French & Saunders - any good?

[BeardFaceMan]

Just noticed that they have all of French & Saunders up on iPlayer, does it hold up well? I haven't seen any of it since it was first broadcast, how does it hold up? Any particular series worth going for?

[PlanktonSideburns]

love it

daft and fun. could hang out with those two for ages

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

I watched a couple of eps with my partner. This and Ab Fab.

An oddly carefree feeling of silliness. Some of the comedy is very clearly inspired by NTNOCN and Smith & Jones, more than I realised.

Rewatching comedy through the 70s to the 90s sometimes feels decidedly more liberal and laissez-faire, if not especially progressive.

Imagine what the likes of Little Britain and Catherine Tate will be to the bigoted 50 somethings in the future, evidence of the time 'before PC' no doubt, when you could whoop and holler at the hits they got in on the poor, and other favourite punchbag minorities.

[Kelvin]

Just noticed that they have all of French & Saunders up on iPlayer, does it hold up well? I haven't seen any of it since it was first broadcast, how does it hold up? Any particular series worth going for?

Been a while since I watched the full series, beginning to end, but off the top of my head, the first series is interesting, but slow and not very funny, and the last few are outright terrible, feel very out of touch and half arsed compared to their earlier work.

The middle series are often extremely good, though; silly, witty, subversive and meta, but like most sketch shows, a few longeurs here and there. I wish I could be more specific about what series were worth watching, but I'd definitely give the middle ones a try.

[BeardFaceMan]

I see that by series 3 they started naming the show titles after whatever movie parody they were doing, so I'm assuming that's where most of the good stuff starts, I'll start there, I think. Despite watching it all as a kid, I can't really recall much about the show other than the movie parodies and the 2 dirty old fat blokes. Oh, and Raw Sex, of course.

[Natnar]

The first series is ok but the whole "French & Saunders in a theatre" set up doesn't really work. I think the 2nd and 3rd series are the shows peak (Star Test, The Fat Men etc). There are a few returning characters but there's also a good mix of one off sketches. I don't think it's a coincidence that the show starts going downhill once Saunders starts writing Ab Fab. The last series isn't that great (the meta one where most of it is them at the BBC trying to put on a show) although there is the odd good sketch (the Most Haunted spoof comes to mind). There's quite a few Christmas specials to get through as well.

[BeardFaceMan]

I don't think it's a coincidence that the show starts going downhill once Saunders starts writing Ab Fab.

I was going to start a thread about that as well. I'm not sure why, but I never watched Ab Fab. Think I may have watched the first ep or 2 but didn't really like the main character. How does that stand up as a show, is it worth a watch? Did all the good F&S comedy go into Ab Fab instead?

[Natnar]

I was going to start a thread about that as well. I'm not sure why, but I never watched Ab Fab. Think I may have watched the first ep or 2 but didn't really like the main character. How does that stand up as a show, is it worth a watch? Did all the good F&S comedy go into Ab Fab instead?

I think the first series of Ab Fab is fantastic and then it slowly starts going downhill as the series goes on. It didn't help that Jennifer Saunders kept saying that Ab Fab was ending, but then it kept coming back.

I did always wonder how French & Saunders shared the writing of a series of their show. Did Jennifer tend to write most of it with Dawn chipping in the the odd line or was it shared pretty equally? I wonder if Saunders was a bit burnt out by writing Ab Fab so it affected her contribution to French & Saunders stuff?

[Twonty Gostelow]

Probably stating the obvious but they seemed to be less naturally funny when they'd apparently put less effort in.

The Lucky Bitches story is still brilliant now (except for Jonathan Ross briefly sucking the funny out of it) https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7rot56
but the filmed insert for the live show wasn't very good at all https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaxbTWwanLc#t=259 (and let's not talk about the mobility scooter bit that follows).

[Famous Mortimer]

I found the movie parodies increasingly boring as they went on, and they got longer too (at least to my teenage mind); but it's not like I've watched it since it was originally broadcast.

[Shit Good Nose]

I agree with others that very beginning and end not so great (although I still have time for a lot of the later film parodies - even at the very end there was still the odd bit of LOLsome brilliance) but pretty much everything in between is good and holds up well today.

And that sketch where they play the modern artists is still one of the greatest pieces of British sketch comedy in my opinion.

[Natnar]

[SavageHedgehog]

I found the movie parodies increasingly boring as they went on, and they got longer too (at least to my teenage mind); but it's not like I've watched it since it was originally broadcast.

I watched the Best of Series 4 VHS about 10 years ago, it was mostly very long movie or TV parodies and mostly tedious.

[Pink Gregory]

S 2-3 is the sweet spot; I like the idea of the long form sketches but they're a bit tedious in practice.  As a double act I do enjoy their bickering, hectoring performances, but the parodies do swiftly become the weak point after the first few.

Although the Whatever Happened to Baby Jane sketches are wonderfully unhinged

[Phoenix Lazarus]

I remember Dawn French's send-up of a Sophie Ellis-Bextor video was really funny.

[Indomitable Spirit]

'The Generation Gap' is one of my favourite sketches ever. Just a lovely ramshackle mess of fun ideas.

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x55jv8f

They had a really flair for parody, but obviously went back to the well a few too many times. The Harry Potter and Star Wars ones were absolute garbage if IIRC.

However, the 'Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?', Ingmar Bergman and Abba pastiches still stick out for me as being really strong.

[sick as a pike]

'The Generation Gap' is one of my favourite sketches ever. Just a lovely ramshackle mess of fun ideas.

I don't remember that at all but it is indeed a brilliant, funny mess.  Jennifer Saunders' fall and the mugs are a marvel.

I see it was directed by John Birkin. I did a TV thing with him once and wondered why people would sometimes 'jokily' refer to him as Lord Birkin, so asked the producer who said "because he's a Baronet", as indeed he is.

[Phoenix Lazarus]

They had a really flair for parody, but obviously went back to the well a few too many times. The Harry Potter and Star Wars ones were absolute garbage if IIRC.

They did one of Abba's Knowing Me Knowing You, a hit from 1977 by a group whose last hit in the UK was in 1982-the parody itself being in 1990!  As a review at the time I read said, it seemed 'about eight past its sell-by date.'

[Jerzy Bondov]

The Jackie Stallone and Brigitte Nielsen Celebrity Big Brother sketch is still quoted extensively whenever I see my sisters.
Oh my God, Jackie?!
Yeah
Jackie! Oh my God!
Yeah... Jackie
Oh my God! This is Sylvester's Mom! Jackie!
Yeahhh

[jobotic]

I don't remember that at all but it is indeed a brilliant, funny mess.  Jennifer Saunders' fall and the mugs are a marvel.

I see it was directed by John Birkin. I did a TV thing with him once and wondered why people would sometimes 'jokily' refer to him as Lord Birkin, so asked the producer who said "because he's a Baronet", as indeed he is.

See that had me really laughing until it went behind the scenes and it just gets too "ooh aren't we marvellous?".

The Jackie Stallone and Brigitte Nielsen Celebrity Big Brother sketch is still quoted extensively whenever I see my sisters.
Oh my God, Jackie?!
Yeah
Jackie! Oh my God!
Yeah... Jackie
Oh my God! This is Sylvester's Mom! Jackie!
Yeahhh

I've never seen that but a friend and I do often say "yeah....Jackie" from the original CBB.

Oh and "Anthony....ANTHONY". How tedious we are.

[Pink Gregory]

'The Generation Gap' is one of my favourite sketches ever. Just a lovely ramshackle mess of fun ideas.

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x55jv8f

They had a really flair for parody, but obviously went back to the well a few too many times. The Harry Potter and Star Wars ones were absolute garbage if IIRC.

However, the 'Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?', Ingmar Bergman and Abba pastiches still stick out for me as being really strong.

I wonder if those two parodies being for Comic Relief had any impact on their inherent quality. 

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

I liked it when they made that joke about having taken the padding off half an hour ago.

[Natnar]

They did one of Abba's Knowing Me Knowing You, a hit from 1977 by a group whose last hit in the UK was in 1982-the parody itself being in 1990!  As a review at the time I read said, it seemed 'about eight past its sell-by date.'

The Peters & Lee parody they did in the same series must have seemed ancient to the reviewer then!

[Autopsy Turvey]

Imagine what the likes of Little Britain and Catherine Tate will be to the bigoted 50 somethings in the future

A shocking indictment of how celebrity elites crippled the vulnerable with state-funded hate speech in the monstrous days before the Radical Progressive Dawn?

[chveik]

this, but unironically

[jobotic]

We're so lucky that we get to hear the fascinating views of Spectator columnists for free on here.

And on a thread about French and Saunders!

[Autopsy Turvey]

We're so lucky that we get to hear the fascinating views of Spectator columnists for free on here.

Why not, some less strident readers might appreciate a break from all the first draft Socialist Worker editorials!

And on a thread about French and Saunders!

Why not? Isn't Jennifer a massive fan of fox hunting? Also this: "People are so politically correct now," Jennifer told Irish News. "We couldn't get away with anything, you can't even get away to be a politically incorrect character, because that is seen as being politically incorrect. Everyone's down on everyone for everything." Dang, another comedy genius who'll be first against the wall come the glorious day.

[Chriddof]

So, when are you having that autopsy?

[Gurke and Hare]

Why not? Isn't Jennifer a massive fan of fox hunting? Also this: "People are so politically correct now," Jennifer told Irish News. "We couldn't get away with anything, you can't even get away to be a politically incorrect character, because that is seen as being politically incorrect. Everyone's down on everyone for everything."

And yet here we are, having an honest friendly (well, before you turned up to shit on everything as usual) discussion about the quality of her work. Almost as if this site isn't entirely composed of Stalinist types who would try to delete all evidence of the existence of any artist who doesn't bow down to their Corbyn statue each morning in the way that you and your ilk fantasise.

[SavageHedgehog]

Vivienne Vyle was underrated.