Jeeves & Wooster - The Complete First Season (1991)

P.G. Wodehouse's much-loved stories about Bertie Wooster and his brilliantly clever valet, Jeeves, were brought faithfully to life in Jeeves and Wooster, starring Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry as master and servant. The scripts of this perfectly cast production retain all the sparkling wit of Wodehouse's prose, and it's hard to see how any future adaptation of his work could surpass this wonderfully funny series.

This boxed set contains the entire first season of Jeeves and Wooster. In "Jeeves Takes Charge," young man-about-town Bertie Wooster employs a new valet called Jeeves, and not a moment too soon. Thanks to his Aunt Agatha, Bertie faces the terrible prospect of marriage to the statuesque Honoria Glossop, and only Jeeves can save the day. "Tuppy and the Terrier" finds Bertie in trouble again when he loses Aunt Agatha's dog. Further aunt-related complications arise when Bertie's chum Tuppy falls for our hero's cousin Angela. Aunt Dahlia is not amused. An uncle in love with a waitress, a trip to the country, a speedy choirboy, and a secret betting syndicate all lead to trouble in "The Purity of the Turf." Jeeves, of course, is the only one who can put things right.

Jeeves and Wooster really hits its stride in the final episodes of the first series, "The Hunger Strike" and "Brinkley Manor." When Bertie visits Aunt Dahlia, he is called upon to solve the romantic problems of his friends Tuppy Glossop (in love with cousin Angela) and the delightful Gussy Fink-Nottle (in love with Madeleine Basset, a young lady who believes the stars to be God's daisy chain.) Unwisely, Bertie decides to cook up his own plan and before long disaster strikes. Aunt Dahlia's superb chef Anatole gives his notice, and Bertram is to blame. Thank goodness for Jeeves. --Simon Leake Amazon.com

Perhaps not the most romantic proposal, but it'd be unique!

"Do you know how a male newt proposes, Bertie? He just stands in front of the female newt vibrating his tail and bending his body in a semi-circle."

Hands down, this was the funniest part of the whole season one. No, I know, it doesn't sound funny, but it's a visual thing. Trust me, it's worth it. I'd give the last two episodes of season one five stars, but the first three earn only three stars because, well, it's a bit of a slow-moving show. And I'm not just talking about its lack of explosions and other CGI-eye-candy present in most movies and TV shows today (at the expense of a plot, oftentimes). Even taking into account the style and sly, subtle humor, it took awhile to get warmed up to the characters and get into the show.

There is something delightful about watching something set at such a time, though, when decorum and decency were very different. And the men's outfits! So dashing. Who nowadays wears a three-piece suit to a formal event, let alone every day? I'm sure there might be historians out there who would quibble with some piece of furniture or cut of a coat (there's always someone who finds somewhere they've slipped up!), but for the lay-person it is quite nicely done and sets the scene wonderfully.

Fry and Laurie do a great job as Jeeves and Wooster, but it's really Bertie Wooster's aunts that steal the show. Their characters are vibrant and strong (and, well, yes, a bit shrill) and provide a wonderful counter-point to Jeeves's demure intelligence and Wooster's bumbling, but cheerful, incompetence. The cast works together marvelously, and the plot, while slightly weak and rather in the background, works with the characters.

I give it only four stars because of the slow beginning, but am looking forward to the next series. July 28, 2008

Jeeves at his best

Yesterday I awarded myself a P.D.Wodehouse marathon in the form of Series 1 of the TV series, starring Stephen Fry as Jeeves, the perfect gentleman's gentleman and his employer, Bertie Wooster, played by Hugh Laurie, known to most viewers as Dr.House from the present day TV series. Both actors were 17 years younger and both were well suited to their respective roles. "Silly [...]" Bertie Wooster is a gangling, Eton educated, wealthy young man about town in the thirties in London and around the English countryside and he and his equally foggy cronies amuse themselves with sport, drinking and "getting up to great wheezes" which often involve baiting the members of the constabulary and ending up in front of the magistrate. Super suave, intelligent Jeeves is the perfect valet with immaculate taste and far more brain power than Bertie and his chums and is more often than not, the means of getting them out of scrapes. I suppose that the old Wodehouse stories are a matter of taste, but I still found myself laughing at the stories of Bertie and his endless tussles with his many aunts, and at the sheer lunacy of it all. May 12, 2008

Get Wodehouse Playhouse instead

The weakest of the 21 comedies in Wodehouse Playhouse is funnier and wittier than the best of these.

Not that these are bad. There are some laughs. But there is much hostile humor here, and Wodehouse's comedy is typically good-natured, feel-good comedy, as it is uniformly in Wodehouse Playhouse.

Also, Wodehouse's women are as odd and as funny as his men, but today they would be politically incorrect. The screenwriter here obviously removed all the political incorrectness from these women but did not put any characterization in its place. The result is blah, boring women characters.

Wodehouse started the Mulliner stories twenty years after he started the Jeeves series. Maybe he'd learned a thing or two.

Also, of course, it is hard to equal Pauline Collins and John Alderton.

Bottom line: if you haven't seen either series, Wodehouse Playhouse is a much better bet. If you've already seen some of the Jeeves comedies, go straight to Wodehouse Playhouse and save your money. If you've seen Wodehouse Playhouse, don't risk these comedies. You'll be disappointed.
January 19, 2008

I say!

The first season for this program and it's already wonderful. The program begins with the arrival of Jeeves following the Stolen Policeman's Helmet, and just keeps getting better from there. Hugh Laurie plays the Upper-Class Twit of the Year he became famous for (he did a good job of it in Blackadder Goes Forth) and Stephen Fry plays the admirable valet Jeeves to perfection. The line about the white dinner jacket (with brass buttons) possibly being placed in Wooster's wardrobe by an enemy is classic.

A wonderful program! November 29, 2007

Pre House Hugh

It is hard to believe the acerbic Dr. House had his origins in silly British comedy. Hugh Laurie and Stepehn Fry were quite charming and often hilarious in Wooster and Jeeves. I am enjoying this series. Might I suggest the Blackadder series. Hugh Laurie is hilarious in this as well. Add Rowan Atkinson and this is classic British humor. May 15, 2007

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