Amazon.com essential video

Could this be the funniest movie ever made? By any rational measure of comedy, this medieval romp from the Monty Python troupe certainly belongs on the short list of candidates. According to Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide, it's "recommended for fans only," but we say hogwash to that--you could be a complete newcomer to the Python phenomenon and still find this send-up of the Arthurian legend to be wet-your-pants hilarious. It's basically a series of sketches woven together as King Arthur's quest for the Holy Grail, with Graham Chapman as the King, Terry Gilliam as his simpleton sidekick Patsy, and the rest of the Python gang filling out a variety of outrageous roles. The comedy highlights are too numerous to mention, but once you've seen Arthur's outrageously bloody encounter with the ominous Black Knight (John Cleese), you'll know that nothing's sacred in the Python school of comedy. From holy hand grenades to killer bunnies to the absurdity of the three-headed knights who say "Ni--!," this is the kind of movie that will strike you as fantastically funny or just plain silly, but why stop there? It's all over the map, and the pace lags a bit here and there, but for every throwaway gag the Pythons have invented, there's a bit of subtle business or grand-scale insanity that's utterly inspired. The sum of this madness is a movie that's beloved by anyone with a pulse and an irreverent sense of humor. If this movie doesn't make you laugh, you're almost certainly dead.--Jeff Shannon ... Read more

Reviews (630)

one of the best comedies ever and dvd extras to rave about!
This is what dvds were invented for -- there are so many great features here! So in addition to seeing one of the funniest movies ever made, you can be entertained for hours with the extras, and the extras are terrific: subtitles in English, French or Spanish; audio track choices -- English (the original mono or a brand new full stereo version), French, a directors' (Gilliam and Jones) track or a commentary track with Cleese, Idle and Palin; a copy of the script overlaid on the film; a painstaking, hilarious Henry the IV-ish subtitle for those who don't like the film; a hard-of-hearing feature; killer rabbit easter eggs; animated menus using Gilliam's original animation; karaoke renditions of 'Knights of the Round Table', 'Sir Robin' and the 'Monks Chant'; a delightful 45 minute visit to the locations with Jones and Palin; an educational film about the 'other' uses of coconuts; Japanese versions of the French Castle and Knights Who Say Ni scenes, including references to the 'holy sake cup'; a 1974 BBC Film Night visit to a location site during filming; photos of tickets, press releases, reviews, posters, production stills and original artwork; trailers; cast credits (Palin played over a dozen parts!) with pictures of each character; a Lego knights version of the Camelot scene; pictures of sketches that were never used (a killer snail?!); a web link.

A lot of effort went into this special edition dvd, and it shows. I particularly enjoyed seeing Jones and Palin visit locations. They were in a jolly mood, their comments are interspersed with film footage, and they meet affectionate and funny fans along the way.

If you like this film you will love this dvd version; if you love the film, you wil adore this two-dvd set. An essential item for your collection.

Highest recommendation.

I Never Thought Looking For A Shrubbery Would Be This Fun!!
In the early 1970's the Monty Python troop (Michael Palin, Graham Chapman, Eric Idle, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, and Terry Jones) stars from the immensely popular television series Monty Python's Flying Circus began producing, with the help of a fundraising concert headlined by Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd (You lie!! No, I didn't!), initial photography on what would later become (from all my extensive years of movie watching) the single most unforgivably sidesplitting, enormously irreverent, shrewdly perceptive, unremittingly uproariously aggressive, gruesomely hysterical, and endlessly quotable comedies EVER. Not even Mel Brooks's Best Efforts (The Producers, Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein) comes very close to the revolutionary medieval merriment sustained in this royal purebred of cult classics. BAR NONE. No contest here.

Endlessly stockpiled with hauntingly hysterical sketches that will probably never leave your mind (no matter how hard you try) including, The Knights Who Say Nei, The Self-Abusing Monks (Eah aay ess eay dom eay nay), The Black Knight, The Trojan Rabbit, the Ever-Appearing Verbally Abusing French (I don't want to talk to you no more!!!), The Enchanter Named Tim, The Killer Bunny, The Bridge of Death (What is the capital of Hysteria?), The Old Woman Named Dennis, and so many countless more great sketches to include here that I'd die trying. Monty and Python and the Holy Grail remains an ever-enriching mirthful cult-classic that just seems to improve with age. Since Columbia has a bountifully hefty new special edition of the Holy Grail out now there should be no excuse, if you've never seen it (I think I'll go for a walk!!), just drop everything your doing (including Bringing Out Your Dead) and go experience this life changing movie today. You won't be disappointed, just tell them the Knight Not Appearing In This Film sent you, and they'll know what to do.

As for the options on the special edition here's a run-down:

Disc One: -"21st Anniversary" cut of the film running an extra 24 seconds; -Anamorphic Widescreen; -Dolby 5.1 track; -Original Mono Track; -Audio commentary with Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, John Cleese, Eric Idle and Michael Palin; -subtitles "for people who don't like the film" (you get the text from Shakespeare's Henry IV instead); -an "on-screen screenplay" feature which lets you read the screenplay as you watch the film; -"Follow the Killer Rabbit" feature;

Disc Two: "Three Mindless Sing-Alongs"; -"The Quest for the Holy Grail Locations" featurette; -"How to Use Your Coconuts" educational film; -"Monty Python and the Holy Grail in Japanese" (with English subtitles); -the BBC Film Night special "On Location with the Pythons; -an interactive cast directory; -still galleries with Terry Gilliam's original sketches and behind-the-scenes photos; -"A Load Of Rubbish" with mystery items; -unused ideas and other material; -two trailers
and web-links.

Both discs represent the absolute final word resource for EVERYTHING and I do mean everything you'd need to know about the Python's greatest film. An Absolute Necessity for any Python Fan!!

P.S. You can't base a system of government just because some watery tart threw a sword at you.

What are you going to do, bleed on me?
excellent. Possibly the funniest movie ever made. Who could forget such a line as "I fart in your general direction. Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of eldeberries." This is a great movie and a great dvd edition that gives it justice. This is completely worth the money. A comedy Classic.

This movie didn't make me Run Away! (or) Run away FASTER!!!
Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail is, by far, my favorite movie -and I'm sure it always will be! Being a truly hilariously-random film, this DVD does an awesome job of showcasing this fact to the highest extent. The killer white "rrrrabit" will live on in my heart forever, and I will always be knowledgeable that African swallows are non-migratory. What other movie has a group of knights requesting shrubberies -from King Arthur, no less- to create a 'two-level effect with a path through the middle'? Only Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
The movie might sound strange as I mention these things out of context, but I assure you it is much stranger when Monty Python says it!
So, to conclude this review, I definitely give "Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail" DVD a 5 star rating, as I know it will entertain millions for years to come. Enjoy!

The Lego Camelot Number Alone is Worth the Price
Who would have thought that, after nearly 30 years, the world's goofiest movie could be made even moreso? Not only is this DVD a comedy triumph (it would be simply if it were the DVD version of the classic film, in which a crew too broke to afford horses for King Arthur and his Knights changed history and college kids' banter forever by introducing coconuts as migrating props). Oh, no, this DVD is one that may become a standard for other DVDs. Just look at this list of extras above! To be sure, some of them are fluff. The "load of rubbish" selection is simply some receipts and a few odd notes. But most of it is stupendous.

The first disc contains the movie itself, along with some choices of how to watch it.... subtitles, commentary by directors Terry Jones & Terry Gilliam or by John Cleese & Eric Idle & Michael Palin. Then "for people who don't like the film", there's subtitles from Shakespeare's "Henry IV, Part II". Now, these do not faithfully follow Henry IV verse by verse, but they do come from the play, and it's hilarious how the phrases Shakespeare wrote do actually match up with the action on the screen.

Disc Two contains several mementoes: a film of John Cleese, Terry Jones, and "Grail" production manager John Young (who also played the hapless "Historian" towards the end of the film, and the "I'm not dead!" guy) paying a return visit to Castle Doune , in 2000. At first it's fun to hear them reminisce at the filming site, but since it's a very small spot with nothing but a wall and a bit of ground, they appear uncomfortable and that quickly gets old. More interesting is the home movie made by the two Terries when they looked for prospective film locations in the seventies. Their excitement is palpable.

A somewhat painful scene (except for the chance it gives us to watch Terry Jones in action as a director) is the BBC documentary made during filming. The interviewer seems more interested in trying to be funny himself than in the Pythons. But there are several great comic extras, including words to some songs, a coconut skit, two scenes dubbed in Japanese, and best of all, an animated feature of the "Camelot" scene and song done entirely in Lego...must be seen to be believed.

Finally, someone has made good use of the storage space on a DVD. ... Read more

Description

Black Adder dabbles in dirty politics; Baldrick burns Samuel Johnson's dictionary; and Blackadder nurses his natural francophobia. ... Read more

Reviews (8)

THE "STUPID PRINCE" EPISODES ARE THE BEST
The four funniest things I can think of are: Tom Lehrer's CD, AN EVENING WASTED WITH TOM LEHRER; Woody Allen's book GETTING EVEN; Jackie Mason's album THE WORLD ACCORDING TO ME (and its cognate video); and the blonde-haired "stupid prince" episodes -- both tapes, six episodes, three hours -- of BLACK ADDER.

That would be a Sunday afternoon's worth of laugh therapy good enough for anyone, short of, say, ten or twenty Wodehouse/Jeeves Bertie Wooster novels.

Get and OWN these Black Adder tapes. Get the whole set. One way and another, they are all good. But I haven't seen three hours of filmed comedy in my ENTIRE 46-YEAR LIFE as good as BLACK ADDER III, parts 1 & 2.

Simple fun with history
The usual cast of character go through another round of historical hysterics. Some fine comedy moments for the regular crowd of Black Adder adhearents.

For people who have never seen the series, it isn't the best choice to start with. I'd go right back to the begining with Black Adder #1 and work my way forward.

Two notes concerning the episode Nob & Nobility. Tim McKinnery of Lord Percy fame in series #1 & 2 and of Capt Darling fame in #4 plays the French nobleman. If im not mistaken we also see Chris Barie of Reddwarf as the French rep.

This episode was not shown in the rotation in NE due to its poking fun at the french and the proximity of Quebec.

Wonderful
This is NOT humor for the faint of heart!

It is in your face humor - not silly stuff or slap stick.

If you enjoy a quick wit - Black Adder is your man!

Hillarious
I tell ya, old Baldrick is so "cute" you just want to take him home, let him live in the basement and throw him down a turnip every once in a while!

This was MUCH better than the first series. I took the advice of those who've posted here and was NOT disappointed!

By far the best Black Adder Series!
Black Adder third is without a doubt, the best Black Adder series there is. Not only is Edmund great in this one, I think what makes this great is Prince "Mini-Brain". And of course, there is little Baldrick. This has one of my favorite Black Adder episodes ever, "Nob and Nobility". All of these episodes are gaurenteed to make you laugh! ... Read more

Reviews (166)

A great DVD set for an even better TV show
Fawlty Towers, among those who know about it, is generally considered one of the funniest television shows of all time. Created by and starring John Cleese (of Monty Python fame), each of the twelve episodes is sheer genius in some way or another.

The setup is simple: Cleese plays Basil Fawlty, the rather snide owner of a second-rate hotel. Cleese surrounds himself with hilarious characters, including his overbearing (but far more competent) wife and the bumbling but good natured waiter Manuel ("You'll have to excuse him; he's from Barcelona.") Each episode finds Fawlty involved in some scheme, which usually has something to do with abusing customers and hiding things from his wife. The plots build in classic screwball fashion, as the situations get more and more absurd while Cleese digs himself deeper and deeper into a hole. The comedy ranges from incredible dialogue to some perfectly timed slapstick, and all of it's funny.

Though I'd seen all of the episodes before many times, the DVD set was a great buy. It's packed with extras, including commentaries by the director of each episode and some really informative, in-depth interviews with John Cleese and other cast members. In fact, while I got the discs just because I wanted copies of the episodes, I've had a ton of fun with the extras. Add in fairly nice packaging (the art on each disc is hilarious) and some other cool things such as cleverly designed menus, and this is one of the better TV collections I've seen.

Well worth your money if you've never seen the show but enjoy British comedy, or if you're an old fan and looking for a new way to appreciate this great series.

Classic & Timeless British Comedy
Now almost 30 years old, this classic comedy series is still holding it's own against today's more contemporary material, and being discovered by a whole new audience. US viewers who may not have been exposed to it, may miss some of the more subtle aspects, but any fans of John Cleese, or more recently Mr Bean, will certainly find it memorable. It is NOT however Monty Python type material, for those expecting more outrageous, and off the wall satire. Basil Fawlty (Cleese) is the owner and operator of a modest seaside Hotel, and is more than ably supported by a great ensemble cast. Ever hen pecked by his domineering wife, often outsmarted, or assisted by his clever maid, and constantly frustrated by his pidgeon English speaking waiter, the results are hilarious, witty and very amusing. Some of the episodes can make the viewer cringe a little (at the frustrating aspects of Cleese's character) but the overall picture is enormously pleasing. If you have never seen Fawlty Towers, you have certianly missed out, and the DVD collection is the best buy, with ALL epsiodes, and some great extra material included. You will laugh, and laugh again at each side splitting episode which manages to be funny, without be overtly sexual, full of innuendo, and reliant on cheap laughs. Great entertainment!

Excrutiatingly Funny
You are invited to the vist the worst-run hotel in England to enjoy a mixture of slapstick and word-wit. Each episode is based around the mental unravelling of the co-owner, Basil Fawlty, as his ill-conceived schemes spiral into the ground with the aid of his long suffering hapless helper Manuel.

I third the notion that tensionfest is the word
I find little humorous about this sitcom. I actually find it all pretty nervewracking and painful to watch.

Great DVD Set - if you have binoculars
Love this series which is, IMHO, the funniest sitcom series ever shown on either side of The Pond. There's no disappointment in re-watching all the wonderful episodes.

There is, however, beaucoup de frustration with the way in which the links were designed. You have sit right in front of the TV, no more than 4' away to read the postage-sized stamps which indicate episodes, commentary, etc. (I still can't read them.)

Still, once you get going, it's hours of laughter, great performances, and great writing. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Among the many films and TV shows that add a new twist to Charles Dickens's classic tale, Blackadder's Christmas Carol is the most ingenious. It was made between Blackadder the Third (1987) and Blackadder Goes Forth (1989), and its inspired concept is to recast the self-serving Edmund Blackadder (Rowen Atkinson) not as Dickens's misanthropic miser but as the most kindhearted man in England. Tony Robinson's Baldrick is as moronic as ever, while Robbie Coltrane plays the Spirit of Christmas like a forerunner to his Hagrid in the Harry Potter movies, showing Edmund visions of past and future to not quite the desired effect. Hugh Laurie returns as the Prince Regent from Blackadder the Third, and the entire court from Blackadder II (1986) is reassembled for japes involving a merry seasonal death warrant. Miranda Richardson is outrageously capricious as Elizabeth I, then takes the character a stage further in a decadent space-opera future that also sees Patsy (Nursie) Byrne as an android. Though not quiet as laugh-out-loud funny as the regular Blackadder series, this is an excellent Yuletide special. --Gary S. Dalkin ... Read more

Reviews (19)

Black Adder at his cynical best!
Atkinson is again fabulous as the least (most?) likeable cynical misanthrope in history. Wonderful flashback sequences sum up the past Black Adder incarnations perfectly. The feudalistic-future scene is blazingly funny! One thing to note: this is BLACK ADDER'S Christmas Carol, not a Christmas Carol with Black Adder in it. I'm sure Dickens understands this perfectly well.

Blackadder Scores Again!
In this touching tale inspired by Dickens' classic "A Christmas Carol," Blackadder is the kindest and most generous man in all of England...until he realizes that bad guys have all the fun.

Perhaps Ebeneezer Blackadder would have been successful as one of the series, since his character shines with the aura of comedy possessed by his ancestors. Baldrick is still with him and as dumb as ever.

Also returning is the brain-the-size-of-a-walnut Prince of Wales, Queenie, Percy, Lord Melchett, and a very revealing Baldrick of the future (Along with a neo-nursie and some others).

Co-starring Robbie Coltrane as the very funny ghost of Christmas Past, Present, and Future, Rowan Atkinson's Ebeneezer is right up there with Simms, Scott, and Stewart...that is, if he can survive the kraut-prince and Queen piglet.

Festive dream.
A parody of Charles Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol' in which Edineezer Blackadder is a kind and lovely man who 'never laughs at toilet humour' and hasn't a harsh word to say about anybody. But after a visit from a ghost who shows him some of the things his ancestors got up to, and how they benefitted from it, he becomes more akin to his predecessors.

Hilarious and charming at the same time, this is one of the Blackadder series' strongest moments and even shows what Blackadder might be like in the distant future.

Barely Black Adder
I adore Black Adder, and while I admit that the plot/cinemagraphic quality varies from series to series, I believe Black Adder to be amongst the absolute best of British comedy. That being said, of all the episodes and specials, this is the worst. The lines lack the luster of Rowan Atkinson's usual sarcastic ferocity, the film quality is poor, the plot weak, the costumes leave much to be desired, and last few minutes look like they're out of a truly awful 1970's sci-fi flick. Should you buy it? That depends. If you're collecting all the episodes, its nice to be able to say you own it. If you're just interested in a few of them (or just in gaining another Christmas comedy) look elsewhere... like to the Elizabethan series.

A merry, messy Christmas!
What can I say, this is a completely brilliant lampoon of the classic Christmas story. The only ones who will not like it are those lacking in a sense of humor. If you have a sense of humor, please go and watch this immediately:) You will love it. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl (1982) serves up a great, steaming pile of the famed British comedy troupe's finest, funniest, and foulest work. Culled from their four-night stand at the Hollywood Bowl in 1980, this selection of sketches and songs includes some of the most storied material from the BBC series, Monty Python's Flying Circus. Numbers include the sexually confused lumberjack, the Ministry of Silly Walks, the Argument Clinic, and the exploding balladeer. Some of the group's funnier short-film pieces are featured as well, including the International Philosophy Match (Germany vs. Greece) and Terry Gilliam's animated pieces. This program is a fine introduction for viewers unaccustomed to Monty Python's peculiar brand of humor, and it will become clear where The Kids in the Hall got their shtick. Monty Python aficionados will enjoy seeing the lads do their thing for a live crowd, and there's a nice (though "nice" hardly seems the word) rapport with the audience. The sketches are looser and less hermetic than those in the Monty Python show or movies, such as 1974'sMonty Python and the Holy Grail or 1983'sMonty Python's the Meaning of Life. Aside from the unusual setting, there's nothing particularly revelatory about Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl. But for Python fans and fanatics--and they are legion--this won't matter a jot.-- Nick Poppy ... Read more

Reviews (9)

Careful to what is inside your chocolates
More English humour. You will undoubtedly laugh at some jokes and antics. You will smile at most of them too. Monty Python is always the same group of weirdos who respect nothing and make fun of everything that is sacred in everyday life in England : the Queen of course, but gently ; the police, a little less gently ; the church definitely less gently ; and things like chocolates that contain dead frogs to make them crunchy or some other disgusting things like cockroaches or whatever including some vomit. They cannot resist comparing American beer with ditch water and there they are definitely right, and that explains probably why so many sportsmen in one sketch start a race by ending up in the toilet. Too much of that beer is not good at all for the bladder. We learn that Descartes wrote « I drink therefore I am » which is definitely French in inspiration and tone. But lumberjacks are also ridiculed, with a lumberjack who wears a bra, for instance. English judges are of course revealed as being effeminate, which is in complete phase with the fact that they wear wigs : you should see their nice and colourful underwear. Try Monty Python at least once or twice, but be careful with an overdose of that drug because you may become either bored or just mentally disoriented and corrugated.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

Grateful US Fans
It is interesting to watch Monty Python live. This performance gives quite a different effect than the studio series - for good and for worse. A big plus is the enthusiasm of the USAmerican fans, who can take just everything and even cheer for more and more. A few of the sketches do not work out perfectly on stage though.

Still, »Monty Python Live At The Hollywood Bowl« makes you roll over laughing, as usual.

sux that its out of print
yes it sucks that this film is out of print, but you can find it a local video rental store. This film is great, its got some great sketches, albatross, silly walks, the church police(In wich the Pythons begin to crack up beacause terry jones wig begins to slip off) and the silly olympics. I highly reccomnd this to a python fan, but not to a person who has never heard of python.

The Hollywood Bowl hasn't recovered since.
Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Jones, Eric Idle, Michael Pallin, and Terry Gilliam bring their british humor to America, at the Hollywood Bowl, and this film will keep you laughing right through the end.

A "greatest hits" compilation for Monty Python
This is Monty Python at their very best. Very little of the amusing but confusing sketch comedy that can be so hit or miss with American audiences. This is a collection of their material that appeals to the general public. This needs to be re-released so that people can get a chance to see how delightful this comedy troupe was. ... Read more

Amazon.com essential video

This is not your parents' sitcom. Two middle-aged tarts smoke, swallow, and bed everything in their paranoid paths and are all the more fun for being so unabashedly vulgar. Jennifer Saunders stars as the queen of excess; Joanna Lumley is her promiscuous best friend in this groundbreaking, side-splitting satire. Created by the uninhibited team of Saunders and Dawn French, the series was written by Saunders. This set includes all 18 of the 30-minute episodes from the British TV series; the less-than-thrilling 30-minute midseason special, How to Be Absolutely Fabulous. Anglophiles and anarchists will love this, but consider yourself forewarned--it is strictly adult material. --Rochelle O'Gorman ... Read more

Reviews (46)

Unexcelled!
This brilliant, caustic, uproarious and innovative situation comedy will go down in history as one of the very few greatest ever. The premise -- sort of a American sitcom turned on its head (the mother is the juvenile and the daughter is the sensible one) -- might have gotten stale or threadbare quickly. But with a genius like Jennifer Saunders writing and starring, and with the sterling supporting cast, this set is a delectable treat from first to last. The self-absorbed and fad-mad Edina and the equally self-absorbed sex-and-substance addict Patsy, the not-always patient Saffron, and June Whitfield hilarious as Edina's Mother, are main ingredients in a witches' brew that will intoxicate and delight you. And special mention has to be made of the numerous flashback and dream sequences, which are so far-out and funny that they'd be worth the price alone! (For example, in the "Birth" episode, the flashback to Edina's birth-- with Mother in her hospital bed made up complete with lipstick and wearing pearls as the nurse wields huge salad tongs to clamp the exiting child...and Patsy's riotously funny birth scene in a Paris avant-garde flat with beat poets, a Piafian singer, a ballet dancer, and a modern painter, swirling around Patsy's mother as she free-verses "Come, no longer my ball and chain! Enter the world, you tiny-- mediocrity!... Oh, cut the cord, cut the cord!..." is, in a word, priceless!). Patsy and Edina are (really) horrible but excruciatingly funny! A Desert Island set!

"Cheer up, world, it may never bloody happen! "
One of the funniest Britcoms ever ("Fawlty Towers" and "Blackadder" are the only ones that are better). I find it incredibly amusing that most of the Hollywood community found this series to be so witty and yet the entire time the show was making fun of them, along with the self-absorbed fashion industry (it says something about the intelligence of Britain vs. the US as a whole). All you have to do is listen to Saunders' (Edina's) speech at the end of the episode "Jealous" and you can easily see how she used this show as a venue to bite back at people who lived their lives totally out of disregard for everyone else and yet came out at huge events pretending to care (read: Hollywood and the Fashion Industry with AIDS, cancer, the situation in Bosnia). Jennifer Saunders is a genius for creating a show with such sparkling wit and intelligence (yes, intelligence) which was a pure delight to watch, yet still managing to slam the American entertainment scene. My favorite episode, "Death", also satirizes the art world. If you're like me and appreciate subtle humor, you'll love this series.

Screwball Isn't Dead
These beautifully funny shows rival the old screwball comedies of the 1930's & '40's for roll-on-the-ground laughing madness. In fact, the old and rarely seen adjective "madcap" describes the shows perfectly.

Edina Monsoon is a self-absorbed slacker who lives high by ripping off her ex-husbands. She and her friend Patsy Stone get into almost as many misadventures as they do bottles of vodka. Saffy, Edina's long-suffering, introverted daughter provides the foil for the madness.

Jennifer Saunders has talent coming out of her ears; not only does she perform pratfalls and other physical comedy without the help of a stand-in, but her non-stop delivery would be funny if were just reading the phone book. As it is, the scripts are works of art, much funnier than Seinfeld, funnier than Monty Python even.

The only problem with these shows is that you can't eat while watching them, because you can't eat while laughing unceasingly.

THEY HAVE OUT DONE THEMSELVES!!!!!
This show is one of my favorite shows to watch!!! I am so glad that I can now just sit down and watch the all the episodes over and over! Their humor is great and fresh! There is always somthing new that Patsy and Edina get themselves into. This box set is worth it. Same with series 4! Get them all!!

Loved every one of these!
I have been watching AbFab since its beginning and the first three series are just fabulous. I never get tired of watching them and I just love some of the one-liners. It is fabulous, sweetie darlings! ... Read more

Description

Written by, directed and starring Jennifer Saunders.Edina prepares a documentary about her life including the most hysterical moments, outrageous outtakes, and funny bloopers. ... Read more

Reviews (11)

A must for the AbFab junkie.
While this is a compilation of scenes from the series, it can give you hours of abfab fun in one hour. The bloopers, and never seen footage are the real fun of this video.. And the video/dance compilation at the end is, well ABSOLUTLEY FABULOUS! This is a must have for the truly addicted abfab fan. It also would be a great introduction to the series if you have never seen the show. After watching this you will want to see the whole series. enjoy 'sweetie'....

must-have for ABFAB fans
Seeing Jennifer Saunders and June Whitfield in character again is reason enough to buy this tape. Of course if you're a fan of the show, you've seen most of the clips wich are sometimes a little long, but the bloopers at the end are a riot. There is also included the music video to the song "Absolutely Fabulous" by the Pet Shop Boys wich is really fun!

not so fabulous
This tape was good as far as showing all the classic moments (which you can see most of them if you have the Dvd's of Series 1-3)
For collector purposes it's good to have, but it lacked in what was supposed to be a day in the life of Eddy while she flashes back to moments from series 1-3..the "day in the life" segments are kind of cheesy and not really that funny.

A Must Have for AbFab Fans!!
ALL fans of this series should enjoy this "best of" tape. The bloopers are always a special treat for any show but even more fun with this one. They humanize the already beloved actors even more to us, the fans. I did enjoy the little video and song at the end also. I had never heard the Pet Shop Boys song about this show before. Quite dancy and fun.
Pour yourself a vueve & bourb....relax and enjoy Sweetie Darlings!!

Absolutely Fabulous Video for fans!
I have to say that I was very pleased after I watched this video...It's hosted by Jennifer Saunders and June Whitfield..I think that my favorite parts in the video is The bloopers and the Pet Shop Boys Song at the end which is The Absolutely Fabulous Remix,with the episodes mixed in... A must have for any Absolutley Fabulous fan!... ... Read more

Amazon.com essential video

Michael Palin, haggard and exhausted under a scraggly beard and wild hair, crawls out of the ocean (or the forest or a side of a mountain) and croaks the now-infamous "It's...." Suddenly, the "Liberty Bell" march pounds over the cut-out animation of Terry Gilliam. It's another episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus. No comedy has inspired such a fanatical following before or since, and the 45 episodes turned out by the group in their all-too-brief three and a half seasons have become classics. This set presents the final seven episodes of their inaugural season, a time of trial and error for the group as they perfected the elusive free-association structure that would define the wacky comedy. Connecting such all-time classics as the Lumberjack Song, the Dead Parrot sketch, and the epic Science Fiction sketch (featuring the tennis mad Blancmanges from outer space) are the ubiquitous letters to the BBC, Terry Gilliam's whimsical and ridiculous animated inserts, and John Cleese announcing, "And now for something completely different" with all the authority of a BBC announcer who suddenly finds his news desk hijacked by mobsters. The Pythons hit their first-season stride in the middle episodes, in which brilliant sketches and strange and wonderful linking gags come together with an absurd logic, but if the final episodes of the series flag compared to their comic peak, their brand of comic madness infects every episode with moments of pure lunatic magic. --Sean Axmaker ... Read more

Reviews (14)

"Oh, you're no fun anymore!"
You might have noticed my first extensive and overly detailed review for DVD set 1 (episodes 1-6) where I listed all of the individual sketches you will get on that set. Well, if you haven't, then go bloody well check it out then, you twit! (nothing personal) Anyway, this is a review just like the previous one - overlong and tediously informative. Again, I won't waste time on reviews of the material - You know it's extremely silly!

DVD SET 2(episodes 7-13)

Disc 1(or 3) consists of: Camel spotting/You're no fun anymore/The Audit/Science Fiction Sketch/Man turns into Scotsman/Police Station/Blancmanges playing tennis/Army protection racket/Art critic-the place of the nude/Buying a bed/Hermits/DEAD PARROT/The Flasher/HELL'S GRANNIES/Llamas/A man with a tape recorder up his nose/Kilimanjaro expedition/A man with a tape recorder up his brother's nose/Homicidal barber/LUMBERJACK SONG/Gumby crooner/The refreshment room at Bletchley/Hunting film/The Visitors

Disc 2 (or 4) is sillified with: Walk-on part in sketch/Bank robber in Lingerie shop/It's a tree/Vocational guidance counselor/Ron Obvious/Tunneling from Godalming to Java/Pet Conversions/ Gorilla librarian/Letters to "Daily Mirror"/Strangers in the night/Lavatorial humour/Interruptions/Agatha Christie/Undertakers film/Jimmy Buzzard interview/Interesting people/Eighteenth Century social legislation/Battle of Trafalgar/Battle of Pearl Harbour/Falling from building/"Spectrum" - talking about things/Visitors from coventry/Mr. Hitler/Silly voices at the police station/Upperclass twit of the year/Ken Shabby/How far can a minister fall?/Restaurant abuse/Advertisements/Albatross/Come back to my place?/Me Doctor/Historical Impersonations/Quiz programme on "Wishes"/"Probe Around" on crime/Mr. Atilla the Hun/Psychiatry/Operating Theatre

These are the sketches accessible through the menus on the DVDs themselves, so if you notice a sketch not listed...well, then your a complete geek.

This set also contains extras like: Meet the chaps, Pythonisms, Gillianimations, Lumberjack and Albatross Live!, Trivial Quest, and Talent show!

Python is great, this set isn't so much ...
While Monty Python's Flying Circus is defiently one of the funniest comedy troupes to come out of the 20th Century, and this set is well worth buying, I would warn those of you who aren't die-hard fans that, of the four DVD sets out right now, this one is probably the least funny. The Pythoners were apparently rushed as they wrapped up their first season of shows (some of these episodes were recorded only a week before airing!), and the humor in these DVDs, particularly the last three episodes, on DVD 4--are far from prime Python.

Still, there's "Upperclass Twit of the Year" and "Albatross" and enough others to make it worthwhile!

It's still funny after all these years.
"I'm a lumberjack, and I'm okay." Who doesn't remember Michael Palin uttering this line in the famous butcher barber/lumberjack skit? How about Upper Class Twit of the Year? And, the Dead Parrot? All of these skits and more can be found on this 2 cd set. If you like the obscurity that is Python, then this is the set to purchase.

The one segment I did not like was aliens turning into Scotsmen. That went on far too long.

This DVD gets Twit of the Year award
Great DVD. And VHS. Starters...get this. Its really good. It's worth your while.

Monty Python gets 2 thumbs up!
Monty Python are very funny. I highly reccommend this set. If you're not sure, just purchase the first set to try it out, and see if you like it. I promise that you'll be laughing so hard you'll rush out to get the other sets as well. I purchased the full set and I dont regret any of it.

I wouldnt recommend this for young children. I'd say early teens and up would enjoy this the most. Some of the british slang can be too difficult for the really young ones to follow.

Monty Python is a combination of sketch comedy and stereotypical british humor. One way or another, you're bound to laugh. THe episodes are short so you can watch just a piece at a time at your convenience, but there's enough on each tape to last a full evening.

I give it two thumbs up. ... Read more

Description

Lord Blackadder must repay a debt to the baby-eating Bishop of Bath and Wells; brings in all the wrong people for a drinking party; and wakes up in a dungeon with Lord Melchet. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Best Half Hour of Comedy Ever
The episode called Money, with the Bishop of Bath and Wells and Black Adder's bitter wit, is the best half hour of comedy I've ever seen! It is so funny and well constructed, very creative and at times even cruel. There are many other brilliant Black Adder episodes, but this one is the best. I have never enjoyed a comedy as much as this one.

Plenty of wit to go with the toilet jokes
More episodes of the Elizabethan incarnation of the Blackadder clan. Part one of the Black Adder II series features three much stronger scripts, but these are plenty witty and played with flair by a brilliant ensemble. These three also rely more on fart jokes and toilet humor.

Of course, the latter fits in to one of these episodes - "Beer" - in which Lord Blackadder desparately attempts to hold a drinking party in his house at the same time as an intimate dinner with his VERY puritan aunt and uncle. The situation, however, loses a lot of its comic power when the aunt and uncle are played as grotesques (each of them sporting four or five large crosses apiece and slapping their nephew at any suggestion of sin). There would be more tension in the situation if they, and the risk to Edmund's inheritance, were real. Then the drunken bozos in the other wing of the castle would be a real threat.

It takes little away from the delightful lunacy of these characters, however.

Great!
This tape actually features Money, Beer, and Chains. Part I is the tape that features Bells, Head, and Potato. They are both excellent, especially the second part of the "II" series (I love the thingie-shaped turnip!). ... Read more

Description

Prince George hires two ham actors to help him refearse a speech; realizes he must marry for money soon; and incurs the wrath of the Duke of Wellington. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Some of the best from perhaps the best series ever
Unlike the Mr. Bean character, who is both loved and hated (by distinct populations of viewers separated by an unbridgeable chasm), it is virtually impossible not to recognize the genius of this series, which is probably my favorite television series of all time. BA III has some of the strongest scripts and performances of the series. If you have only seen Rowan Atkinson as Mr. Bean, the transformation into the razor-sharp, plotting, snide, absolutely *wickedly* funny butler is astounding, and even the most intolerant Bean-hater will relish every sneer. The Atkinson-Laurie combination is unbeatable, and their characters play off each other brilliantly. Buy this! Buy the entire series! It is one of the high points in the history of comedy.

Equally good as the other Part 3 tape!
This is a serious keeper! Just like the other III tape!

Both are great!

Black Adder III - part 2
I am such a fan of the whole Black Adder series, I honestly feel Rowan Atkinsons amazing comic ability is wasted on the painfully overdone, over-rated Mr Bean bandwagon. Here you see him at his very dry best, with Hugh Laurie being so fantastically stupid as the Prince Regent. The reason I decided to review this video is because it contains probably my favourite episode, sense and senility, with the Prince absorbed with his new thesbian friends, Edmund is at his razor sharp best, watch out for the great sarcastic scene in Mrs Miggins pie shop. The remaining two episodes on the tape are just as entertaining, with there being a familiar face from Black Adder II appearing in Amy and Amiability, for those amongest you who apprieciate a bit of violence Dual and Duality is up your ally with a suprising but hilairious ending. As with any video from the entire Black Adder series, you can't go wrong and you won't be dissapointed, ENJOY!

The Toss-up of Pure Genius
This video, along with the first video of series III, the second video of series II, and the first two episodes of the second video of series IV, contain the best of Blackadder. But of all the Blackadder videos, this one is consistently the best. Each episode reminds the viewer of the quality of acting and the brilliant scripts that made them a Blackadder fan.

The first episode has Edmund contending with some stupid actors for the blessings of the dim-witted Prince Regent--in the course of events, Baldrick is mistaken for an anarchist, the Prince is almost murdered, and Edmund moves to Sardinia.

In the next episode, Miranda Richardson portrays Amy Hardwood, an industrialist's daughter whom the Prince wishes to marry when he finds out that he is broke. Contains such great lines as "The Prince wants your daughter Amy for his wife." "Well, his wife can't have her!" and "Baldrick, have you no idea what irony is?" "Yeah, it's just like goldy, and bronzey, but it's irony."

The last episode is perhaps the apex of the Blackadders III, where the Mad King "Penguin" George and the mad, mad, madder than Mad-Jack-McMad, winner of last year's Mr. Madman Competition cousin of Blackadder arrives from Scotland. Also starring Stephen Fry as Arthur Wellsley, Duke of Wellington spouting off such quotes as "What in the name of Bonaparte's balls is going on here?" ... Read more

Description

Episodes: Plough Your Own Furrow, Say Little Hen...?, The Pagan Rite. See how it all began when Tom takes stock of his life so far on his 40th birthday. Before the next day dawns, the Goods have traded their car for a plough, and the Leadbetters are coping as best they can with the madness next door. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Another excellent Britcom!
Good Neighbors (or The Good Life as it was known in the UK) is the story of Tom and Barbara Good, a middle-aged couple in the 1970s who decide to escape the rat race by living a life of complete self-sufficiency. They exchange their car for a cultivator, and turn their garden into a full-fledged (if rather small) farm. Their good friends and neighbors, the social climbing Gerry and Margot Leadbetter (played by Paul Eddington and Penelope Keith!) sometimes provide support, and other times disapproval. Through it all, the antics of the two mismatched set of neighbors produces laughs and good times for all!

Sadly, for some reason known only to the BBC, the episodes of this wonderful show have been released in a seemingly random order. Still, this show is so good, that it is better to have them this way than not at all! This tape contains three, half-hour episodes.

Plough Your Own Furrow - Series 1, episode 1 (April 4, 1975)(Why is this one on volume 4?) - It's Tom's 40th birthday, and he is tired of a meaningless life of designing junky plastic prizes for cereal boxes. With Barbara's help, it's time for a whole new lifestyle!

Say Little Hen...? - Series 1, episode 2 (April 11, 1975) - The goat has been a smashing success, and now it's time to add chickens to the menagerie. But, how do you force a chicken to lay eggs? Jerry and Margot realize that it's time to get involved, and save the Goods from themselves.

The Pagan Rite - Series 1, episode 6 (April 11, 1975) - Tom realizes that Barbara deserves a reward for all her work. She would love to go on a pagan rite, a visit to a posh restaurant and hotel. But, how can it be done with no money?

START WITH THIS VOLUME
Good Neighbors (aka The Good Life) is undoubtably one of the best British Comedies around. Great characters, witty conversations, never a dull moment, etc. And this series is especially effective for three reasons: First, it's easy to understand what they're saying (unlike some Brit comedies where they talk too fast with strong accents); second, there's a minimum of Brit-only jokes (not many political barbs, etc., that are lost on Americans); and finally, the humor is timeless. A truly great series. Unfortunately, it was not taped for video in the same order in which it appeared on BBC, which is pretty critical to a British comedy series. You need to start with Vol. 4 to find the first show, which explains what the Goods are doing and why. Love it!

Get them all. Britcoms rule!
I saw this series when it came to US TV some years ago (thank you, forever, PBS). I loved it then. I love it now. I've got the whole collection, finally.

Stars: Tom & Barbara Good, played by Richard Briers and Felicity Kendal - whom I worship, and Margo & Jerry Leadbetter, played by Penelope Keith and Paul Eddington.

I also saw Felicity Kendal in a PBS replay of the BBC Shakespeare series with her starring as Viola in "Twelfth Night" and was so impressed that I named a daughter after her.

Felicity (and the other cast members) are believable, funny, and always in trouble, love, etc., with each other.

The setting... Tom & Barbara move to a ritzy neighborhood and start a farm... well, more like they decide to "live off the land." Try that in a swank neighborhood and I'm sure you'll end up with some of the problems they had.

Totally hysterical. Very funny. A must see. Own it if you can. Definitely for the whole family.

Better *any* time around... A britcom MUST SEE! Felicity!
I saw this series when it came to US TV some years ago (thank you, forever, PBS). I loved it then. I love it now. Enough so that I am now waiting for one more video to complete my collection.

Stars: Tom & Barbara Good, played by Richard Briers and Felicity Kendal - whom I worship, and Margo & Jerry Leadbetter, played by Penelope Keith and Paul Eddington.

I also saw Felicity Kendal in a PBS replay of the BBC Shakespeare series with her starring as Viola in "Twelfth Night" and was so impressed that I named a daughter after her.

Felicity (and the other cast members) are believable, funny, and always in trouble, love, etc., with each other.

The setting... Tom & Barbara move to a ritzy neighborhood and start a farm... well, more like they decide to "live off the land." Try that in a swank neighborhood and I'm sure you'll end up with some of the problems they had.

Totally hysterical. Very funny. A must see. Own it if you can. Definitely for the whole family. ... Read more

Description

Episodes: Backs to the Wall, The Wind-break War, Silly, But It's Fun.The self-sufficient Goods and the conspicuously consuming Leadbetters pursue two diametrically opposed approaches to the good life as next door neighbors in a posh London suburb. ... Read more

Reviews (12)

An excellent Britcom!
Good Neighbors (or The Good Life as it was known in the UK) is the story of Tom and Barbara Good, a middle-aged couple in the 1970s who decide to escape the rat race by living a life of complete self-sufficiency. They exchange their car for a cultivator, and turn their garden into a full-fledged (if rather small) farm. Their good friends and neighbors, the social climbing Gerry and Margot Leadbetter (played by Paul Eddington and Penelope Keith!) sometimes provide support, and other times disapproval. Through it all, the antics of the two mismatched set of neighbors produces laughs and good times for all!

Sadly, for some reason known only to the BBC, the episodes of this wonderful show have been released in a seemingly random order. Still, this show is so good that it is better to have them this way than not at all! This tape contains three, half-hour episodes.

Backs to the Wall - Series 1, episode 7 (May 16, 1975) - As the Goods prepare for their first harvest, the Leadbetters fly off for a vacation in Africa. But, disaster strikes when Tom injures his back, leaving him unable to work. To make matters worse, a sudden storm flattens the crop, which must now be gathered in a matter of a couple of days. The Goods need help, and need it fast!

The Wind-Break War - Series 3, episode 19 (October 8, 1976) - After having planted their new fruit trees, the Goods are shocked to learn that Margot is planning to place a windbreak in a location guaranteed to shade the new plants. This means war!

Silly, but It's Fun... - Post-show Christmas special (December 26, 1977) - As the Goods begin making the homemade goodies they need for their Christmas celebration, Margot orders hers from a department store. When the Leadbetter Christmas fails to be delivered, the Goods take them in, and show them how good a self-sufficient Christmas can be.

3 episodes of the "The Good Life" aka "Good Neighbors"
This video tape contains 3 episodes of the British situation commedy "The Good Life" (aka "Good Neighbors" in the US). In this series, Richard Briers and Felicity Kendal play a couple determined to leave the rat race and become self sufficient on their suburban lot. Penelope Keith and Paul Eddington play their upper crust neighbors. This series is campy British comedy at its best. It is silly and sarcastic, but good natured humor. END

One of the best of the Britcoms
Though showing it's age in many ways (especially Margo's fashions), this is still one of the best of the Britcoms. The entire series still delights and can many episodes send me into fits of laughter regardless of the number of times they've been viewed. This tape contains my all time favorite, Silly But It's Fun, the Christmas episode, which I watch every holiday. A comedic classic!

Best Britcom series ever!
I know there were lots more episodes made than what's available on video, when in the world are they going to release them? I know there's lots of people out there wondering the same thing. So how about it Amazon.com if anyone can bring us aficionados more "Good Neighbors" I know it's you. Thanks.

"The Good's are the Best!!!"
This is a collection I must have! And I plan to start today! Even though I have not yet purchased the first volume of this series I already know I will charish them forever!

I recorded the original series way back in 1984 from the PBS showings and have enjoyed them ever since. Though the recordings are showing their age, classics like this are timeless and do not grow old, they just get better!

Felicity Kendal does not seem to grow old either, she just gets better! I wonder why? ... Read more

Reviews (6)

One of the best of the Britcoms
Though showing it's age in many ways (especially Margo's fashions), this is still one of the best of the Britcoms. The entire series still delights and can many episodes send me into fits of laughter regardless of the number of times they've been viewed. A comedic classic!

Excellent British comedy
Good Neighbors (or The Good Life as it was known in the UK) is the story of Tom and Barbara Good, a middle-aged couple in the 1970s who decide to escape the rat race by living a life of complete self-sufficiency. They exchange their car for a cultivator, and turn their garden into a full-fledged (if rather small) farm. Their good friends and neighbors, the social climbing Gerry and Margot Leadbetter (played by Paul Eddington and Penelope Keith!) sometimes provide support, and other times disapproval. Through it all, the antics of the two mismatched set of neighbors produces laughs and good times for all!

Sadly, for some reason known only to the BBC, the episodes of this wonderful show have been released in a seemingly random order. Still, this show is so good, that it is better to have them this way than not at all! This tape contains three, half-hour episodes.

Going to Pot - Series 2, episode 14 (January 23, 1976) - Tom and Barbara realize that night school can broaden their range of talents, but will night school survive them?

The Happy Event - Series 3, episode 16 (September 17, 1976) - When the day approaches for the Good's pig to litter, the Leadbetters find themselves pulled into the hubbub.

The Last Posh Frock - Series 3, episode 21 (October 22, 1976) - When Barbara decides that she needs to feel more feminine, she digs out her last nice dress. However, when she tears it, and worse, when Tom refuses to see anything particularly feminine about her all hell breaks lose!

The Golden Age of the BBC
When I first saw the Good Life (the British name) in the 1970s as an impressionable kid, I immediately loved it. Everybody was so nice and civilized unlike the glue-sniffing, head-butting ruffians at my local Scottish comprehensive school. I was so charmed that I almost wanted to become English, middle-class, and 'awfully nice.' I also developed a raging crush on Felicity Kendall.

This series was a product of the golden age of British TV when the BBC was more like a giant artists' collective than the faceless management bureau it has since become. The casting is incredible. The four main actors are hand-in-glove with their roles.Paul Eddington as the long-suffering but slyly rebellious Jerry is the perfect foil for Margot's innocent pomposity. Felicity Kendall's Barbara is both tomboyish and kittenish and serves as a welcome check on Richard Brier's naughty little boy act as the exuberant and mischievous Tom.

For those unfamiliar with the situation of this situation comedy, it concerns the efforts of Tom and Barbara Good to escape the 9-to-5, Monday-to-Friday, suburbs-to-city commuting rat race, by starting a commune in their own garden, and the effect this has on their relationship with their very strait-laced neighbors, Jerry and Margot.

The 3 episodes collected on this tape reflect poor BBC marketing expediency more than anything else. This means that the marvellous continuity between episodes is lost, dampening the effect of some of the humor. This tape includes episode 7 from the 2nd series and episodes 2 and 7 from the 3rd series, with the following original transmission dates.

(1) Going to Pot - 23rd of January, 1976

No, not that kind of pot - although you would have thought that would be one advantage of their 'grow-it-yourself' lifestyle. This proves to be one of the less memorable episodes, although it is still amusing for the way Margot spends a fortune when she takes up the hobby of pottery. The main storyline concerns the threat to their way of life posed by Tom's success as a potter.

(2) The Happy Event - 17th of September, 1976

Pigs are always good for a laugh, especially when the other Pigs (the Police) turn up to help save the runt of the litter. This episode is heart-warming, but not particularly well-writen.

(3) The Last Posh Frock - 22nd of October, 1976

Another of the weaker episodes, but still enjoyable because of the fine characters. Issues of gender arise as Barbara's glamour-free lifestyle starts to take its toll. Feeling dowdy, she gets in a mood about being thought of as 'one of the boys' until Tom treats her to a new dress.

Leadbetters & Goods are more than good! They're GREAT!
I saw this series when it came to US TV some years ago (thank you, forever, PBS). I loved it then. I love it now. I've got the whole collection, finally.

Stars: Tom & Barbara Good, played by Richard Briers and Felicity Kendal - whom I worship, and Margo & Jerry Leadbetter, played by Penelope Keith and Paul Eddington.

I also saw Felicity Kendal in a PBS replay of the BBC Shakespeare series with her starring as Viola in "Twelfth Night" and was so impressed that I named a daughter after her.

Felicity (and the other cast members) are believable, funny, and always in trouble, love, etc., with each other.

The setting... Tom & Barbara move to a ritzy neighborhood and start a farm... well, more like they decide to "live off the land." Try that in a swank neighborhood and I'm sure you'll end up with some of the problems they had.

Totally hysterical. Very funny. A must see. Own it if you can. Definitely for the whole family.

Another wonderful entry in the Good Neighbors set
The set offers three more episodes from the classic mid-70's British sitcom, originally titled "The Good Life" and renamed "Good Neighbors" for distribution in the United States. In these episodes Tom and Barbara Good continue their quest for agrarian self-sufficiency in the London suburb of Surbiton to the continued bemusement of their upper middle-class neighbors, Jerry and Margo Ledbetter. As with the previous two volumes, the episodes in this set are random selections from the original series, missing some of the wonderful continuity shown in the original series.

In "Going to Pot" Tom and Barbara attend night school to learn some essential home repair skills and enroll in pottery and weaving classes as well. When Tom is a flop in his weaving class and Barbara proves equally inept in pottery, they trade classes and soon discover that Tom is a gifted potter. As Tom's crockery becomes more and more popular and in demand by paying customers, he and Barbara begin to stray from their self-sufficient lifestyle and to succumb to the allure of a steady income.

The Goods' sow Perky finally delivers her litter in "The Happy Event". One of the piglets, unfortunately, is a runt, and when Tom's iron rule of efficiency condemns it to an early death Barbara draws the line and forces him to reassess his values. With the Ledbetters in tow the race is on to save the runt before time runs out.

Tom's attitudes are again called into question in "The Last Posh Frock". In this episode Barbara tears her last nice dress, and an unsympathetic Tom has her questioning her feminine role in the perpetually practical life the Goods have chosen. When Jerry finally sets Tom right on the importance of an impractical feminine extra or two in Barbara's life, Tom comes through in a style reminiscent of "The Gift of the Magi".

As with the previous offerings, these episodes are a video treat. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

More fun with the Goods
Good Neighbors (or The Good Life as it was known in the UK) is the story of Tom and Barbara Good, a middle-aged couple in the 1970s who decide to escape the rat race by living a life of complete self-sufficiency. They exchange their car for a cultivator, and turn their garden into a full-fledged (if rather small) farm. Their good friends and neighbors, the social climbing Gerry and Margot Leadbetter (played by Paul Eddington and Penelope Keith!) sometimes provide support, and other times disapproval. Through it all, the antics of the two mismatched set of neighbors produces laughs and good times for all!

Sadly, for some reason known only to the BBC, the episodes of this wonderful show have been released in a seemingly random order. Still, this show is so good, that it is better to have them this way than not at all! This tape contains three, half-hour episodes.

Pig's Lib - Series 1, episode 4 (April 25, 1975) - When the Good's decide to add pigs to their menagerie, Margot calls in the chairman of the local residents' association. This means war!

Just My Bill - Series 2, episode 8 (December 5, 1975) - The Good's harvest is in, just in time to sell it and pay the rates. Unfortunately, selling their produce proves a good deal harder than Tom foresaw.

Mutiny - Series 2, episode 12 (January 9, 1976) - Jerry's boss wants him to entertain a foreign businessman on the same night that Margot plays Maria in the Sound of Music. When Jerry refuses Sir's orders, he is immediately sacked, and now it's the Leadbetters that in need of help.

The Best in British Comedy
I first started watching Good Neighbors with my sister (thank you PBS) when we were in college in 1979 and 1980. We fell in love with it then and began using some of the phrases in our everyday speech, i.e., "Well, thank you very much!" It doesn't matter how many times I see the episodes, I still love them. Because of the superb acting, they are as fresh today as they were more than 20 years ago.

dry humor and british comedy at its best!!!
For those of you who love to the manor born, and other brit sit-coms this and the other in the series are must sees'!!! I now have my 13 year old son hooked on the shows and they are good clean comedy!!

The Golden Age of the BBC
When I first saw the Good Life (the British name) in the 1970s as an impressionable kid, I immediately loved it. Everybody was so nice and civilized unlike the glue-sniffing, head-butting ruffians at my local Scottish comprehensive school. I was so charmed that I almost wanted to become English, middle-class, and 'awfully nice.' I also developed a raging crush on Felicity Kendall.

This series was a product of the golden age of British TV when the BBC was more like a giant artists' collective than the faceless management bureau it has since become. The casting is incredible. The four main actors are hand-in-glove with their roles. Paul Eddington as the long-suffering but slyly rebellious Jerry is the perfect foil for Margot's innocent pomposity. Felicity Kendall's Barbara is both tomboyish and kittenish and serves as a welcome check on Richard Brier's naughty little boy act as the exuberant and mischievous Tom.

For those unfamiliar with the situation of this situation comedy, it concerns the efforts of Tom and Barbara Good to escape the 9-to-5, Monday-to-Friday, suburbs-to-city commuting rat race, by starting a commune in their own garden, and the effect this has on their relationship with their very strait-laced neighbors, Jerry and Margot.

The 3 episodes collected on this tape reflect poor BBC marketing expediency more than anything else. This tape includes episode 4 from the 1st series and episodes 1 and 5 from the 2nd series with the following original transmission dates. This means that the marvellous continuity between episodes is lost, dampening the effect of some of the humor.

(1) Pig's Lib - 25th of April, 1975

This is one of the best episodes as Margot tries to stop Tom and Barabara rearing pigs in their garden. When she succeeds and the pigs are sent to the slaughterhouse, however, she has a sudden change of heart.

(2) Just My Bill - 5th of December, 1975

Another excellent episode. This one manages to get away from the main set of the Goods' and Leadbetters' houses and gardens, as Tom tries to sell his agricultural surplus first to a restaurateur and then on the street. Also we see Margot fighting the creeping Socialism of council bureacracy when she pays her rates (property tax) at the council offices.

(3) Mutiny - 9th of January, 1976

This is one of the episodes that suffers from lack of continuity, as one of the main themes, Margot's involvement with the local music society's production of the "Sound of Music," was developed over several episodes. The mutiny in the title refers to Jerry's attempt to stand up to his boss when he asks him to host a foreign visitor on the opening night of the show. The mutiny misfires when Jerry is immediately fired. Being the time-serving toady that he has to be to suceed in the corporate rat race, he predictably comes crawling back to his boss.

Get it quick! Felicity is sooooo popular!
I saw this series when it came to US TV some years ago (thank you, forever, PBS). I loved it then. I love it now. I've got the whole collection, finally. And thank god, because these seem to go in and out of stock quite rapidly.

Stars: Tom & Barbara Good, played by Richard Briers and Felicity Kendal - whom I worship, and Margo & Jerry Leadbetter, played by Penelope Keith and Paul Eddington.

I also saw Felicity Kendal in a PBS replay of the BBC Shakespeare series with her starring as Viola in "Twelfth Night" and was so impressed that I named a daughter after her.

Felicity (and the other cast members) are believable, funny, and always in trouble, love, etc., with each other.

The setting... Tom & Barbara move to a ritzy neighborhood and start a farm... well, more like they decide to "live off the land." Try that in a swank neighborhood and I'm sure you'll end up with some of the problems they had.

Totally hysterical. Very funny. A must see. Own it if you can. Definitely for the whole family. ... Read more

Description

Episodes: Mr. Fix-It, The Day Peace Broke Out, I Talk To The Trees. When the Goods'lifestyle becomesnews, Margo and Jerry try to get in the act as well. A leek sneakthief drives Tom to vigilante tactics. The Goods experiment with music for happier plants, much to the chagrin of Margo's Music Society. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Excellent British comedy
Good Neighbors (or The Good Life as it was known in the UK) is the story of Tom and Barbara Good, a middle-aged couple in the 1970s who decide to escape the rat race by living a life of complete self-sufficiency. They exchange their car for a cultivator, and turn their garden into a full-fledged (if rather small) farm. Their good friends and neighbors, the social climbing Gerry and Margot Leadbetter (played by Paul Eddington and Penelope Keith!) sometimes provide support, and other times disapproval. Through it all, the antics of the two mismatched set of neighbors produces laughs and good times for all!

Sadly, for some reason known only to the BBC, the episodes of this wonderful show have been released in a seemingly random order. Still, this show is so good, that it is better to have them this way than not at all! This tape contains three, half-hour epis