Stressed Eric

There was a big hubbub about Clerks being cancelled after 2 episodes. The same fate befell this show and nobody cared. This was an absolute gem of a show and I was the only American guy who watched it. The Perfects are so damn funny. A lot of the humor is so stupid that you can't help but laugh. The funniest is when the donkey explodes for no reason at all. PUT THIS ON DVD!!!!!!!!!!

One London critic asked "Is there anybody who finds this programme in the least amusing?" Shockingly, the answer's yes. Then again, there are people who think Macy Gray is prettier than Cindy Crawford.

This painful series debuted in 1998 on BBC2 in prime time with hype on the scale of that given to the Millennium Dome and with much the same results - the British answer to "The Simpsons"? Yes, if "The Simpsons" was stuffed with mono-dimensional characters (including the title character), had such non-clever ideas as calling an all-around wonder man Peter Perfect (the Perfect Family, geddit?), sported pretty poor animation, and was tedious and unfunny to boot. I made it through two full episodes of the first series before giving up, and I was amazed that the BBC commissioned a second series two years later.

The first series was a blot on the otherwise spotless record of Klasky/Csupo, and I was glad to see they had nothing to do with the new series - but it hadn't advanced a jot. We still had the useless Eric stumbling through life without arousing any sympathy, we still had the lineup of unappealing characters, we still had the slow-as-molasses stories...

That American guy was right. BORING.

just so Lee47 isn't the only one to make a comment, I decided to voice my opinion about dear ole Eric aswell. This series is truly brilliant, the humour is warped as hell and the animation is fanrtastic. It follows the life of Eric, a harrassed single father, with a normal curious young daughter and a slightly less than normal young son who tends to eat anything that isn't nailed down. The au pair is superb, a totally neurotic girl, who goes out gets drunk, takes drugs etc etc. The story lines are great with Eric usually ending up, as the title suggests, stressed out, no matter what he does to avoid it. Watch for the old granny who tries and fails to post her letter each week.

This series comes a very close second to an animated film that's just come out called Ogri, if you get the chance see either of them they are both brilliant.

I have never seen the U.S. version with Hank Azaria, but the original is pure genius, very much like The Simpsons, but with that irreverent twist of British humor. I have rarely laughed so hard! I am sorry that American viewers missed most of that thru the Americanization of the show. (What's next -- Monty Python dubbed into American English?) I am sure that American viewers are perfectly capably of understanding British humor, as there have been numerous successful British comedies shown on U.S. television that were understood without translation. Hopefully there will be a DVD edition of this show one day -- maybe they will let viewers choose languages between "British" and "American"!

When I first saw the advertisements in the t.v. guide,it said "Bad than Bart"and"Spicer than South Park".When I saw the first episode,it was boring.This was another cartoon that failed trying to beat The Simpsons.Also,this show lasted for a few weeks.Also,the show was unfunny as well.I suggest that you watch The Simpsons to see jokes that do make ou laugh out loud.