Why is it on BBC2?!! (Coupling)

Member Name: Orangeb

Product:	Coupling
Date:	20/10/01 (433 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Hilarious

Disadvantages: -

Coupling is one of the funniest sitcoms I have ever seen. I don't know why it's on BBC2 - it deserves to be aired on BBC1 prime time, I'm sure the viewing ratings would soar!

Coupling is basically like an English version of Channel 4's Friends, but it's even funnier. The storyline revolves around the six central characters - Steve, Jeff, Patrick, Susan, Sally and Jane. The episodes are mainly set in a bar, similar to Central Perk from Friends. They even have a long sofa with a coffee table except that they drink beer instead of coffee!
The six characters are all very individual and different, giving the series a great variety and a lot of scope for humourous plots:

Steve is the rational guy. He proposed to Susan in the last episode. He's the most sensible out of the three blokes but he can get very insecure about his relationship with Susan. He brings the other guys back to reality when they get carried away.

Jeff is hilarious. He is Welsh and obsessed with breasts. He's always having fantasies based on women in the bar and imagining an "eight breasted octopus"! He has all these fears about strange things such as the "gigaloop" (when you start to laugh when you shouldn't - like at a speech or in Jeff's case, a funeral (!) and by holding in the laugh, you want to laugh at holding it in and so on until it builds up so much you just have to laugh)! Jeff tends to interrupt conversations with a comment about breasts or women, and he has some of the funniest lines in the sitcom.

Patrick is known amongst women as "the tripod"! For those of you who aren't dirty minded, he is rather "well endowed" down below. He tends to get in funny situations with women whether it's trying to dump them or trying to ask them out.

Susan is like the female equivalent of Steve, which is maybe why they are engaged! She is the most sensible of the women and has an
incredible knack of manipulating Steve to get her way. She often has to cope with being fancied by other men, hence Steve's insecurity.

Sally is obsessed with her body. She is always trying to ensure that her skin won't age prematurely and that her bottom doesn't look big etc etc. She is always worried about going out with men in case she looks bad.

Jane is an extremely odd character. She is very pushy and speaks her mind. She has no shame, well not much. She will happily swing both ways and doesn't care what other people think. Her eccentricity often lands her in amusing situations.

As I have hopefully managed to convey in my descriptions, the humour of Coupling comes from the great diversity and individuality of its characters. Usually it is the situations they end up in which make it so funny. For example, Susan wanted to get revenge on Steve one episode for humiliating her so she went out for a meal with him. Poor Steve was expecting a quiet meal out with his girlfriend, he ended up with Susan's foot undoing his flies and more....whilst trying to order! There were sudden gasps coming from him when the waitress told him the specials, covered up by "oh yes shrimp! How exciting!". It ended up with there being a phone call for him, he took the menu with him and no, he wasn't reading it whilst speaking on the phone!
In the most recent episode, Jane virtually forced a bloke into going out with her so he invited her round the next evening. Indecisive about what to wear, she eventually decided on a coat. A coat only. When she arrived, her bloke told her in the hall that she looked beautiful, encouraged, Jane asked where she could put her coat. Being told that the bedroom would be fine, she began to unbutton it looking rather smug, before her bloke said "oh hang on, let me just introduce you to the others first"! It turned out that dinner was a formal dinner party. When asked to have her coat ta
ken, she refused!

These are just a couple of the hilarious storylines from Coupling. They are all as hilarious as this and can cheer you up no end! If you like Friends, you'll love this and if you don't, try it anyway, British comedy is the best after all!

(The current series of Coupling is on BBC2 at 10pm on Mondays).

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