Stephen Fry in America

Immensely entertaining six-part trip through all the U.S. states hosted with likable wit by Stephen Fry.

Maybe it's all slightly too arbitrarily episodic and missing some edginess, but as an easy-going travelogue featuring colorful and interesting snippets of what the United States are all about, of nature and culture, of people and their stories, this rates as a well-made, joyfully British journey without pretensions towards epic grandeur.

Just follow your jocular tour guide Mr. Fry and you're in safe hands for sure.

7 out of 10 travel taxis

The series follows Stephen Fry as he drives a black London taxicab in every state of the US. (He does leave it in Seattle as he goes to Alaska and Hawaii.) That's the hook. It's not really an in-depth travelogue. Many states get the rushed treatment. Mostly, he picks 1 or 2 people or groups to interview every state. Sometimes they're famous, sometimes they're homeless, but mostly they represent something that Stephen want to highlight from the states.

I like Stephen Fry. I'm not a huge fan, but I've seen him in many different things and he's good in all of them. He's got a big presence and not just in girth. My biggest complaint is that he complains about too many things. Sometimes, he's not discovering America as much as he's making a social commentary about America. Nevertheless, there's a lot of good slice of life and some truly funny moments.

Stephen Fry in America (2008) is a BBC television mini-series. It was directed by John-Paul Davidson (4 episodes) and Michael Waldman (2 episodes).

Fry--who is a great actor-- travels by a London taxi to all 48 continental U.S. states, and then visits Alaska and Hawaii. Most Americans haven't visited all 50 states. And, of course, even fewer British people have accomplished this feat.

The point is not just so that Fry can say he's done it. He attempts to give us a sense of the country and its people. His team had the knack of finding some very interesting events, such as a society fundraiser in Houston. (I've never seen wealth so prominently displayed.) He also visited a Italian-American social club in New York City and a grand mansion in Newport, Rhode Island. (A matron there tells him, "I was at the Bouvier-Kennedy wedding. It was just Jackie Bouvier's wedding--not really that important.")

I truly enjoyed this series, and I learned quite a bit about my own country. Some things were good, and some were terrible, but that's the American reality.

Because these episodes were made for TV, they work well on the small screen. This movie has an extremely strong IMDb rating of 8.0. Absolutely right. It's worth finding it and seeing it.

If you don't like Fry, you'll hate this. I like Fry, although he's not even on my top 20 list of British comedians. His style, for better or worse, is what makes this series different from the dozens of other travelogues out there. It's more Top Gear (the old one) than Parts Unknown. Only slightly funny but fairly informative and quite fun. It shows the weirder aspects of America, from the perspective of a foreigner who is brutally honest. At an Auburn football games he says "America is simultaneously preposterous, incredibly laughable, impressive, charming, ridiculous, expensive, overpopulated, wonderful, American." If you even slightly agree, you'll like this.

America is a huge country and would take years to cover, even if one were to only spend a day in each major city or town. I'm sure there are people who have travelled nomad-style throughout the length and breadth of the country, but I am yet to hear of anybody who has done that and documented his/her experiences for others to watch. Fry does cover a few places which are renowned for some particular reason, but as he repeats in a few episodes, what he is after is the "heart" of the city or state, not the parts that have been popularised by Hollywood. This could mean a particular geographical or man-made landmark, food, occupation, or a native who has made it big.

As one reviewer puts it, the series covers "voodoo in New Orleans, witchcraft in Massachusetts, and homelessness in St. Louis", all quirks or shortcomings. But that is exactly how people around the world picture these places. For example, India is still portrayed in Europe and the West in general as a land of cow worshippers, snake charmers, and spicy curry. But Stephen Fry covers not just these well known spots but also less well known places and he does it in his trademark witty bantering style.

Finally, to me, a bookworm who has only read about and seen America in movies and TV shows, this series is a fascinating peek into the country, which in a short period of time (when compared to countries like India, home to ancient civilizations) has achieved so much.