I've been watching this on Idaho public television lately. Is my taste in British television at all improving? I like it quite a bit.

I got drunk on Makers and watched this at my sister's house a few years ago. I laughed then, but I don't know, I was drunk... I imagine I'd enjoy it again no matter what state I was in, for the most part. Classic setup, bumbling rich guy, has the butler that takes care of everything for him.

I like Wodehouse but the magic of his writing was in the way he formed sentences and in the descriptions of characters. Filming it took away all the good stuff and left us with some toffs acting like berks.

CRAP. Sorry!

I really dig the TV show, & I'm a big fan of the books. I was impressed with the way they spun Wodehouse's first-person Wooster into a 3rd-person storyline without relying on narration as a crutch. Wodehouse's "voice" of Wooster is so immaculately crafted that I see this as an impressive feat -- to (re)present the character with a pretty high degree of accuracy and appeal without using any of the literal source material.

Now, while I realize that Jeeves is intended to be seen as infinitely wiser & more insightful than his employer, I found Stephen Fry's Jeeves to be a little too visually & verbally expressive of that. Heavy-handed more often than not, don't you know, with a little too much of the knowing smirk and the sagely arched brow, what.

But apart from that, I give this show a jolly good Not Crap. With knobs on!


Mr. Graham

What ho!

I am in the middle of the box set.

Bally well NOT CRAP

Awesome show! Not quite as good as the original books but as close as a TV adaptation gets. I was amazed to find out P.G Wodehouse was American. He's nailed the 1920's British toff perfectly.

Grew up on the books.

Ridiculously well done by a cast of insanely talented people.
I love Stephen Fry as an actor and an author.
And dude, House is playing Wooster. Hugh Laurie is actually a good author too, BTW.

They were an excellent comedy team as "Fry and Laurie" and have known each other since the Footlights/Oxford days. Emma Thompson was part of that crew too. You can see all three of them in the "Bambi" episode of The Young Ones.

I own all of the J&W DVDs. I found the first two seasons to be the best, but even the later ones are great.

Also, a hearty thumbs up for the opening animation sequence. It's the most deco thing ever made.

I think old Plum Wodehouse would have approved of this series.

-A

And I forgot to mention, the music for the series is top notch too. Was clearing out my dad's old cassettes a couple of years back and found the soundtrack album among them. Surprisingly addictive listening.