The Life and Times of Vivienne Vyle

This so called comedy is probably one of the unfunniest that I have ever had the misfortune to watch. For a start off it is years too late to parody trash talk shows. Anyone going to do it should have done it years ago when they were relatively new. Secondly, it seemed to rely on the use of obscene language throughout to try and get laughs. Absolutely Fabulous was a genuinely funny classic piece of TV, but is this puerile nonsense the level that Jennifer Saunders has sunk to? Similarly Miranda Richardson, what on earth was she thinking taking part in this garbage? There wasn't a single thing in the half hour that even made me smile let alone laugh. How on earth it was ever commissioned is beyond comprehension. Truly, truly awful and definitely not worth watching again.

When the first episode of Vivienne Vyle premiered in the UK in October 2007, the critics knives were out for Jennifer Saunders latest venture into sitcom territory. A sharp shock for anyone expecting Absolutely Fabulous or Jam and Jerusalem, Vivienne Vyle is a disturbing, all too real insight into the world of TV talk shows and celebrity culture.

Jennifer Saunders relishes her role as the ambitious, uncompromising Vivienne Vyle - host of a trashy morning talk show. Miranda Richardson excels as the heavy drinking, manic editor of the show who, after a fight breaks out on the show, decides to take the programme in a new direction.

Over six thirty-minute episodes, The Life And Times Of Vivienne Vyle perfectly balances comedy, tragedy and a disturbingly authentic view of the celebrity culture in which we live.

Ignore the critics and give it a chance - this is Jennifer Saunders at her very best.

I love Vivienne Vyle!

Basically I think people is expecting "a new Ab Fab" which is just ridiculous. I mean, I LOVE Ab Fab and bought all the episodes and I'd be the first to scream and cry with happiness if Jen decided to do Ab Fab again, but come on! We can't expect Jen to do the same thing forever! I think it's brilliant of her to do something so different, and not just get stuck in the Ab Fab-y sort of comedy. I watched the pilot of Mirrorball and I'm glad it didn't get picked up. Sure, it was entertaining, but it was also practically the same as Absolutely Fabulous, with the same types of characters. Vivienne Vyle is something completely different and has a darker style of comedy and may therefore not be appreciated by all the Ab Fab fans, but I really loved it! V.V. is not even supposed to be a comedy actually, but a sort of a dark drama containing comedy. It's advertised as a comedy only because Saunders is in it, and therefore people will watch it. I think this show only proofs to us that Jen has several talents ad not just in comedy. She's like an onion! Not that she smells bad and makes people cry, but she has layers. Terrific layers. Either you only love her for her hilarious ones, or you can appreciate her for her deeper sides as well, as I do.

Hurrah for VV!

I adore AbFab, and have enjoyed Jennifer Saunders in just about everything she's done. So I really wanted to like this show. But I can't; it is much too excruciating a spectacle. Perhaps if it had been packaged as raw drama, it might have had its moments of brilliance. But presented as it is as "from the creators of AbFab", and echoing the AbFab narrative in more ways than one, it goes off the rails almost instantly. Simply put, it assumes that because AbFab won accolades for cruel jokes, angry rants and portrayals of addiction, then by extension -- more cruelty, more anger and more addiction will yield the mother of all comedies. It doesn't. "Watching a car crash" is a tired cliché, and yet so apt here: I was drawn in, yes, and at the same time not tickled or intrigued even for a second. Just pulled into masochistic voyeurism of no redeeming qualities.

I love Jennifer Saunders, and as others have indicated, I think people were probably expecting Ab Fab going into this and were disappointed when they didn't get it. If you simply view this show with no expectations, it is genius... Saunders and Miranda Richardson are absolutely hilarious in this cynic's wet dream... I love a show where the heroes are vile villains. I'm American, and I have to sometimes google things to make sense of the Britishisms scattered here and there, but the same can be said for Ab Fab or any British show. But it's worth it. I just got the DVD. Eagerly awaiting series 2. and 3+....