drednm Two great actors, Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry, anchor this ambling series that chronicles the 1920s thru the exploits of English toff Bertie Wooster (Laurie) and his superior manservant Jeeves (Fry). Wooster is the epitome of the "English silly ass" type, a rather dim-but-cheerful bloke with money who seems forever getting into scrapes with his brigade of aunts and various unsuitable young women who all seem intent on finding a husband. Jeeves, a lowly servant, has vastly superior mental skills and constantly saves his master from his own bad choices.These archetypal English characters are superbly played by Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie. They are as impeccable the the crease in a gentleman's trousers. They sally forth through London society, the English country weekend set, and even the nightclubs of New York chasing after or running from the many imperious aunts, grasping females, and dopey friends with silly names who populate their art deco world.Stephen Fry draws on every movie and TV butler and valet to create the unflappable and endlessly polite Jeeves. He never loses his cool or his incredible grasp of the English language. He is far superior to Arthur Treacher, who played Jeeves in a few low-budget Hollywood movies in the 1930s. Hugh Laurie seems to channel Claude Hulbert, the great British comic actor and singer in films of the 1930s and 40s. Laurie and Fry are by far the best things in this series, which seems to amble along with sometimes odd pacing, bad direction, and cheap sets (especially the New York adventures).Watch this one for Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry and relish the beautiful English language they speak because it's all long gone from out current world.

Ben Dawn-Cross It's sort of hard to review this series as a whole, because it does have it's ups and downs. For this reason, I'm going to review each of the seasons in paragraphs.In the very first episode, we are introduced to Bertie Wooster, who is portrayed to perfection by Hugh Laurie. He is the sort of man who is rich, but somewhat dim-witted. Just when it looks like he can't take care of himself, a valet appears at the door, by name of Jeeves. Jeeves is a very smart man, who, no matter how bad a situation Wooster finds himself in, Jeeves always finds a brilliant way to save him. He also played to perfection by Stephen Fry. In fact, most of the characters in the series are perfectly portrayed. I don't mean they're legendary performances, but for the most part, they're done very well. However, the first season does fall short of good segues between plot lines. You see, each of the episodes have more than one plot line, which is part of what makes the series so entertaining. However, in episodes 2 and 3 of the first season sort of feels like two separate stories in each half of the episode. This isn't necessarily bad, but it does tend to catch you off guard, if you think that the episode is over, but is actually halfway through. However, the season did redeem itself in the two-part finale, which not only has multiple plot lines that fall perfectly into place, but the ending is beyond hilarious.The second season was much more refined, with better construction, more interesting characters, and hilarious twists. Not much more to say about this, but it's great. In fact, around this time, some of the episodes were set in America, which is a nice change of setting.The third season was also good, but around the end of the season, the humour could get a little over-the-top and silly. It just didn't have the witty charm that Jeeves and Wooster is so good at.By the fourth season, the silliness was about as much as it could get. Even though some of the episodes stood out as great, the finale's ending was just outlandishly silly, despite being enjoyable.To sum up the entire Jeeves and Wooster phenomenon, it's really a very well-done show, which does capture the spirit of the original stories by P.G. Wodehouse. The backdrop for the show is perfect, and makes you believe that the characters are in the 1920s. However, the best thing about it is the theme music. Not only is it very 1920s-style, but it's so catchy you'll never get it out of your head. So, on the whole, it's a very enjoyable and well done show, and I find it's often overlooked.

krivitsky-m Pelham Greville Wodehouse is a British novelist, most commonly know for his humorous novels. He is that kind of writers, who makes us smile after every sentence. While we watch his character drinking, we are expecting another joke and getting it. His characters are partly ridiculous, partly funny, partly arising sympathy, but always real people, not just paper dolls. Wodehouse lets them be sincere in their expressions. His sense of humour may annoy some fans of modern humorous writers, but in fact, he is a classic of British humour. I would rather read his novels about Jeevse and Wooster instead of his other novels just because of more jokes. I would have better firstly red novels, then see screen version, but I had to see series firstly and then to read novels.So, Bertie Wooster is on of those young English aristocrats of the first third of the XX century, who get all their money from their parents, so they can spend time in all kinds of entertainment instead of work. So Bertie is. Of course, he got Iton and Cambridge education and we from time to time see him recall some citations of philosophers and writers, always incorrectly however. Because of his not quite smart mind he gets in trouble in every novel and without help of his servant Jeevse he would not have solved any problems.And Jeevse (his name isn't mentioned) is Bertie's servant. It's a type of ice-cold polite gentle English servants, outlined with love. He seems to be well-educated and to have a sharp mind. He can find the way out of every difficult situation using his knowledge of human psychology. He also succeeds in attempts to get a desired himself result from Bertie (e. g. to force him not to play the trombone annoying Jeevse).This duet seems to be one of the best comedic duets in comedy films. Fans of «House M. D.» indeed will be pleasant to look at his idol in the youth. And other spectators may just enjoy the series. I don't give «10», because there are no ideal films, sad but true.

clivey6 Maybe I should have been wary to go straight from the short stories to checking out the first episode of my flatmate's boxed set. I felt a bit how the Ian Fleming fan must have felt watching From Russia With Love for the first time. Incidents you would savour on the page are peremptorily dealt with, other scenes are eked out.The main thing is that Bertie Wooster is a prize chump, a fool, a wastrel but we are insulated against the full force of this in the books, because he is the main storyteller. We see events through his eyes; he is our entertainer and a jolly good sort. Moreover, there are those wonderful phrases he comes out with ("She had a laugh like the cavalry riding across a tin bridge") that are of course Wodehouse and really beyond a chump like Bertie, but make us laugh out loud.But under the mercilessly objective eye of the camera lens, Bertie is just a chump with scarcely any redeeming qualities. What's more, his nemeses - pompous old men, dragon-like aunties, ghastly self-improving women - here seem toned down a bit here. If anything, we can only too readily share their view of the idle toff. Laurie is fine casting, but I don't really want to go along with him on his yarns. There's something missing here, if the first episode is anything to go by.EDIT: I've now watched Episode 2 and it's vastly improved, so much so that I wonder if the first instalment wasn't some sort of Pilot episode. Laurie's Wooster is far more personable; even his piano playing and singing is jolly and sprightly rather than the dirge of Minnie the Moocher previously, and Fry's performance is more nuanced. It all seems far more fun and together, and rather than have one weak plot stretched out across an hour, it has two excellent plots for the price of one. Bertie's nemeses are perfectly ghastly, which makes him a far more sympathetic fellow, and he's less of a pure prize ass this time. Even the photography seems sharper and less woefully blurred and atmospheric. Most odd, but very encouraging! I'm upping my vote to 8 because of this.