Whose Line Is It Anyway (British) - Seasons 1 & 2
by Geraldine Dowd, John F.D. Northover, Chris Bould
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DVD Cover Information
Director: Chris Bould, Geraldine Dowd, John F.D. NorthoverBrand: A&E
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; English (Published), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 762 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-03-27
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: A&E Home Video
Movie Reviews of Whose Line Is It Anyway (British) - Seasons 1 & 2
Movie Review: Classic Improv ****1/2
Summary: 4 Stars
If you've only seen and enjoyed the American version of this show hosted by Drew Carey, you're in for a treat. This is the original, which debuted on Britain's Channel Four in 1988 and ran for ten seasons, later becoming a staple here in the States on Comedy Central. It started off with an all-British cast and weekly regular John Sessions, as well as occasional guests you might recognize like Stephen Fry, Peter Cook and Jonathan Pryce. Soon regulars like Tony Slattery, Paul Merton, Sandy Toksvig, and the wonderful Josie Lawrence joined the cast, and occasionally a North American might be thrown into the mix - Mike McShane was probably the most frequently-appearing and funniest of the Americans in the first two seasons, but other future U.S.-version regulars like Ryan Stiles and Greg Proops appeared as well. The show started off rather dry and cerebral but often quite funny, and as some of the more animated cast members joined, it got more raucous and even a bit bawdy. U.S. viewers may miss some of the distinctly British references, but they'll recognize some of the "games" adopted for the U.S. version, like "Party Quirks", "Props", and "Song Stylings", the last of which really gave Lawrence and McShane a chance to shine. And though host Clive Anderson might seem like a "stiff" compared to Drew Carey, he has his own distinct brand of dry wit. This set is "uncensored" so it contains some lines and scenes that have never appeared on American TV. There aren't many "extras", but the interview with producers Dan Patterson and Mark Leveson is interesting. (Did you know that they turned down Mike Myers and Steve Carell in American auditions for the show?) The price is right, too, for a couple dozen episodes of one of the funniest shows on TV. Let's hope the other seasons appear eventually on DVD.
Summary of Whose Line Is It Anyway (British) - Seasons 1 & 2
A British show in which actors and comedians improvise sketches in various "theatre-sports"-type games based on audience suggestions. The games might include singing a Hoedown about Tory Politicians acting out a soap opera as hamsters becoming bizarre super-heroes or making up a musical about the life of an audience member.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre:?TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating:?NR UPC:?733961768145 Manufacturer No:?AAE-76814Few things are more of-the-moment that improvisational comedy, yet the first two seasons of the original British Whose Line Is It Anyway? are startlingly fresh and funny, despite debuting in 1988. Hosted by blithe and zippy Clive Anderson, the format is the same as the American version: Four improvisers are put through a variety of games, ranging from one where each player tells part of a story in the style of a different writer, to one in which two teams have to find different ways to use a common object, to one in which players act out an ordinary situation as it would appear in different film genres or theatrical styles. Pretty much every episode features some moment so flabbergastingly precise and funny you'll have trouble believing it was made up on the spot. Regular Josie Lawrence tosses off uncanny versions of a Stephen Sondheim or an Edith Piaf song about telephones and garden hoses; John Sessions, who anchored the first season, does a spot-on impression of Humphrey Bogart; Archie Hahn creates sounds for Paul Merton's mime that are amazingly synchronized. The first season, before American guest improvisers Greg Proops and Ryan Stiles began to appear regularly, is particularly distinctive--not because Proops and Stiles are poor improvisers, but because the Brits just aim at more surprising targets. (Let's face it, the American version didn't feature many stories told in the style of Samuel Beckett or Gabriel Garcia Marquez, let alone in the style of poets like Coleridge and Philip Larkin.) These episodes are like potato chips; you'll just keep gobbling them down. Early guests include such unexpected pleasures as Stephen Fry (Wilde), Jonathan Pryce (Brazil), and Peter Cook (Bedazzled). --Bret Fetzer
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