Girls On Top - Set Two
Picture: C
Sound: C Extras: C- Episodes: C+
BFS Video offers a second set of the British comedy Girls
On Top with six more shows on two more DVDs that are on par with set
one. To re-explain the set-up of the
four women ion the show, there’s the sexy one (Tracey Ullman, just before her
breakout in the U.S.), the depressive (Saunders), the political Leftist (Dawn
French, the lead on the show), and an American rich girl who wants to be an
actress at any cost (a riotous Ruby Wax).
This set contains seven episodes, one of which is one never before
released, which we could or could not think of as an extra.
The other regular is Joan Greenwood, as the not-all-there
landlady who thinks her stuffed dog is alive, among other delusions. Shelley DuPont (Wax) actually pays most of
the rent, spoiled by her rich-but-split parents, both quite well off. Amanda Ripley (French) does her best to be
the moral center of the group, though her ideology and suppressed desires can
cloud her judgment. Candice Valentine
(Ullman) is the social girl who is always with men. That leaves Jennifer Marsh (Saunders), who is lost in space.
The first disc has shows with Ullman, which seem to work
better, though Mr. Fluffy Knows Too Much has Ullman’s Candice on
vacation. By the time you get to Disc
Two, it looks like that vacation is permanent.
Cancel Toast offers another episode where Shelley goes crazy to
get noticed as an actress, while Skankin’ has Amanda reaching out to
Afro-British artists with “fascinating” results. Mr. Fluffy never comes together, then Big Snoggs
(Amanda with child!), Bring Me More Flamingos (the poorest of these
shows), and Mr. Yummy Brownie (a bizarre even for this series show with
guest Katherine Helmond (TV’s Soap, Terry Gilliam’s Brazil) as
Shelley’s dysfunctional mother) all get more bizarre with Ullman’s
absence. I stick with what I said about
Ullman and this show in my Set One review.
The jokes about politics, money, social class structure
(more prominent over in England), womanhood, pornography, death, and other
issues make this stand out from most of the awful, sickening sitcoms produced
in both the U.K. and the U.S., which explains why this show has hardly been
seen in the U.S. to begin with.
Again, the full-screen PAL video images are nicely
transferred and look good for their age.
The colors are especially good in the Ullman shows. The sets are convincing enough, while they
show has some nice outdoor moments. The
Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is all right for its time, with jokes heard pretty
clearly. Though this is not as nicely
transferred as A&E’s Mr. Bean (only a few years newer), this is
still better than the norm for such a TV show.
BFS, the company releasing the DVDs, have a decent product here
technically. The DVD also includes
biographies, TV/filmographies, and that extras show.
Still, these shows all have their share of laughs, so if
comedy is your thing, you might want to pick up one of the sets of Girls On
Top, just to see if you’ll like it.
- Nicholas Sheffo
