Roberta Parry I picked up season 2 very cheaply because I had heard good things, and after watching it and getting a few chuckles I then watched it online from season 1 so.. I guess I enjoyed it? I mean, I must have. But truthfully I remember very little from the whole series. I can't think of any parts that made me cackle aloud like a drunken witch, which is what I look for in a sitcom. The exception would be Jeff's leg saga, and I think that was mostly because his storyline in that episode was so incredibly BBC that it took me straight back to the 90s/00s, which is clearly not what this show is about. However, I have also tried to watch many, many sitcoms, both US and UK, where I've watched a few episodes and couldn't be bothered watching any more - Coupling was not one of those, and while I can't push it as a favourite sitcom, I can definitely push it as better than most

SnoopyStyle On their first date, the woman flashes her breast (the right one) to her date, her ex, her best friend, his ex and his best friend.Steve Taylor (Jack Davenport) is desperate to break up with the unflushable Jane Christie (Gina Bellman). His best friend is the strange and disturbing Jeff Murdock (Richard Coyle). Jeff works with Susan Walker (Sarah Alexander). Susan breaks up her casual relationship with the womanizing tripod Patrick Maitland (Ben Miles). Her best friend is the bitter, skin-elasticity-obsessed Sally Harper (Kate Isitt).This is Friends with more explicit sex talk and it is hilarious. Jeff is probably the funniest characters. There are some gut busting laughs. The interconnected story telling is used exceptional well. Basically, it has 3 series or 22 good episodes before Richard Coyle didn't return for the fourth series. At its best, this is a hilarious sex romp comedy.

zombibrd-132-55915 Cooupling has always been my go to watch when things in the real world aren't going well. As much as the whole cast was excellent the character of Jeff gave everyone else something wildly funny to work with. Oliver is good but it is not the same ensemble chemistry.I have given the DVD as a present but always watched the streaming from Netflicks. I have only just today noticed a laugh track that I could swear wasn't there before, a bit annoying as I feel that the producers are telling me when I should laugh, but its worth this vexation surcharge.I find myself quoting the episodes in many interpersonal exchanges.In this respect it is somewhat like Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy or Fawlty Towers.. there are always clever bits of insight that that help you get through the day. For Americans without a Brit-tuned ear some of the nuance may be lost but repeated views will remedy. Enjoy.

ExpendableMan On first glance, the British sitcom Coupling is strikingly similar to a certain American show whose name shall not be mentioned. Six characters, three male and three female, all adults falling in and out of love in an inner city setting...yep, you can practically smell the New York socialites lurching forth from their stylish Manhattan Coffee Bars with "rip off" on their lips and a studio audience cheering them on. But stick with it and take a closer look, because once you get past the initial impression, you'll find that Coupling not only is a far funnier show than the overrated, overseas counterpart, but also possesses an identity that is well and truly its own.The principle advantage it has can be found in the scripts. Writer Stephen Moffat has a flair for witty dialogue packed full of one liners, insights and downright hilarious verbal exchanges and it is his contributions which elevate Coupling above average into "clutch your sides and howl with laughter" status. True, most of it revolves around sex and relationships and while it does occasionally venture into gross out territory, there is an ample amount of witticisms to keep things fresh.The best example of this of course can be found in the celebrated first season episode "Inferno" where a chain of whispered half truths, pub ruminations and unspoken awkwardness lands Steve (Jack Davenport) in the unenviable position of having to justify his ownership of a lesbian porn film at a dinner party.. What follows is a painfully embarrassing but also very funny scene where the man ends up ranting a frustrated monologue to an audience of his immediate friends and associates that includes the line "When Man invented fire, he didn't say "Hey, let's cook!" He said: "Great! Now we can see naked bottoms in the dark!" If Coupling is remembered for one thing and one thing only however, it'd be a solitary character and the best comic creation they ever achieved: Richard Coyle's Jeff Murdock. A highly intelligent but woefully inept Welsh man, Jeff is nothing less than the physical manifestation of every single doubt man has ever had about his abilities since the dawn of time. He is normally the one to provide the observations on the relationships he sees all round him and his clever insights are matched only by his boundless ability to get into trouble. It was a real shame he was written out by the fourth series as watching him doing a blind fold striptease to his family and co-workers, turning up at a bar in a bondage mask and (best of all), inadvertently telling his crush that he is an amputee makes him one of the most endearing comic heroes in the history of television.All of which of course might lead you to think that this is rather straightforward stuff, but they have a few stylistic tricks and gimmicks in the presentation up their sleeves as well. One episode features Jeff trying to chat up an Israeli woman who speaks no English and the same scene is replayed twice, once with Jeff speaking English and the other with the woman speaking English, Jeff's language replaced by an improvised string of gibberish. Another episode has the screen divided in two in order to show the actions of two different characters at the same time and there is even a bizarre one where a blue lens filter is placed over the camera and we are treated to the truth behind the dialogue, courtesy of 'Captain Subtext.' This toying with the stylistics may seem flashy, but it demonstrates not only a willingness to experiment with genre norms but the sharpness of the scripts as well.Sadly though, Coupling does have a downside, one that is clearly visible should you ever sit down with the DVDs and watch all four series in one go: occasionally the jokes are recycled. Steve's aforementioned dinner table monologue is priceless but was deemed so successful by the staff that the scene seems to be repeated in every series that follows, but with the subject switched around a bit. Furthermore, with each half hour show featuring at least one madcap moment of inspired lunacy, Moffat's writing seems determined in the later series to eclipse what has come before. Events become even more outrageous and the joke involving all six principle characters turning up at the same event is massively overdone.These few complaints should not detract from the overall experience however as ultimately, Coupling is both well-written and incredibly funny. Now that British TV comedy is divided between catchphrase-led barrel scraping and clever-clever observational humour, Coupling is a nice reminder of the days when all you needed to make people laugh was a decent script, good actors and three studio mock ups designed to look like bars, work places and living rooms. And for all the emphasis on Jeff, season four is still packed to the rafters with highlights. Anyone whos ever had an argument with their other half over something totally trivial will find plenty to chew on here. Recommended.