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REVIEWS | NBC's
"COUPLING"
(Sept.
25, 2003)
[COMPARE
& CONTRAST: Read reviews of original BBC "Coupling"]
 "The
biggest problem is that the writing just isn't funny or original.
'Coupling' ... dredges up every tired sex joke from a decade of NBC 'Must-See'
singles sitcoms, while pretending it's all oh-so-envelope-pushing. We've
been hearing the same material -- on masturbation, oral sex, underwear,
girl-on-girl action -- since 'Seinfeld' was the master of the TV domain.
It's even de rigueur on 'family' comedies such as 'According to Jim.'
What TV hubby hasn't been seen with a helpless glaze over his eyes at
the mere mention of lesbianism?" (Boston Globe)
"What's
been lost in translation is the subtle, sophisticated edge to the
British wit of the original. Both are screwball comedies of modern sexual
manners. But NBC's version ... reeks of slick, formulaic sitcom vapidity.
It almost screams: 'Look at me, look at me, look at me! I'm soooo
naughty!'" (Detroit Free Press)
"'Coupling'
is the Milli Vanilli of network television: the sitcom equivalent
of lip-synching someone else's song ... The real problem with the Americanized
'Coupling' is that the best jokes wilt in translation, particularly when
viewers can so easily compare the NBC version with the original. British
wit is not always dry or inventively droll. (For every 'Monty Python'
there are several 'Benny Hills.') But British humor about sex is highly
idiosyncratic. Like bathroom humor, it works by playing havoc with the
English cult of good manners and reticence ... And NBC did not help matters
by casting generic, bland actors in the six roles." (New York Times)
"It
must be very distasteful the way the finely oiled machinery of ('Coupling'
creator Steven Moffat's) precision set-ups is obliged now to clatter and
wheeze in clumsy hands. His keen gender observations, brisk repartee and
pinpoint timing are sabotaged by ploddingly nondescript performers whose
notion of emotional reaction is confined to sitcom 'takes' like whimpering
and exaggeratedly raising eyebrows. They sell what should be subtle dialogue
like infomercial barkers, declaiming as if from cue cards. Worst of all,
they don't seem very smart." (Newsday)
"What
ought to really concern NBC about its 'Coupling' remake is that it
doesn't yet deliver the laughs that abound in the popular BBC series.
Headed into its fourth season, the BBC version weaves an intricate, hilarious
web of lust. It is not so much risque but risky in a way that American
network sitcoms simply are not." (Ft. Worth Star-Telegram)
"Even
though the plots and dialogue are often identical, the attitude couldn't
be further apart. British 'Coupling' views sex as something mysterious,
scary and worthy of awe; American 'Coupling' sees it as something to snicker
about childishly. So even when the British jokes about self-gratification
or threesomes don't work, it's easy to move on; when the exact same joke
bombs on the American version, it's obnoxious." (Newark Star-Ledger)
"It's
not fair to say that both the British and American versions are desperate
attempts to rip off 'Friends.' They're desperate attempts to rip off 'Seinfeld.'
... 'Coupling' -- both versions of which were created and written by Steven
Moffat -- is more obsessed with coining its own vocabulary and setting
up its own cartoonish situations, all in the 'Seinfeld' vein." (NY Daily
News)
"Besides
taking out particularly raunchy Brit jokes (one line NBC excised involved
wordplay about swallows), the U.S. version speeds up the comedy, stripping
out the nuance. Toss in actors who deliver punch lines with all the subtlety
of a Mack truck, and you have a show that's trying too hard." (St.
Petersburg Times)
"In
trimming the scripts down five minutes or so, and 'Americanizing'
the references (that's code for taking out the Aristotle and the slyness)
and the cast (that's code for giving everyone perfect hair and teeth and
a sledgehammer way with a line reading), NBC and U.S. executive producer
Phoef Sutton ('Cheers,' but several mediocrities since) have turned a
so-so show into a stinker." (Chicago Tribune)
"The
new sitcom is funny only if you think that a bunch of crude characters
can be amusing as they sluggishly banter about body parts and bisexuality.
Believe me, you'll want to turn them off like the wincing memory of an
empty one-night stand." (Boston Herald)
"It's
more than just a matter of accents. NBC's version differs in the quality
of its cast (apart from Rena Sofer, there's no one in the U.S. show who
can match the British actors), the production values (the U.S. version
looks cheap and overlit by comparison) and, perhaps most important of
all, in the fact that the British 'half-hour' is closer to a real half-hour.
The Brit episodes run almost seven minutes longer, allowing more room
to set up jokes, develop the characters and let the whole thing breathe
a little." (Chicago Sun-Times)
"It
would be a mistake to avoid 'Coupling' out of prudishness. There are
far better reasons to avoid it. If watching TV is like dating, then to
maintain a relationship a set of characters has to be lovable or irresistibly
maddening. 'Coupling's' six are just 'Friends' characters taken to obnoxious
extremes. The three women are, respectively, bitchy, desperate and crazy,
but what saves the show from misogyny is that the men, in turn, are selfish,
preening and pathetic." (Time Magazine)
"It's
'Friends' drained of warmth, charm and camaraderie, leaving behind
only the couch and the copulation." (Seattle Times)
"The
British producer insists the show is autobiographical and wasn't influenced
by 'Friends' at all. Please. That's the most bald-faced lie from a Brit
since the Pilgrims told the Indians, 'Don't mind us; we're just passing
through.' .... As for NBC's attempt to sell the show as provocative and
risqué, 'Coupling' is daring only if the last comedy you ever saw was
'Ozzie and Harriet.'" (USA Today)
"'Coupling'
risks alienating viewers, not with its insistence on unleashing risqué
one-liners and off-colour jokes eight times per minute, but with some
improbable situations. That is, unless you often find yourself in the
ladies' loo (sorry, women's washroom) jammed into a stall with a girlfriend,
calling your best friend on his cellphone as he sits at the bar, asking
him to bring you a condom." (Toronto Star)
"The
original 'Coupling' added sex and attitude to the 'Friends' recipe.
Maybe it was the British accents or, more likely, far better actors, but
what NBC has done here with the exact same scripts is to take out anything
funny and replace it with everything annoying. The American cast is dismal,
bland and off-putting." (San Francisco Chronicle)
"The
biggest problem seems to be the smirky actors, who are rather flavorless
and even off-putting. It doesn't help that they play characters who bounce
between unbelievable and unlikable, but you'd think they could have brought
more to the party." (Contra Costa Times)
"There
may be shreds of honesty in these dialogues and scenarios. But as
played for laughs here, it feels desperate and wrong. You can imagine
the writers scheming: If we throw in enough sex jokes, no one will realize
we aren't wearing any clothes, either." (Oregonian)
"One
problem for 'Coupling' is that people who are defined almost entirely
by their sexuality are bound to come across as even less dimensional than
the average flat and sassy sitcom cipher. It's hard to give a hoot about
the copulating population of 'Coupling' or to regard them as much more
than chess pieces with genitalia." (Washington Post)
"It's
insipid -- willfully, gleefully bad, trading on a few racy bits in
an attempt to attract your attention. Not that different from a 6-year-old
yelling dirty words he doesn't understand, just because he likes getting
a reaction. You can't spank a TV show. But you'll wish you could." (Arizona
Republic)
"I
don't find it moral or funny when one person says to another, 'One
swallow does not make her my girlfriend.' And I don't think it's terribly
clever or moral when someone proclaims, 'As long as you have your hand
stamped, you have full in and out privileges.'" (Houston Chronicle)
"Some
viewers may find all the horny sex talk off-putting. But, compared
with what we see on, oh, I dunno, 'Sex and the City,' 'Coupling' is downright
Disney Channel tame ... (And) surprisingly, the 'Coupling' cast meshes
almost instantly." (Palm Beach Post)
"Fifth
grade kept coming to mind as I watched 'Coupling,' TV's latest overhyped
entry into the snickering schoolboy sitcom genre. Frank sex talk and a
constant stream of double-entendres are considered the height of wit and
creative risk-taking on such shows, when in fact, it's all about as sophisticated
as little kids looking up 'naughty' words." (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
"Two
NBC affiliate stations have chosen to bag 'Coupling,' NBC's 'sex'
comedy, because they thought it was too racy. They should have
bagged it because it's so sad, boring and unwatchable." (NY Post)
Chemistry
sorely missing: "True television chemistry is in those unnameable
elements. Silences vibrating with energy, subtle unscripted traits that
emerge as the characters become fully realized. This is the difference
between embodying a role, as the realistically attractive British actors
do, as opposed to just wearing it, like NBC's Barbie dream cast. It's
engaging in natural conversation (Brits) instead of being aware you're
exchanging clever lines (Americans)." (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
 "(Rena)
Sofer is the standout in the first couple of episodes, but each cast
member makes a solid contribution and the combined chemistry is strong."
(Hollywood Reporter)
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