biggest freak I've ever seen!

CAMILLE4U said:

I recommend you to get the dvd's from the first 3 or 4
seasons. Especially the first 3 seasons are fantastic.

If you like it now, than those will absolutely kill you.

An episode like "Poor" is just something you will shit
yourself over. It's so incredibly funny.

Bubble used to be this dazed and confused assistent to
Edina who always wore the most outrageously stupid and
weird clothes and just had no clue of what was going on.

On the bbc website, there are a lot of clips from the
previous seasons, as well as an episode guide.

I tell ya, if you ask these dvd's for christmas, you
will have a great time watching them over the holiday
season. It's an absolute hoot.

to add to what i said before...



the same thing happens with almost every TV show reunion. the writers, producers, etc., and even the audience are so taken by the notion of reunion and the gang all being back together on the air, that less attention is actually paid to the quality of the program, and it drifts along on fumes rather than recapturing much of the old vibe. sure, there will be glimpses that ring true to the original run, but mostly it's the event of it that carries it along than anything they're really adding to the status of the series.


this happens all the time on reunion shows of American TV. i don't know if they do that much with British TV (or European TV in general).

IstenSzek said:

Cheers, I'll put them on my Xmas list. I saw an speacil once with Woopie Goldberg. That was GREAT. She was very funny.

CAMILLE4U said:

Yup. That's the one called "Gay". It's been released on
DVD a few weeks ago I believe.

I'm still waiting for "The Last Shout" special to be
released on dvd tho, cuz that was fantastic. It's the
only thing I haven't been able to track down on dvd yet
by Af Fab.

I wonder if it's available in the UK. Haven't seen it
anywhere in Europe yet.

This was and is absolutely my all time favorite show...!...I haven't watched it for a while tho...I do have quite a few episodes on VHS, but I wish to get all that I can on DVD and have a Ab Fab fest one day soon. !


Thanks for the info, IstenSzek


Aaron


Hi, Camille

I liked the 4th season...the more grotesque Pats is the better, I say.

And while I do think the "Gay" special episode was really, really self-conscious and maybe even a little bit pandering to the gay community (wasn't it filmed to be some kind of fundraising tie-in?), this episode has special meaning for me because they filmed scenes at my old job at The Center in NYC...in one scene, Pats was leaning against my old desk!!! WHEEE!!!

Otherwise, eh - the episode was okay.

IstenSzek said:

Released in UK on DVD e.g.

http://www.blackstar.co.uk/

http://www.amazon.co.uk/
[This message was edited Tue Nov 11 8:24:21 PST 2003 by langebleu]

EvilWhiteMale said:

Well, there ya have it then.

I watched this coming Friday's show last sunday on BBC3 and I have to say that it's a bit of an improvement. Certainly the best of the bunch so far from this series, but then again, that wouldn't be too hard.

A few nice 'Chicago' references and the return of some of the old characters.

Maybe the new series will grow on me after a few viewings as I've found generally tends to be the case with AbFab anyway.

But then again...

Anxiety said:

Absolutely.

Haystack said:

That's true. Everytime you watch them, you always see or
hear something new again.

I really liked the english subtitles on the dvd's, not
that I need them, but they're very complete. They even
give you the text on what's being said in the BG or on
the radio or tv bits and all.

Like with this new series when Saffie has the radio on
in BG and you hear they'll be broadcasting a feature
on "the islamic fundamentalist influences in Jane Austen's
Pride and Prejudice" lol.

That's the kind of stuf you might miss otherwise.

Anxiety said:

Neat