Vicious

I went into this one without any idea of what I was in for. I had some time to kill and found this on my DVR so I decided to check it out. I'm the kind of person that will watch nearly anything at least once even if I have no idea what the show is about or who's in it. I put it on without bothering to read the info and was shocked right away to see Sir Ian McKellan's name on the cast list. I love this man. I have never seen him in anything I haven't loved. Then the show started and I found myself wondering what the heck I was about to watch and how the heck it ended up on my DVR. By the end of the first episode, I was madly in love with Vicious.

I get why people are having a hard time with this show. From the moment the first episode started, I wasn't entirely sure what I was watching. It isn't what one would expect to see on television these days. It's definitely hammy and over the top but I think that's what I liked about it most. It's ridiculous and I think the ridiculousness is what makes it so brilliant. All that out of the way, this is not a show everyone is going to love. If you want a well acted, thoughtful sitcom that pokes fun at life but still takes itself seriously in the end, you should skip Vicious. If you're looking for a bit of silly fun, definitely check it out.

It would be such a shame if this show did not continue- there have been quite a few critical reviews and so I am writing to try to even the balance. In this stressful world, it is vital to find ways to lighten the gloom. Vicious provides quality of a kind that just does not come around every day. We just need more episodes! We have found this series to be full of entertainment, laughs, tenderness and, a really high quality addition to to our lives. We have enjoyed the main actors performances in other shows on stage and screen and now we have an extra dimension There is nothing to fault and everything to hope for in terms of subsequent series.

It's deliciously vicious, this "Vicious" series from the Brits. And no one does "camp" like the Brits. Between Sir Ian McKellen and Sir Derek Jacobi, we have "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolfe" meeting "Will and Grace," with the former coming out better, higher, funnier.

Sharp, very sharp, screenplay and the biting, scathing retorts to these who longtime partners is at once horrifying yet all this ends up in an "ab fab" understatement: they really are more than partners; they are friends. Kudos to them for chancing such roles and kudos to the writers for being so "spot on." (And what's NOT to like about Ash!)

Here's to a continuation of this series.

Sir Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi star in "Vicious," also starring Frances de la Tour.

McKellen and Jacobi play, for want of a better term, two old queens, and de la Tour plays their upstairs neighbor Violet. McKellen's character, Freddie, was an actor with so-so success who talks about his fan mail ("You only had one fan," Stuart (Jacobi) reminds him. "Yes, but he wrote a lot of letters," Freddie says.) In the episode I saw, the two were mourning, if that's the right word, the death of an old friend who apparently had been the lover of Freddie at one time, though he also managed to have two wives and six children. "Wasn't there a wife?" Penelope (Marcia Warren) asks. "Oh, yes," Stuart says, "but that was only for 19 years." Basically, it's the two guys throwing insults at one another and having a bad reaction when someone opens the curtains and lets in the light. The one-liners for the most part are very funny, delivered by two great actors who are obviously enjoying themselves camping it up.

I have to say I found it quite enjoyable, funny, and on a higher level than some of the comedies on TV today.

I thoroughly enjoyed this show.

I saw a few episodes and I fell in love with all the characters. My best friends are gay couples and, in spite of the put downs, they do love each other. Well written, charmingly acted - it is a great show!

I have always loved Derek Jacobi and Ian McKellan. I am a great fan of their work.

They work well together and the Frances De La Tour character is a laugh riot.

The young man that lives upstairs is a particular favourite of my fifteen year old daughter.

I hope this show lasts for a long time!