Men Behaving Badly

A classic example of great brit TV that didn't make the grade when translated into an American sitcom. (You may recall the "Men Behaving Badly" with Rob Schneider, Ron Eldard and Ken Marino which flopped despite a good cast, decent chemistry and desperate reformatting.) I wished it to survive due to my partiality to this original.

The formula is simple: Responsible guy with wacky roommate, relationship humor and sticky situations...but it works splendidly. It's comparable to Dennis' better known "Coupling", which is scripted just a bit tighter, and obviously more attractive. But "MbB" is just every bit as witty while being a little more down to earth and not confined to the sexual humor genre.

The reason I bought my DVD player was so that I could play the DVD's in the Men behaving Badly box set that I was fortunate enough to buy back in 2001.

It was a hefty investment at the time but it has been worth it in repeated laughs since then.

Having shared flats in my youth with friends, I found it easy to relate to the situations that Tony and Gary found themselves in. Work problems, girl problems, hygiene problems - oh how the memories come flooding back!

Who can forget Gary's antics at the all-night rave-party, or Tony's attempts to tattoo himself on the cheap. Even the first series with Dermott (Harry Enfield), though not as good as later series, had many good moments. Just how hard is it to assemble a book-case?

Simon Nye deserves a medal for this stuff!

One of the best British sit-coms that the BBC have produced in the last twenty years. Martin Clunes and Neil Morrissey are perfectly cast as Gary and Tony, as are, Caroline Quentin and Leslie Ash as their long suffering girlfriends. I don't think British audiences took well to the U.S. version of the show that came out in 1996, because the UK version had been around four years prior to this, and we had taken to the characters. But it is the same with any sit-com that is re-made from the UK Version and vice-versa. The BBC make a habit of re-running this show, and I never get tired of watching it.

Brilliant, hilarious, crude, and did I say brilliant!!! Neil is great in these series, as is Martin, Caroline and Leslie. The look at their hum-drum lives couldn't be funnier and yet so close to the heart of so many of us out there!!! These two unlikely house-mates (Clunes and Morrisey) somehow make a fantastic coupling of characters which tug at the funny-bones, and even a little at the heartstrings, as they try to impress (but often insult) the patient and persevering Deborah and Dorothy. Not to mention their less than impressive career moves. Leaves a certain American series starring a certain American comedian for dead!!!

I wish it had carried on longer but all good things must come to an end sometime. Another classic Uk sitcom and going by the 90's standards of crappy comedy this definately is the best one of the decade (except maybe Bottom and Vicar of Dibley). Watch this show its worth it.