Suburban Shootout

I was channel surfing and ended up on Oxygen when this was on. It's housewives meets mafia how these women control their town. Odd twists and good acting make this a highly entertaining piece of the BBC. One of my favorites, second only to Xena: Warrior Princess. Once upon a time, Two best friends come home to find their home vandalized. From then on they take a vow to stop crime in their own vigilante style. Camilla goes to far, and it results in two gangs of housewives battling it out in suburbia. All the little details are funny, from how the 'gangmembers' get their own parking spot at the grocery store and ridiculous discounts through intimidation. I would highly recommend this show.

"Stepford Wives" vs "Suburban Housewives" or perhaps an English "Twin Peaks" - you'd understand the connection if you REALLY watched "Twin Peaks". The acting is rich, the comedy black and the content adult. If you enjoy bloke comedy then you will recognize a few faces. It doesn't take long before you are well entrenched into the story line and you'll be thanking Oxygen for running two episodes back to back.

Overall theme: Joyce and her husband have moved into a small English city (it has a church, so it's a city) as he has accepted a position as chief constable. Two factions of housewives are contending for influence/control over Joyce and ultimately, her husband's influence over local law enforcement. Each gun toting faction uses a different method of influence, fear and intimidation vs conscience and moral duty.

The supporting characters (more a case of caricatures) are campy and carried out by actors and actresses with the same commitment to their role as Don Adam's "Maxwell Smart".

Highly recommended.

I'm on a quest to watch everything Ruth Wilson has acted in. She's brilliant and steals this show as well. Here she hams it up tremendously as a ditsy/nutty sex pot. She plays the daughter of one of the gun toting old ladies who sets her sights on the son of another (Tom Hiddleston in an early role). While a fun idea this would've been better suited for a 30min short film. Old ladies touting guns and having turf wars in a quaint little town gets really old really quickly and they couldn't possibly have stretched this out further than the two seasons that were made. While fun and sometimes even brilliantly so this has a tiresome undercurrent of male bashing. Points subtracted for that. Besides that this is a mostly fun watch but it does get old and towards the end of the second season my interest had severely waned and I found myself surfing on my smartphone while glancing at the screen every now and then. Watch it if you are curious about early appearances from Tom Hiddleston and Ruth Wilson. Especially Wilson is broad camp to the hilt and she plays it wonderfully.

Nope- now I take back all my other comments. Suburban Shootout was a one trick pony- the pilot very funny but after that it all just goes downhill. Well done Channel 5, take a good idea and ruin it.

DISREGARD ANYTHING BELOW!

Finally some great original comedy from Channel 5!!!!! It seems great from the pilot. Desperate Housewives meets The Godfather! A woman and her policeman husband move to Little Steppington- a typical little village in the south of England. However before the first box is unpacked Joyce is taken on a tour round the town by a group of housewives only to be become involved in the destruction of the Wicker Barn. Very clever dialogue, and a great performance from Chancellor!

Give it a go! Thursday nights 11pm Channel 5. Give it the ratings it deserves so they can make more shows like this! Also Channel 5 move it to a better time slot! It's about time us Brits took back the king of comedy title from the Americans, we've been laking it for AGES!!!!

Suburban Shooutout only has one joke and you guessed it it's the one in the title. If you find it hilarious that middle England housewives are in fact gun slinging gangsters and feel like having that gag rammed down your throat in various different ways for half an hour then this might be the show for you. Most will hate it. Or just not notice it.

The worst aspect is the characterisation. It's non existent. Everyone is one dimensional and there are no motivations based in reality. The relationship between the main dippy woman and her husband, the copper played by Ralph "Finchy" Inneson, is the most stupidly unbelievable thing going.

Basically it's kids' TV. Bad kids' TV at that. Awful and unfunny. Could have been good if there was anything beyond the "hilarious" premise but there's not. Avoid.