The Life and Times of Vivienne Vyle

Before doing that...Let´s FOCUS on the Title's Content & Context ...This is one TV personality You REALLY DON'T want to rub the wrong way! When she has a run-in with someone...ANYONE... She is OBSESSED with coming out ON TOP!

OK...NOW Let's talk about that character assassination most "Vyle"! It's fair to say that we Americans fall into 2 categories: Those who don't particularly care for British humor; and those whose appetite for it is simply insatiable! Would you care to venture a guess as to where I fit in?

YES!, from the country that gave us "Monty Python's Flying Circus" and "Benny Hill", we present a veritable panacea for that pandemic feeling Americans have been grumbling about in a chorus that has grown constantly more vociferous in recent years: "American comedies just don't seem to be that funny anymore!"...Unless you find chronic flatulence amusing, because a kind of "I never met a fart joke I didn't like!" mentality, more often than not, prevails here in the USA! Mr. And Mrs. John Q. Public, we proudly present, Ms. Vivienne Vyle! You'll love her one minute, loathe her the next!

She's one TV talk-show host who can instantly discern crass, exploitative, manipulative, ratings-driven interview situations from serious, balanced, well-grounded, give and take, the-truth-must-be served interviews!... And she never flinches an instant...in taking the cheap shot!... Going for the jugular! 6 episodes of 29 minutes each (Unlike their American counterparts, here the half hour shows are just that! Sure beats 23 minute ones!) Usually I can't countenance the little explanative blurbs associated with each title, because they're so far from the truth. In this case, it's rather spot on! The "humour" (British spelling, mind you!) is so wretchedly invective, so perfunctorily twisted! The interaction between Jennifer Saunders and Miranda Richardson is fiendishly inspired! 8.5********

ENJOY! / DISFRUTELA!

I would tend to be very open minded about anything with a cast and production team with this pedigree, and I wanted to like it. On the whole, I DO like it, but it is too dark for my taste. Having said that, I cannot ignore the craftsmanship in the production. It has subtlety which you would not expect from the subject material. I can recognise the depth that has been put into the writing, direction and acting, and for that, I applaud it. Miranda Richardson is frightening stark and awful in her interpretation - a skill she has always been able to project. It is her darkness that gave me the most discomfort...a credit to her. I sense it is something that I may want to watch a few times to really grasp.

Watch it...it is a scary (and funny) indictment of modern television.

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.

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.

This is a really, really good comedy. We tend to live in a culture where if something isn't making us laugh every few seconds, it gets overlooked. Such is the case with this show. The target is the repugnant daytime chat shows that exploit misery and anguish for cheap light entertainment through armchair psychology and stereotypical prejudice. There's a very tangible anger running through this show that elevates it from satire into something very biting and raw.

Saunders and Richardson are magnificent, Richardson particularly. Theirs are intelligent performances, superbly delivered. The show is co-written by Tanya Byron, a clinical psychologist and the show itself is largely about the manipulation and exploitation of emotion and vulnerability in the name of greed and media status. Will it make you laugh hysterically for 30 minutes a time? No. Is it designed to do so? No. Is criticism of it for not doing so therefore an epic failure of understanding and appreciation of dark comedic satire? Absolutely.